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 se