Chapter Eight: Revelations

“Nu-uh,”

Michelle stuck her tongue out at her older sisters as they walked home from school together, she was no longer the precious five year old who had been afraid to fight her own battles. She had grown into a sweet yet musically inclined nine year old with a playful aura, seen just through her actions and moments when she did not get her way.

“Michi, you should be playing with other people your age rather than always with that dumb Saphir kid,” Alex rolled her eyes, she had grown out of the phase of being a cute yet sometimes troublesome tomboy into a prankster with a spirit that often bordered upon the daredevil type. She had cut her long hair shorter to above her ears and chose to wear the boys’ middle school uniform rather than the girls’ uniform of Juuban Elementary School.  

“I like playing with Saphir,” Michelle said with a pout. “He’s really nice, he likes to play all the same games, and he even says that I’m nice.”

“I don’t think you should be picking on her Alex, I recall that you tried to get the attention of a boy in your class before you hit him with a baseball,” Susan paused a moment and moved her bangs from her face. She had grown into a serious yet mature young girl with long hair she kept tied in a high ponytail and her bangs moved from her face to reveal her garnet eyes. “And you did get grounded for breaking his nose too.”

“That was only one time and he deserved it,” Alex mumbled. “That darn Koichi should’ve known that I don’t like to be touched.”

“Alex likes Koichi! Alex likes Koichi!” Michelle teased. “Are you going to marry him one day?”

“Shut up Michelle!” Alex said as she began chasing after her sister. “You’re going to pay for those words!”

“Make me!” Michelle said running ahead of her sisters. “You can’t catch me because you’re too big and can’t run!”

“Michelle, don’t go too far!” Susan shouted picking up speed after her sisters; she gave an annoyed groan knowing that if she did not keep up with them then scolded for not doing so. “If you two get lost again I’m going to be mad!”

“Lighten up Suze,” Alex said with a giggle as she stopped to wait for the older girl. “I can still see Michi so we’re fine, that is until she realizes I’m not chasing her.”

“Uh…Alex…I don’t see Michelle anywhere,” Susan said looking through the crowded street. “If we don’t bring her home with us you do know that Aunt Serenity will be angry and we’ll be grounded.”

“Oh…uh…right…let’s split up,” Alex said. “I’ll go look at the baseball field and you check the park, if we don’t find Michelle then we’ll have to hope she goes to the arcade.”

Susan nodded and rushed off in search of her little sister.

******************************************************

Michelle had stopped running long ago, and looked around the crowded sidewalk; she had run ahead of her sisters and separated from them. She saw many people walking past her not caring she was there and some of them nearly knocked her down had she not moved out of the way. She sniffled and began to cry as she slid down the wall in front the store that she had ended up in front of.

“Where are my sisters?” she said in between sniffles. “I…I wanna go home!”

“Oh my, are you ok little girl?”

Michelle looked up as she wiped her eyes and glanced at the tall woman with short wavy red hair tied in a neat green ribbon. “Yes…I ran ahead of my sisters and now I can’t seem to find them…”

“Oh don’t cry,” The woman, said gently, her dark blue eyes shining with gentleness mixed with kindness. “If you want I can help you look for them ok?”

Michelle sniffled taking the older woman’s hand and began the search for her sisters. She felt safe with her and it seemed as though she held the same warm aura as her aunt. “Um…I’m Michelle…what’s your name?”

The woman smiled gently. “I’m Molly Baker,”

“That’s a pretty name,” Michelle said looking around for her sisters. “You’re really nice like my Aunty Sere is, but she is the greatest aunt in the world, she’s like a super hero!”

“Really now, I have a friend that I used to call Sere,” Molly said as her voice took on a thoughtful tone. “I haven’t seen her in years; I wonder what she’s been up to.”

Michelle giggled. “I bet you she’s probably a princess or maybe even living happily ever after inside a castle!” she said.

Molly laughed but quickly went silent as she stopped walking. “Michelle…could you do me a major favor?” she asked.

Michelle nodded. “Yes,”

Molly looked around as she saw the arcade was nearby. “Go inside the arcade and wait for you sisters, I’m sure they’ll be along shortly, I need to take care of something ok?”

Michelle nodded. “Ok, umn…thank you Miss Molly.” She said quickly rushing to the arcade; she looked over her shoulder as she saw Molly running towards the downtown area.

Once Molly deemed that Michelle was in a safe place she began running towards the area where she felt a wave of negative energy. Pulling out her communicator, she pressed the star button on it. “Nephrite, there is trouble downtown, meet me there as soon as possible I have no doubt there is something horrible happening.”

“I’ll be there soon,”

“Thanks,” Molly shut the communicator and continued running. “Seriously I thought I’d get some shopping done and maybe find Serena but oh no there had to be a youma attacking…maybe this time Mio won’t escape and I can defeat her.” Reaching in her skirt pocket, she pulled out a transformation pen. “Earth Crystal Power, Make-Up!”

******************************************

“I’m on my way,”

Serena sat Lita down onto the floor and smiled gently at the toddler. “Lita will you be a good girl for mommy and stay here with your sisters?” she asked.

Lita giggled as she stood up and began walking over to the blocks sitting on the floor.

“Amy and Raye mommy needs you to watch over Lita ok?” Serena said gently. “Your baby sitter will be here in a second.”

Amy nodded. “Kay mommy.” She said hugging Serena.

“Bye bye mommy meatball head.” Raye said giggling as she took the crayon Amy had been using from her sister. “Mine!”

Serena sighed deciding not to lecture Raye and rushed out of the door. “A youma attack of all days…I was getting used to peace…” sighing she pulled out her transformation brooch and held it up. “Moon Eternal Make-Up!”

******************************************

“Star Serious Laser!”

“Star Gentle Uterus!”

The attacks bounced off the youma and sent back at them sending the two Starlights crashing to the ground.

“Damn it, how in the hell can we defeat this thing without it throwing back its attack at us?” Seiya gave a small-annoyed groan as he looked around the area trying to find the other Sailor senshi to help them fight.

“Terra Edged Strike!”

A long slash of brown light sliced the youma in the stomach as the figure who’d launched the attack stood atop a lamp post, her skirt fluttered in the wind as did her short hair. She narrowed her eyes behind the mask she wore and leapt down landing in front of the Starlights, she held out a hand in front of them as if to protect them.

“I’ll give you to the count of three to give up,” She ordered. “And tell your leader Mio if she wishes to take over the planet she’ll have to go through me.”

The youma roared and rushed towards the mysterious senshi and tried attacking her as it was thrown back a few feet by a golden blast from behind as it turned to dust immediately.

“Sailor Moon about time you showed up.” The mysterious senshi said with a smile and began walking towards her. “I believe that we’re overdue for a reunion.”

“Who are you?” Sailor Moon questioned staring at the senshi walking towards her, she gave a gasp of surprise when she was embraced in a tight hug.

“Serena don’t you recognize me?” asked the senshi removing her mask as she giggled. “It’s me Molly!”

“M….Molly...?"

*********************************************

“So you’ve been in America all this time,”

Serena stared at Molly who was sitting across from her in the café, she had been surprised that her friend was so different from the last time she had seen her but what made it even stranger was that she was a Sailor Senshi…and a senshi of Earth at that. “Molly I don’t understand how did you become a senshi.”

“Oh, well it’s a funny story,” Molly said. “I was on my way home from school when I ran into Maxfield Stanton again; you may know him as Nephrite.”

Serena began coughing at the revelation and stared at Molly. “Nephrite is alive?” she demanded. “So your senshi power is fabricated?”

“Nope, they’re one hundred percent real,” Molly said. “Apparently there was supposed to be a sailor senshi of Earth who’d protect Prince Endymion in addition to working with the Four Generals but she died during her training on Mars and thus the prince became the guardian. However I am the reborn senshi whose power was dormant for so many years until this moment in time when all but one of the inner senshi perished in the battle with Galaxia.”

“So…you were awakened by Nephrite…” Serena said again.

Molly nodded. “Yes, he and I have been tracking Mio since she showed up here in Tokyo,” she said. “I helped you last time, but I couldn’t reveal who I was it was right.”

“In short Molly’s been hiding this from you for some time,” Keisha walked over to the table sitting the parfaits on the table as she sat next to Serena.  “This means we have another senshi to help us fight since the Starlights and I are slowly becoming exhausted from all of the attacks we had to deal with.”

“That is correct,” Molly said. “It’s actually nice fighting youma rather than being captured all the time, I was starting to wonder if it’d happen my first time as a senshi but Nephrite has trained me a lot since I learned of my destiny.”

“Are we talking about the same nephrite?” asked Serena. “I watched him die in your arms that fateful night when Zoicite attacked him.”

“He was given a second chance when you defeated Queen Beryl,” Molly said. “However…Zoicite, Jadeite, and Kunzite weren’t as lucky and chose to live their lives as servants to Beryl in the afterlife.”

“But Queen Beryl was reborn too,” Serena said. “She is the mother of some children who have been picking on the Outers.”

Molly shook her head. “We can only hope that Beryl stays as a normal human…” she said. “If Mio succeeds in her plan…Queen Beryl could be revived and all of her children would regain their memories and fall into darkness once again…and it’d be the end of the world.”

“And to do that we have to defeat Mio in a hurry then,” Keisha said with a sigh. “I’m suddenly wishing we had Neptune’s mirror…then we could locate where Mio is hiding.”

“I have a feeling of where she is,” Molly said. “Well…Nephrite seems to know where Mio is hiding but he’s been investigating and once he’s sure we can go in and defeat her once and for all.”

“And it’d save the others from having to fight,” Serena said quietly. “I rather not have the girls fight as senshi…I can’t lose them again.”

“Destiny is written,” Molly said quietly. “It cannot change…we’re all meant to be senshi and it’s our duty to protect the galaxy…and keep it at peace.”

Serena nodded. “I’m worried…” she said quietly. “Could this be the start of disaster brought on by a rebirth that wasn’t meant to happen?”

“Time will only tell.” Molly said.

****************************************************

“Michelle, are you done with your snack?”

Michelle nodded as she held up her plate that was empty. “Yes Rini,” she said with a giggle. “Can I go play with Saphir now?”

“Yes you can,” Rini said with a smile. She had been babysitting the other senshi since Serena had run out to go fight the youma that was attacking. She wished she could have gone to help but she knew she had to keep the other senshi safe in case a youma decided to try to attack.

“Rini,” Susan said entering the kitchen. “Is Aunt Serenity coming home soon? I need to ask her for some help with my homework.”

“She’ll be home soon Susan but I can help you.” Rini said. “I have to finish mine anyway, so we can work on it together.”

Susan nodded. “If we must,” she said quietly and went back into the living room, she paused hearing the sound of the clocks become louder more apparent, she blinked in surprise and began looking around the room. She could have sworn she had been in the living room and now she was inside a large corridor, which appeared to lead somewhere.

“Susan…”

A voice radiated through the area as her garnet eyes focused on the tall blurry figure standing in front of her, she saw the woman hold out her hand as if beckoning her to come with her. “Who…are you?”

The woman gave a gentle smile and stepped into the light revealing that she was Susan when she was older. “I am Sailor Pluto, the senshi of Time…”

“Sailor Pluto,” Susan said curiously. “But…why do you look like me?”

“I am you...I am a senshi who lost her life protecting Sailor Moon,” Pluto said. “I used my power to give everyone including myself a second chance at life…but you are needed to help the Sailor Senshi protect the planet from falling into darkness.”

Susan’s eyes widened as she saw the Pluto lip rod appear in front of her, she grabbed the item as it began glowing brightly, the symbol of Pluto appeared on her forehead as she looked up at Sailor Pluto. “I’m supposed to be you?”

“Yes, but since your rebirth, your powers has been dormant,” Pluto said. “You fight alongside Sailors Uranus and Neptune; they’re young ladies whom you’ve grown up with all along.”

“My sisters…?” Susan said quietly.

“Yes, I chose to have them be reborn with us,” Pluto said. “As a way to ensure our bonds are strong and that we’d have the chance at a life we didn’t have…but now is time to accept destiny, I won’t awaken Alex and Michelle yet…they will become senshi on their own, but for now…you must protect Sailor Moon.”

“Who is Sailor Moon?” Susan asked.

“She is…” Pluto gasped as she began fading. She had run out of time to explain to her younger self who Sailor Moon was. “Protect the world…preserve the timeline Susan…you must ensure that history does not repeat itself…”

“Wait!”

“Please protect the timeline….”

********************************

“Susan wake up, are you ok?”

Rini had entered the living room and found Susan standing and staring at the clock, she had tried to revive the younger girl to no avail, it wasn’t until she realized that Susan must’ve gotten a vision that she was sure the time had come that Susan would become Sailor Pluto and help the senshi fight.

Susan blinked a few times as she looked at Rini. “I’m sorry did I say something weird?” she asked curiously.

“No you didn’t.” Rini said with a sigh of relief. “I’m so happy you’re ok…I think homework can wait until Serena comes back, I think it’d be best if we did something fun.”

Susan nodded. “Ok, I’ll go play with Michelle and Alex,” she said heading towards the bedroom where her sisters were playing.

‘I have to tell Serena,’ Rini said to herself, she looked at the corner, saw Raye was playing with a stuffed Sailor Mars doll while Amy, and Lita were playing with building blocks. She knew it was a matter of time before they would soon awaken too. She just hoped it would be after they were old enough to talk properly. Moreover, she hoped by then Mina and Terra would be reborn.

End Chapter

Next Chapter Mina Aphrodite Chiba