You may call me Tethys. Of course, I have many names, but that one shall do.

My life is not like yours. In my world there are demons and gods, heroes and
monsters. In my world there are great battles and epic deeds. In my world there
are wonders and terrors.

Which am I? That matters little. To the people whose lives I saved when the
world had abandoned them to die, I am a saviour. To the soldiers I have slain, I
am a force of nature. To the world at large, I am the Queen of Darkness. To
those who know me, I am Tethys.

Ukyou Kuonji knows me well. She was there for the most defining moments of my
life. The moment the human part of me was crippled by her. The moment the demon
part of me was utterly defeated by her. She gave me new purpose, and in that
purpose I realised that we would meet again. But only on my terms.

So I gathered her enemies and her allies together, and I made them mine. In
time, one of her most loyal friends rejected me. I pushed the woman Akira too
far into the darkness and she abadoned me to find Ukyou again. She succeeded in
that quest, and in so doing pulled Ukyou out of another darkness.

Then, Ukyou came to me. She pursued the girl Hotaru, an innocent who might have
been a hero once but who had been destroyed by Ukyou's carelessness and the
cruelty of the world. She became the Messiah of Silence, whose only goal was to
end all things. Ukyou came to my City of Black Ice to find Hotaru, and to
perhaps save the child from the darkness.

Ah, the innocence of youth.

In my black city Ukyou and I met again and talked about the nature of the world.
But she rejected my philosophy. Before I could convince her of the truth of my
words, Ukyou's old nemesis the undead body-snatcher Chris attacked.

His goal was threefold. He wished to destroy Hotaru. He wished to secure the
body of the vampire Alucard which I kept hidden and secret far beneath my city.
He wished to destroy me. He very nearly succeeded.

Link, Chris deceptive ally, hunted down Nabiki Tendo and poisoned her to steal
her sword of three wishes. But Link was defeated by the intervention of Ryouga
Hibiki and Nabiki's uncharacteristic self-sacrifice. Angel, Chris's loyal if
manipulated ally, hunted for Alucard. But she was confronted by Ranma Saotome
and Akira Kazama in turn. The former she defeated, but the latter overcame her.

And I? I was confronted by Kalia, Chris' monstrous creation of Paradox. Kalia
could manipulate reality itself, and so even my not-inconsiderable powers were
no match for her. I was saved by the intervention of Akane Tendo, Rei Hino
and... Ukyou. She stepped in, her poorly understood Third Circle powers making
her the only one who could fight Kalia on the same level. Mind you, her foolish
naivite nearly allowed Kalia to slay her, but at that point I stepped in and
defeated the not-girl. Unfortunately, she escaped before I could destroy her.

Chris, despite the defeat of his three "queens", was on the verge of victory. He
had cornered Hotaru and was about to destroy her when Sailor Moon suddenly
arrived. Pushed to new heights of power by the defiance of Minako Aino, she
cleansed my city of 'evil' and defeated Chris soundly.

But in the end, Akane intervened and convinced Sailor Moon to spare Chris for
now. Reichmann Gyro was holding the body of a zoalord named Frederick von
Purgstall, who had been injured by Kalia in an earlier battle. Only Sailor Moon
could hope to heal him, and if Chris was killed all hope of healing him wou;d be
lost. Ironically enough, Reichmann Gyro once killed Akane, and Sailor Moon
brought her back from the dead. It was during those few moment of death where
Akane was touched by something Other, something nameless and huge.

It is this nameless thing which is behind all of the above. A hidden
chessmaster, playing us like pawns. It is he who corrupted Hotaru. It is he who
guided Akane's hands. It is he who set Ukyou on her path that led her, all
unknowing, back to me.

Washuu Hakubi, a great scientific genius, appeared after Sailor Moon had
departed. It turns out that she has been playing against the nameless foe.
She orchestrated Chris' downfall. Now, she merely needs to hold everything
together...



                              C&A Productions Presents

                          A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion


                                   Hybrid Theory


                             Chapter 28: Reanimation



	Drip. Drip.
	It was the sound that woke Nabiki up. It was distant and muffled, from
far away. The steady, rhythmic plunk of water on water. Like a leaky tap, or
rain falling through a poorly-built roof. It made her think of run-down motels
and second-rate dives. The kind of places where the sink never worked and the
roof was always in need of repair. The kind of place she had stayed at in those
few weeks after her family had fled Japan, but before she had gotten the Wishing
Sword. The places where she had stayed with him.
	The memories floated up in her half-awake mind, unbidden. Imperiously
ordering him about. Watching as Ryouga carried heavy loads at the day jobs she
made him get for spending money. The way he always watched her, out of the
corner of his eye. The way he hovered nearby. A silent, gentle presence that
would nonetheless destroy anything that threatened her.
	"Ryouga..." she whispered, her voice was dry.
	"I'm afraid your friend isn't here."
	It was an effort of will to make her eyes open, and even then she had a
hard time focusing for a few seconds. Strangely enough, there was no pain. Just
a sort of pleasant numbness. She was drugged, of course. There was a white and
pink blur nearby, which slowly resolved into a person.
	Or something like that.
	It was a woman, dressed up like a nurse. But it was a nurse out of a
sixteen-year-old's fantasy. She wore a skirt that bordered on being a belt and
her pristine white shirt was so tight against her chest it left little to the
imagination. Huge pink crosses adorned her giant puffy shoulders and the little
cap she wore. Her skin was a healthy pink, and by that Nabiki meant the same
colour as bubblegum, with her hair being a slightly different shade. Her eyes
were all white, with no iris and pupil. Nonetheless, her smile was wide and
friendly.
	"Welcome back to the land of the living," the youma said in a chipper
voice. "Please don't try to get up. You've lost a lot of blood, and even healing
magic is only so good." The nurse turned away to adjust something. Nabiki was
hooked up to an IV, and a bloodbag was also draining into her arm. The dripping
had been from the IV, of course. Nabiki barely even raised an eyebrow at the
giant syringe on the youma woman's back.
	"How..." She coughed. "How long..." It hurt to talk.
	"You've been here for almost four hours now," the nurse said, turning
back to her with a smile. "We managed to heal the majority of your injuries, and
clean most of the toxins out of your system." She nodded. "If your friend had
gotten you here even one minute later, it would have been too late."
	"Friend?" Nabiki allowed her head to fall back into her fluffy pillow.
Oh, right, Ryouga. "Is he...?"
	The nurse's expression didn't frown, but her smile did droop a bit.
"He... left, shortly after he arrived with you."
	"He left..." Nabiki's voice was recovering, as were her eyes. The room
was softly lit by crystal globes arranged in four places on the ceiling. Nabiki
would have called them corners, except the place was all curves and sweeping
lines. The walls were made of silver crystal, which caught and magnified the dim
glow of the orbs, filling the entire place with a tranquil, comforting light.
"Of course he left."
	Before she had woken up. Before she had a chance to talk to him. To
explain. To apologise. Had he even stayed long enough to make certain she would
be okay?
	"No, Ms. Tendo, I highly recommend you not try to get up. You are still
very weak. Youma magic was never designed to heal, and it can only do so at the
expense of the subject's spiritual energy. Yours had already been almost drained
by the time you arrived. You'll be very weak for weeks at least." The nurse
walked over to Nabiki and placed her hand on the side of her bed. "And... I
suggest not attempting to use your powers."
	"My powers?" Nabiki blinked.
	"If you'll excuse me," the nurse evaded the question and stepped back.
"I have to inform some people that you're awake."
	After the door closed Nabiki was left alone with her thoughts for a few
moments. She closed her eyes. Moving her arm wasn't easy. It was asleep, not
really so much in pain as it was just numb and unresponsive. But she managed to
pull it out from under the tightly tucked-in blankets. She let it flop against
her chest and then opened her eyes.
	"She did say 'most' of the toxins," Nabiki said with a sigh. '...that
shard of crystal will kill you in a few hours. Should you actually succeed in
removing it by force, it will kill you in so doing,' had been Link's words. She
could see the taint spreading out from the tiny shard. The veins on her arm
stood out starkly, outlined in blue. The poison spreading through her system.
How much longer did she have?
	"Hey!"
	Nabiki looked up. Ranma was coming towards her, though he wasn't using
his usual swagger. In fact, he was walking with something of a limp. One of his
arms was in a cast, the other had a huge bandage wrapped around the shoulder.
But his blue eyes sparkled and his smile was as easy and free as it always was.
Nabiki quickly hid her arm under the blanket, more than willing to forget about
it for now. Ranma's presence, his overwhelming inability to ever be changed, was
strangely comforting.
	"Hey, yourself." Nabiki inclined her head. "You look like hell."
	"You should talk," Ranma returned with a laugh. He hopped up, landing on
the bottom of her bed and dangling his legs over the side. Then, for a moment,
his smile became serious. "I'm glad you're okay. It was touch and go there, for
awhile."
	"Was it?" Nabiki mused.
	"Yeah. Tethys herself had to be called in to purge most of the poison
from your system." His eyes shone a little as he continued. "It was so awesome,
she like gestured over you and all the blood in your body just sort of streamed
out, like tiny little worms or something. They formed into this ball that she
kept floating above your head that just sort of hissed and bubbled in mid-air.
Then Tethys waved a hand and it just vanished. POP!" He clapped his hands for
emphasis, making Nabiki start a little. "How she kept your heart pumping the
whole time, I don't know. But she's pretty powerful."
	"Yeah..." Nabiki chuckled. "So, now I owe Tethys a favour." The morbid
part of Nabiki's mind figured that wasn't so bad. What could Tethys want that
Nabiki could hope to provide in the next few hours?
	"Guess so," Ranma said. He tried to shrug, but hissed in pain. When he
went to grab his bandaged shoulder he jerked the arm in the sling and hissed
again. "Damnit..."
	"So what happened to you?" Nabiki asked, genuinely concerned. After his
display against Bison, Nabiki had begun to think that there was literally
nothing that could put Ranma into this kind of shape.
	"I ran into Angel," Ranma explained curtly.
	Nabiki raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to continue.
	"What?" he frowned at her, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
	"You... lost, didn't you?"
	"Hey, you're not supposed to be using your psychic stuff!" Ranma
accused.
	"I hardly had to," Nabiki explained. "You have the worst poker face."
	"I didn't lose anyway!" Ranma explained quickly. "I... engaged in a mid-
combat crisis recovery meditation as a delaying tactic."
	Nabiki burst out laughing. Ranma glared at her, but that didn't last
long. Soon enough, they were laughing together. Nabiki wasn't certain how long
it lasted, and by the end of it her eyes were leaking happy tears. Ranma was
trying not to tumble from the end of the bed, he was laughing so hard.
	They were still laughing when Akira came in. The brunette just stood in
the doorway, watching the two of them laughing like loons while looking like
they had just been run through woodchippers. She shrugged and leaned against the
wall, crossing her arms and waiting for them to finish. Finally the laughter
died off.
	"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Akira asked, her voice uncertain.
	"No, no..." Nabiki smiled. "Just, laughing at the absurdity of life."
	"Oh, because you two ARE fiancees, or so I heard..." Akira smirked, just
a little.
	Ranma threw Nabiki's pillow at her. Nabiki's head clunked in the bed as
Akira defended herself. Then Ranma was defending himself as Nabiki slapped at
him and yelled.
	Finally things settled down and Akira dragged over a chair, which she
turned around and sat on backwards. "Glad to see you're awake, Nabiki."
	"So am I," Nabiki said, with a little smirk. "So, what, is this just
going to be one person every minute or so until the entire cast and crew is in
here?" Except Ryouga, Nabiki didn't say. The other two glanced at each other.
Nabiki realised she must have flinched at the thought.
	"No, I think everyone else is busy looking for Hotaru," Akira explained.
	"Oh..." Nabiki sighed. "So, it's not over."
	"Most of it is," Ranma said. "Pluto and some chick named Rei - that's
Sailor Mars, by the way - got to see the fight between Chris and Hotaru."
	"I know who Sailor Mars is," Nabiki waved him on. "So,tThe Silence
Messiah. That's who Chris was really after. I presume since they're still
looking for Hotaru, he didn't..." Then Nabiki remembered Chris' very own special
power.
	"It never got that far," Ranma said. He leaned over and tapped his
knuckles against the crystal wall. "Sailor Moon showed up about halfway through
the fight. Apparently she beat them both without breaking a sweat."
	"Sailor MOON?" Nabiki gasped. When had she returned to the world? Nabiki
was getting further and further behind and... She looked down at her arm. "I can
believe it. Sailor Moon... she has a great power. Maybe even more than Chris."
Nabiki wasn't lying. She had seen everything Akane had experienced. Once she had
even considered recruiting the ersatz princess to her cause, but Sailor Moon had
been maddeningly impossible to find.
	"According to Rei and Pluto, Sailor Moon had all but killed Chris when
he fled. Jumping bodies or something. She left to go track him down." Akira
explained. She hesitated. "Hotaru might have escaped in the confusion."
	"Might?" Nabiki looked at Akira sharply.
	She shrugged, her leather jacket creaking. "Ukyou said she felt Hotaru
escaping, but Pluto saw Sailor Moon vapourise the girl with a single strike.
Now, nobody can find any trace of her."
	"She can't have just vanished..." Nabiki insisted. She was inclined to
believe Ukyou over Pluto.
	"I know. I agree with Ukyou, too." Akira crossed her arms. "So does
everyone else, actually. They're all out scouring the city for her. They figure
she must have come here for something, but they have no idea what." Akira
frowned. "Well, I think at least two people know."
	"Tethys," Nabiki guessed.
	"Yeah. She won't trust anyone with the truth," Akira growled.
	"Don't be so harsh, Akira," Ranma said. "She saved Nabiki's life." He
paused. "Mine too, probably," he admitted grudgingly. "She didn't have to help
us."
	Akira looked like she was going to yell something back, but she just
closed her mouth slowly and shook her head. When she had regained enough
composure to continue, she did so. "The other person who might know is Angel,
but she isn't talking."
	"Angel?" Nabiki asked. "We captured her?"
	"What?" Akira frowned at her. "Did you think I would kill her?"
	"YOU beat Angel?" Nabiki said. Akira very carefully did not look at
Ranma, who was also very carefully not looking at her. "Wait... what about
Link?"
	"She's in a cage Tethys made," Akira said. She looked down at the arm
hidden under Nabiki's blanket. "It was actually kind of amusing. After Tethys
literally grew it around her, she had let Link do everything she could to try
and escape. The girl even cut herself." Akira shook her head. "Tethys explained
for a good five minutes exactly how much trouble she was going through to keep
her locked up." Akira looked at the two of them, then continued in a stage
whisper. "I think Link actually liked that part."
	"I can believe it," Nabiki said, remembering Link's insane rant.
	"So don't worry, Nabiki, we'll figure out how to get that thing out of
your arm." Akira grinned. "I'll personally start breaking the bitch's bones one
by one if you want me to."
	"Uh, no..." Nabiki blinked. "That won't be necessary." Sometimes it was
easy to forget that Akira had a special appreciation for somewhat excessive
force. She looked the girl up and down. "But what are you doing here, anyway,
Akira?"
	"I..." Akira trailed off.
	"Ranma I can understand, he's injured like me. But you look hale and
hearty."
	Akira leaned forward. resting her head across her crossed arms. "You're
right, I'm fine. They apparently think I need to recover."
	"They?" Nabiki pressed.
	"Ukyou..." Akira looked away. "I... never mind. It's private."
	Nabiki decided not to press. Instead she looked at Ranma. "Any news
about Ryouga?"
	"Him? No." Ranma shook his head. "I woke up after he left."
	Nabiki looked down. "I... he's in danger," Nabiki said softly.
	"Ryouga?" Ranma chuckled. "Damn, that guy's tough, Nabiki. I fought him,
and he gave me a good run for it. Plus he's immortal on top of that."
	"No, I just..." Nabiki bit her lip.
	"I'll go find him." They both turned to Akira. Akira just stared back
with her earnest brown eyes. "It's not like I'm doing anything else, and Ranma's
still in no shape to do it."
	"Hey!" Ranma accused.
	"Akira, I can't ask you..." Nabiki trailed off when Akira gestured for
her to stop.
	"Nabiki, I need to DO something." Akira looked around. "This place, it
brings up too many ghosts. You of all people know what I'm talking about." She
sighed. "I need to keep my mind off that and... other things." She smiled her
shy, brave little smile. "Besides, he's just one guy walking on his own and I
know this city like the back of my hand. How hard can it be to track him down?"
	Ranma and Nabiki exchanged a long look.

*

	Ukyou examined the paper as Aaron continued his work. It was a fairly
complex drawing, one that Aaron had to put all his concentration on to get
right. She, they, had almost forgotten that they could draw. But then, while
they had been discussing how they could go about repairing the damage Chris'
attack had caused, the topic had come up again.
	Tethys, of course, could repair most of the damage Chris had done. She
had dealt rather well with the jungle Link had deployed. Without their mistress
to guide and nurture them, the plants were no match for Tethys' power. In fact,
Ukyou couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated by how easily Tethys removed the
jungle. Then came the difficult part.
	The attack had killed hundreds of people, but it had injured thousands
more. Most of the residents had managed to get to shelters Tethys had designed
for just such an eventuality, but far too many had not. The problem was that in
all the devastation and chaos, the entire city had been massively altered.
Tethys could organise search parties, use her powers to undo much of the damage,
but the effort could take weeks.
	Ukyou had sat back, listening to all that. She was busy searching for
Hotaru at the time. But the girl had vanished somehow. Before, her aura had
stood out like a misplayed note in the middle of an otherwise perfect symphony.
Now, it was gone. But worst of all was all the suffering that Ukyou could feel
from Aaron's enhanced senses.
	The chi, the breath, of the universe was not a static thing. It was like
an ocean, constantly flowing into and out of every living and unliving thing in
the whole of the universe. Even the depths of space were probably heavy with
chi. But the nature of the things it moved through changed it, flavouring it
with the fundamental reality of their being. So it was that all the pain and
suffering that had been left in the wake of the attack had tainted the very
anima of all of D-Point.
	Finally, Ukyou could stand it no more. She had stood up and proclaimed
that she could help the proceedings. Akira had been shocked by Ukyou's desire to
help out Tethys at first, but had been understanding when Ukyou had explained
that it was for the people that were still suffering. She could find all the
people, locate all the damage, do the work of hundreds of search parties in the
space of a few hours.
	Which had prompted Tethys to point out that such information was useless
without the ability to put it into useable form. That had reminded Aaron that he
used to draw as a hobby - or was it Ukyou who had? Either way, all the years of
neglect didn't seem to have weakened their technical skills, at least. Ukyou
held up the paper, squinting and frowning at it.
	"This should be accurate," Ukyou said finally, standing up and walking
over to Tethys. The Dark Queen's chambers had not been exactly what Ukyou had
pictured. While her throne room was ostentatious enough, this room looked like
nothing so much as a study. It was even lined with bookshelves and lit in a warm
and comforting manner. Tethys had provided everyone with large, comfortable
chairs while she sat behind her wooden desk, working on a computer.
	It was almost enough to get Ukyou curious about the woman. Almost.
	Tethys looked over the paper. It was a three-dimensional relief map of
the upper portions of the city, and combined with the seven other drawings Aaron
had done, it should cover the entire city. He hoped it did; Ukyou's fingers were
beginning to cramp from holding a pencil that long.
	"This is... very precise," Tethys commented as she looked through the
papers. "Are you certain there is nobody in these sectors?" She indicated large
places on the maps that were devoid of the tiny icons Ukyou had come up with to
represent people. She'd even started thinking of a little system to indicate
what sort of problems they had, how severe and immediate those problems were
and... Really too much. She wasn't a triage nurse, and just getting the
information out there was the point.
	"Not as precise as I would have liked, and yes, I'm certain," Aaron
replied.
	"Remarkable," Pluto murmured. "You can really sense all of this?"
	"Indeed." Ukyou sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Whenever I use
my... powers. Whenever I tap the Third Circle, I always seem to experience a
small growth in my baseline abilities shortly thereafter. Nothing nearly as
dramatic as the power boost from the miracle power, but nothing to sneeze at
either." Ukyou laughed at a sudden joke that ran through Aaron's portion of
their shared psyche. "I guess I get a lot of XP." The two women looked at Ukyou
strangely and she shrugged. "But I've been using my power a lot lately. So I
guess my chi has been growing as well."
	"Is there a limit to this ability?" Tethys asked carefully.
	"Truthfully?" Ukyou placed her hand on the desk. "I don't know. Why, you
want to test my limits?"
	Tethys snorted. "Please." She stood up and walked over to a bare section
of the walls. It glittered silvery, a patch of ice in the centre of her
bookshelves. Ukyou wondered if they would rename the City of Black Ice now that
the name was no longer accurate. "I have no interest in making you my enemy,
Ukyou."
	"You have a funny way of showing it," Ukyou said, then waved her hand.
"No, forget it. We don't have time for this sniping back and forth at each other
like teenagers. Whatever our personal feelings for each other, we have to work
together for now."
	"Agreed," Tethys said. She placed the maps against the ice. Ukyou raised
an eyebrow as the blue-skinned woman pushed on the documents and they seemed to
ripple and vanish into the wall. Then as the wall solidified again she could see
that it now had a copy of Aaron's map etched into its surface. Tethys spun her
other hand and the image shifted and changed, like a 3-D wireframe model of the
city.
	It was impressive. Even more impressive was the casual way she did it.
Aaron could sense the flow of magic through the room. It was a power that was
very different from chi. Describing the difference was difficult. It was like
comparing the colour of an object to its shape. What struck Ukyou was how easily
magic seemed to accomplish things.
	Aaron was pretty certain he could have replicated some of the things
Tethys did with chi. He and Ukyou could cool and heat air and water, control its
shape and motion by adjusting the currents of chi and otherwise do similar
things. If Ukyou wanted to build a chair of ice, she would have to melt the
ice, adjust the melting water's shape, then refreeze it in position. It would be
a task that was beyond her current skill, but possible.
	Ukyou was convinced that to do the same, all Tethys had to do was think
'chair' and it was so. So much more profound, so much simpler than all the chi
control in the world. And that was just one step up the ladder. The difference
between First and Second Circle.
	So... what was the difference between Second and Third? How much more
profound?
	"This map is being sent to all my rescue teams," Tethys explained.
"Thankfully, we have more time than we otherwise would have. Sailor Moon's aura
did more than just change the colour of my sanctum, it also left behind a
residual force that seems to be aiding the injured."
	"Yes, a fantastic ability," Pluto added. "Just her presence can make the
world a better place."
	Tethys didn't respond to that. Instead she took the time to sit back
down in her chair and look at her computer screen again. "Thank you," she said
softly, without looking up.
	Ukyou shrugged. "I need to go looking for Hotaru now."
	"I'll come with you."
	Ukyou blinked. Pluto, for her part, looked nonplussed. "Tethys, there's
no reason for you to." Ukyou frowned. "Unless you've reconsidered."
	"I have no idea what you're talking about, Ukyou."
	"Hotaru was here for something, Tethys." Ukyou gestured and the Silence
Glaive materialised. She didn't hold it threateningly, just gently to
demonstrate that it existed. "It wasn't this. This is what she needs to destroy
the world in a single shot, sure. But even this isn't what she really needs."
She banished the weapon with another flick of her wrist. "She wants to destroy
everything, Tethys. Not just Earth. One planet at a time - even one solar system
- is a slow way to bring about the end of everything."
	"Your point?" Tethys responded coolly.
	"You know why she came here. She's after something here. What is it?"
Ukyou was practically snarling by this point. She slammed her palms into the
desk and leaned over, putting herself in Tethys' face. "If I know where she's
going, I won't have to look for her. I'll just be waiting for her."
	"That may not be the brightest idea," Pluto warned.
	"Fuck the prophecy, Pluto!" Ukyou snapped. "I'm through caring about it.
Maybe Hotaru and I meeting will end the world, maybe it won't. But I need to
find her. I NEED to."
	"Besides," Tethys laced her fingers together, "we're still missing a few
elements. Ukyou doesn't have the forehead symbol yet. Isn't that right, Pluto?"
	Pluto started at that. Her hand snapped down and clutched at a bag
hanging from her belt. Ukyou could sense the magic in it, of course. She didn't
know what it was, just that Pluto had been carrying it ever since she had
returned from the battle where Sailor Moon defeated Chris.
	"Yes, but best not to tempt fate..." Pluto murmured.
	Ukyou backed away from the Dark Queen, running a hand through her bangs.
"Forget it."
 	Tethys stood up. "I'm coming with you, like I said."
	"Why?" Ukyou frowned.
	"Because you have those senses. If anything goes wrong with my city,
you're the best-equipped to tell me. Plus I might need to update that map every
now and then."
	It made sense, but Ukyou still didn't trust Tethys. She had an angle
here. She was trying to gain something out of the confrontation between Ukyou
and Hotaru. Maybe she wanted the Third Circle, too. Ukyou almost snorted. She
would give it to her, in a heartbeat, if it meant saving Hotaru. Maybe that
choice made her a bad person, but she didn't care about that anymore.
	Not that she had that choice. Or apparently much choice about Tethys
coming with her. "Fine."
	"Pluto, organise the recovery and make certain everything runs
smoothly," Tethys said as she led the way out of the room.

*


	"Is he... dead?"
	"Of course he's dead," Washuu replied, crossing her arms. "Your real
question is, is he 'gone'?"
	Akane nodded, looking at the strange tube into which Washuu had
deposited Chris' body shortly after they had arrived... here. Wherever here was.
It looked like they were inside, but in a space so vast it boggled the
imagination. Up in the air far above them Akane could see what she was certain
was a whole planet in the sky. But it was far too big, far too close to be a
planet. There was something connecting it to the place she was in, a long thin
line that ran like an umbilical between the world in the sky and descended into
something in the far distance.
	"Of course, he's not dead," Washuu explained. She reached out and began
to type on the holographic board she had produced. "He's retreated."
	"Retreated?"
	"Into his own subconscious," Washuu said. "He refuses to accept what has
happened to him. The rot and destruction that Usagi imposed on him has broken
his fragile little mind. He's not truly unconscious, but he's protecting himself
from reality by refusing to acknowledge it."
	"So he can't see us?" Akane waved her hand in front of the tube.
	"Maybe. Who knows? His power really is frighteningly unpredictable. This
could all just be an elaborate trap he's going to spring... NOW!" Akane jumped,
prompting Washuu to laugh. "Don't worry, Akane. I wouldn't have brought you here
if I thought there was any danger. I thought long and hard about how I would
hold him if I had to. I think that vat will work. It contains a matrix of energy
in it that mimics exactly a dead body in every respect, except it will funnel
his consciousness back into the main body if he tries to jump and..." Washuu
trailed off when she realised that Akane was paying more attention to the tube
than her, then shrugged. "Trust me, he's contained."
	"Okay..." Akane frowned. "But what are you even doing here?"
	"I can't answer that, Akane," Washuu said softly.
	"You mean you won't," Akane replied sharply. "You're up to something,
aren't you? Since I've met you, everything has been running towards this,
this... tube!" Akane pointed at it. "You're manipulating me. Why?"
	"I can't tell you," Washuu replied. She didn't deny it, Akane noticed.
She blinked. "I can't tell anyone, Akane. The secret, once out, is too
dangerous. If I tell you, we might lose everything."
	"That's convenient," Akane snapped.
	"No, it's not," Washuu snapped back. "You think I planned on getting
Katsuhito killed, do you?" Washuu leapt down off the floating chair she had been
using and walked towards Akane. "That I LET that happen?" Washuu shouted once
she was in Akane's face. "Do you think I want to kill anyone? Anyone at all?"
	"I... I don't know..."
	"Of course you don't," Washuu informed her. "I'm not omniscient, Akane.
I'm very close, but not close enough. And I can't risk anything else going
wrong."
	"Is that why I'm here?" Akane asked reluctantly. "Because I messed up
your plan?" Washuu didn't respond, she just walked away from Akane. "I'm right.
When I stepped in up at the North Pole, I screwed up your plan, didn't I?"
	"I can't tell you that, Akane," Washuu replied. "Please stop asking
questions."
	"Why did you get rid of the Star Seed? You said something about it being
dangerous..."
	"It is," Washuu replied. "Very dangerous. It's the tool of HIM."
	"Chris?"
	"No. Much worse than Chris." Washuu looked up at her. "You of all people
should know who I'm talking about. He touched you, tried to make you into his
tool. If you'd taken that Star Seed into your heart like he planned, you would
be no better off than Hotaru."
	"What?"
	"You think Chris is bad, Akane?" Washuu smirked. "You should see the
thing that sent him here." She shook her head. "No, I'm going to have to insist
you leave this alone. I'm playing a very dangerous game. I'd like to tell you,
but I can't. So just accept that and please help me out."
	"Doing what?"
	"Hoping that Sailor Moon returns before it's too late."

*

	Angel's head snapped up. The cold, sterile light met her eyes, but there
was nothing near her. She looked past the bars of her cell, but there was
nothing in the hall. Across from her, Link was still imprisoned as well, but she
was huddled in the corner in her cell, seemingly asleep. Her arms were wrapped
around herself for warmth.
	Just as she'd convinced herself she'd just had a dream, warm breath
tickled her ear. "Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable
possibilities."
	Angel whirled around, but nothing was there. When she looked back, Kalia
was standing next to the bars. She was smiling. Her limbs and torso were
mangled. Cracks and small holes permeated her flesh, allowing Angel to see
inside the marionette's body. Inside was... nothing. An eternity, an infinity of
nothing. The air near the wounds writhed and twisted, as if something baneful
were trying to escape from within Kalia's body. But she was healing. Even as
Angel watched, tiny frayed edges slowly knitted themselves together out of
nothing. It was like, she suddenly realised, the opposite of watching Ukyou's
Silence Glaive destroy something.
	"Why are you here?" Angel finally said. As always, she had no idea
whether the words she spoke were her own or forced out of her by the not-girl
before her.
	"I'm waiting." Kalia replied with a childish little giggle. "Always
waiting. You all live in such a slow world."
	"Did Chris send you?"
	"Chris created me. There's nowhere I go that he did not send me." Kalia
grinned and sat back on nothing, her feet idly kicking the air. "Just like you."
	Angel sighed. She hated dealing with... whatever it was that Kalia was.
"Look, why don't you get me out of here?"
	"I can't," Kalia said cheerfully. "If I tried, Tethys would be down here
in an instant."
	"Can't you just... make her not notice or something?" Angel asked.
	"Oh, for a moment. Even she can make a mistake. But the Black Queen
learned long ago not to repeat the mistakes she makes. So she wouldn't be idle
long. Unless, of course, we fooled her."
	Angel was about to say something else, but Kalia had turned her
attention to the side. Angel's gaze followed her, and her breath caught in her
throat. She had never seen the Messiah of Silence, but it was impossible not to
recognise her. Angel could tell she had once been a Sailor Senshi like Rei. Her
outfit, the skirt and blouse and collar and bow, were similar in style, but
Hotaru's uniform was a stark white, like bone bleached by the sun. The outfit,
even her gloves and knee-length boots, was torn and frayed. She was a tiny girl,
no more than ten years old, but moved with a complete assurance and sense of
purpose that made her seem far older. In her wake hovered a great gaunt blade,
easily twice the girl's height. In her forehead, right where Rei's tiara would
have been, was etched a symbol, something like a lower-case 'h'. Blood welled
from it, belying the dead girl's pale skin, trickling in a scarlet scream down
between her eyes.
	Her expression gave no indication she noticed the blood; her lips were
pursed in a tiny little frown as she looked at the smiling Kalia. Then she
glanced over for just a moment, and her expression changed. A wave of sadness
washed across her features, and Angel, staring in shock at the tiny girl's
burnished bronze eyes, felt the sorrow hit her almost like a wave.
	"Such suffering you have endured," Hotaru murmured compassionately. "And
inflicted. There is a better way, you know."
	Angel just stared, unable to look away or speak.
	"Hey," Kalia broke in, still grinning. "No poaching, sister."
	Hotaru looked away, and Angel released her held breath explosively. The
Death Messiah now had a look of faint distaste. "You are no sibling of mine."
	"Don't hold it against me that I'm adopted."
	Hotaru's expression didn't darken farther, but the great blade at her
back jerked and twitched, like a dog straining at the leash to attack. "We
should move on with our business here. Time grows short."
	"Of course," Kalia said cheerfully. "I'll just free Angel."
	"I thought you said you couldn't get me out," Angel said, suddenly not
so sure she wanted to be freed anyway.
	Kalia giggled. "No, no, I could get you out. But it'd be hard to
convince Tethys she wouldn't notice. At least, for a long time." She stepped
forward. "Now, this will only hurt a lot. So activate your water chakra."
	Angel stepped back reflexively. "Listen, whatever you're doing, I don't
want any part-"
	Kalia raised her head, meeting Angel's gaze. She flinched and looked
away instantly, but the not-girl's voice curled into her ear again. "Oh, so
you're just going to abandon Chris, are you?"
	"What?"
	"Well, my sister here is still ambulatory, isn't she? Poor Chris seems
to be in trouble. As his beloved daughters, it falls upon us to rescue him."
Kalia paused. "Now, does that make Hotaru his cousin? Niece?"
	"Chris is in trouble?" Angel gasped. "Then... that means Sailor Moon..."
	"Don't worry your pretty head about it," Kalia said, and her smile
became feral. "She's being dealt with. Now, are you coming?"
	"Of course I am," Angel said, sure for once it was her own voice that
said it. But in the back of her mind, she felt uncomfortable. Chris needed help?
From HER? She shook her head, dispelling the small sense of doubt and stepped to
the edge of the bar. "Okay," she said, activating her water chakra. The glow
over her chest grew strong. "Now how does this-"
	The next few moments were filled with pain. Kalia reached in and grabbed
Angel's arm and pulled. Angel felt her arm squeeze and distort. She had no idea
how, but suddenly she knew that one of the secrets of Water Chakra was
distortion and adaptation, that if one trained enough, one could reshape one's
own body, stretching limbs and even greater feats. But the knowledge came too
little too late, as Kalia ripped her through the bars with a single vicious tug.
Angel wanted to scream, but her entire body compressed inward, mashing like soft
putty as Kalia pulled her through. She could feel her skull flattening, her
brain being squeezed like a grape. Then she was through, and collapsed on the
floor.
	She coughed and moaned. It felt like everything inside her had been
crushed. She turned slightly and vomited, releasing a pool of blood onto the
floor. Kalia giggled, floating over her. Angel could barely focus on her, barely
focus on anything... it hurt so much. Her Water Chakra was pushing itself to its
limit, and until now Angel hadn't been certain that was possible. She realised
that it was all that was keeping her mangled body from expiring on the spot.
	Right then, she wasn't entirely certain that was a good thing.
	Then Angel felt a hand on her brow. Numbness flowed down her head, along
her neck and arms. The pain simply vanished. She moaned and thrashed, opening
her eyes. Bronze eyes stared back down at her. They were full of pity. Angel
wanted to cry, looking into them. But she realised she was going to die...
	"No. Not yet." The girl above her smiled regretfully. "Your destiny
has not been fulfilled." Then the numbness slowly receded and Angel could feel
her limbs again. She sat up slowly, wonderingly. She examined her hands, glanced
over her body. She looked like nothing had happened.
	Hotaru had fallen back. She was coughing; retching really. She had one
hand over her mouth, and blood leaked between her fingers. Angel could only
stare. This didn't look like a merciless killing machine now. It looked like a
little girl, a little girl in pain. But that passed quickly, as Hotaru gave one
last cough and then stood up again.
	"The power of healing has become... antithetical to my nature," Hotaru
explained, her tone verged on wistful. Then she shrugged. "But we are running
low on time. Do you have the replacement?"
	It took a moment for Angel to realise the Silence Messiah wasn't talking
to her. They both turned their attention to Kalia. Who was smiling and standing
in front of a large curtain that was falling from the ceiling. Angel was damn
certain that... that it had always been there. She wondered why she had never
thought about it before.
	"Ladies and gentleman!" Kalia called, tipping her top hat. "May I
present the original, the one and only! The perfect spiritual replacement for
our dear girl Angel..." She tapped her cane on the floor and the curtain snapped
up into the air with a soft hiss. "Miss Nanami Kiryuu!"
	"Who?" Angel blinked.
	The girl behind the curtain was short, with long pale blonde hair
braided in the front. She wore a yellow uniform of some kind. Her eyes were
closed and she stood stiff as a statue. If it weren't for the steady rise and
fall of her chest, Angel would have been certain she was dead.
	Then again, this was Kalia. She may have been making the girl look alive
just to fuck with her.
	"Nope, this is a one-hundred percent real person," Kalia explained,
floating towards Angel. "In fact, you should get to know her sometime. Hang
around, compare notes. You two are soulmates, after all."
	"Wh-what?" Angel gasped.
	"We don't have time for games," Hotaru interrupted. "Unless you can keep
Tethys distracted forever..."
	Kalia stuck her tongue out at the smaller girl. "You only spoil my fun
because we're bitter enemies."
	"Angel..." Hotaru said, stepping between her and the new girl. "We need
to fool Tethys. She must believe you are in this cell. But we can fool her, if
this girl has enough of your spiritual signature." She held out her hand. "Only
she can do it, because of the bond you two share. But I need something else from
you."
	"Bond?" Angel stared down at the pale-skinned girl. She hadn't felt this
frightened since she'd fought Lotus Infinite. "What do you need?" But of course,
Angel already knew the answer.
	"Your blood," Hotaru answered anyway.
	"Why?"
	"Because it always has to be blood," Kalia laughed. "Isn't that right,
Link?"
	Angel turned. Link was awake now. She was sitting back in her cell,
trying to look as small as possible. Her eyes were wide and shaking. She gulped.
Kalia smiled. Then Hotaru grabbed Angel's hand and pulled it up, drawing her
attention back.
	"I would like another way as much as you, but Destiny is a harsh
master," Hotaru said. Then she ran her finger along Angel's wrist. Angel hissed
as blood immediately started pooling out of the cut. Hotaru leaned down and
seemed to kiss it. Angel felt the strength draining out of her. Acting on
instinct she flared up her Water Chakra again, but it could barely restore her
as fast as Hotaru was draining her. Finally the girl released her hand and Angel
swooned, collapsing against a wall.
	The girl turned and beckoned to the silent, obviously unconscious girl.
She walked forward, mechanically. Hotaru reached down and slit her own wrist,
causing blood to well up again. She pulled Nanami's head down and forced her
lips against the cut. Nanami was still for a moment, then her throat began
working. Her hands twitched. Angel gasped. She was burning. She reached up and
clasped at the side of her face. Her tattoos were burning. Then Hotaru pulled
Nanami free and the sensation stopped.
	The girl's eyes were open now. Staring, empty, lifeless... Angel
couldn't look.
	"Put her in," Hotaru said. Kalia grinned and grabbed the girl. She
walked her over to the bars and shoved. Angel gasped. Nanami ran through the
bars like cheese through a grater. It neatly sliced her into even chunks. Blood
spilled out over the floor, over the cage. Bits of organs and other gore
splattered around. Angel felt her gorge rising.
	Then it began to reverse. It was like watching one of those movies where
they ran the film backwards. The blood and organs flowed backward, coiling and
shifting back into the shape of a girl. In less than a second, Nanami had been
wholly restored. Only her torn and tattered outfit showed the violence that had
been inflicted on her. Her expressionless eyes just stared up at the ceiling of
the cell.
	"Well, that should keep her majesty nice and confused," Kalia said,
clapping. "But there's one more thing to worry about." She turned, and though
Angel couldn't see her expression, she saw Link flinch backwards from it. "You.
It seems you woke up, but didn't call any attention to yourself. Why is that,
Link? Aren't you eager to join us to save Chris?"
	The woman in the cell was silent for a long moment, then uncurled and
stood up. Her white shift fell around her skinny body as she patted it down
nonchalantly, though she carefully didn't meet Kalia's gaze. "No. I have no wish
to be sliced to bits, particularly around that vampire."
	"Oh, is that so?" Kalia said, and there was a sort of menacing sarcasm
in her voice. "Aren't you willing to dare anything for Chris? After all he did
for you?"
	"You already have one worshipful fool," Link snorted. "Get out of here,
all of you. Don't think you can threaten me. I could alert Tethys faster than-"
	She stopped, her head snapping up and eyes widening. Kalia didn't do
anything, not even move, but her gaze remained firmly locked on the other woman,
and Angel felt a sudden feeling of vertigo. It was if everything else, including
her, was suddenly falling away, leaving only a tunnel between Kalia and Link.
	"Yes, you could," Kalia purred. "But you won't. You're so confident, so
prideful. Instead, you are taking a step towards me."
	And Link took a step. Angel watched the scene as if it was a movie,
helpless to intervene or even speak. The air around Kalia's bottomless wounds
screamed in anguish, whirling faster and faster with black eddies of nothing.
The not-girl took her own step forward to match Link's.
	"In fact, in a sudden mad rush of confidence, you might even lift your
chin and bare your throat to me." Kalia's voice was soft, hypnotic.
	Sweat trickled down Link's face. Her jaw worked as if she was trying to
talk, to scream. But no sound emerged and slowly, reluctantly, her chin lifted
to expose the paleness of her neck.
	Angel heard, dimly aware, a soft sound. Like bells tingling or... no, it
was music. Some kind of children's song, or rhyme, or...
	"And you step forward again. Oh, Link, so uncharacteristically bold of
you," Kalia giggled, and Link took another step towards the bars. Kalia stepped
in tune with her, and raised her hand, her scarlet-clad fingers flexing. "And
again. Step."
	The music was hauntingly familiar, but Angel couldn't think of what it
was, could only stare as Link stepped again.
	"Step."
	And again. She was almost at the bars now. Her exposed neck throbbed and
unshed tears glittered in her brown eyes, but still she made no sound.
	"Step."
	Her body was pressed against the bars. Kalia completed her final step,
and smiled. "So brave," she cooed. Her fingers reached up as the music paused.
	"Enough."
	And suddenly the entire scene crashed around them, falling outward as
reality reasserted itself. Link shot backwards just before Kalia's scarlet
fingers touched her throat, crashing into the opposite wall of the cell in her
haste to get away. Kalia looked over at Hotaru, who had spoken, and pouted
slightly. "Oh, no, does God want her, too? He's so greedy."
	Hotaru was frowning. "That was foolish and unnecessary. Tethys-"
	"So concerned about the Black Queen?" Kalia asked with a mad grin. "No,
you're safe either way, aren't you? Precious little child, your path is laid out
for you."
	Hotaru said nothing, merely stared, her bronze eyes unreadable.
	"So, does God want her?" Kalia asked again. "Oh, tell me, do.
Prophesise. She will be SO thrilled to know her existence has some significance
to the petty little tyrant you serve."
	Angel looked, almost involuntarily. Indeed, Link was leaning forward
again, her eyes fixed raptly on the Messiah of Silence. But she wasn't getting
anywhere near the bars.
	"Pop Goes The Weasel!" Angel suddenly said, snapping her first into her
palm. All of them, even Link, turned to look at her, and Angel felt her face
grow hot. "Umm, the music... that is... I mean..."
	"Link's fate is none of your concern," Hotaru said suddenly. "But this
is." Suddenly her voice grew deeper, louder, carrying the weight of ages behind
it. "Chris will be destroyed by betrayal. But it will not be by Link that this
is done."
	Kalia's smile faded. She stared at Hotaru for a long moment, then looked
at Angel again. This time it was Angel's turn to flinch. Those eyes...
	But then Kalia's smile reappeared. "What a stuffily predictable old
fart." She laughed lightly, kicking up her heels, and floated over to Angel's
side, causing her to flinch again. "Awww, don't be so scared. You're my dear
compatriot. C'mon, you two. You're so slow!"
	She set off down the hallway, giggling again. Hotaru silently followed,
her demonic sword following at her heels like a huge dog. Angel spared one
glance back. Nanami still stared blankly up at the ceiling. Link had curled up
in the corner of her cell, head pressed against her knees. Her thin shoulders
were shaking, though whether she was laughing or weeping Angel couldn't tell.
	Then she turned and followed the Messiah of Silence and Kalia, not
certain how she could possibly not be walking to her own death.

*

	Ryouga was fairly certain he had been here before. He looked around. It
was a path that cut around the outside of the city. The edge fell off into an
abyss filled with a silvery mist, a mist that made a sound like chimes echoing
as it moved. He was fairly certain that it was unhealthy.
	He rubbed his eyes and sat down, dangling his feet over the edge. This
was getting tiresome. Being lost sucked. He'd forgotten how much it sucked. No,
it was worse than that. Back before he had met Nabiki, he had spent his entire
life lost. Lost was simply the way he had been. It was like breathing, like his
heart beating. It was one of the ways he knew he was alive.
	But for seven years, he hadn't been lost. He'd experienced the carefree
existence that most people enjoyed. He'd lived in a world where the same path
always led to the same place, where houses were always arranged the same way,
where everything made sense. He'd started taking it for granted.
	"I almost wish Nabiki had never bothered trying to cure me," Ryouga said
bitterly. He looked down at the sword. It gleamed in the silver light, but said
nothing. It looked like just any other sword. But Ryouga knew better.
	"You could fix all this," Ryouga said to the sword, holding it up. It
gleamed silently. "You could make it all better, couldn't you? The magic wishing
sword. You made me immortal, cursed me to this neverending life. But I wouldn't
even ask you to fix me. Not my immortality. Not my direction sense. Not even my
Jyusenkyou curse.
	"I wish you would save Hotaru."
	"Unauthorised user!" the Wishing Sword said in a strangely normal-
sounding voice. Ryouga smiled wryly.
	"You can't make an exception, just this once?" Ryouga ran his finger
along the flat of the blade. It was cold, smooth. The blade was excellently
crafted. There was nothing fancy about it; it was just extremely well-made. "You
don't know what this means, to me. To her.
	"She suffers. No one else sees it, but me. To the world, she's just a
monster. A killer. A mass murderer. And they're right. But I look into those
eyes, and I never see malice. I never see anger. I see the eyes of a girl in
pain, who just wants that pain to end. I see the face of a little girl I rescued
from a plummet off a high-rise. I see a girl who watched her father die right in
front of her, while I was helpless to do anything but watch.
	"You could do it. Bring her back from the brink. Her hunger, her burning
need to kill. You haven't see her fight it like I have. Before I met her, she
just killed and killed. But she's changed. She holds back. She allows me to keep
her away from people. Away from the people she would hurt.
	"Don't you see? She wants to be saved! She deserves to be saved! It's
not fair. The voices she hears, the madness that drives her... it's not her! I
don't know if she actually talks to God, or if her fragile brain just couldn't
handle the pressure and snapped. But you can fix that!"
	He pressed his thumb against the edge and blood welled up. He hissed at
the pain, letting his blood drip down its length.
	"Is it because of what she's done? Is that it? Is she too far gone!?" he
was shouting now, but didn't care. "Bullshit! I don't believe that. Fix her,
damnit! Make her human again! Make her able to feel again! Drive the voices from
her head! Change history! Change reality! Change everything! I don't care
anymore!
	"But damn it, I..." He trailed off. It was time to admit it. "I need it
to have meant something. I need to have made a difference. My life can't all be
pain and failure. The one good thing I ever accomplished in my life was saving
that little girl, and I will NOT let the darkness have her!
	"I wish she was human! I wish she was normal! I wish her suffering would
stop!"
	"Unauthorised user!"
	"DO IT!" Ryouga screamed at the sword. "Do something good, you mindless
hunk of metal! SAVE HER!" He wrapped his hand around the blade, driving it into
his skin. Blood rolled down the sword. He snarled. "You're the magic answer! The
wand I can wave and make it all right! SAVE HER!" His wrist strained. His eyes
narrowed. The sword shuddered in his grasp. "Save her!" His voice caught.
	"Save her... because I can't..."
	With a choked sob he rammed the sword into the ice next to him. It
quivered, but was still in good shape. He buried his head in his hands. What was
he supposed to do now? He couldn't go anywhere, he had no direction.
	He stiffened as a hand settled onto his shoulder. He lifted his head and
looked up. A young woman stood over him. She wore black leather, a jacket that
was tight around her chest and pants that hugged her thighs. It was hard not to
notice, since his eyes were at crotch level when he turned. He blushed and
turned his gaze away, apologiaing. The woman chuckled.
	"Don't be sorry, Ryouga. You look like you could use a hand up, though."
She stepped back and offered him a hand. He looked at the offered hand. Then,
sighing, he took it and allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. She looked
into his eyes, her lips forming a thin line. "There's something wrong, isn't
there?"
	"I'm..." He looked her up and down. She looked vaguely familiar. "Have
we met?"
	"Seven years ago, in Tokyo." The woman bowed slightly. "I'm Akira.
Ukyou's friend?" Ryouga nodded. He vaguely remembered somebody in motorcycle
leathers. But hadn't that been a guy? One who always wore a helmet, at that.
	"Nabiki sent me," she explained. Ryouga stiffened again, and took a step
back. Her frown deepened. "I'm guessing that was the wrong thing to say."
	"Tell Nabiki what's between us is over," Ryouga spat out. "I want
nothing more to do with her."
	"You saved her life," Akira pointed out.
	"I would have done the same for you," he growled. "Hell, I would have
done the same for Ranma."
	Akira shrugged. "That's between the two of you." She looked past him.
"Though I think that belongs to her." She raised an eyebrow.
	"I... I need it." She stared at him. Her expression wasn't accusing or
demanding. It was just calm and centred. He fidgeted. "I... I have to help
someone."
	"You can't use it," Akira said in a tone of voice that indicated she was
aware he knew this.
	"It doesn't matter," he snapped back. "I'll find a way. There is a girl
out there. She's... lost. Lost worse than I have ever been. She's in a very dark
place and can't see a way out. If I can figure out how to use this..." He pulled
the sword free. "Link thought she could take it. Maybe I can too. She was going
to use her blood, somehow. Well, I'm the immortal man, right? My body adapts to
everything. Maybe I can adapt to this. Maybe I can change myself until it
works."
	"I don't think it works that way," Akira said, her voice soft.
	He snapped the blade up and pointed it at her. She was forced back a few
steps. "Don't think I'm just going to give it up! I'll fight you if I have to!"
	Akira held up her hands, the universal sign of peace. "Whoa, calm down!"
She stepped back again. "I never suggested giving up." Ryouga frowned. "I... you
remember Ukyou, right?"
	Ukyou. Ryouga looked down. Hotaru liked to talk about Ukyou. She was the
key to all this somehow. His mind flashed back to one time on the road, a few
years ago...
	"She suffers, Ryouga," Hotaru had explained. He'd looked up from the
rabbit he had caught for dinner. The girl was staring off into the star-filled
sky. He'd asked her who. If she had decided on another target, he needed to do
something. Maybe knock her down long enough to get a head start. To get away and
warn the victim... "It all comes down to pain, in the end, Ryouga. She clings to
life, she clings to this life, and it brings her pain. And her pain is our pain.
It can't end for any of us, until it ends for her. That's the way it has to
happen. She has to give up. She has to accept that it's over.
	"And if she can't, I have to make her. She needs something she will hate
more than the thought of dying. Some defilement she'll want to avoid so much
that death is better. You've asked where you're leading me, Ryouga. You're
leading me there. To the place, to the time, where my fate will hang in the
balance. Where the perversion, the destruction of everything I was will force
her hand.
	"She is God, Ryouga. She will be again. This world, it is for her. It is
her crucible. Her judgement. I am the final test. You will lead me to the day,
that Ukyou will finally die. And in dying, end all our torment with her."
	That had been as coherent as she ever got with him. The closest she'd
ever come to telling him what was going on. He'd never understood it.
	"We can't... I can't..." Ryouga looked up at Akira again. "Ukyou and
Hotaru can never meet."
	"Sailor Pluto said that, too," Akira mused. "When Ukyou went after
Hotaru. She said it was best that Ukyou not look. That she wouldn't like what
she would find." Akira frowned again. "What is it, Ryouga? What happens when
those two meet each other?"
	"The point of no return," Ryouga said. "I'm not certain. I don't
understand it. I think... I think that Hotaru isn't too far gone to save yet.
But once she and Ukyou confront each other... there's no going back from that."
	"Why?" Akira asked, her voice suddenly intense.
	"I... Hotaru believes that there is something behind this world.
Something that has been controlling everything. God, fate, luck... call it what
you want. But Hotaru believes that Ukyou and her are going to fight, and that
when they do..."
	Akira walked up to him, right up next to him. "Did she ever describe it?
The thing behind this? Do you know anything about it?"
	"No." He shook his head. "I'm not even certain Hotaru does."
	Akira sighed and backed up. "No matter." She looked at the sword in
Ryouga's hand. "Ryouga, I trust Ukyou. I know all about the prophecies and all
that, but in the end, I don't think it will end that way. We always have a
choice, and I don't think Ukyou will make that choice." She looked at him. "But
you don't have any reason to believe that. You don't know me, or Ukyou. You
can't trust us. But trust this, Ryouga. Ukyou WILL save Hotaru. I just want you
to come with me to talk to her. Listen to what she has to say herself. Then,
then you can decide what to do."
	Ryouga was about to answer when Akira's head snapped up and back. The
blood drained from her face. "I think... I think it's already too late." She
looked at Ryouga. "I know where she is. We have to hurry. I know where she is!"
	She grabbed his hand and he was left with no choice but to run along
behind her.

*

	JunJun shivered. She reached up and hugged herself, trying to keep the
warmth in. Her magical orb clattered to the ground. PallaPalla placed a hand on
her shoulder and JunJun grabbed onto it gratefully. The shorter girl smiled up
at her.
	"It's getting worse, isn't it?"
	"Yeah," JunJun replied, shaking off the chill. "Yeah, it is."
	They had arrived just outside the city. The entire thing stretched out
below them, spread out around Tokyo Bay, shining and beautiful. For the first
time, JunJun realised that Chronos had done a spectacular job reconstructing the
city. It had never occurred to her before.
	"Why did we stop?"
	All four of the quartet turned their eyes to Princess Serenity. She was
standing next to her stead, the obsidian-eyed crystal pegasus with its clear
horn. Her hand was stroking the beast's neck absently, but it showed neither
pleasure nor even acknowledgement of this. Something about the horse twinged at
something in the back of JunJun's mind. It was like she should know who this
creature was. Not what, even, but WHO.
	And she figured if she remembered, it would be bad.
	"We can't go any further," VesVes explained. The Princess frowned almost
imperceptibly.
	"There is... an evil force present," CereCere stepped in, deflecting the
young woman's attention.
	"It's terrible," JunJun whispered. "Something terrible is happening
here. Power is gathering. I can feel it in my bones."
	Serenity looked at the four of them and then back at the city. For a
moment her angelically blue eyes seemed to lose focus. Then she sighed. "Chaos.
Oblivion."
	"Oblivion?" JunJun asked.
	"A terrible force," Princess Serenity explained. "It exists in the world
of dreams. It destroys everything it touches. What it doesn't destroy, it
corrupts." She waved her hand before her face. "There were things that served
it, a terrible monster and a beautiful queen." She looked down. "I defeated
them, cast them down the Well of the Void, to block the rest of the world off
from the darkness."
	"Beautiful queen?" CereCere looked at VesVes. JunJun felt that twinge of
memory in the back of her skull again.
	"But what's really in that city is Chaos," Princess Serenity explained.
"Anger, Rage, Hatred. All the emotions of conflict, they're swirling around the
earth and gathering at this point. Somebody is preparing for something dire."
	"We have to save Mr. Purgstall!" PallaPalla cried out.
	The Moon Princess smiled at her indulgently and rubbed her hair. "Don't
worry. I don't intend to forget your friend." She turned to the others. "Bring
me to him. I have a feeling the other two are related to this."
	"Yeah..." JunJun gulped. She reached down and grabbed her orb. Cold
tendrils climbed up her arm. It was like liquefied hate was crawling up her
veins, reaching for her heart. She gasped, but then the Princess touched her on
the shoulder and the pain vanished. She smiled gratefully. "Yeah, but we can't
teleport through this miasma. We'll have to sneak in the old-fashioned way."
	The Princess smiled wryly and looked down at her shimmering silver
armour. "I won't be sneaking in, girls. But lead the way. I have a feeling that
we will reach our destination in due time."

*

	The room looked just like Angel remembered it. It was disguised as a
trophy room. The large, perfectly circular chamber had smooth walls, and at each
station of the clock, save six o'clock, where the door was, had what almost
appeared to be a window. But, if you looked more closely, you could see that
they were actually clear sections of ice, with... things frozen within. Monsters
and vampires and demons and some sort of golden Aztec robot, a macabre testament
to the power of the Dark Queen.
	Angel glanced back out the door, where the bridge that led to this, the
deepest room within the City of Black Ice, was still shattered from her battle
with Akira. Nobody had accosted them during the journey here, neither guard nor
refugee nor reconstruction crew; wherever Kalia went seemed to be conveniently
deserted, and so they passed unnoticed.
	This room was the only place they'd seen in the entire city since
leaving their cells that was still made of black ice, instead of the shimmering
crystal the rest of the city had become. Angel shivered a little.
	"How are you progressing?" Hotaru asked.
	Kalia was kneeling, one crimson and black hand pressed to the icy floor.
She was smiling, and the fall of her white hair hid her eyes from view. "Deep
below here sits a broken little girl. Desperate to be ordered around, no matter
how morally repugnant her masters turn out to be. In her concern for them, she
hopes to retain her humanity. And oh, how concerned she is." The air around
Kalia's wounds churned and screamed again as she spoke. "It has been so long
with no word from her mistress. She does not like it. She felt the power, the
pure power of Sailor Moon that swept over this city, though how fortunate for
her that even it could not penetrate to the dark, hidden place she calls home.
But there is no word on what happened, and she is afraid. She is loyal, she
knows she should stay still, but oh so afraid. She fears she is needed. She
looks guiltily upwards. Oh, yes, it would take so little for her misguided
concern to overcome her good sense." Kalia stood with a small laugh. "She will
come. Give her a little time, and the suggestion in her mind will overcome her."
	Hotaru nodded, and turned to Angel. "Then I will fulfill my terms of our
agreement."
	Suddenly, her giant demon blade flashed forward. Angel cried out and
leaped backwards, raising her hands to shield herself, wishing desperately she
still had her sword. But the flying blade suddenly stopped before striking,
hovering in front of her.
	"Don't fear it," Hotaru said. "You'll have need of a weapon where you
are heading. This is Dylek. It carries the seed of Oblivion within it. It can
slay anything that lives... even a god."
	Angel helplessly looked at Kalia, for lack of anyone better to take
advice from. She only laughed.
	"Take it, unless you think you can kill Washuu with your bare hands."
	Angel gaped. "Washuu?"
	"Oh yes," Kalia said innocently, "Nobody let you in on this, did they?
Sailor Moon might have stopped Chris from destroying God's little mouthpiece
there, but the one pulling her strings was Washuu. Are you surprised? You didn't
think she'd just forget what you did to Mihoshi, did you?"
	"No," Angel said, feeling sick. "But..."
	"Are you saying you won't kill her to save Chris?"
	"No," Angel said finally. Washuu. Sailor Moon. Hotaru. Ukyou. Tethys.
This was all... so big. Way too big for her. But she had to try, didn't she? She
ignored the nagging voice in the back of her head that wondered why Chris could
possibly need her to save Him. It would all make sense when she saw Him again.
He'd explain it. "No, I'll do what I can. But I don't know what I can do."
	"You can take the sword," Kalia said. "Then, I suppose we'll just have
to see what happens, won't we?" She laughed to herself.
	Angel nodded, and took the sword firmly by the hilt. It felt cold in her
hands, but not uncomfortably so. The whole blade was easily two meters in
length, and as wide as her forearm was long. It looked like it once might have
been gleaming silver and polished bronze, but the colours had since faded. It
looked ancient now, old and tired, with cracks and chips marring the metal of
the blade. Still, she had no doubt, from the moment she touched the hilt, that
she was holding a weapon of power. The back of the great sword curved at the top
like a sickle, forming a 'mouth' which was studded with jagged metal teeth.
Above it, near the rounded tip of the blade, what looked like an eye was etched
in the metal. It seemed to regard her with suspicion, and Angel quickly looked
away.
	"And now it's time for the fun to begin!" giggled Kalia.
	Then the room suddenly erupted with a blinding flash of blue light.
	Then a lot of things happened at once.
	Angel screamed and leaped backwards, waving her sword defensively as she
tried to rub spots out of her eyes. She could hear figures moving into the room.
Was it Tethys? Angel powered her water chakra, clearing her vision, and shifted
instantly to air, for all the good it would do. She took a look around, and
saw...
	Akira and Ryouga were attacking, hundreds of blows in an instant. Kalia
merely grinned and effortlessly evaded them. "Ahura Mazda!" she cried with
delight. "I've missed you, dear sister! But you ought to pick your partners more
carefully."
	Suddenly Ryouga mistimed his attack, some unlikely error of judgement or
skill, and Akira was sent flying across the room. She rolled up before she hit
the wall, cursing. "I'm sorry!" cried Ryouga. "I don't know what happened..."
	"Forget it!" Akira barked. "Do something to restrain Hotaru! Let me
handle her-" she broke off as her eyes fell on Angel, who stared back. "Angel?
What are you doing here?"
	Angel opened her mouth, but for the life of her, couldn't think of
anything to say. Akira stared at her, then at the demonic sword she was
carrying. Her expression grew hard. "Alright. I'll stop you again if I have to."
	"No, no, Ahura Mazda, I'm not ready for you two to fight again just
yet," Kalia called, and Akira whirled to face her. Kalia was holding an enormous
ball of yellow energy above her head with one hand. Her smile glinted white in
the reflected light. "But we'll meet again soon, I promise!"
	Then she hurtled the ball into the ceiling. Somehow, without even
realising how she knew what to do, Angel was already moving. She flashed past
Akira and out of the tiny room just as the ceiling crashed down behind them.
	"Soon, soon," Kalia repeated, clapping her hands. "But they can be God's
problem right now." She wheeled and flew through the air, easily keeping pace
with Angel.
	"Where are we going?" Angel called. She ran more out of inertia than
anything else. She hated feeling this helpless. She'd find Chris soon, right?
Then he'd explain it, right?
	Kalia smiled. "Just run. Where ever you go, there we'll be."

*

	"Hey, old man..." Rei ran her hand across the smooth crystal. It was
cool to the touch. Of course, he didn't look old anymore. He looked so young, so
vital. Nothing like the man she had grown to know. Nothing like the old fart who
used to try and sneak a peak while she was bathing, or chide her for avoiding
her chores or taunt her while they sparred. This man looked so different that
Rei almost couldn't believe it was him.
	He floated above the ground, suspended in a geometrically perfect block
of ice. He was in gentle repose, his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Tethys
had assured her that so long as he remained in the crystal, his body would not
decay. "I'm going to take you home," she said. "When this is over. I'll take you
back to the pond. I'll bury you under the spreading boughs of that tree. You'd
like that, wouldn't you? I hope you would."
	She let her hand fall away. "It's... it's almost over now..." She
coughed and rubbed at her eyes. "I thought I was supposed to feel better now.
But I don't." She laughed bitterly. "This is the part where you start saying
something that sounds really profound. Something that is supposed to be wise and
mature and teach me a lesson. Except it turns out to be an awful pun or
something perverted or maybe you're just pushing my buttons."
	She was crying. But it was okay to cry, right? She rubbed at her eyes
again. "It isn't supposed to feel like this. We won. We defeated Chris. We
avenged Mihoshi. I'm supposed to feel better now. But I... Angel..." Rei
remembered the look of pure animal hatred on Angel's face. It made her sick to
think of it.
	"Rei?"
	Rei looked over her shoulder, wiping her eyes quickly to hide her tears.
She wasn't certain why. Sailor Pluto stood in the doorway. She was tall and
majestic, with long green hair and a uniform that managed to look somber with
its dark colours. In one hand she held a key-shaped staff with a heart on one
end, a garnet orb in its centre. It looked like a part of her.
	"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting..."
	"No, no, it's okay..." Rei managed to keep her voice from cracking. "I
was just saying goodbye."
	"Are you finished?"
	"I..." Rei paused. "Yeah. I guess I am." She looked at the taller, older
Sailor Senshi. "Any luck?"
	Pluto frowned and walked forward. "I returned to the Time Gate and did
all I could. Sailor Saturn's destiny has been severed from the normal flow of
time."
	"Can't you just... look at the future?"
	"I wish it were that simple," Pluto said with an exasperated sigh. "I
tried to locate Hotaru... her past, her future, any part of it. But she is
simply not there anymore. It is just like that boy Chris. According to the flow
of time, neither of them exist." She rubbed her brow with her free hand. "This
despite my seeing them both with my own eyes. When I try to view the battle
between them, all I get is... chaos. Distortion. It's like the very fabric of
reality itself had been warped and twisted by their very presence."
	"Well, that stinks," Rei summed up.
	Pluto smiled thinly. "Yes. Come on, we should go find the others."
	Rei nodded as they left the mausoleum. She tried not to think of all the
other people that Tethys had been forced to dig out of the wreckage and place in
tombs like this. They quickly exited the macabre area and made their way to the
place which had been assigned to the walking wounded.
	Rei considered striking up a conversation with the other Senshi. But
they barely knew each other, despite apparently being on the same side. Rei
wasn't even certain if Sailor Pluto had a civilian name. Everyone had just
called her 'Pluto' and left it at that. Rei wondered if one day that would
happen to her. Washuu had told her that she was immortal, or very close to it.
One day, would the girl Rei be gone and leave behind only Sailor Mars?
	Well, this was a great way to cheer herself up. Rei shook her head,
trying to dismiss the morbid thoughts.
	"Hey!" Rei and Pluto stopped. Ranma was walking up the corridor towards
them. He raised his hand to wave, but winced a bit and was unable to get it
above his shoulder. They paused as he caught up with them. "Either of you two
seen Ukyou?" Ranma asked once he was closer.
	Pluto immediately reached for a pouch at her side. Rei glanced at it
curiously. Pluto had picked something up off the floor shortly after Sailor Moon
had chased off after Chris to finish him off. Rei hadn't gotten a good look at
it. Strangely, she felt like she should recognise it. Whenever she looked at the
pouch, something in her breast seemed to quiver in response. It was like a
tuning fork reacting to a particular sound.
	"No." Pluto explained, "I believe she and Tethys are in the southern
section of the city, searching for the Messiah of Silence."
	"Yeah," Ranma grumbled. He looked back over his shoulder. Rei followed
his eyes. The room he was looking at was the one they had put Nabiki into, if
she recalled correctly. Rei didn't really know the woman except by reputation.
What she had heard, however, was not very pleasant. "I just..." he turned back
to Pluto. "I have a problem."
	"Nabiki is dying," Pluto stated matter-of-factly.
	Ranma blinked. "How did you...?"
	"While I was in the Time Gate I examined the future, trying to discover
what we should do next."
	"And...?" Ranma prompted.
	Pluto looked down. "I didn't like what I saw. I would prefer not to
speak of it." She sighed. "But I can tell you I saw that Nabiki only has a few
hours left to live. The poison in her system that prevents her from using her
powers will kill her soon."
	"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Ranma shouted, his eyes
flashing. Rei started. She would have never guessed someone could have such
passion about someone like Nabiki. From everything Rei had heard, the woman was
one step above Bison and Millennium on the grand scale of scum. Except that
unlike them, she didn't have the courage of her convictions, instead offering
her services to the highest bidder.
	"Unfortunately, we don't have access to anything that can heal her,"
Pluto explained. "Perhaps the Moon Princess could do so. It was her energy
diffusing throughout the city that kept her from succumbing to the poison long
ago."
	"What about Link?" Rei suggested.
	"Hey, that's right!" Ranma slapped her on the shoulder. "If Link did
this to her, she can reverse it."
	Pluto considered it for a moment then nodded. "Not bad." She smiled.
"And while we're at it, we can ask her about what it was Chris was really after
here."
	"Won't that piss off Tethys?" Rei said nervously. She had no intention
of getting on that woman's bad side. Water was a very good fire extinguisher.
	Pluto's smile widened. "Perhaps. But she left me in charge. So... we'll
never know until we try, right?"
	"Right!" Ranma laughed.
	The three of them made their way through the rest of the hospital ward.
Human doctors and youma were working feverishly, trying to save those who had
been injured in the raid. Rei said a short prayer under her breath as she passed
through the area. Whatever small help it was to those poor souls.
	The room Tethys had set aside for the prisoners was literally
inaccessible from the rest of the city. It hovered in the great gap between the
top of the coral-like city and the recently repaired ceiling. Around it floated
a sphere of water; hollow on the inside but spinning like a whirlpool on the
outside. Rei didn't know what would happen to anyone foolish enough to try and
step through that shell, but she didn't really want to find out either. Pluto
gestured with her staff and one of the whirlpools swirled faster and faster
until it slowly irised open. A staircase of floating crystal steps faded into
existence, allowing them to walk up.
	Ranma somehow managed to slip on one of the steps halfway up and
stumbled into the water. Rei gasped and grabbed him, just pulling him back
before the tide ripped him off the path entirely. He came back looking annoyed,
soaked and female. Rei blinked.
	"Whatcha lookin' at?" the girl Ranma snapped.
	"Sorry," Rei said. "I..."
	"It's a long story," Ranma didn't explain.
	"Right..." Rei murmured.
	They came to the small balcony on the outside of the floating room. A
man in a silly-looking black body suit and mask, painted with white to look like
a skeleton, stood on the balcony. He had his hands on his hips and his head
cocked to one side. A red scarf on his neck flickered in the wind. As they
stepped onto the platform, Rei could hear the barrier close behind them.
	"Lady Pluto! Ranma, my friend! And Sailor Rei!" the man greeted them
enthusiastically.
	"Mars," Rei corrected.
	"Where?" He looked around. "I thought she was back at Ohtori!"
	"I'm not Sailor Rei. I'm Sailor Mars."
	"Oh!" He looked at her. "You look more like a Sailor Rei!"
	Rei raised an eyebrow at that. "How, exactly?"
	He shrugged. "But I'm delaying you all! Please be assured, the ultimate
hero-" he swung his arms out, striking a pose that made him look vaguely like an
Olympic discus thrower, "Skullomania, has made certain that nothing has
disturbed the inside of this room since you left, Sailor Rei!" Rei opened her
mouth, then decided to give up. Personally, she was convinced Tethys had
assigned him to guard duty here because he was far too annoying to let loose in
the city below.
	Pluto made her way to the door and suddenly Rei felt her stomach twist.
She cursed inwardly. Of course, Angel was going to be in there. She really
didn't feel like another confrontation with her former friend. Why hadn't she
thought of that until now? The moment Nabiki's illness had come up, Rei had
jumped in without thinking.
	"Ah..." Pluto stopped in the doorway. "Mr..."
	"Skullomania!"
	"Of course." Pluto was standing stock still, her eyebrow was twitching
slightly. "Would you care to explain this?"
	Skullomania pushed past her into the room. "Hmm!" Rei raised an eyebrow.
Even his sub-vocalisations sounded like exclamations. "By all that is just, the
assassin has escaped!"
	"What?" Rei shouted, pushing past Pluto herself. Pluto stepped aside
before Ranma could shove her out of the way. Rei stopped a few steps in. She
stared at the cage that Tethys had placed Angel in. Rei had seen Tethys snare
her. She knew that the girl couldn't possibly have escaped. But in that cage
now...
	"Nanami!" Rei gasped, running over to the wall of icy bars. She paused
just outside of them, her mouth hanging open. It was Nanami. She looked almost
exactly as she had in the hospital room where Luna had led her and Akane. Except
now her skin was pale, and her eyes were open and staring at the ceiling. But
there was no life, no animation in those eyes. Rei waved her hand through the
light, but the pupils did not so much as flicker. Had Nanami's eyes always been
yellow?
	"You know this girl?" Pluto asked, walking closer.
	"Yes," Rei turned and looked at Ranma and Skullomania. Nanami's clothing
was shredded and had lost the ability to keep her decent. Ranma was
conspicuously looking elsewhere, despite being a girl at the moment.
Skullomania... Rei wasn't certain what he was doing. That mask of his made it
very hard to read him. "Her name is Nanami Kiryuu. Akane and I originally came
here trying to find her brother so we could cure her..." She trailed off,
looking back over her shoulder. "But this doesn't make sense. We left Nanami
back at Ohtori."
	"I see..." Pluto murmured. She held up her staff and gestured once over
the garnet orb that tipped it. "Something has... altered time here."
	"What about her?" Ranma pointed across the room. They all turned to look
at Link's cage. The woman was sitting with her back against the bars, facing
them. Her eyes glittered with something like amusement as she sat before them,
looking as regal and dignified as her near lack of clothing and current
circumstance would allow. "She probably saw what happened."
	"Of course I saw exactly what happened," Link said with a hint of
smugness.
	"Do tell," Pluto said, stepping in front of the cage and holding her
staff casually.
	"You people really should learn to finish off all your enemies before
celebrating victory," Link replied snidely. "Kalia and Sailor Saturn came here
and freed Angel, then left."
	"Kalia and Sailor Saturn?" Rei snapped. "That doesn't make any sense.
Chris and Hotaru are enemies!"
	"Whether you believe me or not isn't really important to me," Link said
with a shrug. "I have no reason to lie."
	"You have plenty," Rei snarled. "Considering you work for Chris, too."
	Link rubbed her neck with one arm and frowned marginally. "I think my
association with Chris has reached the end of its usefulness." She paused and
then added, "For both of us."
	"Okay, suppose we believe you," Pluto cut in, hushing Rei's next
outburst with a gesture. "What is that other girl doing here?" She pointed with
the key end of her staff at Nanami.
	"Are you familiar with Angel's tattoos?" Link asked leadingly.
	Ranma started muttering something under his (her?) breath. Pluto nodded.
Rei frowned. She'd seen the tattoos in question, but Angel hadn't had them while
she was living at the shrine. "What are they? What do they have to do with
this?" Rei asked.
	"Chris created them from an artifact that has the ability to vastly
enhance the powers of its wielder." She paused. She looked very pleased with
herself. "I believe you will be familiar with it, Sailor Pluto. The Golden
Crystal."
	Pluto gasped. "Not-" She cut herself off with a sigh. "Of course it's
possible."
	"Of course," Link agreed. "And this girl was the former bearer of this
crystal. It appears a portion of her spirit was torn out when Chris retrieved
the crystal."
	"Bastard," Rei snarled. Ranma nodded knowingly.
	"Thus since Angel and this girl share a portion of the same spirit, she
apparently proved a sufficiently similar being that she could be substituted for
Angel without Tethys noticing," Link continued.
	"They had to have known that it wouldn't last long," Pluto mused.
	"Which means they're probably doing something right now!" Ranma broke
in.
	"But what?" Rei asked.
	"By the gods! The Messiah of Silence, the incarnation of cute chaos and
a hot assassin girl are all going off together! They're forming an EVIL GIRL'S
BAND!" Everyone stared at Skullomania as he clenched his fists and curled up
like he was constipated. "They'll use their wholesome looks and evil music to
hypnotise all the world's teenage boys, making them commit suicide!"
	"A song that makes you commit suicide?" Ranma snorted. "Come on,
Skullo."
	"No, it's true! I've heard of it!"
	"I'm certain," Pluto cut in. "But perhaps we can keep our guesswork
limited until we have more information."
	"I should feel insulted that I was being guarded by such an imbecile,"
Link added curtly.
	"Do you have any idea what they're doing?" Rei asked her.
	"Perhaps," Link started, only to be cut off as Rei stepped up to the
cage and glowered down.
	"We don't have time to be coy," Rei insisted.
	"Perhaps you don't," Link almost smiled. "I, however, have all the time
in the world, and nothing to lose."
	"Listen, you-" Ranma was cut off by Pluto.
	"I should have expected you were being too cooperative. What do you
want, Link?"
	Link frowned deeply. "I need to talk to Ukyou, alone."
	"That's it?" Pluto seemed oddly reluctant ,for some reason.
	"You, of all people, should know that a few moments of Ukyou's time is
more significant than all of Chronos and the Dark Kingdom combined."
	Pluto's eyes narrowed. "It will take time for Ukyou to get here. Time we
may not have."
	"Or time someone else may not have," Link chuckled. "Unless I missed my
guess, you're here about Nabiki, aren't you?"
	"That's right," Ranma said, his voice sounding oddly dangerous. He
gestured the other two back and they complied. "You have to cure whatever it is
you did to Nabiki."
	"And I will..." Link tapped her chin. "Provided Ukyou takes her here.
Alone." She paused. "As an added bonus, I'll even tell you where Kalia and
Hotaru went... once I have your word."
	Ranma, Rei and Pluto exchanged looks. Finally Pluto stepped forward.
"Fine."
	Link stared at the other two until they nodded as well. Rei didn't like
bargaining with this murderer, but had little choice. "Good. Ranma, why don't
you head off to fetch Ukyou and Nabiki? Pluto and Rei here will want to move
quickly..."

*

	Akira coughed and pushed a section of ceiling off herself. That had been
stupid. How could she have just stood there? The moment Kalia had unleashed her
attack it was like she could barely move. Angel had blurred right past her.
Akira knew she could have stopped the girl from escaping. She could have done
any number of things, but she hadn't. She wanted to blame it on the shock, but
that wasn't right.
	It had been Kalia. Just like every other time they had met, the girl had
messed with her mind. It left her feeling defiled and helpless. She coughed
again and finally managed to clear the last of the rubble off herself.
	"Akira, watch out!"
	Ryouga's warning came a fraction of a second too late. Akira leapt back,
but a white blur flashed across the room towards her. It moved faster than Akira
could track, and she felt something clamp down hard on her arm. She skidded to a
stop, her feet sliding across the cracked floor.
	Hotaru held her arm in one hand. She was smaller than Akira; the child
couldn't have weighed more than half what Akira did. But she could feel Hotaru's
cold grasp sinking into her flesh. For a moment, Akira remembered this girl. She
remembered the day the girl's father had died. The day Ran had died. The sweet
little girl had refused Ukyou's touch, and insisted that Ryouga carry her.
	She remembered Ryouga's gentle eyes as he cradled the girl, soothing her
with meaningless words. She remembered standing back, feeling empty and
helpless. Feeling that everything had happened outside of her control. That was
the day she had decided to stay behind, when Ukyou had left.
	Now the face looking up at her was pale, the bleached-white skin giving
a fine contrast to the crimson blood that flowed from the symbol cut into
her forehead. Bronze eyes, weary and tired, looked up at her.
	Akira threw her fist forward, putting all her power behind one blow,
trying to smash that innocent face in. Hotaru's hand snapped up, just fast
enough to catch the hand. Just. Akira could see the strain in the girl's
features. She could see the hand vibrate as Akira's blow slammed into it. She
was strong, but not that strong.
	"Don't resist," Hotaru pleaded. It wasn't a command, or even a request.
She was begging. It was enough to give Akira a moment's pause before she tried
to drive her knee into the girl. "My touch is the touch of Oblivion. If you
resist, I'll be forced to Silence you."
	"Do what you have to!" Akira shouted back, but she hesitated. She had
heard a great deal about Hotaru, and she could admit she was scared. But
bluster was all she had.
	"Hotaru! Let her go... please?" Ryouga was saying as he approached from
behind.
	"Stand back, Ryouga," Hotaru warned. "Please. I don't want to cause
either of you needless pain."
	"Let me go," Akira hissed.
	"I can't do that," Hotaru looked Akira in the eyes. "If I release you,
then you'll fight me. Ryouga doesn't want to, but he'll fight me to protect you.
I'll win, but the battle will be great. There is no way that Tethys and Ukyou
would not feel it."
	Akira narrowed her eyes. That was it. All she had to do was build up her
aura. Let loose with all her constraints. She'd created a blinding flash with
her anima earlier just to distract Hotaru. If she just flared her aura as high
as possible, Ukyou couldn't help but notice it. It would be like letting off a
signal flare.
	"If you flare your aura, I will kill you," Hotaru said. Akira started.
How had she...? "And you would consider that a fair exchange, wouldn't you?"
Hotaru continued, and there was a grudging respect in her voice. "You think, you
KNOW that Tethys and Ukyou could stop me. You hate the idea. It eats at you, but
you know that the two of them working together are too much for me. And you are
right. But if you die, Akira Kazama, then Ukyou dies as well."
	Akira gasped. Then her eyes narrowed. "You're lying."
	"No, she isn't." Ryouga's voice was small. "Don't let her get in your
head, Akira. It's what she does. But she never lies. That's why it's so hard to
fight her off. Because she can see right into your heart."
	Hotaru sighed. "I know only what God has decided I should know," she
explained. "But I know this, Akira." She frowned. "The paradox, the spiritual
backlash, all that negative energy that Ukyou has been feeding you. Do you think
it just goes away?"
	"I..." Akira had very little idea what Hotaru was even talking about.
She knew a bit about the Third Circle. Everyone else seemed so obsessed with it.
Nabiki. Chris. Tethys. Even Ukyou and Akane. But to Akira it had always just
been a thing. A vague thing that she wasn't really a part of.
	"Ukyou told me that she was the one hurting me. That whenever she
accesses her power, it hurt me now instead of her like it used to," Akira
explained. "But that doesn't explain why killing me would harm her."
	"Because it doesn't go away, Akira. The Paradox just builds and builds.
Inside Ukyou, before she made you into her fetich soul, it built like a cancer.
It worried away at her sanity, her emotions. Now, she has you."
	"I don't..."
	"Don't deny it, Akira," Hotaru continued. "You can feel the connection
between you. Even now. The one forged when you consumed the Paradox that had all
but erased Ukyou from existence..." Akira remembered. Remembered that horrible
boiling nothingness inside Ukyou's mind. The sheer madness of it. She remembered
stepping into it.
	'Take me, instead.' That's what she had been thinking. She hadn't hoped
it would work. But it had. She'd thought it was a miracle. She'd never
questioned it.
	"And all the times Ukyou fought, really fought. Against Rip Van Winkle,
against Bison, against Kalia... you FELT it."
	Akira didn't want to think about it. But it was there. The pain had
always blossomed out of nowhere. It had no origin, no purpose. It was just her
body seeming to twist and rupture itself. Her body seeming to reject its very
nature. The burning, sickening feeling that she was losing everything she was.
That she was being ripped apart.
	"And you can still feel it. Inside of you. Building and building."
	"Damn you..." Akira growled.
	"Don't blame me, or Ukyou." Hotaru gave her a sad little smile. It was
the smile of a child trying to comfort an adult. "That's the way it has to be.
The way it has always been. Gods can not exist without devotion, without
sacrifice. For to be God is to be impossible, to defy all laws by fiat. But
reality has an inertia, Akira. It resents being made to fit God's will. So there
is backlash, and that backlash must go somewhere.
	"And that is what you are here for, Akira. To serve as the repository of
all of God's hubris. To be the vessel into which she pours all those things she
does not wish to be. The fetich soul."
	"How do you know this?" Akira gasped.
	Hotaru's smile became wistful. "Because you and I are the same, Akira.
Those Chosen By God." Her smile faltered slightly. "Only the nature of our God
differs."
	"You still haven't convinced me that I shouldn't do everything I can to
stop you," Akira continued. "I'm willing to spend my own life. You and I both
know you're after something. Something here. Tethys went through too much
trouble to keep this room a secret. Something here is important to you." She
looked around, but nothing caught her eye immediately. "Maybe you can kill me
with a thought, but at the same time I can get Tethys and Ukyou here. THEY can
stop you."
	"Like I said, Akira, all that Paradox, all that twisted essence, is
built up inside you. But it never goes away, Akira. It doesn't degrade. It just
builds. So if you die, all that Paradox must go back to somewhere..." She
trailed off.
	"Straight back into Ukyou," Akira finished for her. She closed her eyes.
"And if it all hits her at once..."
	"She will be destroyed."
	"Now, Akira, can you see why this is a stalemate?" Hotaru continued. "I
do not wish to kill you. My Destiny is to face Ukyou, as the instrument of God.
But if she dies before then, Destiny will be foiled. You do not wish to kill
Ukyou, because you love her."
	Akira kept her eyes closed. "Bullshit."
	"You doubt me?"
	"About my death potentially killing Ukyou? Oh no." She opened her eyes
and looked into Hotaru's alien bronze ones. "I believe that. At least, I'm not
willing to test it." She smiled. "Or maybe I'm just afraid to die." Then she
grew serious again. "But I don't believe that is the only reason you are holding
back. I don't believe this is all for Destiny. I don't believe that this is all
about God's will."
	"I do not require your belief," Hotaru said.
	"Maybe not, but you require your own," Akira continued. "You need to
believe in what you are doing, don't you, Hotaru? But I've known too many people
who lie to themselves. I've encountered too many people who are willing to
overlook their own motives. People who want to paint their actions with noble
colours.
	"Just forgetting Angel, and Nabiki, and Tethys and Ukyou and Chris and
everyone else. Just forgetting them, I went down that road myself. The road of
giving your trust to a higher power. Of thinking there was some noble goal
justifying your actions. I know what a crock that is. I know, personally, how
much damage you can do to yourself."
	Hotaru expression was hardening now. Akira continued. She'd hit
something.
	"So don't lie to me about God. Oh, he might exist. Whatever nameless
thing he is, that he would play with us like this. I can believe that. Certainly
Ukyou believes. But she believes you need saving from it. That's her mistake.
She can't save you from God, Hotaru, because you don't WANT to be saved."
	"Saved for what, Akira?" Hotaru snapped back. "This mockery you call
life? Life is nothing but a string of tragedies. We exist so that we can feel
pain. These delusions of love, or comfort, of hope? Things humanity created.
Words we conjured out of thin air to give noble meaning to the pain we endure.
	"Life starts with pain. The pain of our mothers. It ends with pain. Even
if we die in our sleep, we leave a legacy of pain in our loved ones. Love just
creates another way to hurt us. No, Akira, I lost my capacity to believe in
illusions a long time ago."
	"You're lying," Akira insisted. "Because at your heart, you're still a
little girl. A little girl who was abused and mistreated. A little girl who got
a raw deal in life. And you blame the world. You blame Ukyou. You want to lash
out. It's natural, this anger you feel, Hotaru. But that doesn't make it right.
No amount of words, no amount of empty platitudes from whatever divine force you
follow can make vengeance right."
	"QUIET!" Hotaru screamed, and pushed Akira back, slamming her into the
wall. Akira gasped as the ice cracked and shattered around her. She slumped
down, but the painful pressure of Hotaru's grip kept her from sinking into
unconsciousness.
	Akira looked past her, and saw Ryouga. He was staring, his mouth agape
in awe. Akira smiled, a thin painful smile. So there was something under the
facade. Something more than mindless devotion. There was a human being under all
that pain and misery.
	There was hope.

*

	Cologne tested her restraints again. Once again, all she got for her
efforts was a lot of clanking. She had no idea what they were made out of, but
it certainly wasn't the iron they looked like. She had tried every variety of
escape technique she knew to no effect. Even her Bakusaitenketsu, which could
destroy any inanimate object, had done nothing more than produce a hollow ring.
	Having nothing better to do, she looked around the room. It was large,
she had to give Gyro that. He always thought big. She guessed this room made up
most of the floor. In the centre was the trio of tubes through which the
elevators ran. From there the room spread out in all directions. Fluted columns
of black basalt rock spread out from the centre, evenly paced in straight lines
leading out like the spokes of a wheel. The ceiling was two stories tall and the
lights that flickered from hidden alcoves above was fitful, leaving most of the
chamber in shadows.
	Cologne herself was chained to a pillar near the western end of the
room. She was actually not that bad off; she could stand, at least. While the
chains did keep her arms up over her head, the discomfort was nothing compared
to the everyday aches and pains she had experienced before having her youth
restored. She had also tried to destroy the pillar, but whatever Gyro had done
to the manacles, he had also done to the rock.
	Then her eyes came to rest on the figure laying not too far away from
her. He looked asleep. His features were composed, refined. They looked noble
and powerful even in the middle of a coma. His arms were peacefully crossed over
his chest, as if in death, but his chest rose and fell with the rhythm of
breath. He was dressed in ceremonial robes, with those absurdly large shoulder
pads that he somehow managed to carry off without looking like a fool. He was
laid out on a crystal table that seemed to rise from the floor like it was part
of it.
	"Frederick..." she whispered.
	"He is perfectly safe," Gyro's voice said, his gravelly words rising
over the back of his chair. Cologne turned to face him. He was still sitting in
his throne, a thick black thing that reminded her vaguely of some shadowy
nightmare of a hunting bird. It was currently facing away from her and towards
the large bay window. The sun was just beginning to dip beneath the upper edge
of the window, so that the glare made her squint.
	"You still haven't told me the reason for all this," Cologne said.
	Gyro chuckled, but still didn't turn to face her. His laughter was dry
and utterly devoid of anything humane or cheerful. "You and Purgstall will be
reunited soon."
	"Why don't I believe you?" Cologne asked.
	"Cologne, you have such a distrustful nature." Another chuckle, this one
slightly more amused. "I suppose I can see what he found fascinating about you."
The chair spun around with a whisper. Gyro was leaning back in the chair, sunk
into it so the menacing curves and edges of it seemed to swallow him. His
yellow-green eyes stared out at her, blazing in the darkness. His face twisted,
its wrinkled features turning up into a bitter smile. He was clutching
something, something black and long that her eyes refused to focus on. "There is
a special guest coming. This is merely a proper reception."
	"That girl again?" Cologne frowned. She had no idea who it had been, but
the girl had been somehow unsettling. She was dark-skinned, with purple hair
done up in a series of buns. She had worn a long red dress when she had come to
talk to Gyro. Cologne had tried to overhear their conversation, but it had faded
away, distorting into echoes. When Cologne had begun to use techniques to
counter that, the girl had looked right at her.
	Cologne shivered. Those empty, dreadful eyes had pierced her right to
the core. She had been far more frightened of her than of anything Gyro might
threaten her with. But after the girl had given Gyro the chains which he had
used to bind Cologne, she had left without a word. Cologne had hoped that was
the last she would see of her, but...
	"No. That was merely a messenger telling me that she is on her way,"
Gyro explained.
	Cologne stared at him for a long moment, but he just smiled back at her
with those intense alien eyes, and eventually she was forced to avert her gaze.
Time passed in silence and Cologne could only really note it by the lengthening
shadow of Gyro's throne. For some reason she became fascinated by that shadow.
It spread across the floor like a grasping hand, stretching inexorably towards
Purgstall's pedestal. A cold lump formed in her stomach, growing larger as the
creeping shadow got closer and closer to him.
	It was silly. No, it was insane. But she did NOT want that shadow to
reach him. The thought of it slipping over Purgstall's form... The thought of it
defiling him with its touch made her shiver with revulsion. The air in the room
seemed to grow thick, full of almost palatable fear and hatred as it got closer.
	Then she was distracted from her intense worry by a small, cheerful-
sounding chime. A light appeared next to one of the elevators and a second later
the door slid open with a hiss of metal on metal. Light spilled out of the door,
so bright and pure that Cologne could not look at it for long. The light pressed
against the darkness like a physical force. Cologne swore she saw the shadows
writhing and creeping over the bubble of light for a moment. She heard
something, faint and distant but there, as the shadows were torn apart.
	Out of the light stepped the saviour. The moisture in Cologne's mouth
evaporated. Her knees grew weak. Tears leaked from her eyes. She was so
beautiful. Her long blonde hair fell behind her like two sunbeams, and her
armour was silver so bright, so polished that no human hand could have produced
it. The moulded armour she wore was embossed with gold filigree. Her metal-shod
boots made soft sounds as she strode purposefully into the room. Her soft,
startlingly blue eyes glanced first over Cologne and then over the body of
Purgstall.
	"Princess, at last we meet again..." Gyro said, his words dissolving
into a bitter chuckle.
	"Oh, come ON!"
	Everyone, including the Princess, looked back into the elevator car.
VesVes stood, arms akimbo, frowning at them all. "You can't be serious, can
you?"
	"Excuse me?" Gyro said, blinking.
	"This place is so obviously evil!" CereCere said, stepping past VesVes.
She adjusted her pink hair with one hand. "I mean, black pillars, stretching
shadows and that throne... wow. You're not even trying to come across as
anything other than evil, are you?"
	Gyro frowned but before he could reply PallaPalla poked her head over
VesVes's shoulder. "He needs a cat."
	"A cat?" That was JunJun's voice. She was still out of sight in the
elevator.
	"Yeah, you know, to stroke while he smirks and explains his evil plan."
	"Hmmm." VesVes eyed Gyro. "I think I might have..."
	"I do NOT need a cat," Gyro said through clenched teeth. Cologne tried
not to smile, she really did.
	"No, seriously, it would complete your look!" PallaPalla argued.
	"He also needs a couple of big dumb tough guys to order around to do his
bidding," CereCere added, tapping her chin with one finger.
	This made Gyro smile. He snapped his fingers. Out of the shadows on
either side of the room stepped the giant form of ZX-Tole and the slim purple-
blue figure of Ikazuchi. Neither of them looked very happy, though with ZX-Tole
it was hard to tell.
	"Perfect," CereCere said to Gyro. All four of the quartet gave him a
thumbs up.
	"Enough of this nonsense," Gyro said, standing up.
	The Moon Princess was smiling, shaking her head slightly. She turned to
face Gyro. "Yes. I believe you were waiting for me." She raised an eyebrow. "And
you've gathered together so much energy. The force of hatred in this room is so
thick it feels like walking through sewage."
	Gyro smiled. "But, it appears it's nothing next to your power,
Princess." He sighed; a long, dramatic and obviously false display. "I admit, I
was planning to destroy you and take your Silver Crystal. But I have learned the
folly of my ways. It appears that, as I am, I am no match for you and the power
you wield."
	The Princess paused, and only then did Cologne realise who it was.
Sailor Moon? USAGI? This was that thin, crying, afraid little girl she had
helped rescue so many years ago? She had heard stories from Akane and Shampoo
about how awe-inspiring the child was, but she had been unconscious for most of
the battle against Gyro last time. All she had ever seen was a strange but
unremarkable girl that had needed protecting for the first part of their journey
across Japan.
	"You concede? Just like that?" At least the Princess seemed properly
skeptical of Gyro's motives. Gyro laughed and gestured towards Purgstall.
	"Do what you came her for, Princess. I will not stop you. Against the
infinite power you wield, I don't stand a chance." He sank back into his chair.
"Our last battle was quite enlightening enough for me, I feel no need to repeat
it."
	The Princess looked at him for another long moment. Then she looked back
at the Quartet. The girls stared at her, hope fresh in their eyes. Then she
looked at Cologne. Cologne had faced down demons and zoalords, but she found
herself unable to meet the gaze of this girl.
	"Very well," the Princess said, and walked up to Purgstall. Cologne
raised her eyes just enough to see the girl spread her fingers out above the
man's brow. Then there was a flash of white light.

*

	Artemis found her in her room. She was sitting on the bed, her back up
against the headboard and her knees pressed against her chest. She had a pillow
between them and she was hugging it fiercely. She had been crying, he noted
with a frown. Her expression was far away.
	He leapt up onto the bed and walked purposefully up to her. Purring
gently, he began to rub his body up against her ankle, offering what comfort he
could. For a long moment, she refused to acknowledge him. He was almost afraid
she had inherited Ranma's 'problem', when she suddenly broke down.
	"Oh god, Artemis... how could I... I..." She hiccupped and rubbed her
eyes as fresh tears began to leak forth.
	"It's okay, Minako," he told her. He purred again and rubbed against her
leg some more. "You had no way of knowing."
	"No... I did, I did and I..." She buried her face in the pillow and he
heard her muffled screams. "How could I have been so stupid?" she asked, when
she looked up again.
	"Everyone is allowed a little doubt," Artemis explained. "It's what
makes you human. We're not drones, who do what we're told without question or
hesitation..."
	"But I was so convinced I was right..." Minako said, sighing. "It just
felt so... so perfect. I don't even know why I was so angry. It was like I was
barely in control of myself. I could just feel the burning need to do it, to
challenge her power so openly like that..."
	"It's okay, I'm certain she'll forgive you," Artemis replied in his most
comforting tone.
	Minako paused. "Do you think she'll really do it? Save the world, I
mean?"
	"I..." Artemis paused. "Yes, I think she can. You saw what she did in
that graveyard. If she can do that, what can't she do?"
	"I..." Minako shook her head. "I... I can't help but think I'm still
right, Artemis. Like this didn't prove anything." Artemis had no response to
that. "I still don't think I could accept her as my saviour. Does that make me a
bad person?"
	"I... I don't know, Minako."
	She picked him up and cradled him against her chest for a little bit,
just stroking him and crying silently. He rubbed her shoulder with one paw,
trying to play the father figure as best he could. His was a very small
shoulder, but he would let her use it as much as she wanted to.
	Then there was a knock at the door. Minako stiffened.
	"I'll tell them you're not here," Artemis offered.
	"Thank you, I don't think I could face any of..." She trailed off. He
nodded and started towards the door. He leapt and pulled on the knob, opening
the door just enough for him to squeeze his head through when he landed.
	"I'm sorry, I don't..." He paused as he looked up at the woman outside.
She looked down at him, pushed a strand of blue hair out of her eyes and made a
tching nose.
	"I need to speak with her."
	"I... she can't..."
	The girl was apparently not going to take no as an answer. She pushed
the door open and strode in purposefully. The last time he had seen her, she had
been sitting naked on the ground, being cried over by Mamoru. Now she wore a
black bodysuit that was at least a vague step up from naked and she walked over
to Minako with deliberate purpose.
	Minako stared at the woman, her mouth opening into a small O of shock.
The blue-haired woman stopped at the bottom of the bed and leaned forward,
placing her hands on the baseboard. "You and I need to talk," she said.
	"I'm..." Minako gasped. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think..."
	"That I would actually be restored? Of course not." The woman waved that
aside. "You shouldn't have. I need to warn you."
	"Warn me?" Minako's face suddenly hardened. "Is this a threat? Have I
outlived my welcome?"
	"With the other people here?" The woman considered that. "Probably. But
you can't leave, not yet."
	"Why not?"
	"Because I have a message for you." She stood up straight. "I FELT it. I
remember it, every moment of it. From the moment Ikazuchi's sword struck me, to
the moment I awoke in that graveyard. I felt it, Minako. I was beyond. I was in
a place beyond life. It was..." She bit her lip. "It was more beautiful than you
can ever imagine, and more terrible than I can ever describe. It was everything.
It was nothing. It was returning home, to the place you've always known you
belong to, and leaving behind everything you ever cared about.
	"But while I was there, I felt IT."
	"It?" Minako asked, curious.
	"It has no name, Minako. No word in our language can describe it. We can
call it God, but that fails to live up to the reality. It... it's so huge, so
awesome..." She trailed off. "No. I have to tell you."
	"Tell me what?" Minako asked.
	"You have to bring back together the Sailor Senshi, Minako." The woman
put her arms on her hips. "Only the four of you together can do what needs to
be done." She turned away. "Akio has to be stopped. If you don't stop him, he
will use everything Sailor Moon stands for to destroy the world."

*

	Akane was pretty certain that being bored at a time like this was bad.
She knew that there was a lot of important things happening. Maybe even some
critical ones. From what she could glean from Washuu's cryptic answers to her
questions, the fate of the entire universe might well be decided in the next few
minutes.
	So she was certain that she wasn't supposed to be running her hand along
the edge of her sword and trying to think of something to do. It struck her as
wrong, somehow. How do you justify being bored, when the entire universe was
hanging in the balance?
	"Washuu?"
	"I'm kinda busy, Akane," Washuu replied. She was sitting on her floating
cushion, legs crossed as her fingers feverishly worked on the holographic board
in front of her. "Honestly, that girl really does think she's God..." she
muttered.
	"Can I help?" Akane asked.
	"Huh?" Washuu glanced at her, then back to the floating orange screen.
"No. You just sit there and try not to break anything. I have everything under
control."
	"I see..." Akane frowned and sat back.
	"There something bothering you?" Washuu asked, still looking at the
screen.
	"I... you're busy..."
	"No, I think I have it under control now," Washuu replied. Her strangely
styled red hair bounced as she turned to face Akane again. "You need to know
something?"
	"I..." Akane shrugged. "How is everyone else doing? At the North Pole
and back at Ohtori..."
	"They're all fine," Washuu replied. "The others are busy hunting down
Hotaru, and I'll help them out with that once this Chris thing is fixed." She
paused. "Everything in Ohtori is fine too. Once Sailor Moon restored everyone-"
	"She what!?" Akane stood up quickly.
	"Oh, that's right." Washuu smiled. "You weren't there. It was quite a
sight, if I do say so myself. Usagi brought all the people who had died in the
zoanoid attack back to life."
	"I... she..." Akane was at a loss as to how to respond to that. She
swayed a bit and used the wall to steady herself. Usagi had revived all those
people...
	People Akane had gotten killed. The thought hit her like a fist. It made
her feel queasy inside. She'd avoided thinking about the attack too much. She'd
known it was going to happen. She'd known the kinds of carnage she was inviting
when she'd destroyed Akio's illusion machine. She had thought then, she still
thought now, that it had been the right thing to do.
	And now, Usagi had fixed it. She'd taken the problem Akane had caused,
and just fixed it. She had literally used her magic powers to undo all the
damage Akane's stubborn refusal to bow down had caused. Akane knew she should
feel good about this. It was good news. Not feeling overjoyed, not feeling
relieved beyond words, at the news that hundreds of people were no longer dead
had to be some kind of sickness.
	Yet... She felt like the world was spinning away from her. It was like
she was walking across a narrow precipice but had only just noticed it now.
Because if Sailor Moon could fix it... If Usagi, or Washuu, or anyone else could
just step in and make things okay...
	Didn't that make them right? They had the power to make things right.
Washuu had already proven she knew better than Akane. She had manipulated her,
manipulated everyone to set up the confrontation between Chris and Sailor Moon
at exactly the right time. But it had all been working.
	Until Akane had stepped in. Until Akane had ruined all her plans. And
that was why she was here now. Because Akane could still ruin her plans.  Washuu
was keeping an eye on her because Akane had managed to defy her plans once.
Akane felt like she was falling off the edge of something deep. The realisation
that came to her robbed her of any useful thought.
	The only thing she could do here, was screw everything up.
	"Akane? Akane!"
	Akane shook her head to clear it. Washuu was holding onto her shoulders.
Her green eyes stared straight into Akane's. She looked so concerned. But was it
for Akane, or about Akane?
	"Are you okay?" Washuu said slowly.
	"I'm..." Akane's throat was suddenly dry. She croaked out the next few
words. "I'm okay," she lied. Washuu looked skeptical for a moment, but seemed
like she was going to accept Akane's words at face value. Then suddenly she
shook her head and sat down next to the taller girl.
	"Akane... all this, all the things that happened, you know they're for
the best, right?"
	"Yeah..." Akane replied in a monotone. Why was Washuu being so concerned
with her? They barely knew each other. But still, Akane found her presence oddly
comforting.
	"I wanted to tell you what was going on," Washuu said, smirking. "Heck,
I wanted to tell everyone. It's a brilliant plan. About the only plan that can
work against him. You think I didn't want to brag about that?"
	Akane couldn't help but smile a little at the young girl's gleeful
enthusiasm. "Did you really have to trick us all? I mean, why put me in a
position to endanger all those lives if Sailor Moon was just going to fix
everything anyway?"
	"Because Chris had to believe it, Akane," Washuu replied seriously.
"Because that's what it comes down to. He has to BELIEVE he can be defeated or
he can't be. There can't be doubt." She clenched her little girl's fist.
"Because the only real limitation on his power is what he believes it to be.
That's the scary thing about the Third Circle. That's what I can never risk him
knowing. That he has no limits. Nothing is impossible for the Third Circle, only
what the user sees as impossible. So I had to create an-" Washuu cut herself
off. "I... I shouldn't have told you that."
	Akane stared at her.
	"Well..." Her face darkened. "It appears you know too much, Akane
Tendo." She reached out, her hands curling into claws. "I'll have to... take
CARE of you... MUAAHAHAHAHH!" Akane slipped back, propping herself up with one
arm, her eyes widening. "Psych! Geez, Akane. Don't be so tense."
	"I..." Akane clutched her chest. "I will never look at little girls the
same way again."
	"Relax, it'll all work out, Akane." Washuu started towards her monitor
again. "I know what I'm doing. After all, I AM the greatest scientific genius in
the universe!" She grinned at Akane and gave her a V-sign. Akane couldn't help
but grin back, despite the fact her heart was still racing.
	"Sure, she's the greatest scientific genius in the universe, but can she
tell us why kids love Cinnamon Toast Crunch?"
	Akane gasped and stiffened. Washuu spun around, her eyes narrowing and
her teeth baring. Shadows suddenly flashed across her face as a humming bar of
green light snapped into existence above her clenched fist. Her other hand was
already pointing up and away.
	Kalia was hovering in the air, arms akimbo as she smirked down at them.
Her eyes were wide and her pupils narrow as she chuckled. Pulses of light
erupted from Washuu's hand, flashing across the space between her and the
automaton. Kalia's arm snapped up, and she caught the blasts on her wrist-
mounted gem. The green lights spiralled inward, then vanished with a sharp pop.
	"I thought you'd come for him," Washuu said slowly.
	"And I thought you'd think I would come for him," Kalia said in a sing-
song voice. "And you thought I would think that you would think-"
	She was cut off as hundreds of tiny spheres appeared in the air around
her. Before Akane could blink, the spheres suddenly shot thin beams of pink
light between each other, forming an incredibly complex cage. Kalia looked
startled as the cage hemmed her in-
	Kalia blasted backwards, just outside of the cage as it formed up around
her. Except she flew straight back into a growing cloud of orange gel. She
gasped as the gel immobilised her limbs instant-
	Kalia shot down from the cage, just managing to evade the entangling
beams of pink light. A cloud of orange gel blossomed behind the cage, but it was
nowhere near Kalia. Instead as she came to the ground a thin black hole irised
open and out of it several rubbery tentacles flew. They snapped around Kalia's
ankle, dragging her to the ground. She kicked at them, but more erupted from
three more holes, grabbing her other-
	Kalia jerked sideways just as the cloud of orange containment gel tried
to envelop her. She just barely kept herself out of its reach as she flew
away... Except she slammed into a wall of invisible glass, bouncing backwards.
There was a mechanical hiss as five more walls slid into place-
	Kalia evaded the tentacles just long enough to get struck with a net
that fell from-
	Kalia stopped before the glass wall, skimming along it and away just
before the prison formed only to-
	Kalia shifted right-
	Kalia was caught-
	Kalia moved away-
	Akane tried to blink, but couldn't. It was all happening at once. She'd
once seen a film, where the director had taped several things all using the same
roll, so that all the exposures overlapped. It was like that, except they all
felt, they all seemed real. She could hear then, see them, smell them. She could
feel the vibrations through her body as explosions went off, as traps were
successfully deployed and destroyed and evaded at the same time. She wanted to
blink and look away, but that was the only thing that didn't change.
	She saw it all. It just kept piling on and on. Washuu's traps, her
plans, her ploys within ploys just kept getting more and more elaborate. Kalia's
escapes, her evasions, her desperate dodges kept growing more and more
implausible. It all happened in a fraction of a second, all at the same time.
Before Akane could even begin to wonder what was happening, it was suddenly all
over.
	There was a flash of light, a roar like thunder and a wind that blew
across the lab. Akane jerked her arm up, shielding her eyes. When she lowered
them, she could only stare in awe. The lab was destroyed. Scattered all
throughout the room were hundreds of traps that had been sprung. Globes of
floating orange gel, transparent-walled rooms that hovered above the ground.
Tendrils that came out of ceiling and floor and walls. Nets and craters from
explosions and devices Akane couldn't even guess at the meaning of.
	And hovering in the centre of the room, caught between a net of pink
lights that had formed between a series of floating spheres, was Kalia. She had
her arms crossed and was pouting like a little girl who had been denied a candy.
Washuu was straightening slowly, smirking to herself.
	"No fair, you cheat," Kalia said.
	"I won, didn't I?" Washuu replied.
	"What... what the hell just happened?" Akane asked, clenching her head.
She felt like she had too many memories. They were all blurring together. As far
as she could tell, what had actually happened was that Kalia hadn't even
attempted to evade the first trap. But that wasn't right...
	"Oh, I'm well-prepared for her," Washuu laughed. "Kalia can do anything
that is possible for her to do." Washuu shrugged. "So I just created a series of
traps that was literally impossible for her to escape."
	"How? You had no idea where she would even show up and..." Akane trailed
off at Washuu's disapproving stare.
	"Akane, I'm the greatest scientific GENIUS in the universe. Besides, she
gave herself away earlier when she tried to trick me into telling you all the
big secrets. I had a whole three seconds between when I realised that and her
showing up to prepare." She nodded at Akane's open-mouthed gaping. "I know, I
thought I was cutting it close too. I was actually worried there for a moment."
	"How long?"
	"Five nanoseconds."
	"Hey, Washuu..." Kalia called out sweetly. Washuu turned her attention
back to the not-girl. Her expression was stern.
	"That's 'Little Washuu' to you!" Washuu snapped.
	"Little Washuu..." Kalia said with a raised hand, now wearing a dunce
cap that had always been there. "I was just wondering something about your
ineffable plan." Her lips quirked upward. "Can Sailor Moon bring Katsuhito back
to life?"
	Washuu stared at the girl-shaped thing, her expression hard. "You know
that's impossible. You made certain of that."
	Kalia clasped her hands to her cheeks in horrified shock. "But... but
Sailor Moon has the Third Circle, right?"
	Washuu glanced at Akane. Akane stared at her. Washuu looked back up at
Kalia. "What are you trying to prove, anyway?"
	"Just that you aren't as smart as you think you are."
	"I'm every bit as smart as I think I am," Washuu said with a little
grin. "I can prove it down to the ten millionth decimal place."
	"Yeah, but for some reason, you decided to focus so much on me that you
never even considered the allies of Chris that had been defeated at D-point..."
	Washuu's eyes widened. Akane started. A gold blur dropped from the
ceiling. It landed behind Washuu and swung something huge and grey-white. There
was an awful tearing sound and Washuu's head went flying away from her body.
Akane screamed and leapt, tackling the figure.
	It was some white-haired girl Akane had never met before. She carried a
huge pale-metal sword. Akane reached for her wrist, but the woman moved much
faster than her. She felt pain explode in her stomach as the stranger kneed her,
then her face joined the fun as the girl laid her out with a roundhouse punch
too fast for Akane to follow.
	Akane fell to the ground right next to Washuu's head. She groaned and
tried to look away from that rictus grin... Wait. That wasn't a rictus grin.
That was a happy smile. No, it wasn't even that, it was a drawing of a happy
smile. On a stuffed doll.
	Akane looked up, just in time to see the white-haired girl turning to
look behind her. Washuu slashed out once with her sword, catching the giant
black blade and sending it flying away into the darkness. Then she pointed at
the girl and suddenly she was enveloped in a orange gel. The girl struggled for
a moment. The glowing tattoos on her face dimmed and one down on her hips and
thighs suddenly flared to life. She struggled for a moment, but nothing
happened. Then her head fell.
	"Angel." Washuu's voice contained genuine anger now. She looked at the
captured girl for a moment, then shook her head. "I... I had hoped we'd never
have to meet again." Angel didn't respond. Washuu turned her attention to Akane.
"Are you okay?"
	"I'm... fine..." Akane stood up slowly. The physical pain was nothing.
She'd received worse in sparring sessions. But she couldn't shake the feeling of
helplessness. Washuu hadn't even needed her help. She really was that smart.
	"Good," Washuu smiled. "I like you, Akane. You've got spirit. But don't
feel so down. The good guys have won."
	"Reallllly?" Kalia mused. She was holding a diamond-shaped gem in one
hand. Akane eyes widened as she recognised Uranus' Star Seed. "All signs point
to no, actually. You may want to check on your princess."

*

	The room went silent as the Moon Princess stepped up to the bier upon
which Purgstall's body had been placed. The light grew brighter and brighter as
she walked, first reflecting off the polished armour then slowly engulfing her
entire body. It was like the armour itself was growing hazy and indistinct...
and then JunJun realised the truth. Her armour was not reflecting light, or
shining with it, it was becoming light. The gold filigree remained, shimmering
around her body as the armour finished its transformation into a gentle silver
glow.
	JunJun hissed and stepped back. The ball in her hand was shaking. It was
cold; so cold it burned. She wanted to pull her hands away, but it was like
grabbing onto a freezing metal pole. A whimper escaped her mouth. She could see
VesVes and CereCere both staggering back from the light as well.
	But PallaPalla was fine. She stood bathing in the radiance, her eyes
wide and staring. Her hands slowly raised up, like she was trying to embrace the
glow. For a moment, JunJun swore she could see something bright in front of the
smallest girl's heart.
	Then the Princess reached Purgstall. She stopped over him. Wings of
ephemeral light flared from her back, traced out in lines of gold and silver.
Her hand reached out and hovered over his forehead. "Heal," she commanded. The
word was filled with such command that JunJun felt the pain in her hands lessen,
then cease entirely.
	Purgstall's body spasmed. His eyes snapped open and his back bowed
upwards. His mouth opened in a wordless scream. JunJun heard Cologne gasp. She
could just barely see Gyro through the light. He was standing again, watching
with intense interest.
	The golden crescent on the Princess' forehead began to flicker, then
came alive with light. It seemed to condense, pulling inward until it was a
single drop of light. The light flowed down her body, shifting through the
immaterial light of her armour like a drop of water vanishing into an ocean.
Then it emerged from the cuff on her wrist and ran down her finger, before
falling from her hand and striking Purgstall's forehead. Waves of light splashed
out from the point of impact, then froze in mid-air. They began to spin,
shrinking slowly inward.
	When they had almost vanished, a tiny triangular crystal emerged from
Purgstall's forehead. His mouth opened and closed and his eyes rolled in their
sockets to fix on the Moon Princess. She smiled at him. The crystal started to
push out of his head, growing like an iceberg as it emerged into the air. It was
huge, nearly the size of Purgstall's forehead, and shaped almost like a diamond
but covered in rough edges and rounded tips. The end came to a rest against the
golden-haired woman's outstretched hand just when it fully emerged.
	Purgstall made a gasping sound then fell back, his eyes closing
peacefully and his body sinking into repose. JunJun knew he was alive. She had
no idea how, but she knew it was true. The Princess inverted her hand, holding
the crystal now above it. JunJun could see it was cracked now, a series of
spiderweb-like cracks that sunk into the depths of it. It looked so fragile,
like any small pressure could shatter it.
	"I see... there is much taint left in the wounds," the Princess said,
breaking the holy silence that had filled the room. "It's..."
	"It is the death of worlds," Gyro's voice broke in. "Entire universes,
entire multiverses of annihilated possibility. Stillborn essence. Paradox, the
aborted waste of worlds that will never be."
	The Princess ignored his words and shifted her hands, positioning them
in the air around the floating crystal as if it were twice its actual size. She
closed her eyes. The crescent on her forehead flared. JunJun felt something
inside herself respond. It was like a part of her was waking up, something that
had been asleep for a long, long time.
	She could see it, inside the crystal. It was twisting along the paths
formed by the fractures. Twisting and turning the gemstone around it. It warped
and fluxed, like bubbles in reality. Something terrible was there, hidden from
view. She was just seeing the edge of it, the part where it leaked into their
world from Beyond. She wanted to scream, to warn the Princess that she was in
over her head.
	But it was too late. Her hands suddenly flexed and her head snapped
back, as if a spark had galvanised her body. She gasped. The air around her
exploded. The crystal bier shattered. The floor buckled and twisted, spiralling
inward. A perfect slice ran across the room, and everything on one side shifted
upwards, while the other side shifted downward. Even time itself shuddered. One
moment passed so quickly JunJun could not even perceive it, then she found
everything moving in slow motion. Then it was moving backward, the damage
unmaking itself, before suddenly it started forward again.
	Princess Serenity floated in the centre of the room, clutching the
crystal with all her strength. Her eyes rolled back and her body seemed to
shrink and distort, then was ripped apart by the- She was bending forward,
unharmed, sweat rolling down her features, but a piece of shattered crystal
exploded through her stomach in a spray- Her mouth was working,  the light
deflecting the debris around her and the crystal itself exploded, shattering as
Purgstall screamed his last- Great eddies whipped up around the Moon Princess,
her hair twisting in them, as the space around her seemed to collapse inward-
Silver light shot out, vapourising everything- Cologne was screaming as the
entire centre of the building went up like a roman candle-
	JunJun tried to pull her eyes away. She could see it. She could see ALL
of it. There were a million Moon Princesses, a billion, an uncountable infinity
of the one person. And in all of them she died. Again and again and again her
body was torn apart as something went wrong, something escaped her control, some
outside force stepped in. An infinity of failures.
	"Please, stop! You can't!" JunJun screamed. She grabbed the Princess
from behind and dragged her back. The woman gasped, her body falling limp into
the green-haired girl's arms. Her hands seemed to spasm and then fell away from
the crystal. JunJun stared up at the gem. It was covered in twisting eddies of
reality. They had leaked out of it. The zoacrystal itself was perfectly whole,
perfectly fine. It floated serenely in the centre of the bubble of shifting
reality around it. The manifestation of Paradox.
	"I... I couldn't..." The Princess gasped, her body shuddering. "Too many
failures..."
	"JunJun!" It was PallaPalla. She grabbed her sister and the Princess and
dragged them back, away from the twisting nothingness. "Are you okay?"
	"We have to stop it!" JunJun said. "It'll... it'll..."
	"It will unmake everything," Gyro said, walking forward now. He had a
black object in his hand. "That is Paradox. The universe, the multiverse can not
withstand certain things. Things that defy all logic and definition. This is the
sum of those things. Those worlds which simply can not be. THIS is their power."
	"How do you know so much?" Princess Serenity asked, her tone concerned.
	Gyro smiled. His old-man face was filled with psychotic mirth. His alien
eyes glowed as he looked at her. "Fool girl, did you think you were the only one
who had toyed with the power?" He laughed. "Thousands of years ago, the universe
was torn with strife. One woman, the mightiest of all Sailor Senshi, saw this
and wished it would change. Her wish was so powerful, her desire so strong, that
the impossibility of her wish could not deter her. She desired to destroy war
itself, to attack the very heart of conflict and anger. To put an end to the
chaos and destruction with the edge of a sword."
	He flourished his hand and suddenly JunJun could clearly see what he was
holding. It was a sword. Long and black, it had a thick blade that radiated
palpable menace. "This sword."
	He raised it to his eye level. "It is called the Sword of Sealing. Her
naked desire, her overwhelming wish to end the conflict in the galaxy won out
over the very nature of reality. She forced the desire for war in all our hearts
to manifest as something this sword could defeat. But in doing so, she tainted
herself with Paradox. She tapped into the forbidden power, and could not handle
what she had unleashed. So she sealed it away inside herself."
	He pointed the sword at the swirling mass of Paradox, his grin becoming
feral. "And this is how she did it."
	"NO!" PallaPalla screamed, and leapt for him. He snarled and lashed out
with one hand, striking her in the cheek and sending her flying across the room.
	"PallaPalla!" Cologne screamed. "You bastard!"
	Gyro just laughed and grabbed the blade with both hands. Then he drove
it right into the distorted space. The blade slid into it like nothing. The very
air around it was shrinking, collapsing and expanding, but the sword remained
untouched. Then the bubble vanished. Just vanished, like it had never been.
Already, JunJun found it hard to picture the field of Paradox in her mind. Gyro
staggered back, his eyes widening.
	"I never imagin-" His word cut off into a scream. He threw his head
back, stretched his arms out, his feet sank into the floor. JunJun felt the orb
in her hand shudder; the numbing pain was creeping up her arm again. And Gyro
was changing.
	JunJun had seen Gyro's battle form before. It was taller than him, and
even more muscular. His skin turned pale green and his head became crowned with
a duo of long gnarled horns and a series of smaller ones forming a fin down to
the base of his skull. His zoacrystal appeared in his forehead and a series of
smaller focusing lenses traced down his forehead and his torso. Normally Gyro's
transformation was nothing less than a blinding explosion of power, in which
his body expanded and mutated to his combat form.
	But now his body was twisting and distorting. His arms were bending as
if they had far too many elbows. His legs seemed to ripple. His chest imploded,
the entire front of it collapsing inward violently. The force of it bent him
forward, and JunJun saw two strange lumps appear on his back. They pulsated like
hearts, then exploded outward in two black waves. The liquid darkness streamed
upward, forging itself into two bat-like wings, long and thin with cruel barbs
on the end. His body was shrinking upon itself, then suddenly stopped. He
chuckled. Black horns had grown from the sides of his head even as his hair had
been replaced by a long series of spines that curved backwards. His face was
still twisted, but now his skin was black as night. His eyes were yellow and
bloodshot, full of vicious insanity. His zoacrystal was a dull black that
absorbed all light. His body was still covered in thick muscle, but actually
looked smaller than before. The focusing lenses of his gravity control powers
had spread down to his forearms, forming into diamond-like patterns there.
	He stood up, his wings snapping open. He threw his arms wide. He
laughed. The bay window behind him exploded outward. "Using this sword," he
said, holding up the tainted black blade, "she sealed the Paradox inside
herself. And so have I. Now, Sailor Moon, now I have truly achieved oneness with
the 'Third Circle'." He emphasised the last words with a mocking tone.
	The Moon Princess gently removed JunJun's arms from around her waist and
rose to her feet. She looked at Gyro, and the long blade in his hand. Her eyes
narrowed. "I will deal with you shortly," she said. Then she walked past him to
Purgstall. She grabbed the zoacrystal and slowly pushed it down into his
forehead. He moaned in his sleep as the gem vanished into his brow.
	JunJun blinked. She had just seen something. A sliver of silver light
seemed to flash between the Princess's hand and Purgstall's crystal. It embedded
itself in the crystal, hovering in the very heart, just before it vanished.
	"So this was your plan all along?" the Moon Princess turned to face the
devil-like figure. "You wanted me to draw the Paradox out of his crystal. As
long as it was trapped inside, you could not get at it with the Sword of
Sealing."
	"Yes," Gyro agreed. He stepped towards her. "I was first approached by
the current host of the force of Chaos, the Sailor Senshi who manifested and
defeated Chaos all those years ago. She gave me this sword so that I could look
over this pitiful little world. So that the sword could feed on the conflict and
war this world has produced for the last seven years. Each battle, each heroic
struggle, they fuelled her power through this sword." He chuckled. "But not long
ago, I was approached by another faction. A girl-thing with no soul that
promised to deliver to me such a force of Paradox that I could escape my bargain
with Sailor Galaxia." He pointed the sword at her. "And in return, all I would
have to do is destroy you." His smile widened. "It had something to do with you
being a threat to her plans, her very existence. But to tell the truth, I did
not care. I would gladly have destroyed you for free."
	"You will find..." The Moon Princess drew her hand across the air and a
blade formed in her grip. It was white where the Sealing Sword was black, but
the two were remarkably similar. "...that to be much harder than you think."
	The Moon Princess surged across the room, wings of ethereal light
flaring from her back. The entire room light up with the glow of her aura.
JunJun held her breath. The space between Gyro and Serenity vanished-
	And the Princess stopped in mid-air. Gyro smiled as his hand tightened
around her throat. His other hand held his sword in a reverse grip, easily
parrying the stroke aimed at his head. The golden-haired woman tried to cry out,
but her voice had been choked off.
	"Surprised?" Gyro said with a smirk. "Don't be. Your power... is nothing
but borrowed strength. You think your crystal makes you divine?" He snapped out
his blade, sending the Moon Princess' ur-sword flashing across the room. Then he
held his hand against her forehead. "I will show you divinity."
	With a single wrenching movement he pulled his hand backward and a
gleaming silver crystal erupted from the woman's head. She screamed, her eyes
widening in pain and fear. His clawed fingers curled around the glowing
crystal... and it shattered.
	The light around the Princess dimmed, then died. Suddenly she was
clothed in a simple skirt and blouse. Suddenly she looked like nothing more than
a normal woman. Not even that, she looked like a girl. He threw her back, and
her body flopped to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
	Gyro chuckled, pulling the shattered remains of the silver crystal up to
his face. "You girls should consider yourself lucky," he said, addressing the
Quartet. "Today you witness the birth of something beyond any mere god. Higher
than the greatest zoalord, higher than the trinity, higher than anything else.
Like Chaos and Oblivion before me, I have become a law of nature." He opened his
mouth and swallowed the shards, licking his lips. The crystal on his forehead
suddenly glowed with silver light. "My will is LAW!" he shouted, laughing madly.
	"No..." JunJun moaned.
	Gyro turned, and pointed his sword at the unconscious girl. She was
going to die, and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it. Then a
figure appeared from the shadows behind Usagi. She was dark-skinned, with purple
hair, and wore a elegant red dress. Her arms wrapped around Usagi. Gyro snarled
and a bolt of darkness erupted from his sword, the ground erupting upwards
underneath and the ceiling collapsing in its wake. The unknown girl and Usagi
vanished a fraction of a second before his attack struck. JunJun screamed as the
entire half of the building was torn out, blasting into debris.
	Gyro looked at the empty air for a moment. "No matter." He stretched his
wings, which now had flares of silver light along their tips, and stepped
towards the opening. "I must go and let the universe, and all who reside within
it, know of the new law that has been passed with my name." He smirked. "But
before I go... ZX-Tole, Ikazuchi. Kill them."

*

	"I... I didn't see that coming," Washuu said, her jaw hanging down.
	Angel didn't think she would ever have heard those words, coming from
those lips. But no matter how startled she was, neither Angel nor Kalia's bonds
loosened any. She was uncomfortably aware she'd been stuck in a position where
she'd have to look at Chris. Oh, His body was burnt and ravaged and missing
several extremities, but it was Him, no doubt about it. Floating in the tube, He
looked like He was sleeping. On display, like a trophy. Beaten and helpless.
Just like Angel.
	"This doesn't make any sense," Washuu growled, glaring at her own
computer readouts accusingly. "Even without me watching, she should have had
MORE than enough power to handle any random challenge. Especially from Reichmann
Gyro, of all people!"
	A hollow child's laugh came from above her. "Oh, well, you know how it
goes. A girl walks around, eats an ice cream, ends a war, plays piano, gives
Reichmann Gyro phenomenal cosmic power... anything can happen!"
	Washuu whirled, her eyes narrowing. Kalia grinned with complete
unconcern for the scientist's anger. "Oh, little Washuu... you didn't think
giving Sailor Moon power was going to solve all your problems, did you? You're
not the only source of power in the universe, you know."
	"Wait a second," the other woman interjected. Angel hadn't met her, but
still immediately recognised Akane Tendo, leader of the anti-Chronos resistance.
She was a little shorter than Angel would have expected, really. "What are you
talking about? 'Giving Sailor Moon power'?"
	"Oh, didn't you know?" purred Kalia, and her eyes danced with mad glee.
"You didn't really think that Sailor Moon REALLY had the cosmic mojo to defeat
Chris all by her lonesome, did you? Washuu here has been playing a very clever
little game. Feeding Sailor Moon power, reconnecting Sailor Pluto to the
timestream with a shiny new staff, making sure the poor little princess didn't
die resurrecting all those people you got killed... she's really been working
overtime! And, of course, you couldn't possibly know about it. Nor could Akio,
or Rei, or anybody else that could possibly get back to Chris. Because if he
knew Washuu was somehow involved in any of this, there's no WAY he'd have been
convinced that Sailor Moon had reached the Third Circle."
	"But Sailor Moon... how could she even have done that without the Third
Circle?" Akane protested.
	Kalia giggled. "What? Resurrecting people? Saying 'you rule the
timestream again'? Defeating Chris? You think THAT takes the Third Circle?" She
caressed her face, smiling mischievously. "Naive little girl, you don't know a
thing about the Third Circle. If Sailor Moon could wield the real thing, she
wouldn't NEED to defeat Chris. She could unmake him. Remake him. Make him a
pacifist. Make him a bunny. Make him the colour orange. Ignore him, and make the
rest of reality do the same. She'd no more have to fight Chris than a galaxy has
to fight a loud noise. Actually, even less than that."
	"How do YOU know all that?" Washuu demanded. "What are you, anyway?"
	"I'm the exposition box!" Kalia replied cheerfully. "Ask me anything!"
	"Wait a minute!" Angel demanded. She was trying not to think about the
rest of this, as usual with Kalia's 'explanations', but something sprang to the
forefront of her mind. "If you knew... if you knew this was all some trick of
Washuu's, why didn't you TELL Chris?"
	Kalia shrugged. "Who says I knew anything? I was just guessing!" She
wiped her forehead dramatically. "Whew! I'm so glad I was right and Washuu
really was fooling us all along!"
	"That's okay," Washuu said. Her expression and voice were once again
calm. "I can still fix everything. And even if you three know what really
happened, all I have to do is prevent you from telling Chris before he gets
destroyed."
	"Too bad your toy is all broken!" Kalia chirped. "And without her magic
crystal, it'll be hard to convince her she's God again."
	"You might think so," Washuu said smugly. "But there's something you've
forgotten."
	Kalia frowned. "What's that?"
	"You brought me another magic crystal." Washuu turned, and suddenly,
Angel was free. She stumbled a bit as the pressure of the orange gel was
removed, but recovered quickly. She stared blankly at Washuu for a moment, then
swung her head around to again look at the tube where Chris was imprisoned. If
she could free Him-
	"No."
	The word rang in her ears before she completed her first step. Then her
world exploded in pain. It began at her legs, a burning agony that robbed all
her strength and sent her falling to the floor. Then it moved to her stomach,
and all her bones ground together at once, almost to the point of shattering.
Her chest came next, the point lancing out and bubbling through her blood like
acid. And finally it rose to her face, a cold so intense and pure that it burned
through her, leaving only a numbing cold that consumed her. Angel lay on the
floor, in too much agony even to scream. She noticed after what seemed like a
long time that her face was wet, not just with tears, but with crimson. She was
lying in a slowly spreading puddle of her own blood. She retched weakly.
	"WASHUU!" a voice screamed, and suddenly someone else was there,
blocking out the lights of the lab. "W-what the hell did you do!?" Angel
realised it was Akane even as the woman lifted her head out of the blood. Washuu
was standing, staring down at them. Above her palm floated a golden crystal. It
looked like two crystals, actually, connected in the centre to form a shape like
a vajra. She was frowning, her green eyes hard as ice. "Answer me!" Akane
demanded. "You didn't have to do that!"
	"You're... you're right," Washuu said. The grim resolve in her face
faded, replaced by uncertainty. "That's not like me." And then her eyes widened
and she spun around. Angel was already looking up at where Washuu turned, and
Kalia was smiling.
	"Oh, little Washuu. So controlled, so rational. So sure that anything I
might see you doing, you'd have such a good, logical reason for doing. But hate
isn't logical. Pain isn't logical. And seeing dear little Angel makes you feel
those, oh so much, doesn't it? Katsuhito dead so recently, and of course, sweet
little Mihoshi-"
	"SHUT UP!" Washuu roared, and from her empty hand a lance of green light
shot out, directly for the not-girl's head... only to suddenly strike a great
black blade. The attack vanished the moment it touched the ancient sword, and
Kalia laughed and leaped forward. Suddenly she was surrounded by the orange gel,
but the sword cleared a path, hurtling down, striking at black tentacles that
erupted from the floor, and then Kalia was upon Washuu. She struck deep, her
hand plunging into the scientist's chest, but then Angel blinked and there was
nothing there but a stuffed doll. Kalia just grinned and ripped the doll in two,
then swung around to confront the real Washuu as she came in to attack.
	There was no trace of the cheerful, sarcastic little scientist now. She
stood almost twice as tall, and with the figure of a full-grown woman. Her face
was twisted in anger, and she swung a green blade with deadly intent. Kalia, her
infuriating grin never wavering, ducked, flipped, and finally blocked the
attacks. The blade hissed against the jewels of her gauntlet, the energy
draining into them, but Washuu merely growled and the beam doubled, then trebled
in intensity, cutting through Kalia's arm like a hot knife through butter. The
not-girl skipped back, tendrils of unreality leaking from the stump of her
forearm, then her gaze flickered over and she flew towards the machine that held
Chris captive.
	Washuu was there to meet her. With another swipe, she drove the creature
back, and Kalia laughed and evaded another trap, feinting towards the machine
again and again. Washuu cut her off each time, her face set in hard, cold lines.
Abruptly Kalia switched tactics and attacked the scientist, but again struck
only a dummy. The real Washuu slashed her back, and Kalia flipped away again.
	Only this time, Angel could see it happen.
	She could see everything Washuu was doing. It was never precisely the
same twice. Sometimes she teleported, leaving the decoy in her place. Others she
wrapped an illusion around the doll while she moved elsewhere. At times it was
just sheer speed that allowed her to execute the trick, and sometimes it was a
device. It wasn't just when she was about to get hit, either. Washuu was always
moving, never where she seemed to be. Kalia was fighting shadows and decoys, and
while she reacted quickly, Washuu seemed inexhaustible, always a step ahead,
always striking at the most opportune moment. In seconds, the outcome of the
fight became inevitable. Only the fact Washuu had to protect the machine holding
Chris captive let it last even that long. There was simply nothing Kalia could
do to catch her.
	So why could Angel see it? And not just that. The entire lab was alive
with forces and power, and Angel could sense them all. She heard the hum of
machinery miles away, felt the throb of current passing through tubes, could
taste the tang of chemicals in the air. She could hear the throb of Akane's
heartbeat as if it were being blasted through a loudspeaker, and feel every
twitch of her excited aura. She was ready to react at any time, was scared, was
unsure. Angel was even fully aware of her own body, of every hair, of the
pressure of blood in her arteries, and was aware, oh so painfully aware, of
every nerve in the ruined flesh that ran from her forehead to her thighs. Where
her tattoos had been.
	And that led her eyes to the golden crystal. She could feel that
something was inside it, something which tasted of Nanami Kiryuu, and something
else as well. She could feel the quiet pulse of power within the crystal that
resonated with the entire planet. And she could also feel the resonance it had
with her.
	The resonance it STILL had with her.
	And then she knew. "The void chakra," she breathed. The chakra that
she'd never been able to use the crystal for, because it was outside the body.
The chakra of senses and perception. But Washuu had taken the crystal and not
realised she hadn't severed the connection Chris had given her to it. How could
she have made such a mistake?
	"Because I can't make her stupid, I can't make her make a big mistake,
but YOU can make her angry, and then she'll do both for me. Because she's really
just a human pretending to be a god." The answer came to her mind in Kalia's
voice, and suddenly she remembered the conversation they'd had before entering
the lab, the conversation she somehow had not even thought of until now.
	She stared at Washuu's face as she slashed at Kalia and effortlessly
evaded counterattacks. She had never looked so angry.
	Angel felt the cold numbness of the void chakra falling around her
again, but this time she drew strength from it. Putting a hand down, she pushed
herself to a sitting position. "Hey," Akane said with concern. "Don't try to get
up..."
	She didn't have time. She'd have only one shot at this. Every second,
she instinctively knew, was a second where it got more and more unlikely for
Washuu to be so angry, so frustrated, so focused that she could be making this
mistake. There was no telling when it would become impossible.
	Shoving Akane aside, she rose to her feet. She could barely see from one
eye due to it being covered with blood from the raw, open wounds on her face.
The rest of her body screamed in protest, and every movement of her torn flesh
was agony. But she could do it. This was what she had been chosen for. This was
what He needed her for.
	She ignored, again, the tiny voice in the back of her head wondering how
Chris could ever have needed her for anything.
	She ran forward. Her unlimited senses could feel the sword, forgotten in
the confusion. It had taken a place. It was waiting. It had known all along what
was going to happen.
	Angel also ignored the voice that wondered how Hotaru could possibly
have known this. Or why she'd made it possible.
	She could figure it out later. She could ask Chris.
	Her hand, slick with blood, grasped the cold hilt of the sword.
	And then Washuu was dashing backwards, jockeying for position. Kalia had
slashed through another fake. The not-girl was missing her leg by now, and a
great gouge had been torn from her chest. She showed no signs of pain, but much
more damage and Angel could tell her body wouldn't be able to hold up to the
strain of... whatever it was she was containing. Angel didn't know what that
was, though. Even with all her senses, the inside of Kalia was as black and
empty as the void between stars.
	Washuu was coming straight towards her. Her momentum was already slowing
as she prepared to rush back towards Kalia for the kill. Her face had regained
calmness, but it was a facade. The blood pounded in her with furious excitement.
Her breath came in shallow, almost-silent bursts. Her heart was beating like a
snare drum, betraying the anger and frustration and excitement that had made
her, for just a few precious seconds, blind to the power that pulsed through the
gem in her own hand.
	Angel struck her directly in the heart. She heard Akane gasp behind her.
Washuu stopped as the great sword emerged from her chest. Had she still been in
the body of a child, she would have fallen in two. She slowly lowered her hand,
the energy sword fading from existence. Her back was to Angel, so she couldn't
see Washuu's expression.
	"That wasn't supposed to happen," she murmured.
	Kalia had wasted no time in moving to the machine that contained Chris.
"Oh Daddy," she sighed as she stared up at His unmoving, ravaged body. "What
ever would you do without me?" Her remaining hand drew back.
	"WASHUU!" Akane cried again, her voice heavy with familiar horror.
	"I'm sorry, Akane," Washuu said, still not looking back. Around the
edges of where the blade had cut through her, her body was beginning to vanish,
transforming into white motes of light that dissipated into the air. "But
there's no time."
	And as Kalia plunged her fist toward the tube, Washuu's hand rose and
her computer appeared in the air before her. She punched a single button just
before her arms vanished.
	And then the world collapsed.

*

	Akane knew she was supposed to be dead. She didn't know anything about
astrophysics, but she knew enough to identify a black hole when she saw it - or
didn't see it, more accurately. Washuu's body had dissolved away into a swirling
cloud of white motes, and the entire world had imploded around them. The distant
planets had been ripped to shreds, entire continental plates being torn from the
bleeding magma cores. The complex network of tubes had collapsed, great chunks
of exotic matter being funnelled down towards them. The ceiling, walls and floor
of the lab had peeled away, vanishing into the event horizon.
	Akane had grabbed onto something, anything, but knew right away that it
should have been futile. Washuu had lost and she was ensuring Chris did not
escape in the most permanent way her science allowed. The singularity would
utterly annihilate everything in the lab, her and Kalia and the other girl
included.
	Really, considering the thing had formed just in front of them, Akane
should have already been dead. Except she wasn't. The pull of the gravity well
was intense, creating a howling maelstrom as it sucked away the atmosphere, but
not more than Akane could resist. And the cloud of lights that Washuu's body
had dispersed into was still there.
	Finally Akane saw the container that Chris' body was in streak past. It
seemed to collapse in on itself, shrinking and twisting before it passed beyond
the point at which not even light could escape. Akane held her breath.
	Then it stopped. The world became a series of thunderous crashes as huge
chunks of the colossal lab crashed down all about her. Akane could just see a
titanic transport tube, as thick across as Mount Fuji, crash down into the
planet in the near distance. But her eyes were drawn back to something closer,
as the lights slowly shrunk back inward.
	They swirled and twisted, tracing out a humanoid figure. As they did
they glowed brighter and brighter, shining blindingly incandescent. Then all at
once the light vanished, leaving Washuu standing in the centre of her destroyed
lab. Her head was bowed and she was still, but Akane still felt her heart skip a
beat.
	For a moment, she hoped. She believed, for that moment, that it was
over. That somehow Washuu's genius had defeated even death and the power of her
own suicide strike. But then her head raised up and her eyes opened.
	Glassy. Cold. Lifeless.
	"Don't be afraid," Chris said. It came from Washuu's vocal chords, but
had the unmistakable lilt of Chris's voice. He sounded calm, at ease. "I've
disarmed the trap Washuu set, you might say."
	Akane could only nod mutely.
	"Of course, it was going to kill you," Chris continued, gesturing with
Washuu's stolen hands. "Unfortunately, in the grand scheme Washuu was playing
you were just another disposable pawn. Very rude of her, I think."
	"Oh Akane!" Kalia called out in a sing-song voice, cupping her chin in
her hands. "So many people are disposable pawns to me, but not you!"
	"Chris? Is that... is that really you?" Angel asked softly. Akane
glanced at her. Even now, with her having drawn attention to herself, it was
hard for Akane to focus on her. It wasn't that she had actually faded away, or
become actually invisible, but Akane just felt as if there was something not
there about Angel.
	The girl took a step towards Chris, staggering slightly. Blood ran down
her legs. Vicious strips had been torn out of her flesh when Washuu had removed
her tattoos. Worse of all was her face: the entire right side was a bloody ruin.
She was crying, her tears mingling with the blood flowing from her wounds. She
staggered a bit as she moved, trying to cover her chest and stomach from which
more crimson fluid spurted.
	Chris looked towards the girl, a paternal expression of concern crossing
his features but never reaching his eyes. "Angel..." He paused. "I'm sorry you
had to go through all this. It's my fault, really." He walked across the floor
towards her. "But you exceeded all my expectations. I chose well in you."
	Angel flinched as Chris got within arms-length of her. She seemed to be
having a hard time looking Chris in the face. Her entire body was quaking, but
whether it was from pain or shame Akane couldn't tell. Akane knew she should
feel something now. She knew that she should care one way or another about the
fact this girl had murdered Washuu, but she was too shell-shocked to figure out
what it should be.
	"Please," Angel whispered. Chris frowned, he had raised one hand towards
her but Angel had flinched back, staggering away from Chris' new body.
"Please... don't look like that."
	"Oh," he said and looked down at himself. "I suppose that was
thoughtless." He closed his eyes and stretched out his hands. As Akane watched
Washuu's body softly reshaped itself. Her hair shrunk and darkened, her face
grew older and more masculine even as her limbs stretched and thickened. Her
clothing rewove itself, the colours shifting and flowing like a kaleidoscope
before settling into a new configuration.
	When he was done Chris no longer looked anything like Washuu except for
his hair, which was a deep red that bordered on black. He looked much like the
boy-child whose body he had first taken all those years ago in Ryugenzawa,
except maybe ten years older. His hair was meticulously unkempt and his features
still boyish, but unassuming. He wore a white vest and slacks over a burgundy
shirt, with a thick belt and light brown shoes.
	He smiled as he opened his eyes. Then, he tilted his head to the side as
if remembering something. Reaching up with his left hand he sunk his fingers
into the flesh around his right eye and, with a sick tearing sound, ripped the
eye out. Akane felt her stomach lurch, but couldn't look away. A wisp of violet
light flickered in the empty eyesocket.
	"Oh, it's so cute!" Kalia squealed as she flashed past him, pulling the
eye from his hand. She held it up so she could look right into it. "Can I keep
it? Please? I promise I'll love it and feed it and take it on walkies and
everything."
	Chris glanced at her and shook his head silently, smiling indulgently.
"If it makes you happy," he replied. His voice was different now. It sounded
much more like she had always pictured his voice. It was firm and confident, but
also slick. Then he turned his attention back to Angel. "I hope you find this
more acceptable?"
	Angel wasn't looking at him, she was staring at the eye in Kalia's
hands. The dark-skinned girl was playing cat's cradle with the nerve endings;
the blood from the flesh had splattered across her face and forearms. She
giggled, a sound that was childlike but devoid of any innocence.
	"I..." Angel looked back at Chris. "Yes... it is."
	Chris paused for a moment. A frown crossed his face for a fraction of a
second. Akane was fairly certain Angel didn't see it. "Good. Let's fix the
damage Washuu did to you, then, shall we?" Angel blinked and gave him her full
attention. Chris gestured, stretching out his hand palm upward. With a soft pop
of displaced air, the Golden Crystal appeared, floating there. "Actually I can
do this even better now. Make you even stronger than before. Would you like
that, Angel?"
	Angel looked down at her bloody body. She hissed in pain. "Chris... how
is this... how is this possible? I could see what happened!" She looked up
sharply, the blood still flowing freely from her wounds. "I saw it! That was a
black hole, it should have killed us! I've never seen such a powerful force..."
	Chris smiled and reached out, touching her ruined cheek. She hissed, but
endured it. "Washuu failed, Angel. She failed in the one thing she most wanted
to prevent. She failed to keep me from realising that I HAVE no limits."
	"No limits..." Akane breathed. Chris looked at her, then turned to face
her. He brought his fingers away from Angel's face, but there were no
bloodstains on his fingertips.
	"Yes, Akane," he told her. "All her secrecy, all her elaborate plans,
they were all designed to keep me from realising that my power truly is
unlimited. Washuu was as smart as she thought she was. She almost immediately
realised what I was. She also realised that the only limitations were those I
believed I had. So when she decided to destroy me, she knew that the last thing
she could do is tell anyone what she knew. She had to create an intricate
fiction. She had to convince everyone in the world that Sailor Moon had exceeded
me, that her power was my antithesis.
	"And she almost won. She almost defeated me by exploiting my own
ignorance. But she forgot that I am beyond even a god," he said with a dry
chuckle. "So, to answer your question, Angel. I didn't destroy the black hole."
He turned back to the white-haired girl. "It's still here. I've just... altered
it slightly so that it is no longer a threat to us. Once we leave, I'll allow it
to finish destroying this place."
	"But... but why?" Akane jumped in. "This lab-"
	"Is worthless to me, Akane," Chris interrupted. "Not only do I have
access to all of Washuu's memories, but I no longer need anything here." He
looked over his shoulder, his grotesque missing eye staring at her. "Besides,
the destruction of this place will help convince Washuu's... extended family
that she and I were destroyed here. I could destroy Tsunami and Tokimi easily,
but doing so would be such a waste."
	Angel suddenly cried out and collapsed. Akane rushed across the room to
her. This woman had just killed Washuu, had quite possibly assured Chris's
victory. But for nowm all Akane could see was that she was in pain. Apparently
her brave act had been just that; the pain of her condition must have finally
caught up with her.
	"Ah yes," Chris said as Akane hovered over the girl, trying to offer
what meagre aid she could. "I'm sorry, Angel. Sometimes I forget how fragile
people are." He held out the Golden Crystal again, and as Akane watched it
seemed to unwind. It was like a spool of thread, releasing a long thin stream of
golden light as the crystal shrunk and shrunk until there was nothing left of
it. The light snaked through the air before finding Angel's wounds. It traced
along the bloody channels in her skin, resetting itself. The girl gasped, her
eyes opening wide. Her entire body was glowing softly by the time the tattoos
had been reapplied to her body.
	Once finished, Chris waved his hand over her body; the blood vanished
without a trace, and her clothing repaired itself where it had been damaged.
Angel blinked and stood up slowly. Akane backed up, uncertain what was going to
happen. The glow around Angel intensified even as it shrunk down until it was
solely contained within the tracks of her tattoos. All of them glowed at once
for a long moment. Then, as Akane watched dumbfounded, a pair of ethereal golden
wing-like flares flashed from Angel's shoulders. Her eyes widened.
	Chris chuckled. "I told you I would make you better than before," he
explained. Akane wasn't certain what he had done, but Angel seemed pleased by
it. With a small frown of concentration the girl cut off the glow on her body,
making her look like a person with just a set of exotic tattoos again.
	"As well, I've gotten rid of the... uninvited guests that I didn't
notice last time," Chris said. "It wasn't as if they were any threat to you, but
it doesn't hurt to be certain."
	"Guests?" Angel repeated.
	Chris waved a hand. "Not important, really. Right now, I suppose we
ought to be concerned with getting out of here." He smiled faintly. "Washuu
certainly didn't want us to. Beyond the black hole - and a few other subsidiary
destructive surprises I've dealt with - she sealed this lab off as thoroughly as
she could from the universe. We've been removed from the normal flow of time,
not to mention reality. Plus this was a pocket dimension to begin with, which
has now been inexorably sealed. She herself couldn't have gotten out of here."
	"But you're not Washuu..." Akane said slowly.
	"No, I'm not," Chris chuckled. "You see, all of that was predicated on
my not realising the secret she'd kept from me. Which, really, I have to admit I
feel a little silly about." He stared up at the empty void above them where,
invisibly, the black hole still lurked. "All this time I've been playing by the
rules, never realising I'm the one that made up the game. It's obvious in
retrospect, isn't it? Why on earth can a dead person walk? Why can I access
memories, skills, thoughts from the bodies I inhabit? Why, as Link once asked
me, can I even see in binocular vision with only one eye? It makes no sense,
conforms to no natural or unnatural law. Until you realise the truth - it was
instinctive. MY instinct. I first jumped to a body instinctively, because I
needed to. I first used the memories because I had a desire for the knowledge
the body held, and thus obtained it. I see just fine because it didn't occur to
me that I shouldn't; besides, dead eyes couldn't see anyway, even if I had two
of them." He clenched his fist, and suddenly Akane could feel a crack in Chris's
calm facade, some long-buried bitterness resurface. "The only things I've ever
failed to accomplish are those things where I doubted myself. But I was too
short-sighted to realise that, too stuck in the same mindset as everyone else."
He turned to face her, smiling, his calm once again reasserted. "Why on earth
should I have to take anyone else's skills or abilities, Akane? I command the
Third Circle. I always have. And the power of the Third Circle is the power of
miracles. The power to reshape the universe." He lifted his hand. "So Washuu
made it impossible to escape? Impossible for her, perhaps. But I am, as you
said, not her. And I say that there is a door." He snapped his fingers.
	And there was a door. It was cheerfully red. Chris walked over to it and
pushed on it with one hand and it opened. Bright light poured into the lab.
Grinning ear to ear, almost literally, Kalia slid around him and floated out.
Angel took one last look at the collapsing lab, still stuck in a single instant,
before picking up the huge bleached blade and following Kalia. Chris looked at
Akane as she stood there. Her hand tightened around the sword Katsuhito had
given her and she walked out.
	Chris paused at the door for a fraction of a second. Akane could just
see the room beyond him beginning to collapse upon itself. Then Chris quite
deliberately closed the door behind him. Then there was no more door.
	And the world started moving again. Akane jumped as she realised that
they had walked right into the middle of a battle. They were in a hemispherical
room, the walls broken at regular intervals by what looked like windows beyond
which were a number of increasingly bizarre monsters and artifacts. A man Akane
was certain she should recognise was standing near a large pile of rubble that
had been knocked out of the ceiling. Beyond him two women were locked in a
grapple. One was short and pale and also tickled at Akane's memory. The other
was-
	"Akira!" Akane gasped out. She realised suddenly that they must be back
in Tethys' city. Which would make the girl Akira was struggling with... the
Messiah of Silence. Akane felt a chill run up her spine. She had heard about the
girl. Who hadn't? But to be here, in her presence, filled Akane with a dread she
wouldn't have thought possible from such a small figure.
	Moving their heads in odd synchronisation, the two struggling women
looked at Akane. Akira's eyes lit up for a moment, then she seemed to realise
who else was in the room with them. Hotaru's eyes, for her part, seemed to
accept this with calm detachment. In fact, her expression was, if anything,
slightly resigned.
	"Kalia..." Chris murmured. "I can't help but be suspicious of such a
remarkable coincidence." He didn't really sound angry, just bemused.
	"Well, we parted so quickly last time," Kalia said with a giggle. "I'd
hate to be thought of as the kind of person who avoids company."
	"If you're done with my sword, Angel, I would like to have it back,"
Hotaru said, turning her attention beyond Chris. Akane blinked and looked over
at the white-haired girl. She looked down at the giant blade with its wickedly
curved top, her expression grim. Then she looked over at Chris, clearly asking
for his permission. The dead man raised his only eyebrow.
	"That was the sword that killed Washuu?" Chris asked. Angel nodded
slowly.
	"Without it, we probably couldn't even have hurt her..." she admitted
reluctantly.
	"A sword that can kill anything?" Chris mused aloud, turning back
towards Hotaru. Hotaru had changed position, keeping on hand firmly on Akira's
forearm while standing otherwise straight to look up at Chris. "Well, I suppose
I could thank you for helping me realise my full potential by returning your
god-killing sword to you, or I could just erase you from reality."
	"If you stop my work, the consequences would be beyond your
comprehension," Hotaru told Chris. She didn't sound pleading, but it was obvious
she was concerned.
	"Ah, still clinging to Destiny, are you?" Chris replied. He chuckled
softly. "I write my own Destiny now."
	"You always have," Hotaru replied without batting an eye. "And it is
exactly that part of your nature, that mistake, which makes you so dangerous."
	"Only to you and yours," Chris replied, raising his hands and holding up
his fingers as if he was going to snap them again.
	"No, don't!" the man shouted, jumping between the two. It was the voice
that clicked in Akane's mind. Ryouga. The boy who had been hanging around with
Nabiki in Tokyo all those years ago. What was he doing here? "If you attack
Hotaru, she'll kill Akira!" he explained.
	Chris looked down at Ryouga. For a moment something flashed across his
features. Something raw and animal, something that was half hate and half fear.
But then it was gone just as quickly and Chris smiled thinly. However, Angel had
obviously noticed it and looked worried. "Akira, would you be willing to die to
defeat this evil?" Chris asked.
	"I..." Akira stared up at him. Her expression was unreadable. It looked
very much like the mask Ukyou used to use all the time. "No." She shook her
head. "No, I'd really rather live."
	"Well, that isn't very noble of you," Chris replied in bemusement.
	"Ah c'mon, boss," Kalia said, floating down next to his shoulder. "Let
the baby have her bottle. If she wants to believe helping save you was her
master plan, let her." She grinned at Hotaru. "I mean, you beat her before you
were capital-G God, she's no threat to you!"
	"A good point," Chris acknowledged. "But I'm not stupid, Kalia. Threat
or no, I'm here now and I can see no good reason not to finish her off."
	"Can't you just kill her later when she's not going to do anything to
Akira?" Angel jumped in. Akira looked at her, her face still expressionless.
"Besides, you can just shield Akira from the Messiah's Silence stuff, right? I
mean, you're God."
	Chris waved Angel's concerns aside with one hand. "Oblivion is slightly
volatile stuff - or non-stuff as the case may be. I wouldn't make any
guarantees."
	"But isn't Kalia made out of Oblivion?" Angel asked. "When I had my void
chakra enhanced, I could sense the void inside her..."
	Chris shrugged. "More accurately," he responded, "she is not so much
made of Oblivion, but is a conduit to it. If you want to think of it another
way, I stretched a skin over the mouth of the void and then made that skin walk
and talk." He smiled. "It's been very useful for discarding my Paradox, but that
doesn't mean it was easy. In truth, neither Washuu nor myself are quite certain
how I did it. More of my will to do so, I suppose.
	"But you're right," he continued, tilting his head to the side and
drumming his fingers against his cheek. "I could probably stop her from killing
Akira-"
	"Don't," Akane found herself saying. She stepped in front of him and
Chris looked down at her. He was just a few centimeters taller, but seemed to be
much more. "It's not worth risking."
	"Akane..." Chris's voice was intent now. "Did you want to ask me
something?"
	"Akira is my friend, Chris," Akane said softly. She felt her insides
twisting. She had to close her eyes and force the words out. They almost
physically hurt. But they needed to be said. "If you leave her alone, leave
Hotaru alone... I'll come with you."
	"Come with me?" Chris pressed. She opened up her eyes. He was staring
directly into her eyes. She wanted to look away, but forced herself to stare at
the horrible deadlights of his eyes.
	"You once told me you'd show me the perfect possible future," Akane
said, keeping her voice level. "I want to be a part of that future."
	The smile that bloomed across his face was perhaps the first truly alive
expression she had ever seen him have. It was the smile of a child being praised
by their parent, of a student being complimented by a teacher, of the faithful
being blessed by their priest. There was a joy, a fulfillment in that smile that
made Akane believe that under all his god-like powers and pretensions there was
a human being.
	Then the smile vanished and Chris straightened up, stepping away from
her. "It appears the decision is made, then. And we have company approaching."
He turned to look at the pile of black crystalline rubble that covered half the
room. "I wonder if they'll be as reasonable as you, Akane?" he mused.
	He turned and walked out of the room. The pile of rubble from the
collapsed ceiling had blocked the exit, but as Chris walked towards it, it
vanished, not even melting or moving, but simply vanishing as if it had never
been. Angel and Kalia trailed in his wake. Akane was struck, for a moment, at
the sight of both white-haired, golden-skinned girls following him. Kalia
floated through the air on her stomach, a leg kicking idly, smiling to herself
at some private joke. Angel had paused only a moment before turning as well,
throwing the huge sword to the ground as if she were glad to be rid of it. Her
face was now set in hard lines, ready to fight and die to protect Chris. Light
played over her tattoos, the mark Chris had left on her.
	Akane looked back, and Akira caught her eye. The other woman didn't say
anything, but her face looked... puzzled. Maybe even reproachful. Akane turned
away abruptly, feeling her face burn. It wasn't that Akane had forgiven Chris.
It wasn't that she'd wanted to say what she'd said. But she knew, knew somewhere
so deep within her it went beyond instinct, that she couldn't let Chris attack
Hotaru. She'd had to do something. And to give him what he wanted, bribe him
with her allegiance, was the only thing she could think to do. What had Akira
wanted from her? She couldn't fight Chris.
	She was only human.
	She emerged from the remains of the room just as Chris was stepping onto
the broken bridge. He walked across the gap without even acknowledging its
existence, his feet walking across the air as if it were solid ground. Kalia
floated after him, leaving Akane and Angel to jump across. Angel ran forward to
take a place in front of him, which made Chris smile again. His expression did
not so much as twitch as two running figures rounded a bend in the icy tunnel
and skidded to a halt.
	The first of them's eyes widened in shock, then narrowed again as her
face twisted in hatred. "Chris!" she snarled.
	"Sailor Pluto," he replied with a nod.
	Rei stared at her fellow Senshi, then at Chris' new body. Her mouth
opened, but whatever she was going to say was lost as Sailor Pluto pointed her
staff at Chris.
	Akane raised her hand, trying to think of something, anything, to ward
off the impending conflict. Angel stepped forward, the tattoo on her face
flaring to life.
	"DARK DOME ENC-"
	None of them finished.
	Sailor Pluto's staff fell to the ground with an empty clatter.
	The rest of her body...
	It had...
	Akane fell to her knees. Her gorge rose. She vaguely heard Rei cry out
in shock and horror, and even Angel staggered back.
	Sailor Pluto had simply exploded. Her body had erupted from within in
the blink of an eye. Akane didn't want to look, but her eyes moved of their own
accord. Here there was an arm, there part of a calf, there some unidentifiable
viscera. The tunnel had been abruptly sprayed red. Except for Chris. Not so much
as a single drop of blood had touched his white clothing or pale skin.
	"That was silly," he commented calmly. "That trick didn't even work on
Ukyou."
	"Chris..." Akane gasped, still trying to keep her stomach down. She'd
seen death before, even dealt it herself, but the suddenness of this had taken
her off-guard. Her head was spinning.
	"Relax," he said, not even turning. "She's not dead."  Akane stared. So
did Rei and Angel. Chris lowered his head to glance at the carnage that had
painted the tunnel, then closed his eyes with a smile. "Remember, Akane, I don't
kill people."
	"You're insane!" cried Rei. But though her face and voice shook with
anger and sorrow, even she was too shocked to move yet.
	Chris affixed her with a contemptuous glance. "Wrong. Oh, certainly she
should be dead. But I haven't let her. You see, Rei, when it comes right down to
it, nobody dies unless I let them. She'll be just fine when I put her back
together. For the moment, however, we'll be having no further interruptions."
	"Monster!" Rei cried. "Whatever you do to me, Sailor Moon will-" she cut
off. Not with a gasp, or even dying off slowly, but sound simply stopped
emanating from her lips. Her eyes bulged, but she made no offensive movement.
Akane couldn't tell whether that was fear, or simply Chris stopping her.
	"Oh yes," Chris smiled, "Sailor Moon. That's actually why I came to see
you, Rei. You see, she's gotten herself into a spot of trouble. And you see,
with her puppetmaster Washuu dead..." He paused. "Oh, yes, I suppose you would
want to know about that, wouldn't you? And Yosho, too... you just aren't very
lucky with your loved ones, Rei. However, in this case, you'll have to put the
blame on Sailor Saturn, I suppose. She provided the murder weapon."
	Rei's face had drained of colour. Tears glittered in the corners of her
eyes, but she still made no sound. Chris continued calmly. "Unfortunately, I
doubt my condolences mean much to you. Therefore, I should inform you that
without her benefactor, Sailor Moon was... well, let's just say 'taken advantage
of'. And all this under the auspices of a man with a little too much ambition
for his own good, I think we can all agree. But why should I bother explaining
it?" he smiled. "I think I'll just let you see it."
	He gave her a single long look, and Akane felt it. She wasn't even sure
what it was at first. It felt like a terrible pressure, like a giant wave
emanating from Chris, pressing down on everyone. Its focus was on Rei, who
staggered. Angel didn't even seem to notice; she was still watching Rei closely
to see if she would attack. And Kalia... when it touched Kalia, the pressure
suddenly abated, the force pouring into her and vanishing like water down a
drain. Kalia looked over at Akane knowingly, and raised a finger to her lips,
smiling.
	"There," Chris said after a moment. "That should get you up to date.
Now, you're no friend of mine, but we have a certain common interest here. I'm
not worried about Akio, of course, but I can't help but take it a tad personally
that he never warned me of the plot Washuu was hatching. So I want you to go
join your fellow Sailor Senshi at Ohtori and stop him. After all, there's a
certain poetic justice in that. Mind you hurry and prepare yourselves, as I
imagine he'll be arriving soon."
	He snapped his fingers, and Rei vanished. No flash of light, no effect
whatever; she simply was not there. But again, Akane felt that pressure. And
again, it swirled into Kalia, who licked her lips.
	"Well, that's that," Chris noted. "Now for the matter of Sailor Pluto.
It's not really her fault she's convinced herself I must be her enemy, but it is
inconvenient. So, too, is the fact that once word of this gets around, Tethys
might just get it into her head to make me her sworn enemy instead of Chaos.
Certainly she'll try to tell everyone she can about me, clever little youma that
she is." He grinned suddenly. "In hindsight, the attack we made was something of
a mistake. But, Akane, the wonderful thing about commanding the Third Circle is
that your mistakes are only temporary."
	Chris hadn't lowered his hand from when he'd sent Rei away. One more
time, he snapped his fingers. And as the sound echoed across the chamber, the
world seemed to resonate with that tiny sound, echoing it louder and louder and
clearer and clearer until it was a single perfect tone. Akane felt the pressure
again, far stronger than before, so strong it nearly hit her like a blow. Then
the world fixed itself.
	At some point the day before this tunnel had been damaged, either by
combat or the monstrous plants or simply an aftereffect of nearby destruction.
Now the haphazard spill of broken crystal floated back upwards, fusing together
and rearranging itself until it perfectly filled the gouges in the ceiling and
walls that it had been knocked out of. Beyond where Rei and Sailor Pluto had
been, Akane could see the rest of Tethys' city, still made of the same shining
silver crystal.
	Black crept across the tunnel as the crystal seemed to cloud from
within. The darkness crept on past the entranceway, moving faster and faster and
spreading up the side of Tethys' kingdom.When it reached shattered buildings and
bridges, pieces of inky shadow seemed to condense out of the air and freeze
quickly into ice which shifted together seamlessly to reforge the structure.
Where it went, ruins became buildings, pits became roads and rubble became walls
and ceiling and windows once again. In the space of two heartbeats the creeping
darkness had passed beyond Akane's line of sight, but she was certain it would
cross the rest of the city. That it would fix it all.
	All of them were silent for a long moment. Finally, Angel turned back to
Chris and spoke. Her voice was deferent, hesitant. She looked like she wanted to
bow. "We should probably leave, too. Tethys will have noticed..."
	Chris smiled indulgently. "Noticed? It's difficult to notice something
that never happened." He walked past Angel, looking over the dark, restored city
with obvious pride. Akane suddenly noticed that people were walking the streets.
None looked up at them. "That attack never happened, Angel. Nobody who lives
here, including the Dark Queen, remember it. There was no destruction. There was
nobody that died. Everything is just as it was. Well, save for Ukyou and her
friends," he amended. "I can't alter Ukyou's memories, and she'd no doubt just
come running after me if I did it to her companions. So I'll just have to rely
on them having some good sense instead, or at least being suitably distracted by
Hotaru's antics."
	Akane didn't want to believe him. She didn't want to think Chris had
just fixed all the problems. Just like she hadn't wanted to believe Sailor Moon
could have just fixed what Akane had done. But he had. Just like she had. She
knew it, and she couldn't deny it.
	"Is that what you're here for?" she said softly to herself. "To fix all
our mistakes?"
	"That's right," a voice whispered into her ear. "Just think of us as the
magic eraser!"
	Akane spun, but Kalia wasn't any nearer to her than before. She was
looking at Akane, though. Akane flinched away from meeting her gaze, and ended
up looking back at Chris.
	He was tapping his cheek again, looking down at the gore that still
covered the tunnel. "Which just leaves you, doesn't it? Well, you were running
down here to deal with Hotaru. So go right ahead and do that."
	And then she was. Again, there was no burst of light, no overt display
of force. Just that strange pressure, that feeling of wrongness, and then it was
gone, drained into Kalia, and Sailor Pluto ran past them, her eyes blank and
unseeing, the staff in her hand.
	"And now it's time to go home," Chris said. A door appeared before him,
swinging open to a room filled with brilliant sunlight. He looked over his
shoulder. "Coming, Akane?"

*

	Ukyou ran her fingers across the crystal floor. She brought the tips up
to her nose. She took a sniff, then rose out of her crouch and looked down one
of the tunnels, then the other.
	"Does that actually do any good?" Tethys asked, crossing her arms.
	"I'll have you know I have a great mastery over my void chakra, which
enhances perception abilities, including both tactile and olfactory
sensitivity," Ukyou explained.
	"In other words, no."
	Ukyou sighed. "Yeah. But I always see people doing it in the comics, so
I thought I'd try it myself." She shrugged. "I might have gotten lucky."
	Tethys walked past her, choosing one of the tunnels at random. Ukyou was
forced to back away while the Dark Queen passed, as Tethys made it clear she
either didn't notice that she was standing in the way or didn't care. Ukyou
frowned but stuck her hands into the pockets of her coat and followed.
	Tethys got to the end of the corridor. It didn't end in a room, or
another t-junction, or even a wall. Instead the end of the corridor became a
jagged ruin. The floor tapered off into a series of ragged tears and holes. The
ceiling and walls had vanished entirely, scattered pieces of shattered crystal
leaning here and there as the only indication of what had once been here.
	The view was a good one of one of the more destroyed portions of the
city. Two days ago it had been a a commercial sector. People went here to engage
in the niceties of business. Tracking shipments of food and medicine,
negotiating trade deals with foreign powers, monitoring the economy and
reporting on it. Two days ago, it had been a place where people could live
normal lives.
	Today it was a crater. A great wide hemisphere had been carved into the
top of the city. Tethys had shaped this entire city out of the ice with the
force of her own will, shaped it with magical forces raw and pure. Every curve
and sweep had been infused with her personality. The people who had lived and
worked here had been HER people. This place had been HERS.
	"I'm sick of this!" Tethys snapped, turning quickly to face Ukyou. The
young woman was looking at her levelly, her black lotus eyes unreadable. "This
is a waste of time, Ukyou." She gestured across the ruins: the tunnels that had
been burrowed into the city by Link's toxic jungle gaped like open wounds. "We
should be fixing this."
	"Do what you like," Ukyou replied. "I never asked you to come along with
me."
	Ukyou walked over to the edge and scanned around. Her hands were still
in her pocket as she leaned out slightly. Tethys crossed her arms and looked at
the back of the woman's head.
	"You can't find Hotaru because she doesn't want you to find her." Tethys
took a step closer. "I'm not certain how she did it either, but she managed to
completely vanish. Maybe she isn't even alive, Ukyou."
	"She's alive." The conviction in Ukyou's voice was compelling, but
Tethys refused to be compelled.
	"How do you know?"
	"How do I know anything?" Ukyou stepped back and looked at her. "How do
I know that up is up and cold is cold and light is light? I just DO." She turned
away and started back down the corridor. "There's still more of this place to
explore. Hotaru hasn't found what she's looking for yet."
	"You could answer the question quickly," Tethys told her. Ukyou glanced
over her shoulder. "The miracle power." Tethys smiled, a grim little smile. "You
said it yourself. It makes you stronger.  Use it on your void chakra, and you
should be able to figure out where the girl is hiding."
	"You know I can't do that," Ukyou said, her voice cold.
	"Oh, why not?" Tethys answered casually. She started past Ukyou. Ukyou
refused to answer, she just fell into step behind Tethys. "Concerned about
Akira, are you? I don't see why. She's just a tool."
	"Don't go there, Tethys," Ukyou warned.
	Tethys smirked. "Don't get me wrong. She is very... useful. Her
earnestness, her dedication. They make her very valuable. Properly channelled
and controlled, her talent can make her into an excellent weapon."
	Ukyou pushed past Tethys, forcing the Dark Queen to stagger for her
balance. The black-haired woman was not quite running, but she was rushing along
the corridor. Tethys crossed her arms again and floated forward, easily matching
pace.
	"My mistake was pushing Akira before she was ready, before she was fully
committed to me," Tethys explained. "It was amusing, to toy with her affections.
To make the woman who loved you love me. It entertained me, but I let my hatred
of you taint my motives and pushed her too far, too fast. So I lost her."
	"What exactly are you hoping to accomplish here, aside from pissing me
off?" Ukyou asked through gritted teeth.
	"You're too busy focusing on the small things, Ukyou," Tethys insisted.
"This is bigger than just you and Hotaru and whatever personal issues you have."
She stretched her hands out. "You have a gift, Ukyou. A gift that could change
the very nature of the world. Think what you could accomplish if you learned to
use that power. Learned how to truly use it. Not just this half-blind fumbling
you've been forced to do when your life is in danger."
	"You don't know what you're talking about, Tethys." Ukyou refused to
look at her. "The Third Circle doesn't solve problems. It's... terrible."
	"No, it's POWER!" Tethys snarled. Why couldn't Ukyou see? "Power is just
power, Ukyou. All that matters is who gets to use it. The Third Circle can save
the world, or destroy it, but you are the one who gets to make that choice. You
HAVE to learn how to use it!"
	"I can't!" Ukyou spun on her. Her face was twisted in an expression of
sorrow. Tears glittered in her eyes. "All it does is hurt people! If I use it,
I'll hurt Akira!"
	"Then do it," Tethys hissed. "Don't pretend you care enough about her
that you won't."
	Ukyou clenched her fists. "Don't ever say that again."
	"What? Imply that you don't care about Akira?" Tethys smiled. She needed
the girl angry. It was what had always unlocked her power before. It was what
she needed to forget her human concerns. What she needed to ascend. Only then
would she be useful for Tethys' purposes.  "I'm just pointing out the truth,
Ukyou. Akira is a weapon, a tool for you to exploit and abuse. I used her just
that way, and now so will you. Because at your heart all you care about is
your-"
	Ukyou's fist crashed into Tethys face, and sunk in up to her wrist.
Tethys floated upward, shifting and shaping her body, her flesh rippling like
deep blue water. Then she was holding Ukyou's wrist with both hands, tucking it
under her chin.
	"Temper, Ukyou." Tethys purred. "I don't see why you're so angry. You
can't honestly expect me to believe you didn't notice. Suddenly your power works
without any drawbacks? Suddenly this thing, this power you feared so much that
you would rather die at my hands than unleash; this power was suddenly nothing
but beneficial? Didn't you notice how she bled, Ukyou? Didn't you even bother to
ask where she had gotten so beaten up? It never occurred to you to care?"
	Ukyou looked Tethys in the eyes, and the anger in her face drained away,
to be replaced by astonishment. "You care."
	Tethys frowned. That wasn't the answer she'd expected. "What are you
talking about?"
	Ukyou pulled her hand free. "You really care about her, don't you?"
Ukyou shook her hand a bit, scattering drops of water off it. "That's why you're
so angry, why you're trying to provoke me."
	"You're barking at shadows," Tethys informed the woman, but a little too
quickly. Her words struck dangerously close to the truth.
	"No." Ukyou stepped forward, closer to Tethys. "You're more human than
you want to admit, aren't you? What was it? Combining with Hayato the way you
did? Did that finally give you a conscience? Did that give you the ability to
really care about someone other than yourself?"
	"Hayato and I are one, Ukyou," Tethys informed her, drifting back. "But
we have both lost and gained much in so doing. We absorbed the power of
Metallia: all her knowledge and spirit resides inside me. You really think
Hayato's pitiful human feelings have any effect on that?"
	"You want to believe that," Ukyou said, tapping her chin. "You want very
badly to not have feelings, to not be attached to anything. What I can't figure
out is: why?"
	"We should get back to the search..." Tethys said, floating around her.
	"You know, Tethys, whatever your problem is, I couldn't care less.
Frankly, as long as you keep it to yourself, I won't even think about it. But
stop letting your issues mess with me and mine. We all have problems, and you
don't see me taking mine out on you." Ukyou followed her. "This has nothing to
do with me."
	"Nothing!?" Tethys turned on her in a sudden rage. "You're the start of
all this! The very start of it! You set me on this path!" She curled her fist.
"You destroyed my life, ripped apart everything I ever cared about with casual
disregard.  You humiliated me. Defeated me. Then, when I went after you for
revenge, you didn't even have the courtesy to KILL me. You took everything I had
away, Ukyou! My life revolved around you, and you dismissed me!"
	"Yeah, I guess I did." Ukyou frowned slightly. "I'm sorry."
	"Sorry?" Tethys snarled. "Is that all you have to say?"
	"What else can I say, Tethys?" Ukyou looked down at the floor. "I
destroyed Hayato's life, I admit to that. But the past is the past. Nothing I
say is going to make it better. I just have to try not to let myself go to that
place again."
	"You're such a pretentious bitch, Ukyou," Tethys said with a sneer. "You
think you know the way the world works. But some of us had to forge our own
destiny. Some of us know what it's like to struggle not just to survive, but to
find MEANING in our lives. To find a reason to fight."
	"What if there is no meaning, Tethys?" Ukyou asked softly. "What if this
is as good as it gets? What if this is all we have? No reward. No light at the
end of the tunnel. No heaven. No hell. No justice. No tragedy. What if all there
is, is life?"
	"What does that even mean?" Tethys said, repressing the desire to snort.
It wasn't very dignified.
	"Nothing, everything. I don't have the answer you're looking for,
Tethys," Ukyou informed her. "I'm not a messiah. I never asked you to define
your life around me. I'm not going to condone whatever you're doing, but I'm not
going to condemn it right now either. There is a girl I want to save, and
frankly she means more to me than all your issues and the issues of everyone in
the entire world, the entire universe.
	"So either shut up, or-" Ukyou cut off, her eyes widening.
	"What is it?" Then Tethys felt it too.
	It was the power in this place, the aura of Sailor Moon. Her residue had
so permeated every atom of Tethys' city that the Dark Queen had barely noticed
it. It was like a vague feeling of comfort, a warmth that tickled at the bottom
of your heart and made you feel just slightly better. But now...
	It had been snuffed out. All of it at once.
	"Was it...?"
	"No, not Hotaru," Ukyou said. She turned, looking southward. "Something
else. Something powerful..." She closed her eyes. "My god... it's..."
	"Damn it, Ukyou, tell me!" Tethys snarled and grabbed her. "What's going
on?"
	"She's gone..." Ukyou whispered, either unaware of Tethys' grip or
uncaring. "I could feel her, like a presence at the edge of my vision, but now
she's gone and there is something... somebody in her place." She looked up at
Tethys her eyes wide, in fear. "Something terrible has happened."
	Tethys released her. So, it was finally happening. She looked down at
Ukyou. The girl wasn't ready. It was becoming clear to Tethys that she might
never be ready. The Dark Queen closed her eyes.
	So, what she had feared then. No easy answer. No simple solution. Sailor
Moon would not solve the world's problems, and neither would Ukyou. She lacked
the resolve. So it was up to Tethys.
	When she opened her eyes the city was as normal. They stood in a hallway
of black ice. Citizens moved around them, giving their queen and her guest a
wide berth but otherwise moving about their daily business. For a moment Tethys
found this odd. Hadn't this place been destroyed?
	But the more she thought about it, the harder that became to believe.
They had captured Link outside the city while she was... was what? It didn't
matter. Tethys shook her head. Ukyou was staring at her, staring at the walls
and ceiling and the people passing around her.
	Hotaru. That was it. Link had been trying to attack Hotaru. But Sailor
Moon had showed up and ended the fight, driving off Hotaru before leaving to
do... something. Tethys raised a hand and clutched her forehead. Why were she
and Ukyou out here, talking?
	"Tethys," Ukyou grabbed her, shaking her. "You have to do something!
Chris... he..."
	"Chris?" Tethys frowned. "Who are you talking about?"
	Ukyou's expression was very odd. For a moment, she looked stunned. Then
her expression slowly grew frightened, before fading away to sadness. "I see. So
that's what he intends."
	"Who are you talking about?" Tethys frowned. "Is it the person who
defeated Sailor Moon?" She looked southward. "We need to respond to that,
quickly."
	"Ukyou!"
	They both turned to see Ranma running towards them. He was moving much
more fluidly than Tethys expected him to, which was odd. Ranma was always
graceful. Ukyou walked up to him. "Ranma? Are you alright?"
	"Yeah, fine, Ucchan." He waved his arm around. "Everything's working
fine now. But I can't figure out why. And the city, all the damage..."
	"Indeed," Ukyou nodded. "We'll talk about it later. Is there
something...?"
	"Oh, right..." Ranma looked at Tethys. Tethys frowned.
	"You two deal with your personal problems." Tethys waved them aside.
Ukyou was not going to be part of her solution, it seemed. So she would have to
do this the slow, painful, bloody way. "I'm going to find out what just happened
to the world." She wove a simple spell and stepped into one of her walls,
teleporting across the city in an instant.

*

	Cologne could only stare helplessly as the last two members of the Elite
Five rushed forward to attack. From the blank-eyed expression on Ikazuchi's
face, she guessed that Gyro had used his mental powers to compel them. Which
meant talking was useless. Which left precious little else she could do. The two
monsters rushed towards the Quartet, who seemed to be shell-shocked from Sailor
Moon's defeat.
	"Girls, run away!" Cologne shouted. The Quartet looked at her and she
cursed. There was no time, the two zoanoids were passing right in front of her.
She only had one chance. She pulled her legs up to her chest and flicked her
sandal off her right foot. "BAKUSAITENKETSU!" she cried as she thrust her foot
at the ground, touching it gently with her big toe.
	She managed to channel most of the explosion away from her but was still
pelted by a painful cloud of rock chips. However the blast did strike ZX-Tole
just as he was running past her, pulling back his hand for a haymaker punch. She
didn't know why ZX-Tole had bothered to rush in for close combat instead of
pelting the girls with his deadly lasers, but she didn't care. It saved the
girl's lives for another few seconds as ZX-Tole flew across the room and crashed
into Ikazuchi.
	The two of them landed in a heap after smashing into one of the columns.
"Go, Cologne!" she heard VesVes shout. She wanted to shout, to cry, to do
something. She needed to get them to leave. There was nothing she could do with
the chains holding her in place. Even her last-second desperation move would
only buy them a few moments.
	She should have known. She should have guessed. She should have been
smart enough not to hope. But the idea of Frederick being cured, becoming whole
again, had made her stupid. She should have MADE the girls run. Somehow.
	ZX-Tole was climbing to his feet again. He looked almost comical,
crouched on one knee with his hand serving as support. He turned his emotionless
insect face towards her. The horn on his forehead peeled back, flipping backward
to reveal the huge red lens of his deadly laser. Cologne stared into his
segmented eyes.
	She saw the flash of the charge up a millisecond before he fired. She
pushed herself up and sideways, trying to twist her whole body as much as she
could. The chains rattled and stretched, suddenly jerking her backward when they
reached the limit of their extension. By some miracle she had timed it well
enough that ZX-Tole's energy beam caught her only a glancing blow. This meant it
only left a third degree burn down her entire right side and singed a good few
centimeters off her thigh. She bit down a scream as she tumbled back downward.
She moaned in pain, however, when she saw his blast hadn't so much as scratched
the column she was chained to.
	Then JunJun roared. She'd never heard quite such a sound of animal rage
come out of the girl before. Her entire face twisted in anger as the petite
green-haired girl charged across the room and slammed her fist into ZX-Tole's
side. For a moment, Cologne felt a surge of chi from the girl, then ZX-Tole was
sent careening through the air. His massive beetle-like body crashed through
another column in a cloud of grey dust.
	Ikazuchi spun to his feet, snapping his hand out. The organs on his arms
flared blue and his long thin lightning blade flashed into existence. JunJun was
still extended from her attack, she would have no chance of escaping. Then a
huge bear wearing a ludicrously out-of-place pointed pink hat grabbed Ikazuchi
from behind. It growled in rage and pulled on him, trying to sink its talons
into his flesh. But Ikazuchi's purple skin was made of tougher stuff. With a
deceptive looking flourish, the neo-zoanoid reversed the grip on his blade and
shoved it back and up through the animal's skull. Light grotesquely shined out
from behind the beast's eyes before it fell back, smoke escaping from its mouth.
	Before he could recover, two more creatures threw themselves at him. A
huge scorpion the size of a man dropped from the ceiling, trying to impale him
with its barb while a lizard-scaled cougar with two tails bit at his hamstring.
Ikazuchi parried the incoming barb with his free hand, and leapt up over the
teeth of the bizarre predator. He landed in a crouch as the two creatures
righted themselves and came back at him. Just out of the corner of her eye
Cologne could see VesVes holding her Amazon Stone in front of her, her eyes
closed in concentration. As she watched, a portal sliced open in the air beside
her, disgorging another horror.
	Red lights drew Cologne's attention. ZX-Tole had opened fire on JunJun.
She stuck her hand out before her, her orb pulsing as it transformed into a
transparent hemispherical green shield. The first two blasts skittered
harmlessly along it. The next three slammed into it, driving JunJun back two
steps. The next shot shattered the shield like glass, sending the girl flying
backward.
	"JUNJUN!" Cologne shouted.
	"Quiet, old hag!" CereCere said suddenly. Cologne looked up and to her
left. The pink-haired Amazoness was hanging upside down from a trapeze near her
shoulder. She was holding her orb up near the point where the chains met the
column. "This magic is very complex. I'm surprised Gyro had the brains to
develop it."
	"You're..."
	"Rescuing you," CereCere said with a smile. "Of course. Ah, there."
With a twist of her wrist, CereCere pushed her pink sphere into the centre of
the chains. There was a sound like a bubble popping, and then Cologne staggered
forward as her chains came free of the wall. She hissed and almost instantly
collapsed to her knees. There was no hope of her right leg carrying her weight.
ZX-Tole's attack had burned away too much muscle. She also noted with bemusement
that the chains were still attached to her wrist, just no longer attached to the
column or each other.
	"Hinder me no more, beasts of the underworld!" Ikazuchi shouted. His
body suddenly exploded with light as he spun around in a quick circle. The
monsters around could only be seen briefly in silhouette before they faded away
in clouds of smoke. He landed back on his feet, breathing hard. His eyes looked
slightly more focused now.
	"I don't have any more beasts!" VesVes warned. JunJun hissed as she
rolled to her feet. A blast of laser light vapourised the stone she had been
lying on. ZX-Tole was running forward, firing volleys of beams from his wrist-
mounted lens. Somehow JunJun managed to tumble and backflip away from them, but
he was too good and she was too slow.
	Then PallaPalla slid out from the shadows of another column. She threw
her tiny little body at the massive zoanoid, striking him with her elbow. She
bounced off with a hollow ponging sound, shouting in surprise as she landed on
her back. ZX-Tole paused and turned to face her. He leaned down slowly and
caught her in his massive clawed hand. His fingers wrapped all the way around
her torso, making her look like some strange doll in his oversized fist.
	"PallaPalla! You idiot!" JunJun shouted. She snapped her hand out,
summoning her Amazon Stone again. VesVes shouted and her stone began to glow
intensely, filling the room with scarlet light. ZX-Tole popped open the covering
on his wrist laser. At that range, at that angle, there was no way he could
miss. JunJun and VesVes stopped in place, their faces caught in looks of horror.
	"Ikazuchi," ZX-Tole said. His voice sounded strained. "Gather them
together. Place them with Purgstall. I'll destroy them all with a single shot."
	"ZX-Tole?" Ikazuchi suddenly sounded uncertain. CereCere looked down at
the orb in her hand uncertainly. Cologne tried to breathe, to recover more of
her chi. She needed to do something, but she was drawing a blank. There was no
way she could reach PallaPalla in time. Why wasn't Frederick awake?
	"You heard me, Ikazuchi," ZX-Tole hissed out in his insectile buzz. "I
am going to kill Zoalord Purgstall and these children." He looked at the blue-
skinned zoanoid man. "You heard me. I gave you an order."
	Ikazuchi reached up and clutched his head. "ZX-Tole... my head hurts..."
	"It's Gyro's will. But he's not focused on us now," ZX-Tole explained,
his voice now sounding almost pained.
	"This... isn't right..." Ikazuchi snarled between clenched teeth. Both
hands were on his head now. His eyes were squeezed shut. "These are children...
no danger to Chronos..." He collapsed to one knee. "My head... it hurts..."
	"Mr. Ikazuchi?" PallaPalla said, sounding oddly calm. Ikazuchi opened
his eyes and looked up at her. "It's going to be okay. You're not a bad person,
and no one can make you a bad person. It's always our choice. Always."
	For a moment, Cologne could have sworn she saw a flicker of something on
the Amazoness girl's forehead, but it was gone so quickly she dismissed it as a
pain-induced fever dream. But Ikazuchi must have seen something on her face,
because his eyes cleared and the pained expression on his face melted away. He
frowned and rose up to his full height, summoning a blade of light.
	"No..." Ikazuchi looked ZX-Tole in the eyes. "I will not do this thing.
I am Ikazuchi, I am Tatewaki Kunou, last of the Kunou family. I stand for
justice and I will not submit to the wiles of evil."
	ZX-Tole dropped PallaPalla and turned to face Ikazuchi. "Are you
betraying Chronos?"
	"No. I believe in Chronos. But Gyro is not Chronos, and I will not stand
for his evil. I will not let him butcher these children."
	"I have no choice but to fight you, then," ZX-Tole said, raising his
hand-cannons.
	"So be it!"
	The two rushed at each other and suddenly CereCere grabbed Cologne up,
and began running for the exit.
	"Amazoness Quartet! We are out of here!" VesVes yelled. JunJun paused
only long enough to grab Frederick's unconscious body before she and PallaPalla
followed.

*

	Victoria Seras had never been popular. She was used to being alone. At
the tender age of ten, she had watched as her parents were butchered in front of
her. She had watched her mother's corpse violated. She had been tormented and
left for dead. Ever since then, she had been alone.
	The children in the orphanage shunned her, in the way children always do
someone strange and different. Her parent's death had animated the young girl in
a way little else could have. She had made it her mission to become a police
officer, like her father before her. She wanted to protect people, to fight
against injustice like the ones she had experienced. This strange, oddly adult,
intensity had pushed away any friends she might have made.
	When she had finally managed to work her way into the special tactics
division, she had still been alone. The only woman in an army of men. She had
been forced to be twice as tough, twice as dedicated as any of them just to
survive. Then had come the day everything had changed for her.
	Being turned into a vampire had been a shock at the time, but in
retrospect it was just more of the same. Now she was separated from humanity by
an even more impassable gulf than before. Those few people she might have formed
attachments to had died on her, one by one. First Alucard had been placed in
his death-coma, then Walter had been killed... The resistance she had been a
part of after the invasion had been annihilated. B. B. Hood had been killed,
Yomiko had died and on and on the list went. Even Lady Hellsing had been
butchered in the end.
	Which had left her alone.
	Alone, in a world without purpose. For a few years she lived a pathetic
existence. No, living was too strong a word. She survived. She survived by
scrambling from shelter to shelter, avoiding the harsh sun. She survived by
mercilessly repressing her hunger, the awful consuming need for blood that all
vampires shared. She survived by avoiding humans. She survived alone.
	By the end of the second year, she had been almost a beast. There was no
way she could control the hunger for much longer. Her aimless wanderings had
begun to take her closer and closer to human settlements. The thin blood of pigs
and other beasts had turned to ashes in her mouth. Every night from sunset to
sunrise was a constant battle with herself. Every time the sun dipped below the
horizon she could feel a little more of her humanity fraying away.
	One day, she had decided that there was no hope. So she walked out of
the cave she was using for shelter and found a nice cliff, overlooking a valley
to the east. With rope and chain she bound herself in place. Her vaunted vampire
strength had grown so atrophied from starvation that even her haphazard bindings
could prevent her escape. So she had sat and waited, waited to see her last
sunrise. God might consider suicide a sin, but if she was damned to hell anyway
it would be without dragging anyone else down with her.
	And, just as the sun had begun to peak over the horizon, just as the
skin on her face had begun to itch, it had started to rain. The sudden rainstorm
was so swift, so sudden that at first Seras couldn't believe it. Her head had
tilted back, her eyes widening. The rain had been cool and dark, running down
her skin in rivers. And, as she sat there chained to a cliffside, she had begun
to laugh. She remembered the next few minutes very clearly. She remembered
throwing back her head and laughing for a long, long time.
	"And to what beast from hell do I owe this dark miracle?" she remembered
screaming.
	"Please. I may be from hell, but I think 'beast' is unflattering."
	The ropes and chains and stretched and groaned as Seras spun to face her
new companion. Her first meeting with the Dark Queen had been suitably
impressive. The woman had been standing, dark and statuesque, garbed in a
flowing robe of sapphire silk that rippled and flowed around her like the
beating of surf upon the shore. At first Seras had thought the Dark Queen wasn't
there, because it appeared that the rain was falling right through her. She had
been right and wrong: the rain travelled through the woman without interruption,
but she was very much there.
	"What are you?" Seras had asked. Her voice was parched and dry.
	"I am Tethys, queen of the Dark Kingdom," the woman's blue-tinted face
had smiled. "And before you ask, I have come for you, Victoria Seras."
	"I'm not interested, I just want to die in peace..." Seras had turned
her face away, but the woman frowned and grabbed her chin, forcing her to turn
back. Her strength was exceptional, her grip crushing like the deepest ocean
trench.
	"Peace? You think there is peace in death?" The woman snorted. "No.
Don't try to make this sound noble and right. You are killing yourself not
because you think it will make the world a better place, but because you are
afraid."
	Seras had felt her hackles rise. "So what if I am? I don't want to live
in fear anymore. Do you have any idea what it's like being afraid of yourself!?"
	Tethys took a long moment answering. She had closed her eyes,
considering ther words carefully. Seras bared her fangs. "Yes. I know perfectly
well."
	Seras stared. There could be no doubting the sincerity in Tethys' voice.
She had continued, "I am no different than you, Seras. I too, am a victim. My
soul was shredded so long ago that I can no longer even remember what I once
was. My humanity was stolen from me. I was created as a weapon. To fight. To
kill. To struggle and feed my master's insane desire for war and conflict. But I
have risen beyond that.
	"I have decided that there is a better fate than death, and that fate is
victory. I wish to defeat the thing that made me, the thing that made things
like you, the thing that even now gluts itself on the death of stars. Make no
mistake, Seras, it laughs at you. Your pitiful death here means nothing to it,
and it knows that the wars will go on. It knows that war and pain and suffering
will continue forever and that your empty, meaningless little death will not
amount to anything. Just another victim, just another tragedy in the endless
litany.
	"You have a choice, Seras. You can die here and let it win, or you can
join me and together we will defeat it. Make no mistake: I am no hero, no
champion of justice. I will go to any means to accomplish my goals. I will use
you as I see fit, and destroy you if that is my need. But I will make you
MATTER! I will accomplish with your help what I might not accomplish otherwise.
And in so doing you will strike a blow at this unfair and unjust universe.
	"Together, you and I will destroy Chaos itself!"
	Seras had stared at this blue-skinned devil for a long time. Finally her
body had slumped, her face falling. "Why me?"
	"Because of who you are, or what you are."
	"Alucard... you're after him?"
	"Yes, and no." The woman snorted. "If all I wanted was a desiccated old
corpse, I would rip his body from that cave you buried him in and blast you to
shreds if you interfered." She knelt, tilting Seras' head up with a finger on
her chin. "I want you, Seras. His blood flows in your veins. You are the last
true vampire. The final member of your tribe. Only you have the powers, the
power of blood that is yours by right. All I ask is that you take it."
	"I won't!" Seras had screamed. "I won't feed off humans, ever!"
	"Then feed off me," Tethys had said, tilting her head to the side. "In
my body flows the blood of gods. Feed on that, Seras, and become the thing you
are supposed to be."
	Perhaps it was weakness. Perhaps a part of her wanted it. Perhaps there
had been the invisible hand of God. But Seras had taken her up on her offer. She
had drunk long and deep from the Dark Queen, and in so doing she had understood.
	Seras wasn't certain if Tethys had ever realised the level of connection
between a vampire and its prey. How the act of feeding could drain away the very
soul, the will and memory and talents of the victim, and turn them to the
vampire's will. Without killing Tethys, there was no way Seras could gain her
full power. But every time she fed, Seras gained a small insight into Tethys'
soul.
	Perhaps more than anyone else in the universe, perhaps even better than
the Dark Queen herself, Victoria Seras understood Tethys. She knew of the
youma's history with Ukyou. She knew of her merging with Hayato. She knew about
the Dark Queen's struggle to find a purpose for herself. She knew about her
defiance against her chosen fate and how, in the end, Tethys was convinced it
would all be pointless.
	She knew the woman's plan. It was simple in its brutal efficiency.
First, Tethys would conquer the entire universe. She was immortal, so this would
take as long as it took. She would conquer through diplomacy where she could,
with inspiration where she could not, and with warfare if that was the only
option. But one day she would rule.
	So that, once the universe was hers, she could weed all violence from
it. Ruthlessly, efficiently, she would breed out the capacity for hatred and war
from all the beings of the universe. In so doing, she would starve Chaos,
deprive it of food until it was nothing more than a pale shadow of what it had
once been. Then, when it was almost over, Tethys would destroy the only thing in
the universe capable of starting the vicious cycle again; herself.
	It was insane. It was ridiculous. And Tethys believed in it with all her
heart. So, Seras had taken up her banner. Because everyone needed something to
believe in, some meaning to which they could dedicate themselves. Everyone
wanted to matter, and if Seras had to do so by tilting at windmills... well, at
least Tethys' end goals sounded better than those of the Major or Arkanphel.
	So it was that Seras had accepted her banishment to the darkness beneath
the ice without complaint. Except for the occasional visit from Tethys to
provide her with more of her semi-divine blood, Seras was left alone. But she
was used to being alone, after all. She knew someday that Tethys would need her,
and the body she guarded. How, not even Tethys knew, but the two of them had
formed a bond that didn't require such definite answers.
	For five years, Seras had been content to wait. Then, the world had
nearly came to an end. Seras had drunk deep from her master and she had gained a
certain sensitivity. Most vampires had an affinity for blood, but Seras had
begun to evolve that power to a frightening level. She could sense the flow of
blood in all the beings above her. She could feel it pump and flow in the hearts
of man and youma. If she focused, she could follow the movements of thousands of
people at once.
	Then, just a few hours ago, she had felt death and pain. The sanctuary
of Tethys' kingdom had shattered in an instant, and thousands had died. Worse,
Seras could feel the Dark Queen's own pain. It had taken all of Seras' willpower
not to burst free and to hell with Tethys' orders. But the battle had ended, and
the majority of the city had survived.
	Except the idea would not leave her alone. Tethys had not returned to
consult her. She hadn't so much as sent a note to explain what had happened.
Seras was going half-mad with worry. She paced back and forth, occasionally
glancing at Alucard's dried-out corpse as if it would offer some insight. The
waiting was wearing at her. Like those dark times five years ago, she could feel
her nerves fraying apart.
	But she hadn't done anything. Until the explosion of power. Seras had
grown quite familiar with Alucard's wound. The one that contained the Paradox
power. The one no one else could see. But she could see what was in the wound.
She could see the way that it ate at reality, how the sick impossibility of it
churned in its non-space. It spread like a sickness across all the lands. It was
connected to every vampire, everywhere. But only Seras could feel it, because
Alucard's blood flowed in her veins.
	So it was that when she had felt that same Paradox power sweeping over
the city, she had not hesitated. All thought of Tethys' orders flew from her
mind. The massive unreality of it made Seras feel sick. If that was directed
against Tethys, she would have no defence. Maybe with Seras there to warn her,
to help her, the Dark Queen and her vision would survive.
	Tethys had only created one way out of this place. It was encased in
solid ice, warded so that even Tethys could only enter it at one specific point.
Tethys thought that the cage she had put Seras in was inescapable and
impenetrable. She would have been right, but she had never counted on exactly
how MUCH of herself Seras had consumed over the years.
	With a hiss Seras bit open her own finger. When she reached the end of
the short hallway, she placed her blood against the wall and evoked her power.
The black crystal turned red, spreading up and into the city proper. It would
open a path for her. Nothing as fine as Tethys could do, but a crude portal that
would simply teleport her up to the trophy room instantly. Of course, it would
be two-way, but Seras didn't foresee anything being able to take advantage of
the fraction of a second the portal would remain open-
	A body smashed into her with enough force that the two were sent
hurtling down the corridor. They smashed into the wall, sending a great crack
along it. The body on her gasped and Seras realised it was a woman. A very
powerful woman, from the smell of chi thick in her blood. Seras pushed her off,
cursing herself for a fool. She should have sensed someone there, but something
had blocked her powers.
	A whiff of the woman's scent wafted up Seras' nose and she knew her.
Akira. The two had never met, but Seras knew Akira. She knew her very well. A
surge of hatred emerged in her. Hatred at what Akira had done to Tethys. How
this girl had almost destroyed everything Tethys stood for. And... there was
jealousy, too.
	Then a tiny figure stepped through the red ice. It was a short, pale
girl with blood running down her face. Seras recognised her instantly. If her
heart had been beating, it might have stopped.
	"Sister," Hotaru smiled.
	"You... how did you..."
	A huge pale-metal blade emerged from the portal, hovering over the
girl's shoulder. "I have come for him. Stand aside and die."
	"Don't you mean, 'or die'?" the woman who had collided with Seras said.
She kicked to her feet. There was a smirk on her face. "You made a mistake,
Hotaru."
	"No. I did not."
	"I'm not talking about that. You released me. Now there's nothing
stopping me from calling Ukyou!" The woman clenched her fists and suddenly her
aura flared. It was thick and blue, full of liquid energy. Seras felt her fangs
itching from the presence of such a strong power.
	Hotaru looked at Seras. "Will you tell her, or must I?"
	Akira frowned.
	"This place... it is sealed, warded from the rest of the world," Seras
explained. "Nothing comes in, nothing gets out."
	"Not even your aura," Hotaru explained. She reached up and grabbed the
handle of her great sword. It was far too huge to swing in this place, but that
didn't stop her as she carved a line through the ice with it. "So use all the
power you wish. Scream, if it suits you. There will be no last minute rescues
today."

*

	"Ukyou, this is a stupid idea."
	Nabiki hissed in pain and clenched her arm. The throbbing was inching up
her body, minute by minute. She felt nauseous. Her head hurt. Leave it to Link
to make certain that she would not only die, but that she would die in
discomfort. Not overwhelming pain. The poison in her system was just giving her
small aches and pains. Tiny little things that by themselves would have been
nothing, but added together they became a severe annoyance.
	"When has that ever stopped me before?" Ukyou asked with a wistful
smile. She grabbed Nabiki's arm and looped it over her shoulder. "Come on, we
don't have much time left."
	"UKYOU, STOP!" Nabiki tried to shout as the girl started half-carrying,
half-dragging her along. "You shouldn't be doing this."
	Ukyou paused. "If I don't, you'll die." The words were delivered with
surprising gentleness.
	"Do you see this?" Nabiki snapped, tapping one of the walls with her
good hand. "Someone undid everything Sailor Moon did yesterday. You and I both
know who that was. I may not have access to my telepathy, but I know what
happened. Chris-"
	"Left," Ukyou interrupted her. "And when he cleared out everything
Sailor Moon did, that included the purifying energy she infused into your
system. I can feel the poison moving through your blood again. So let's get you
to Link. She can cure you."
	"At what cost?" Nabiki growled. "You're playing right into her hands.
This is what she wants. Can't you see that?"
	"Yeah. I can. It doesn't matter." Ukyou had managed to get them to the
bottom of the floating staircase, past the evenly spaced gravity-defying ice
steps and the cocoon of rolling water. "You're my friend, Nabiki. I don't let my
friends die."
	"I'd rather die than give her the satisfaction," Nabiki said slowly.
	"I'd really rather you didn't," Ukyou said with a self-effacing grin.
"And I have it on good authority that I'm the next best thing to God, so what I
want wins, okay?"
	Nabiki sighed. Really, what was she supposed to say? Truthfully, she
very much wanted to live. She had never been one for noble self-sacrifice. She
was still amazed at what she had done during Ryouga and Link's fight. Her
objections to Ukyou doing this were more pro forma than out of any real
sincerity.
	Which didn't mean that this wasn't still a terrible idea.
	They had reached the wall formed by the constantly flowing water. It was
difficult going up the steps. Nabiki had a hard time walking and Ukyou had to
take her time leading her. She wondered why the girl didn't just pick her up
and... Ukyou gestured and the Silence Glaive appeared in her free hand. Oh, that
would explain it. Ukyou had thrust the Glaive into the water and a hole opened
up, a perfect circle formed around the blades of the weapon. With a hop, Ukyou
leapt through, pulling Nabiki along uncomfortably in her wake.
	"You okay?" Ukyou asked once they had set down.
	"Yeah..." Nabiki sighed. "You do realise that Link is going to bleed you
dry? I know her, Ukyou. She's an opportunistic snake. Once she realises that
saving my life is that important to you, she'll take you for anything she thinks
she can get away with."
	"And she'll get it," Ukyou said softly. "I don't think she'll be stupid
enough to ask for anything I'm unwilling to give. If she is... we'll deal with
that threshold when we cross it."
	Nabiki was silent for the rest of the walk up to the prison. There was a
man standing in front of the door. Nabiki recognised him as one of Akane's
more... eccentric companions. He stepped in front of them, holding out his arm.
	"I'm sorry, but you're not allowed in here!" he shouted.
	"But we are in here," Ukyou informed him.
	"Of course!" He nodded, placing his fists on his hips.
	"So how could we have done that unless we were allowed?"
	The man considered this. His mask made his face expressionless but
Nabiki didn't need telepathy to know his mind was slowly turning over that
thought. "But-"
	"Are you calling this poor, sick, dying woman a liar?" Ukyou pushed
Nabiki forward.
	"I didn't say anything!" Nabiki protested.
	"Well..." he rubbed his chin. "That IS Nabiki Tendo..."
	Nabiki hit him. Then she hissed and nearly toppled backward. Ukyou
caught her. The man, whose name still eluded Nabiki, rubbed his head and nodded.
"I see, your illness does make it unlikely you snuck in here for nefarious
purposes! Enter!"
	Ukyou pushed past him, pulling Nabiki with her. Nabiki steeled herself
as the skeleton fetish man vanished behind the door of the room. The room itself
wasn't very large, maybe big enough for a dozen people to stand in comfortably
if you didn't include the two cells. In one cell a young woman lay. She had hair
that was a blonde so light it verged on white and was curled up in a fetal
position. She almost looked dead, except for the occasional twitch of her
fingers and the slow rise and fall of her chest.
	Beyond her was Link. Nabiki had feared this encounter, but looking at
Link now made that fear go away. She looked so small and helpless. Just a tiny
little Chinese woman in a shift that covered up her skinny frame. Her long hair
fell limply about her shoulders, and her face was dirty and pale. She looked
nothing like the aristocratic figure that had very nearly succeeded in killing
Nabiki only a few hours ago.
	She was sitting in the back of her cage when they entered, frowning at
space. Just as they entered, she seemed to come to life all at once. She stood
up and walked to the bars, clutching them with both hands. Her eyes widened even
as her pupils narrowed as she stared at Ukyou. A chill ran down Nabiki's spine
at the woman's expression.
	"Ukyou," Link rolled the name around on her tongue as if tasting it. "At
last we meet."
	Ukyou opened her mouth as if she was going to respond instantly, then
she closed it. She considered her words carefully for a few seconds before
starting. "Ask and ye shall receive. I understand that you can undo what you did
to my friend...?"
	Link chuckled softly. "Of course. I'm given to understand you are very
businesslike, Ukyou, so let's do business. You're here to save Nabiki's life. Of
secondary concern to you, I expect, is Chris. No doubt you felt what he did to
this place. Impressive, wasn't it?"
	"If by impressive you mean 'oh god, oh god, we're all going to die',
yes. Mildly. But I'm primarily concerned with Nabiki. She doesn't have much time
left."
	"I know," Link said with a spiteful glance at Nabiki. "That's why I was
expecting you. So, Ukyou, here are my terms: I will save Nabiki for you. I will
also tell you everything you need to know about Chris. No one has been at his
side longer than I have. With what I know, I can absolutely guarantee that you
can deal with him. And more than that, I'll tell you what I know about you, and
about the workings of God. I'd like to stress that no one - NO ONE - alive can
tell you the things that I can tell you."
	Nabiki opened her mouth to respond. She was a merchant by nature, and
even when bargaining for her own life she needed to make certain that deal was
made favouring her. That she WON the game. But Ukyou cut her off.
	"And what do you want?"
	"First off, what I tell you is for your ears alone. Nobody else can be
around when we talk. Not her, or Tethys, or Akira, or anyone. Second, you are
going to release me from this cage, and I am going to leave this place
unmolested by anyone. Finally..." she paused, licking her lips. "I want your
amnesty."
	Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Mind explaining that last bit?"
	"We've never met, but I'm sure you know plenty about what I've done,"
Link said coolly, but she suddenly wasn't meeting Ukyou's gaze. "I don't want to
be punished for it. I want your sworn word that you will never try to make me
pay for what I've done in the past, in Chris's service or otherwise.
Furthermore, I want your word that you will, in fact, defend me just as
ferociously as you would your dearest friend if someone tries to exact any
revenge. Now, I'm not unreasonable. If I knowingly attack your friends in the
future, go ahead and defend them. And if they attack me without you knowing,
I'll defend myself. But I want every leeway, every benefit of the doubt that
you'd give... say, Nabiki here. Or Ranma. Or Akane." Her head rose suddenly,
fixing Ukyou with an intense stare, her pupils tiny pinpricks in the dim light
of the room. "Are we agreed?"
	"So, basically, I leave you alone and you leave me alone?" Ukyou tapped
the business end of the Silence Glaive against the floor a few times. "I can
live with that. Sure."
	"Ukyou! That's insane..." Nabiki trailed off as Ukyou gave her a long,
hard look. Her eyes were cold and flat, the unnatural shape of her irises giving
her a sinister air.
	"This will do fine, Nabiki. Revenge never made anyone's life any
better." Ukyou looked up at Link. "You'll forgive me if I ask you to heal Nabiki
FIRST. I'm afraid you'll just have to trust in my word after that."
	Link had clenched the bars of her cell so hard her knuckles had turned
white. Her expression didn't quite change. But the corners of her mouth
twitched, and a visible sheen of perspiration was on her face. Her pale, slender
body was quivering with barely-contained energy.
	She'd waited her entire life for this, Nabiki realised suddenly. This
moment, right here, was where Link had gotten everything she'd been working for
for years. Nabiki knew it, knew it as surely as she knew herself. She was a
master at reading psychology, and she'd been verbally sparring with this woman
for almost five years, even if only through a doppleganger. Link right now was
nearly bursting with joy.
	Too bad none of Nabiki's keen insight gave her the faintest clue as to
WHY Link was so goddamn happy.
	"We're agreed, then," Link whispered. "You'll have to release me from
here before I can help Nabiki. My abilities are suppressed within it."
	"Step back," Ukyou ordered, her voice cool. Link did so, quickly. Ukyou
swept her weapon up and across the bars in a single motion. The bars weren't
just cleaved, they were unmade, vanishing into nothingness in the wake of
Ukyou's strike. Ukyou spun the weapon around herself and finished by pointing it
at Link. But it was not really a threatening posture that Ukyou had adopted.
More of a cautious stance, with her polearm held loosely but ready to react at
the slightest moment. At least she was taking the seemingly-harmless woman
seriously.
	Link grew visibly stronger when the bars vanished. It wasn't a single
thing Nabiki could pin down. It was the flush in her cheeks, the steadiness of
her hands, the firming up of her whole posture. She drew a deep breath and let
it out in a grateful sigh. "Much better." She looked down at her tattered off-
white shift. "Hmm. Perhaps something with a little more dignity." She looked at
Ukyou and raised an eyebrow. "Unless you mind?"
	"I'd prefer you hurry up, Nabiki is in a great deal of pain," Ukyou
commented tersely.
	"Oh, she'll live a few minutes longer," Link said with an almost-smile.
She reached over with her nails and stroked the inside of her wrist. A thin line
of blood pooled up. She stepped out of the former cage and allowed a few drops
to fall to the floor before cupping her hand over the tiny wound. Ukyou frowned
but said nothing. A few seconds later a tiny line appeared in the ice with a
soft cracking sound. This was followed by more and more, heralding a bulge that
broke apart the floor. Out of it a thin long green vine appeared. Link stepped
next to it and the vine crept up her leg, twisting and twining almost obscenely
up her calf and thigh.
	It took less than a minute for Link to finish. The vine wove around her
body again and again, forming an outfit from its unusual thread. When it was
finished Link stepped away, ripping the plant from the ground. What she wore now
looked like nothing so much as a labcoat; the kind of thing any modern doctor
would wear, except it glistened green in the soft blue light of the room. Link
paused and shook her head a bit before pulling a band of vine from the sleeve
which she used to tie her long hair back in an improvised bun.
	Link glanced at Ukyou, who just stared at her without blinking. The
woman shrugged and walked towards Nabiki. Nabiki tried to make certain none of
the discomfort she was feeling showed in her expression. The black-haired woman
held out her hand once she was within reaching distance. It took Nabiki a few
moments to figure out that she needed to give the woman her arm. Reluctantly she
rolled up her sleeve and presented the limb. She had to use her hand to hold it
out, since it refused to move on its own.
	The invasion had grown worse. The skin around the tiny fragment had
bulged outward, forming a bump nearly the size of an apple on her arm. The veins
of her arm stood out against her skin like elaborate blue tattoos. Right now
those lines vanished under the fabric of Nabiki's hospital-issue gown, but she
knew they had begun to extend across her chest. When they reached her heart,
she would die.
	With no more effort than you would trim a fingernail, Link reached down
and plucked the blue shard out with two fingers. Nabiki gasped and fell
backwards, landing against the wall. Blue liquid spurted from her arm, a tiny
jet that appeared far too small for the infection that had nearly killed her.
But when it was done, all the bulging veins on Nabiki's arm had vanished. Nabiki
almost giggled like a schoolgirl when her fingers flexed and curled at her
command.
	She snapped her head up, narrowing her eyes. It was back. That web, that
ocean of thought and experience and emotion that suffused the whole world. It
was like stumbling out of darkness into the light again, the intensity of it
almost painful. But after a few seconds, Nabiki could feel the fullness, the
overwhelming wholeness of the Oversoul retreating to the back of her
consciousness again.
	Except for one thing. It was a wound. A sick, painful distorted wound in
the centre of it all. It dragged and roared at everything around it. Nothing
that went into that hole returned. Nabiki felt her face turn pale.
	"Nabiki!" Ukyou was grabbed her shoulder. "Are you okay?"
	"I... yes..." Nabiki looked at Ukyou. It was amazing that eyes that had
looked so threatening just a few minutes ago could now look so concerned. "Oh,
god, Ukyou, I'm sorry..."
	"About..." Ukyou shook her head. "Never mind. Get out of here and start
gathering up the others..."
	"Yes..." Nabiki pushed Ukyou aside and stood up slowly. "But first..."
She looked at Link, her eyes narrowing.
	"Nabiki!" Ukyou warned.
	Nabiki didn't listen to her. She pulled up her mental power. It surged
through her like an almost physical thing. She had never agreed to any deal with
Link. Link was a psychopath who hated Nabiki very personally. She had been a
thorn in Nabiki's side for years. She had tortured Nabiki almost to death not a
few hours before. She had tormented Ryouga. But Nabiki had to act before Ukyou
tried to stop her.
	She found the core that was Link and plunged down into like a bird of
prey. There was no effective defence Link could raise. She would feel Nabiki
battering past her pitiful mental barriers, but Nabiki didn't care. It would all
be over before Link even had the chance to gasp. First Nabiki hit the surface
thoughts-
	And stopped. There, right in the centre, in the forefront of the woman's
mind, was the warning. Link knew full well there was nothing she could do to
stop Nabiki. She had known for years that this day might come. But while Nabiki
had been only half-serious when she had suggested to Ukyou that she would rather
die than give her enemy satisfaction, Link was deadly serious.
	Inside her brain were tiny bugs. Minute things, so small they couldn't
be seen with the naked eye. They served only one purpose. They were sensitive to
psychic waves. If they sensed an outside force breaking into Link's brain, they
would explode. The effect would be instant, and quite beyond Link's ability to
control. If Nabiki pushed any further into Link's mind, the woman would die,
taking anything she knew with her.
	For a moment, one beautiful and horrifying moment, Nabiki almost did it
anyway. The thought of Link dying at the hands of her own paranoia was terribly
appealing. Then Ukyou stepped in front of her and placed a hand on her shoulder.
	"Nabiki, you're better than this," was all she said. Nabiki almost burst
out laughing at the absurdity of it. Ukyou, of all people, telling her, of all
people, that? She looked down and to the side, pulling herself back. She
retreated to the comfortable illusion that was herself and smirked.
	"Is what she knows really that important, Ukyou?" she asked.
	"Does it matter?" Ukyou answered. "I gave my word, Nabiki. But I know
that hurting more people won't make this any better. It won't undo the past.
Just... let it go."
	"I'll NEVER let it go," Nabiki hissed. And she looked up into Ukyou's
eyes. "I'll leave. But because you asked me to, not her."
	"Thank you," Ukyou replied, her voice choking just a little bit. Nabiki
made a dismissive noise and stepped past her, heading for the exit. She could
already feel the distress and panic building around the city. As Nabiki walked
through the door she heard Ukyou address Link once more.
	"Now, I believe you had something to say to me?"

*

	Sailor Pluto had that feeling that told her something was wrong. Of
course, the problem with that feeling was that so many things were going, or had
already gone, wrong lately. It was hard to pin down exactly what it was that she
was supposed to be worried about.
	There was the fact that Hotaru was still alive, and that she was
obviously the apocalyptic foe that was going to face Ukyou at the end of time.
That was worrisome. There was the fact that Pluto carried the soul of one of her
dead comrades in a bag at her waist. If that had not been disheartening enough
on its own, she now could remember more of her visions. She knew the symbol that
would appear on Ukyou's forehead could only be one thing: the green trident
symbol of Sailor Neptune.
	When she had first discovered the Star Seed lying there on the ice, she
had felt the certainty fill her like a menacing fog. Her hand had curled around
the crystal, hiding its light. Her heart had slowed down. Here, she finally held
a part of the great prophecy in her hands. She knew that, knew it as
instinctively as she knew that Hotaru would be the one to fight Ukyou at the
end.
	She could have stopped it. All she had to do was conjure her magic. All
she had to do was destroy the Star Seed. She had no idea what such a thing would
do to the solar system. but she thought the worst was that the planet Neptune
might very well be destroyed. An acceptable loss, to prevent armageddon. Oh, and
she was fairly certain it would destroy the soul of Sailor Neptune forever.
	So she had sat by herself for a long time, holding the crystal in her
fist, and thought. Sailor Neptune was already dead, the rational part of her
mind argued. She was dead seven years. This rock was nothing more than a
memorial. But that wasn't true, was it? The spirit lived on past death. She knew
this. What would happen to the soul if the thing that had been its heart was
destroyed?
	In the end, she had found herself unable to do it. Perhaps when there
was no other way. Perhaps if she thought there was no hope in preventing the
coming apocalypse, then she would do it. But only then and no sooner.
	So here she was running across an icy bridge over a chasm filled with
deadly freezing mist. She was coming here on the advice of a psychopath, to
pursue a girl who might very well be the end of all that is, carrying the last
physical link to the prophecy which would allow the girl to win. And she thought
there was something wrong?
	There was everything wrong!
	But still, it was like she was forgetting something. That nagging
feeling at the back of her skull. Hadn't she left on this trip with someone
else? No... that was foolish. But her mind would not let it go.
	Then she ran into the grisly trophy room and the thought flew from her
head. There was a stain, red like blood, on the far wall. It roiled and bubbled
as if boiling. A man was running towards the stain, shouting.
	"Hotaru! Don't!" he got out just before vanishing into the bloody
passage with a flying leap. Pluto knew she should do anything but run into that
portal. She could get Tethys, warn her. But she didn't want to. She knew that if
Tethys knew, so would Ukyou.
	And Ukyou and Hotaru must never meet. Of that, Pluto was certain.
	So, with those thoughts cycling through her head, Pluto sprinted and
dove. The portal was already fading, already closing. She just barely made it;
the closing portal clipped the tip of her high-heeled boot. Her body slammed
into ice, but her training prevented her from taking any serious damage.
	"-doesn't have to end this way!"
	Pluto looked up. The man - Ryouga, she vaguely remembered - was standing
just behind the Messiah of Silence. He towered over the little girl, to the
point where he had to lean forward slightly to get a grip on her upper arm. His
fingers curled almost entirely around her limb. In his other hand he carried a
ordinary-looking katana, but Pluto recognized it at once. The Wishing Sword.
	Hotaru was carrying the huge demon blade in the arm Ryouga was holding.
It vibrated with repressed violence as the girl looked casually over her
shoulder up at the yellow-clad man. Just barely visible beyond the blade was the
form of Akira and a blonde woman whom Pluto didn't recognise.
	"Yes, Ryouga, it does," Hotaru said. Her arm snapped back, jarring his
hand free. With a swift jab of her elbow the girl drove the boy back into the
wall hard enough that it cracked around him. Ryouga, for his part, looked more
annoyed than hurt. However, while the boy was recovering, Hotaru noticed Pluto.
A sad smile crossed her features. "And God provides. Welcome, I'm glad you could
join us, Pluto."
	She was expecting me. The thought echoed in Pluto's head. She was
expecting Pluto to arrive. This was part of her plan. This was part of the
future, of the prophecy. She was caught up in it again.
	While Pluto was staring, a form blurred into place behind Hotaru. It was
the blond woman, her eyes glowing crimson in the muted light of this place. Her
mouth was a forest of ivory spines as she hissed and drove her fist down at
Hotaru.
	The child tried to dodge, her body flickering as she accelerated too
fast for Pluto to follow. But the unnamed vampire reacted just as fast, her arms
flashing out of the realm of visible motion. There was a crack like thunder and
then Hotaru smashed into the wall. The woman twisted on her foot, pivoting her
entire body and driving towards the girl again.
	Dylek suddenly appeared, floating between them. The woman hissed and
leapt back. The passageway was too narrow for her to get very far away from the
blade. It seemed not so concerned, its huge mass shearing gouges from the walls
as it spun in place to try and cleave her in two. The woman sidestepped...
	And Akira was there. She slid forward under the huge blade, her hands
snapping up and catching its handle. With a roar she dug her feet into the
floor, digging trenches with her heels. The blade tried to wrench itself free of
her grip, but Akira put all the power of her inertia behind her stance and with
a roar pulled the blade down and into the floor, burying it halfway into the
ice.
	"RYOUGA! Bury it!" Akira shouted. Ryouga paused a moment, then nodded
and leapt. His hand flashed up, striking a few spots on the ceiling as he tucked
his legs in so he could clear both Akira and the sword, then rolled down the
hallway as he landed. "Pluto! Get out of there!"
	Pluto saw the ceiling beginning to bulge. Her eyes widened. He was going
to bring down the entire passageway on the sword. She reacted perhaps faster
than she ever had in her life. She ran forward, trying to ignore the missing
heel on her right boot and dug her Time Key Staff into the ground, using it as a
polevault. Akira released the blade and kicked herself backward. She extended a
hand and Pluto grabbed it without thinking. Then the world blurred out for a
moment as somehow Akira doubled their speed with a kick of her heel.
	Behind her Pluto heard the ceiling exploding downward, but she had no
time to contemplate that. Hotaru was sprinting down the corridor, heading for
the massive room Pluto could now see in the distance. The still-unidentified
vampire woman was in pursuit, her black-clad body virtually vanishing as she
moved.
	With a flicker of motion the blonde appeared in the doorway in front of
Hotaru. The girl didn't pause, merely running into her at full force. Something
happened, a sort of twisting motion that Pluto couldn't follow, and Hotaru was
sent flying back. The girl flipped in mid-air, landing on her feet.
	"I don't know how you tricked me, but you don't get any further," the
vampire warned. She bit into her thumb and a trickle of blood started down from
it. With a flick of her wrist the blood fountained out, shaping itself into a
sword.
	Hotaru stepped sideways to avoid the first strike. The blood sword
ripped a trench in the ice from the overhead blow. Then the blonde pulled it up
and sideways, forcing Hotaru to leap to avoid having her legs removed.
	"Dead Scream!" Pluto whispered, pointing her staff. The ball of purple
light flew straight and true, catching Hotaru straight in the back. It was
compressed time, unleashing all its power at once. The blast tore through the
girl's stomach, vapourising most of it.
	"Don't kill her!" Ryouga shouted.
	"Sorry, I don't take orders from you," the blonde replied. She brought
up her blade and it shattered, forming into a hundred thin tendrils of blood
that snaked out and into Hotaru, piercing her like barbs. The force of the blow
drove the remains of the girl back against the wall, her body snapping back and
forth.
	"No, don't touch her!" Akira warned as she leapt, grabbing the girl and
pulling her away. The vampire's eyes widened as the two went flying back into
the room. The tendrils of blood thinned and snapped like fraying cords... but as
Pluto watched the portions still in Hotaru simply vanished, unravelling as the
Silence took them.
	"Leave me alone, I know what I'm doing!" the blonde shouted, throwing
Akira off quickly. Akira spun with the momentum, briefly touching off the
ceiling before falling to the ground in a crouch.
	Hotaru slid to the ground. As she did, the hole in her torso was already
filling in, the thick ropey strings of viscera regenerating her form. Pluto
stood up and levelled her staff. "Dead Scream," she whispered again, firing.
	This time, Hotaru was ready for her. The girl snapped out one hand,
catching the projectile between her fingers. The tips of her fingers were
sheared off, but the majority of the blast was Silenced. Even as Pluto watched,
the fingertips regenerated themselves.
	"Stop, Hotaru!" Ryouga roared. He threw himself at her. His hand snapped
up, grabbing her by the neck. She grabbed his wrist with both hands, but was no
match for his sheer strength as he lifted her struggling body off the floor. "I
don't want to hurt you," he explained. "But I will if I have to."
	"Then I apologise for the suffering you will endure in the attempt,"
Hotaru informed him.
	"You can't hurt me, Hotaru," Ryouga stated firmly. "My body is immune to
your Silence effect and-"
	Then the rubble heap behind Pluto exploded. Dylek burst past her,
skimming through the air so close it sent a few dozen stray hairs flickering
through the air. She watched as the great blade flashed through Ryouga's arm
without even pausing. The man's eyes widened in shock and pain.
	Hotaru kicked at him, driving him into the wall as she fell to the
ground. She pulled the nerveless hand from her neck, clutching it idly in one
hand. Pluto brought up her staff and released a trio of quick blasts.
Dylek spun around behind the girl, deflecting the blasts with ease. But Pluto
had counted on that. She knew that in this fight, she was only good as a
distraction. If she could occupy the demon sword, at least that would give the
others a chance to defeat Hotaru herself.
	Akira and the unknown vampire moved quickly, running towards the girl.
Pluto wished she could spare a moment of concentration to follow the fight, but
she was too busy with Dylek. The blade was advancing on her slowly. Her Dead
Scream attacks were only slowing it down and she couldn't get them off quickly
enough to halt its progress significantly. She was fairly certain the weapon
wouldn't kill her, since Hotaru believed in the prophecy even more than Pluto
herself...
	"Hotaru, STOP!"
	The violence came to a sudden halt. Hotaru was pressed against a corner
of the room beyond the arch, her arms up defensively. Akira and the blonde woman
were on either side of her. Ryouga was lying against the wall, clutching the
stump of his arm and hissing. All four of them were looking at Pluto, and at the
small gem she was holding in her hand.
	"If you don't stop, I'll destroy it," Pluto informed her. To show the
girl she meant business, Pluto summoned a bit of magic, creating a purple orb
around her hand. A ring spun around the orb, like a planetary ring, except it
wobbled up and down. "All I have to do is release the magic and the Star Seed
will be ripped apart by the temporal forces. Then, this entire Prophecy suddenly
ceases to matter."
	Hotaru looked at her. It was a look not of frustration, or of anger. It
was a look of resignation. "You are right, I can't risk you destroying one of
the cornerstones this late in the process."
	"It's... over?" Ryouga gaped.
	"No, not until this girl is destroyed!" the blonde insisted.
	"We're not here to destroy her!" Ryouga shouted back. Apparently the
pain didn't keep him from rising to his feet. His body was glowing green now,
his feet beginning to sink just slightly into the icy floor.
	"Both of you, calm down," Akira cut in. "The last thing we need to do is
fight each other." Ryouga and the black-clad vampire stared at each other for a
long minute, her clenching the blood sword and Ryouga's fingers curling tightly
around the Wishing Sword.  "Please..." Akira continued. "Whoever you are, this
is a very complex situation-"
	"No, she's right," Hotaru cut Akira off. "You should kill me."

*

	Ukyou hadn't known what to expect from this woman. Aaron's memories of
the Pink and Link story from the Ranma 1/2 manga had become very vague and
imperfect. Combine that with the fact that a year (or was it seven?) had passed
since that moment of her life, and the fact that Ukyou had never even met her...
	At first, the two of them had almost confused the woman for her sister.
While Aaron's skills with his Void chakra hadn't been as powerful when they'd
encountered Pink, he could still sense the similarities between them. But this
girl was very different in a number of ways. For instance, her arms were younger
than the rest of her body, almost twenty-three years younger from the feel of
it. She also had dozens of scars, but all beneath the surface of her flesh. From
the looks of it, she'd been injured a large number of times and simply patched
herself up.
	The thing that surprised Ukyou the most was how little power Link had.
Ukyou had been around a large number of people who practised various forms of
magic, and in most cases they were beacons of Second Circle power. To Ukyou's
increasingly refined senses, it was impossible not to notice the magical energy
that flowed around their bodies like water caught in a whirlpool. But Link was
different.
	Her power wasn't exactly insignificant. In fact, it was actually quite
respectable. But it seemed... foreign, somehow. It eddied around her, several
layers that refused to mix but that constantly swirled through each other. If
Ukyou had to guess, the power she did have wasn't hers. Instead, she was tapping
a patchwork of powers she had either stolen, captured or internalized from other
sources. What kind of techniques would be needed to keep that power in check,
Ukyou didn't want to know.
	Ukyou came to a stop as they reached the top of the city. Link had been
very reluctant to talk about anything back in the room she had been imprisoned
in. In fact, she had refused to continue their conversation until they were far
away. The ornery part of Ukyou wanted to refuse the request on its face, but
eventually she decided that it didn't make any difference.
	If she was going to let Link go anyway, did it matter if they talked in
the cell or up here, next to the tunnel leading out of the city? Either Link was
going to be honest with her, or she wasn't. Ukyou had no control over that. If
Link did decide to try and pull something up here, she would just have to deal
with it.
	Link paused as she reached the end of the dark corridor leading out of
the city. She turned to look around at the City of Black Ice. It looked just as
pristine as it had when Ukyou had first arrived. There was no sign of the
massive damage this woman had caused. Link seemed amused by this, more than
annoyed. Ukyou tried not to think about it.
	She sighed and shifted her grip on the Silence Glaive. "Well, unless you
want to talk out in the freezing arctic air, this is as far as we can get,"
Ukyou explained.
	"So I see," Link noted. "I thought perhaps Tethys would accost us. You
did break into her cell. But, of course, it's not as if I'm someone who stormed
her kingdom, destroyed a huge portion of her city, or single-handedly held her
off. Not someone... important. I'm guessing I'm someone fairly ineffectual who
got captured right outside the gate, flailing impotently. Hardly anyone worth
noticing, I'm sure. So it seems she hasn't bothered to keep much track of me,
what with all the distractions of..." She paused thoughtfully, biting her lower
lip. "Reichmann Gyro. With a hitherto unknown friend. But you knew that already,
of course."
	"Yes, plus we still can't find Hotaru and so on," Ukyou agreed.
	"Oh you can't?" Link said, her voice filled with mirth. "Well, I suppose
I can tell you, but later. I don't want you running off in the middle of our
talk."
	It took every ounce of Ukyou's willpower not to smash the woman against
the wall, place the Silence Glaive at her neck and demand she explain that. As
it was, she felt the air around her cool to the point that her and Link's breath
started coming out in little clouds of mist. "Don't push me," Ukyou warned.
	Link backed up a step, her expression suddenly becoming nervous. Ukyou
felt a surge of pleasure at seeing the woman look suddenly cowed by such an
insignificant display. The next moment she felt a bit of disgust with herself.
Ukyou closed her eyes and took a long cleansing breath.
	So, Link knew something about Hotaru. She had hinted at as much before.
This changed nothing, since Link could have been talking out of her ass just to
sound important. Ukyou slowly relaxed her grip on the Glaive and opened her eyes
to look at Link again. The patchwork woman had regained some of her composure
now. Not all, but some.
	"I don't have a sister," Link stated abruptly, her eyes narrowing.
	"What?"
	"I don't have a twin sister. I never did. I want you to know that, first
of all," she said. "That isn't meant metaphorically. I was born one person. I
was split into two by Jyusenkyou. I am now one person again. The thing you met
before never existed."
	"And I care... why?" Ukyou said with a frown.
	"You should care!" Link barked. Then her face flushed and most - though
not all - of the anger drained out of it. "Rather, since you had such an
unpleasant encounter with... with that thing that looked like me, I thought you
should know it didn't exist. And I know," she said, voice suddenly growing
confident again, "that you didn't learn that about me from the manga you once
read."
	It took Ukyou a moment to realise what encounter she had been referring
to. Ukyou gestured towards her eyes with her free hand. "You mean these?
Frankly, it's not that important to me. I barely remember your..." She trailed
off. "I barely remember what Pink did. I've been tortured by far more memorable
people."
	Link stared at her, then laughed in a shallow, strained voice. "You have
no idea how much it would have enraged P- her to know that. But regardless, I
didn't want our relationship to get off on any worse of a foot than necessary."
	"We don't have a relationship," Ukyou told her bluntly. "I don't know
you. All I know is that you're somebody that's important to Nabiki and Chris,
for different reasons. I don't really care about your life story or your
justifications for what you've done."
	Link stiffened as if she'd been physically struck by Ukyou's words. Her
face had turned white, her bloodless lips tightly pulled down in a frown. "You
should care!" she repeated, and this time the anger didn't leave her voice.
"Don't you dismiss me! I've worked longer and harder than you can even imagine
to know the things I know! I've-"
	"Okay," Ukyou said, cutting her off with a raised hand. This wasn't how
she wanted this conversation to go. All she was doing was pissing off the person
she was talking to. Which was a skill she had learned almost as well as kung fu
and awareness. But it was pointless here. It was becoming obvious to Ukyou what
this woman wanted.
	She wanted Ukyou to care. She wanted Ukyou's attention. She was like a
child, getting petulant when a parent refused to look at the latest trick she
had learned. No matter how unimportant all of this was to Ukyou, no matter how
much it didn't matter or how distracting or how annoying it was... it was
important to Link.
	And what would it cost Ukyou to give her this? To make it seem like she
cared? It would neither pick her pocket nor punch her nose to pretend this
woman's story, her presence, was very important to her. Plus, if she gave Link
this, it might be possible that they could leave each other's company without
Ukyou having created another person out for her blood.
	It was unlikely, but why not try?
	"I'm sorry," Ukyou said, forcing herself to sound sincere. "I'm just
distracted. But I agreed to listen to you. So, you have my undivided attention
now."
	"...of course, I understand," Link said, folding her arms. She was
obviously aware of how much her desperation had shown, and trying to brush it
aside. "But it's not the same for you. How could it be? Every day, every moment,
the eyes of the entire universe are on you, Ukyou Kuonji. The gaze of God is so
natural to you that you wouldn't even realise what it's like to be there for the
first time."
	Ukyou resisted the urge to bark out a laugh. Aaron's life, his entire
existence had been so mundane, so normal that it made everything that had
happened to them since they had become joined... But she managed to keep her
amusement off her face. "What do you mean?" she asked slowly.
	"You are the centre of this universe," Link shrugged. "You should know
that, though I doubt you like it. Indeed, this universe didn't even exist until
you came into being as you are seven years ago. I'm quite certain of it."
	"You're talking about the prophecy?" Ukyou couldn't keep a bit of her
annoyance out of her voice.
	"In part. Of course, the interesting thing about prophecies is how
people take them so seriously, yet never consider their source. But nothing is
written without a writer. And no world follows a prophecy unless someone has
made it so. I suspect you've already come to realise, Ukyou, that your true
enemy - though that's likely a dangerous way to think about it - is none other
than God. God, who created this world seven years ago for you. God, who made
this world impossible, who made it broken in such a way that it could never have
existed, and thus ensured it would again and again reach the brink of
Armageddon." Link glanced down the tunnel that exited the city. "Like seven
years ago in Tokyo... and like, I suspect, today. God, who commands the Third
Circle. God who brought you here. God-"
	"Don't call him that," Ukyou said coldly. "I refuse... I REFUSE to call
any being God. Especially one that has to be as cruel and depraved as the one
you're suggesting would have to be. It's just a person. A person with enormous
powers, but just because I don't know its name doesn't make it God."
	It was Link's turn to stare at her. She blinked slowly. "I don't really
have any preconceptions as to what God ought to act like. But who am I to argue
with you? If you won't call the nameless being that has manipulated you God,
then I suppose it can be called the Nameless."
	Nameless. Ukyou considered it for a moment. It was ironic. And it gave
her a title. The Nameless was as good a thing to call it as any. "It'll do."
Ukyou ran her fingers down the length of her weapon. "And you're right, I have
figured out someone has to be behind this. So, what do you know about it?"
	"About its motives, I know nothing," Link admitted. "But it has methods
and patterns. As you know quite well, the world rejects usage of the Third
Circle, the resulting paradox damage causing greater harm. Though the Nameless
has infinite power, it's thus limited in how it can touch the world. It seems to
like using proxies. Judging from Akane Tendo, it can touch anyone who dies and
then returns, making them its servant. Although," she said, frowning, "I'm not
certain if Akane actually serves the Nameless' will. But it touched her when she
died, I'm certain of that."
	"Wait, what...? Died?" Ukyou stared. She had never... But when she
thought back, to the few moments they had been together again after the fight
with Chris's creation, there had been something strange about Akane. Not really
anything weird or worrying, just something off about her. At the time, Ukyou had
dismissed her observation as just the result of seven years of unfamiliarity.
	"Oh yes," Link said quickly. "That happened while she was travelling
with us. Reichmann Gyro killed her, and Sailor Moon defeated him and brought
Akane back to life." She closed her eyes, the corners of her mouth quirking up
an infinitesimal fraction. "And he's still making trouble now. How small a world
it seems to be sometimes. Still, regardless of what the Nameless can or can't do
with those who die, they are not its only servants." She opened her eyes and
affixed Ukyou with a firm gaze. "Hotaru is foremost among his proxies. This, I
doubt, surprises you. But perhaps this is something you haven't considered: when
you generate Paradox by your action, you channel it into Akira. Chris created
Kalia to serve the same function for him. Akio, whom I suspect you know of,
apparently used his sister Anthy in a similar fashion when he wielded the Third
Circle. The Nameless is no exception. I suspect Hotaru is the recipient of
all the pain the Nameless causes the world through being. I further suspect this
may give her some of her power. Even if I'm wrong, though, I can tell you,
having met her, that Hotaru is utterly in thrall to the Nameless. It talks to
her, and she to it. It protects her, and she carries out its wishes. If you want
to find the Nameless, or if you want to find Hotaru, they may as well be one and
the same."
	Ukyou clenched her hands. "I refuse to believe that."
	Link sniffed. "I didn't come to this conclusion merely on the basis of
one meeting, you know. Hotaru is the foremost servant of the Nameless, but all
the Sailor Senshi have felt its touch. I believe that, much like you and those
around you are shaped by the prophecy, the Nameless finds the Sailor Senshi easy
to touch because of their 'destiny'. Sailor Moon brought Akane back to life in
accordance with his plans. Sailor Venus was empowered directly by the Nameless
to be a peerless vampire killer. Sailor Pluto, of course, was both the original
sender and recipient of the prophecy, and the direct force driving your actions
many times over. Sailors Uranus and Neptune perished, but their souls found
their way to Akane Tendo's hands. I don't know the purpose that intended to
serve, but surely you can agree it was no coincidence. And Sailor Saturn-"
	"No, you don't understand," Ukyou cut Link off. "I've seen the evidence.
Everybody keeps telling me about it. Everybody insists that it's true. But I
don't care. Even if the Nameless showed up and said she was his slave. Even if
Hotaru admits it. Even if everybody else in the universe believes it, I can't. I
won't. Hotaru can be saved. No matter what anyone says."
	Link sniffed. "Well, I can't force you to believe anything. But you
would be well-advised to realise that when you deal with any Sailor Senshi,
you're dealing with a tool of the Nameless. Whether they know it or not, and
whether they've ever done anything particularly important in the past or not, it
has that power."
	"Let's change the subject," Ukyou replied quickly. "You keep going on
about how important I am, but what about Chris? Doesn't his very existence
disprove that I'm the only one the Nameless cares about?"
	Link giggled.
	Ukyou stared for a moment. She didn't precisely know Link that well, but
still felt that the schoolgirlish titter that escaped the woman's lips was
somehow out of character for her.
	"Oh, you'd think so, wouldn't you?" Link said, holding a hand up to her
twitching lips. "Oh, Chris. So powerful. So important. The chosen one. That's
what he calls himself. Not that he's ever bothered to sort out in his mind what
chose him or why, but he's never had to. Chris. The... 'master of the Third
Circle'. He who would be our god and guide us all to a new golden age." Her
voice fairly dripped contempt. "I've been saving Chris for last, since it's the
best. I told you I could absolutely guarantee that with what I know, you could
deal with Chris. And that's true. Why? Because you didn't need to know anything
to deal with him.
	"Chris," she declared triumphantly, "is nothing."

*

	"No, she's right," Hotaru said, her voice sad and alone, cutting off
Akira. "You should kill me."
	Ryouga met her gaze. She was tired. Her bronze eyes stared into his. The
blood on her face could not hide the lines of worry, the dark circles under her
eyes. He felt his hand grip the Wishing Sword more tightly. The pain in his
severed arm was intense, but he ignored it. He'd had worse. Normally he would
have fetched the limb and reattached it, waited for his body to regrow the
nerves and tissue to make him whole once more.
	But Hotaru still hadn't released his arm. The fingers still twitched. He
could almost feel them, despite the distance between them. Ryouga had
experienced such phantom feelings before. Parts of himself that were removed by
one hazard or another, they still retained a connection to him. Rudimentary, but
there.
	"Hotaru, we can help you," Akira insisted.
	"There is no salvation for me," Hotaru told her. "I have chosen my path
and this is where it has led me. You should finish me off, before I have a
chance to turn the tide."
	"Hotaru, don't say that!" Ryouga cried out. She just looked at him again
and he felt himself stunned to silence. This was... this was unprecedented. In
the years he had been playing bodyguard and guide to Hotaru, she had never once
expressed doubt. She had never once wavered in her vision. Her implacable faith
had seemed inhuman.
	"Stand aside," the vampire-woman in the tight black dress said. She held
up her hand and the blood around her hand began to expand. He could hear the
liquid gurgle of it as it poured out of her body. Bright and shining, it began
to change form, hardening into solid shapes. It took Ryouga a moment to figure
out what the shapes were connecting into, but then he felt his breath catch. It
was a cannon, a huge cannon taller than the woman who was creating it. The bore
of the barrel was almost as wide as his hand.
	She brought the weapon down. There was barely enough room in this place
for her to wield such a weapon effectively. The intimidating gun was pointed
directly at Hotaru. Ryouga looked around quickly. He could see Dylek, but it was
still floating in the doorway, hovering in front of Sailor Pluto and preventing
her ranged attacks. Even with the frightening speed of the demon blade, Ryouga
wasn't certain it would reach her before the woman's cannon tore Hotaru in two.
	"Don't hesitate, Seras, strike now," Hotaru told the woman. "You can
feel him calling me, can't you? You can feel his mad power reaching for me. You
KNOW what will happen if I devour that."
	Ryouga looked at the only other thing in the room. A coffin, black and
red-trimmed, was open in the centre of the chamber. Inside it, a desiccated
human corpse lay, the skin on its face pulled away in a rictus grin from its
fierce fangs. For some reason, just looking at it gave Ryouga the creeps. He
could almost feel it, reaching out. A cloud of darkness that strained and
snapped around the body, like a rabid dog snarling at the end of a chain.
	"You won't get such a chance," Seras replied cooly.
	"No! There has to be another way!" Akira pleaded, placing her hand on
the barrel and pushing it slightly aside. The red-eyed vampire looked at her
with narrowed eyes.
	"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Seras snarled, her teeth flashing. "You
always want to struggle and fight, to give away your life to hopeless causes."
With a shove the woman sent Akira flying back, her body smashing into the wall.
"I won't let your misguided optimism hurt Tethys again!"
	"Akira!" Pluto gasped. Ryouga kept his eyes on Hotaru. She was looking
at him. She said nothing, she was just silent and contemplative. 'You... you are
the one chosen to lead me to the end of days.' That was what she had said to
him, when they had met again in the Russian snow. He had feared it, feared those
words for so long he had never thought of them much until now.
	Ryouga ground his teeth together. He didn't want this to end this way.
He wanted to save her. But he knew, he KNEW that if she succeeded here, if she
reached the body sealed inside this icy tomb, it was all over. His hair stood on
end, his heart was beating faster. It wasn't the pain of the severed arm Hotaru
still carried that made his breath come in short, sharp bursts. It was fear.
Fear of the power lying in this crypt. The power that had been chained by some
unknown force.
	The power Hotaru wanted to unleash.
	Maybe he should step back. He looked down at the sword in his good hand.
It was useless to him. The 'magic wand' that could have saved her. There was no
magic wand, no 'everything gets better' button. Who was he to interfere now?
Seras was just doing what he had never had the guts to do.
	"Why are you so scared?" Akira asked, getting up quickly. "We have her
in check. She can't move. As long as we can hold her back, we can-"
	"Shut up!" Seras roared. "What are you hoping for, Akira? For Ukyou to
come and make it all better?" The woman's face darkened. "Ukyou. You and she are
the same. You don't think about what needs to be done. You're selfish. You hurt
people around you, breaking lives in your relentless stupid pursuit of
unattainable dreams."
	"Is it the Third Circle hole in that body?" Akira asked, her voice soft.
"Is that it?" Seras looked at her in surprise. "Don't be surprised. My body has
been a storehouse for that... sickness for months now. I can feel it, echoing
against what's inside me. The residue of the Third Circle. That's what Hotaru is
after. That's what Tethys is so determined to protect at any cost.
	"That's why you want so badly to kill her. Because you don't want Ukyou
finding out about this place."
	"That's ridiculous, Akira," Pluto replied.
	"Stay out of this!" Akira snapped at her. "You're no better than this
one, throwing in your lot with a monster because it's more convenient. Killing
in the name of the 'greater good'."
	"Akira, that's unfair..." Pluto said slowly.
	"That doesn't matter now," Seras replied. "Don't interfere again." She
held out her other hand and blood burst from her palm in a fountain. The spray
congealed, forming into a long red pistol pointed directly at Akira's head.
	Ryouga glanced from person to person. Pluto was staring at Hotaru. Sweat
dripped down her brow as she strained to hold her magic in check. Akira was
staring at Seras, her eyes cold and dangerous. Her fists were clenched. Seras
stared back at her, her massive cannon still levelled at Hotaru. The hand cannon
she had pointed at Akira was steady as a rock. Ryouga had seen the two of them
fighting Hotaru. He had a hard time deciding who would be the faster if one of
them decided to make a move. Would they?
	He could feel the tension in the room increasing. There was no way this
was going to end well. A single mistimed action, a single wrong word and the
three of them would be at each other's throats. And Hotaru might very well sneak
up the middle and get what she wanted, anyway.
	He looked at her. She was the only one still paying attention to him.
Her hurt, little girl face looked so tired. This was the end, he realised. This
was the last time he would ever see her.
	He knelt and placed the Wishing Sword in the ground. The stand-off
continued, with nobody paying any attention to him. He needed to end this
quickly. He took a long breath.
	What was he worried about? It wasn't like this would kill him.
	"JISATSU BAKUHA!"
	The room exploded with green light. Everyone turned to Ryouga in shock.
The incandescent emerald glow of his suicide blast exploded out from his hand,
towards the one thing he knew would end all this one way or another. It smashed
into the corpse-body, exploding with the force of all his pain.
	"MASTER!" Seras cried as the blast tore the coffin apart, sending wood
splinters into the walls with enough force they vanished into them, leaving only
steaming holes behind. Ryouga wasn't certain why he heard that over the
deafening concussion, but he did.
	"It's... over..." He gasped. It always felt horrible doing that. He had
to literally rip his own soul out, to pull out his Heart Crystal and launch it
like a cannonball, using his chi to make it explode. For anyone else, it would
have been instantly fatal. Most likely, they could never have even gotten past
the first step. But he was the Endless Wanderer...
	Then the pain started. He screamed and fell to his knees, clutching at
his heart. It was like no pain he had ever felt before. It wasn't physical, it
wasn't mental, it was beyond such things. It ripped into his body and mind and
spirit, twisting and perverting. The green glow around the corpse collapsed,
shrinking in and in. It imploded into a single point, the hole in the centre of
the thing's chest. The body wasn't even touched, wasn't even so much as
scorched.
	How could he have missed that hole before? It was a sickness in reality,
a twisting writhing place where everything seemed to break down. It was the
place where this world ended and something else began. But before now, his eyes
had just slid over it, refused to acknowledge it. Now he was paying for his
ignorance.
	In the centre of that chaos was his heart, the glowing crystal of his
soul. It was being twisted and shaped by the paradoxical hole. He could feel it
being ripped apart and pulled together again and again. A billion deaths, a
uncountable infinity of fates all playing out at once. Ryouga had grown used to
death, had grown resigned to the idea that it held no power over him. His body
always adapted, always changed to survive.
	And that was what was happening now. His immortal body, his ever-
changing nature was fighting the Paradox. But the Paradox was winning.
	"RYOUGA!" Akira, running towards him.
	A scream. Sailor Pluto falling backwards, her eyes wide. A gleaming gem
tumbled from her nerveless fingers. Dylek swinging up through the space she had
occupied.
	Seras, her mouth opened in a scream of rage. The cannon roared. Ice
shattered. Walls exploded. It fired like a machine gun, without pause.
	Hotaru's arm exploded. Another shot ripped off one of her legs,
dissolving it in a cloud of red gore. She was falling, but as she fell, her eyes
were calm.
	Impressions. Moments caught between new deaths.
	'Together, we will usher in the end of the world.'
	Her hand came up. His arm, still held between her fingers. Her mouth
opened. It was a sea of fangs. A shell caught her chest and her torso
vapourised. Then Hotaru bit down.
	Ryouga could feel it. It was like lightning arcing through his body,
relentlessly seeking the ground. Except this was wrong, it was madness and
insanity. It was the world breaking down. The sick reality, the unending
torment, was grounding through him and straight towards Hotaru.
	His arm. It was a part of him. His body that refused to die, even when
he was cut apart, even when his organs were removed. They still lived. He still
lived. His soul, trapped in that non-space, that hole that wasn't a hole. It was
a circuit.
	This is what she meant, he realised dimly. This is what she meant all
along. He had been a fool. She had told him that he would lead her to the path,
that he would show her the way. He had thought that meant there was some place
he would take her. He had thought that meant there was some passage only he
could navigate.
	But he wasn't going to FIND a path. He WAS a path.
	A shot roared from Seras' cannon, heading straight at Hotaru's head.
Ryouga saw it now as it slowed to a stop. A slick red shell that tapered to a
wicked point, it was made of congealed blood. It rested in front of Hotaru for
a moment, then shattered. Droplets of gore splattered the chamber.
	"NO!" Seras roared and fired again and again. But it was having no
effect. The Paradox protected Hotaru now, even as it tore Ryouga apart.
	'I'm adapting,' Ryouga realised. 'I'm like a filter. Every pain it
causes me, my body adapts to, and Hotaru is devouring that. She's devouring the
immunity I'm developing...'
	"Stop her!" Pluto shrieked. She was pinned against the wall, Dylek
pressed against her staff. Her strength was barely enough to hold the demon
sword at bay. The Star Seed glittered on the floor.
	"I'm trying!" Seras called. She continued firing in futility.
	"That won't work..." Akira said slowly. She stood up. "She's eating the
Paradox. We have to cut her off at the source."
	"Akira?" Seras paused. The woman was walking towards the body. "Stop!
That hole is lethal! Anybody who's ever touched it has been destroyed!"
	"I thought you didn't like me?" Akira gave Seras a brave little smile.
Then, before the vampire could react, she drove her hand elbow-deep into the
hole. She bit down on her lip, drawing blood. The muscles on her neck bulged.
The veins in her forehead pulsed. Her entire body locked up. Ryouga could see
the muscles under her leathers straining.
	Then she screamed, a scream that turned into a wet cough as blood
spurted from between her lips. More blood ran from her eyes, her ears, her nose.
Ryouga could see her fingers groping for his heart crystal. The Paradox was
tearing her apart. Then he felt them, felt them wrap around the spines of his
soul. The sharp edges of the crystal bit into her leather gloves and sank into
her flesh. But she forced the crystal into her fist. It shrunk and shrunk until
it fit completely inside her.
	Ryouga fell sideways. The pain stopped. He coughed, moaning weakly.
Hotaru fell to the ground. Seras was too busy staring at Akira to notice. He
wanted to warn her, to shout at her. She needed to finish Hotaru now. But he
could barely breathe.
	Akira slowly closed her mouth. Her expression was grim, made all the
more ghastly by the blood. "Is that all you got?" she hissed. "I've swallowed
more than this without blinking."
	With a final scream she ripped her hand free. And Ryouga felt it rip
free with her. All the Paradox, all the unreal wrong alien energy, was torn free
of the body without resistance. Then it vanished, funnelling down into her body.
Akira tottered on her feet for a moment, then collapsed unconscious on the
ground.
	"Akira!" Seras called, running to her.
	"You fool! The girl! Finish it!" Pluto shouted.
	Seras snapped her head up. She looked at Hotaru. The Silence Messiah was
slowly climbing to her feet. Her body regenerated as she moved, body parts
congealing out of a mass of thick black blood. The red-eyed vampire snarled and
held out her hand. The cannon she had dropped when she'd run to Akira flew to
her grasp. She pointed the muzzle at the bronze-eyed vampire girl.
	Then a white-gloved hand grabbed the muzzle and pushed it down. Seras
looked up, and up. A tall man wearing a red jacket stood above her. His face
was thin and topped by messy black hair. His smile was full of fangs.
	"No, Police Girl, that isn't how this ends," he informed her in a voice
like liquid malice.
	"M-master..." The girl blanched.
	Then he struck her with his other hand. The force of the blow was enough
to send her flying across the room into the wall. She created a dent a good two
meters deep when she hit. Her body was propped up by the wall for a moment, then
she toppled forward, unconscious.
	"No, no, no..." Pluto moaned.
	The tall thin man walked over and picked up the Star Seed. He looked at
it for a moment. He gazed up at Pluto. "What think you? Should I take this with
us?"
	"No. Leave it here," Hotaru said. She gestured and Dylek flew back,
resting in her hand. "Pluto knows that without it, Ukyou will never survive the
journey."
	"Journey?" Pluto said, standing unsteadily. Her face was white.
	Hotaru turned and gestured again. Ryouga felt the power around her
ripple and rend. Akira hadn't gotten all of it. Hotaru still had enough to
complete what she had come her for. He wanted to do something, but all his
energy was gone. He felt disturbingly mortal.
	"To the place where it all ends, of course," the man said with a laugh.
"The land beyond time, beyond space. The very heart of the Oversoul." Behind
Hotaru, a portal had opened. It was less a gateway than a tear, a shapeless hole
ripped in the fabric of reality. It was impossible to tell where it ended. If it
ended. "Send Ukyou my regards and tell her I was right. I will get to be there
for the final battle."
	"Where are you going?" Pluto asked, her voice sad.
	"The place where dreams go to die," Hotaru said as the red-coated man
stepped through the tear she had created. Then she too was gone.

*

	It was impossible to tell what it was actually made of. Minako thought
it might have been marble. It was white, but there was another quality to it. It
looked unearthly. Like it was carved from a substance and by a process unknown
on earth. On its face it was an arch-shaped door, carved with roses and
surrounded by a briar-patch of thorn-covered vines. There was no handle, no
hinges; it looked completely impassable.
	Minako reached out and placed her hand on the centre of the door. She
hissed and drew back her hand. She stared at the tiny drop of blood welling from
her fingertip before sucking on it. She had somehow touched one of the thorns,
despite her hand coming nowhere near the vines. The message was clear.
	In fact, the entire door practically screamed with it. If there was one
thing that Minako knew when she looked upon this door, it was that she should
NOT be looking upon this door. Beyond it lay things she had no right knowing, no
right seeing. It was here to prevent people like her from ever reaching them,
and it was very good at its job.
	Finally she was unable to look at it any longer. She turned and walked
away from it, across the arena. Once, it might have been a place of beauty. To
hear Luna describe it, this place had once been hidden within the "forest" of
the academy, a huge forbidden green mass beyond which only Akio and those he
chose were allowed to walk.
	Of course, that was all an illusion. In reality, the forest was an empty
lot, full of scrub-grass turning brown and the icy winter wind. The arena was
nothing more than a simple circle of earth, covered in footprints and the signs
of struggle. The wall that had been built around the place was real, but the
impressive portal that had once led into it had turned out to be nothing more
spectacular than a iron gate rusted with age. There was nothing special or
unnatural about this place. Nothing except the Rose Gate.
	That had not vanished when Akane had destroyed Akio's illusion machine.
Minako wondered for a moment if he had created it, or if in some ineffable way
the Rose Gate had always been here. Waiting. She couldn't help but look at it
again, and a cold shudder went down her spine.
	"It's real, if that's what you're wondering."
	Minako turned quickly. The two young women were standing by the
entrance, almost identical expressions of distrust on their faces. The taller of
them was the brunette who had tried to keep Minako from seeing Sailor Moon
earlier. She wore the same outfit, but it was now smudged with dirt here and
there. The other girl was shorter by almost two full heads. She was even shorter
than Ranma's cursed form, and wore a set of green hospital scrubs; her blue hair
was pulled back by an elastic. In one hand she carried a surgical cap.
	"I have important work to do," the blue-haired woman said. "There are
still sick and injured human beings in this city. So I don't have time to waste
on your childish games."
	Minako looked down at herself. She had chosen to come here in her golden
champion armour, but now was beginning to regret it a little. It did look a
little silly, especially when compared to the awe-inspiring majesty that was
Usagi. Minako shook her head, dispelling those thoughts.
	"If you didn't want to come, you didn't have to," Minako replied.
	The blue-haired girl looked down. Luna was at her feet, trying very hard
to look unassuming. Artemis sat beside her, and was placing a paw on her
shoulder for comfort. For some reason, Minako felt a small surge of jealousy at
that. But she pushed that thought aside as well.
	"I came because Luna said that Princess Serenity's life may be in
danger," the girl explained.
	"Yeah," the brunette cut in. She crossed her arm and started across the
lot. "What is this all about? Are you planning something else?"
	"NO!" Minako held up her hand. "No... I..." She looked at her hands.
What was she planning? Marz had been infuriatingly vague. "Akio has to be
stopped. If you don't stop him, he will use everything Sailor Moon stands for to
destroy the world." A message from beyond the grave. A message from God? Minako
had no idea what it was, but it was something. Something important.
	Something to cling to.
	"I told Luna the truth. I really do believe Usagi is in danger," Minako
told them earnestly.
	"Why should we believe you?" the brunette asked, having walked straight
up to Minako. Her green eyes narrowed. "Ever since you've gotten here, you've
been nothing but trouble. You and that Akane woman. You destroyed the city,
verbally assaulted the Princess..."
	Minako clenched her hands, unable to meet the woman's accusing glare.
Why wasn't Ranma here? He would have known what to say. He might not have been
very polite, or very smart or witty. But there was something about him. He had
an earnest quality, a unshaking belief in himself that inspired her and everyone
that met him. Even if he didn't know what to say, he knew how to say it.
	But Ranma wasn't here. He was gods knew where, off having adventures
with Ukyou... Why had she ever come here? Why hadn't she gone after him? How was
she-
	Then she felt something rub against her leg. She looked down. Artemis
was there. He said nothing, but there eyes met. She knew, in that instant, that
he believed in her. He would always believe in her.
	And why not? Had Ranma defeated Rip Van Winkle? Had Ukyou? NO! She had
done it. She had saved Ranma's life just as often as he had saved hers. Well,
almost as often.
	"I'm leaving," the blue-haired woman said, turning away.
	"Don't go," Minako said, looking up. It wasn't a demand. It was a
request. The blue-haired girl paused, and the brunette snorted and backed up a
step. "I just want to know... why? Why did you give up being Sailor Senshi?"
	"We didn't 'give up' anything," the blue-haired woman said over her
shoulder. Minako couldn't see her expression, but her words were very level and
controlled. "The Princess saw fit to ask us for our resignation, and when we
objected let us know it was not a request."
	"You too?" Minako looked at the brunette. The brunette bit her lip and
turned her head away, but she nodded. "How could you let her do that?"
	"She is our Princess," the taller woman explained. "I'd die if it would
make her happy. And if it makes her happy that I live a normal life, then that's
what I'll do."
	"Does it make you happy?" Minako asked. The brunette didn't answer.
	"I love my husband, I love my job," the shorter woman said, adjusting
her scrubs.
	"Yes, but that doesn't answer my question." Minako walked around the
taller woman and towards the blue-haired one. "Don't you feel it, in your
heart?" She placed her hand over her breast. "I want to be a normal person, too.
I have a boyfriend, and we love each other very much. I would love nothing more
than to settle down with him, maybe raise a child. I want to be a singer. I want
to dance. I want to have a real job. One where I can walk on any street on Earth
and not have to worry about vampires or zoanoids or demons trying to hunt me
down." She reached the girl and stepped around in front of her. The woman turned
her head away.
	"But I can't. I have a gift. Even if it's not the strongest power in the
universe, even if it's not something that can fix every problem." She placed her
hand on the woman's shoulder. "I almost lost myself once, letting my desire to
fix the world, to make it right and good consume me almost to the point where I
lost sight of what right and good was." The girl looked at her. "Right and good
is standing up. Even when you know it won't make a difference. Even if you think
it might make the situation worse. It's standing up and being counted. It's
shouting defiance in the face of evil, not because you'll win, but because to do
otherwise is to be a part of it.
	"And nobody can take that away from you. That ability to stand up. Not
all of Akio's pleasant illusions, or any of Usagi's godlike power. If you feel
it in your heart, if you feel the need to help people, to make a difference,
however small, however fleeting, it can never be stolen. It can never be
destroyed. It's in you, even now."
	The blue-haired girl looked up into Minako's eyes for a few seconds.
then she closed her eyes and sighed, pushing Minako's arm off with the back of
her wrist. "A beautiful fairy tale, but I live in the real world."
	Minako felt her heart sink. She could only watch as the blue-haired
doctor left the field. Then she turned to the brunette. The tall girl's pony-
tail whipped around in the wind. She had her arms crossed and her eyes closed,
deep in thought.
	"Ami is right," the girl said. "I'm not a hero. I never was. I was a
failure as a Sailor Senshi. All I ever did was hold the Princess back."
	"What if she needs you now?" Minako cried.
	"Why should you care?"
	"Because..." Minako paused. "Because she's a human being. I care about
her because I don't want to see her hurt. I don't agree with her, but I don't
hate her. Maybe she's my princess, but that doesn't matter nearly as much as the
fact that if she's in danger, I have to stand up for her!"
	"If I thought she wanted my help..." the girl sighed and trailed off.
"No, the Princess has made it clear. She doesn't need protectors. She doesn't
need friends."
	"People who say that are people that need them the most!" Minako
insisted.
	"Ami's right, you sound like a child," the brunette said before walking
past her and out of the yard.
	There was a long pause before Minako reacted.
	"FUCK!"
	She punched the ground hard enough to create a crater.
	"Feel better?" Artemis asked.
	"Yeah, I do, actually," Minako said, getting up. "I guess I'll have to
do this alone."
	"No." Artemis smiled up at her. "You're never alone, Minako."
	"Thank you..." Minako choked out.
	"And what am I? Chopped liver?" Luna snorted.
	"You're staying, too?" Minako blinked.
	"Of course." She laid back on her haunches. "The others may believe
Usagi has become some sort of god, but I'm not certain I do. I swore an oath to
a woman I hold in much higher regard than Usagi. An oath that I would guide and
protect her child. If that means occasionally defying the child's will, so be
it."
	"Well, one outcast Sailor Senshi and two talking cats versus whatever it
is that I was warned about?" Minako laughed, but it was short and bitter. "No
problem."
	"Make that two Sailor Senshi."
	Minako looked up sharply. A woman with long black hair was walking
towards her. She wore a uniform that looked remarkably like her old Sailor V
outfit, except the skirt and collar were brilliant red and she wore heels
instead of boots. Minako recognised her, even though the two had only talked a
few times in the last week. "Sailor Mars."
	"Sailor Venus," Mars replied. "But you can call me Rei, if I can call
you Minako."
	"I'd like that." Minako smiled and Rei smiled back.
	"You heard somehow?"
	"About Sailor Moon?" Minako nodded. "But I'm not certain what..."
	"It's bad," Rei frowned. "Reichmann Gyro has taken her Silver Crystal."
	"Reichmann Gyro!" Minako gasped. If there was anyone in Chronos that
Minako knew beyond a doubt was evil to the core, it was that man. And she only
knew about him by reputation. "But how did he-"
	"It was a trick," Rei informed her. "A powerful woman known as Washuu
made a deal with Akio. She would give Usagi the illusion of ultimate power if
Usagi would kill a certain man for her. But Akio had also made a deal with Gyro,
revealing Usagi's weakness to him. When Gyro defeated Sailor Moon, he got the
Silver Crystal and Akio got Usagi."
	"So, she's alive then?" Minako was surprised at how relieved she felt.
The thought of Usagi dead had hit her harder than just anybody's death would
have.
	Rei looked down. "I... I don't know."
	"What do you mean?" Minako grabbed her shoulders.
	"I mean I don't know." Rei looked up at her, tears glittering in her
eyes. "She could be dead."
	"No..." Minako grabbed her harder. "That can't be..."
	"Akio needs her soul," Rei explained. "A long time ago, Akio was once a
being of incomprehensible power. But he fell and became mortal. Beyond this gate
is where his power was sealed. With Sailor Mo... with Usagi's pure soul, he
might be able to unlock that power."
	Minako let her go and stepped back.
	"We have to stop him," Rei explained. "No matter what it takes. He can't
be allowed to gain the power of miracles."
	"What about Sailor Moon?"
	"There might be nothing we can do for her," Rei admitted. "I was sent
here to defeat Akio..."
	"NO!" Minako stamped her foor. "I won't let it end like this!"
	"Minako, for all we know, Usagi is already dead..." Rei walked to the
Rose Gate. "But we can defend her memory. We can make certain her spirit is not
defiled."
	Minako looked at her for a long moment. Then she started towards the
mundane gate that led out into the rest of the campus. "Rei, you have to hold
him. If I don't get back in time, that is."
	"What?" Rei stepped towards her. "Where are you going?"
	"To find her."
	"Minako... look down inside yourself. Deep inside. You know this is the
right thing. I can feel it. So can you." Rei clenched her hands. "This is why
we're here, to fight Akio. To defeat him."
	"You're right..." Minako looked back at her. "I can feel it, inside me.
Every instinct I have say this is the right thing. That I need to stand with
you, and fight Akio." She took a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. "But I don't
believe my purpose in this world is to fight hopeless battles. I'm not here to
kill. I'm here to protect. I'm going to find her, and save her from anything.
Even if I have to storm the gates of heaven."
	Rei looked at her for a long moment. She closed her eyes. "I wish I had
your courage.
	"Good luck."

*

	Sin Rubeo Amniculus was not a man easily provoked. He had not survived
almost four hundred years by being the kind of person easily stirred to rash
action. Very few things had ever caught him completely unprepared. Even the
still unexplained and sudden appearance of dozens of other forms of supernatural
beings in the world had not really disturbed him for more than a few days.
	He was the oldest of the zoalords aside from Hamilcal Valkus and
Arkanphel himself. As such, he had become something of a de facto leader of the
council. This situation had only become more obvious when Lord Arkanphel had
placed him in charge of the military operations of Chronos seven years ago. His
strategies had been controversial, to say the least. His choice to allow the
other powers of this world to survive had bitterly divided the entire Council of
Twelve.
	Arkanphel's had been the deciding vote. No one with any brains defied
Arkanphel.
	So for years, his strategy had been simple: contain and control. He had
allowed the Americans, the French, the Millennium vampires, Shadowloo and the
Dark Kingdom to exist, but had bordered them in. He had created a state of cold
war. It had amused him to turn the Americans' own tactics against them. By
cutting off their trade and isolating their culture, he had crippled their
economy. By giving them petty little wars to fight, he had drained their
resources by forcing them to push more and more money into their weapons.
	He had been the only zoalord unconcerned with the so-called S.T.A.R.S.
project. In time, the Americans would destroy themselves trying to compete with
Chronos' economic and military might, just like the Soviets had killed
themselves trying to compete with the Americans before them.
	Then everything had fallen apart. Shadowloo had fallen in an afternoon,
and the regime that came about was alarmingly friendly with the Dark Kingdom.
The Dark Kingdom itself seemed dangerously close to becoming an ally with the
Americans. France annihilated Millennium in a masterstroke which had been so
brutally uncaring of its own people that Amniculus hadn't thought them capable
of it. Then, worst of all, the unthinkable had happened.
	Purgstall had betrayed his oath, and nearly gotten killed. Someone had
taken control of land that had belonged to Chronos. An entire city, rising up in
rebellion under the banner of a woman who had vanished almost seven years ago.
Amniculus had personally taken command of the forces surrounding the city,
trying to plan the military campaign that would take down the upstarts without
too much loss of life.
	And now he was flying back across the islands at full speed. He had been
forced to abandon his post, his job half-finished. Something was wrong back in
Tokyo, and he was going to have to go take care of it personally. He almost
wished that they had just lost contact with the city. Instead, much more
disturbingly, they had maintained contact but everyone back at the city seemed
to have gone insane. All the radio traffic from the city was full of nonsense,
of screaming voices and babbled words.
	To make it worse, it was spreading.
	Amniculus tried to reach his lieutenants when he got near the city.
Sending out his telepathic will, he attempted to contact the zoanoids he had
left in control of the Pillars of Heaven. All he got for his trouble was a
headache. The city was a miasma of chaos. A lesser being might have been driven
mad by the sheer power of it. It was like everything in the city had gone
insane, all at once. But Sin Rubeo Amniculus was a zoalord, and thus made of
sterner stuff.
	He turned sharply around the great mountain and the city itself came
into view. His flight staggered to a halt and he hovered there for a long
minute, staring in open-mouthed horror at what he saw. Seven years ago, this
city had been destroyed. The great battle against the Orochi and his aragami had
levelled most of it, and taken thousands and thousands of lives. But that was
nothing compared to this.
	This was sheer chaos. He could see them in the streets. They were
fighting, endlessly fighting. Fighting and killing each other. They were twisted
parodies of people, screaming monsters with human bodies but dressed in
outlandish costumes. They would have been almost comical if most of them weren't
covered in the blood and viscera of the slain. Vehicles burned and buildings
toppled and the creatures danced and cavorted among the destruction. Above them
the sky was swirling clouds, dark and traced through with bolts of black
lightning.
	His eyes rose to the Pillars. The trinity of buildings, a testament to
Chronos' power, were still there. There was a smoking hole near the top of the
west tower, but other than that they were intact. On top of them, however...
	"Gyro..." Amniculus hissed. His eyes narrowing, he set a grim expression
on his visage and propelled himself across the city. It took but a minute to
reach the top of the towers, where he found Reichmann Gyro, if that was what he
could still be called. His body was a twisted parody of his former battleform,
with great black wings beating listlessly at the sky. In his clawed hand he
carried a dark sword.
	"Amniculus," Gyro said, a smile crossing his features. "Do you like what
I have done to this place?"
	"So, Frederick was right..." Amniculus mused as he set himself down on
the roof. He pulled his cloak tight and stared at the thing in front of him. "We
never should have trusted you."
	"No, you should not!" Gyro broke out into a body-shaking round of
laughter. "I will give you one chance to leave me, Amniculus. Tell your master I
wait for him. Tell Arkanphel I am waiting to take his head."
	"You're insane," Amniculus hissed. He gathered a bit of power, allowing
it to manifest as an aura around him.
	"Oh please," Gyro said, sneering. "You were no match for me before my
ascension. Even now, I continue to gather power from the chaos beneath us. The
endless war, feeding my sword and my will." He laughed. "You can not hope to
defeat me, because my will is LAW!"
	"Nothing you have done here is that impressive," Amniculus stated
evenly. "I doubt Arkanphel even cares."
	Gyro looked at him sharply. Then he smiled. "No, you're right. What does
he care about Tokyo?" He held out his hand. "No, Arkanphel has plans. Grand
plans. This pitiful planet is the least of his worries. He wishes to chase his
parents, does he not?"
	Amniculus stared as an image formed in the space over Gyro's hand. It
was framed in a seething ball of darkness, like one of the proto-black holes
that the zoalord could use as weapons. It was an image of a long valley, flooded
to create an inland ocean. Amniculus recognized it.
	"That's... the womb..." He glanced up at Gyro.
	"Yes, the place where even now Arkanphel is growing his fleet. Ships.
The ladder to space. He wishes to leave us behind, abandon the world just as he
was abandoned." Gyro's eyes twinkled with mirth for a moment. "But he will not
escape me so easily."
	With a sharp crack Gyro closed his hand around the image, crushing it.
For a moment Amniculus wondered what that was supposed to mean, then he felt it.
The building shook. Not a lot. Very little in fact. But seconds later he felt
it through his powers. A great wave across the psychic plane, a massive death
scream. The collective death rattle of millions of zoanoids and humans, snuffed
out in an instant.
	Millions killed, an entire sea destroyed... from half a planet away!
	"NO!" Amniculus roared and unleashed his power. A great beam of power
lanced from the gem in his forehead, but Gyro parried it with a flick of his
sword. Amniculus concentrated, trying to evoke his battleform, but it was
already too late.
	Gyro stepped forward, his sword flashing. Amniculus felt himself
falling. As he saw his shoulders rising up in front of him, he sent one last
warning to his master. Then the great black sword cleaved Amniculus' body in two
before burying itself in his forehead.

*

	The Princess came awake on a field of flowers. She looked so fragile, so
human, lying there on the rose petals. Her clothing looked typical of any other
woman her age: a simple brown skirt and matching blouse. It was nothing like the
armour of light she had worn only a few minutes before. Her power, her ability
had been shattered.
	Everything was going according to plan.
	The witch watched from the shadows as her brother started across the
field towards the Princess. The girl blinked and shielded her eyes from the
light above. What must be running through her head? Was she wondering where she
was? Was she frightened? Was she confused? Did she know what had become of her,
how utterly she had been defeated?
	The roses stretched out into infinity. This place was their place, a
place just for her brother and the Princess. He had asked her for it and she had
made it for them. The angry girl might have shattered the illusion machine, but
the witch was not called such because she was mean-spirited.
	A slight smile crossed her features. Well, not just because of that, in
any case.
	The Princess had risen up slightly, still lying on the ground but now
using her arms to push herself upwards. She had spotted the Prince approaching.
He was resplendent.
	His long pale lavender hair fell around his shoulders like a halo. His
perfect face was dark and kind, his green eyes shone with concern. He wore a
white uniform, every seam immaculate, every thread flawlessly stitched. The
Princess's breath caught at the sight of him. He came to a stop less than a
meter away.
	"Usagi..." he said, his voice full of sadness.
	"Akio..." She replied softly. Her kind blue eyes fell and she stared at
the ground. Her entire body hunched. Then she began to jerk, a loud sob escaping
from her closed mouth. "I failed... I lost..."
	"Yes, you did." His voice was cold and hard. The Princess looked up at
him in shock. "Because of you, because of your arrogance, millions of people
will suffer. Many people will die."
	"Akio!" Usagi sounded shocked. Silver tears drifted down her cheeks.
	The Prince took a step towards her and lowered himself to one knee. He
gazed down into her eyes. "I promised I would never lie to you," he explained,
his voice still formal and distant.
	"Then it's over..." The Princess buried her face in the roses. "All I
wanted... was to save..."
	The witch watched as her brother reached out and placed a hand on the
Princess's shoulder. It was almost over. All this time, all this waiting, so
long that the witch had long ago ceased caring. So many heroes that had fallen
at the end. So many that had not been enough. And this girl. This girl and all
her power.
	It had made her believe. The witch wanted to run across the field, to
sink a poison dagger into the girl's heart. Because for an eternity the witch
had suffered. She still suffered. Beyond this place, in an infinity of other
layers, the witch suffered. Blood and pain and torment was her fate. And now,
this girl might be the end of it.
	It made her hate her. It made the witch despise her. Because for
eternity the witch had existed with the most exquisite torment of all, the
torment of hopelessness. But the Princess had spoken so brightly of hope. While
they were alone, away from her brother, the Princess had spoken to her. She had
spoken of hope and release, of an end to her torment. She had believed it so
deeply, wanted it so badly that even the Witch, who had seen so many fail that
she had lost count, had felt her cynicism lift.
	She hated because she knew it would never end. Her brother would not
lift her torment. He needed her. He needed her sacrifice, he needed her pain to
summon the Rose Gate. In his victory her fate would be sealed. But the witch
could do nothing but watch. Because it was her fault that the world had fallen,
and this was only what she deserved.
	The Prince reached down and cupped the Princess' chin. He lifted her
head and brushed away her tears with one hand. "You wanted to save me," he
completed for her. Anguish filled the Princess' features. She nodded mutely.
"But this is beyond your power. I have told you again and again and you never
believed me. Now, now do you finally believe?"
	"Yes..." She gasped out. The word looked like it had physically hurt
her.
	"Then you are finally ready," the Prince told her. He pulled her to his
breast. "The power of Miracles... can only be attained by a will that believes
in the impossible, and defies it anyway." He tilted her head up and bent his own
towards her. "Usagi, have I ever lied to you?"
	"No..." she replied, her breath catching.
	"I have never lied to you. No matter how much I wanted to. No matter how
much it would have helped me. I have never once deceived you." Their faces grew
closer. His hand moved down, cupping her breast. She moaned. "So I ask you this
now. I ask you to trust me just this once. On all the truth I have shared with
you, on all the love that you have for me... I ask you to believe me just this
once." Usagi stared up at his face.
	"Trust me, Usagi, and I will save the world," he whispered, the only lie
he would ever say to this golden-haired girl. Her eyes shimmered, and then she
nodded, just once.
	His hand pulled away from her breast and beneath it a light grew. It was
a globe of radiance, so brilliant it was impossible to see into. The Princess'
back arched and she gasped, her eyes closing. A hilt emerged from the light,
right above her heart. The Prince wrapped his fingers around the hilt and drew
forth a sword. It was a perfect sword, pure silver and mythic. He drew the blade
from her breast and held it out away from her body. Then he smiled.
	Usagi cried out as he dropped her. He stood up and began to walk away.
The field of roses faded. The dead garden they were in returned. The sun became
cold and distant, the air sharp and loud with the shriek of wind. The Prince
began walking across the dry ground.
	"Ak... Akio..." Usagi's voice was weak.
	"Don't try to get up," the Prince told her without looking back. "This
sword is your soul. The grand total of all you are. Without it, you are
nothing."
	"You..." She clawed at the ground, her fingers scratching at the dusty
earth.
	"Lied?" He chuckled. "I told you never to trust me." He looked down at
the sword in his hands. "Come along, Anthy. The Rose Gate awaits."
	The witch stepped out of the shadows and looked down at the fallen
princess. She was coughing. She lacked even the strength to lift up her head. To
think, the witch had once hoped this pitiful girl-child could save her. The
Prince was already out of the yard before the witch turned away from the sight.
	"Anthy..." The witch paused at the weak voice. Nothing could survive
long without its soul. In time, her body would wither away. Without help, she
would die. "Please... don't leave... me..."
	Anthy didn't even look back.

					To Be Continued...


Blade: Normally at this point, we'd do author's notes.

Epsilon: But this chapter turned out to be about twice as big as we expected.

Blade: And still not finished anyway.

Epsilon: Yeah, so, this is part A of chapter 28. Part B will be out next month.

Blade: Anyone who complains should note that this means you essentially get an
entire other month and chapter of Hybrid Theory out of this. Which is a good
thing, OF COURSE.

Epsilon: But not an ACTUAL chapter. Because if it was, we wouldn't hit our self-
imposed thirty-chapter maximum chapter number limit.

Blade: And we wouldn't just be playing semantic arguments with ourselves to
convince ourselves that we didn't let this book bloat out of control.

Epsilon: Nope.

Blade: ...

Epsilon: ...

Blade: Damnit! We were supposed to give half-assed notes here! This is as long
as an actual author's note!

Epsilon: I know! We won't give a preview! That'll make this half-assed!

Blade: It helps that you haven't even written half of the next part!

Epsilon: Right!