Note: this story takes place between the end of Sailor Moon R and the start
of Sailor Moon S, so contains spoilers for those who have not seen to the end
of Sailor Moon R or have only seen the translated episodes released by DiC in
1995.  Names are as in the original Japanese series, not as in the DiC
translation.

Standard fanfic disclaimers apply.

Ken Wolfe        ken_wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca


                    The Four Horsemen

     Rei took one long look at the paper Ami had just handed her, tossed it
back across the table and picked up her ice cream spoon again.  "Ami, are you
just trying to annoy me or did you really expect me to read that?"
     Ami barely caught the photocopy before it sailed off the edge of the
table. "Well, I did translate the most difficult words..."
     "I couldn't read your translations either.  They looked like technical
terms, something about astronomy."
     "Magnetosphere studies."
     "Yeah, whatever."  Rei ate another spoonful of ice cream from her banana
split.  "Since you read it already, you tell me what it says."
     Ami sighed.  "Last week, a group of astronomers published the results of
a study of the magnetosphere over the arctic that has been going on for
several weeks."
     "You invited me out to lunch to talk about aurora borealis?"
     Ami rummaged through her school bag, ignoring Rei's obvious impatience.
"Have a look at this."  She handed Rei another photocopy, this one a map.
"That was in the same article."
     Rei looked at the map and frowned.  "These lines, they're wrapped around
the point where we..."
     Ami nodded.  *Where we died*.  Since the time their memories of their
fight with the Dark Kingdom had been returned, it seemed to have become an
unspoken agreement that they could never directly refer to *that*.
     "Those lines show the areas of strongest activity.  I've been looking
through back-issues to see if there were similar events just before the Dark
Kingdom emerged there."  She reached into her bag again. "So far I've
found..."
     "Ami!"
     Ami started at Rei's sharp tone.  She looked up to see Rei's stern
expression. "What is it?"
     "Luna and Artemis were over at the temple yesterday.  They've told me
about all the other stuff you've been reading."
     "Oh."  Ami looked down, embarrassed.
     "Why did you suddenly come to me with this, instead of going to them
like you've been doing?"
     Still looking down, Ami tonelessly gave the answer that Rei already
knew: "Because they won't listen anymore."
     Ami was startled when Rei suddenly took her hand and clasped it tightly.
She looked up to see that Rei's expression had softened, if only a little.
"Ami, I know what this is about.  Ever since we came back from Crystal Tokyo,
we've hardly seen you.  I thought you just needed some time to yourself.
After what we went through, I could understand that.  But you've become
obsessed."
     Ami pulled her hand away. "How can you say that?  We know that in just
a few years something is going to freeze over the Earth.  If there is a way
we can prevent it, we have to try.  Isn't it our duty as Sailor Senshi?"
     "And how do you know that will happen?"
     Ami became angry at being asked yet another rhetorical question. "You
know very well how.  King Endymion told us."
     "Mamoru asked Sailor Pluto about what would happen.  Do you remember her
answer?"
     "Of course I remember.  She said it was a mistake to have shown us the
future in the first place."
     Rei became aware of just how upset Ami was.  "Ami, I'm sorry I have to
say this, but what you're doing is a perfect example of why it was a mistake.
Just look at the stuff you've been studying.  Comets, sunspots, volcanoes,
the ozone layer, then biblical prophecy and astrology just to round things
off."
     Ami looked down again, containing her anger.  "You've made your point."
     "Ami, you're not the only one, believe me.  There's a lot of it about,
it's called millennial rapture.  Do you know how many people have called our
temple asking to rent it as their private sanctuary on New Year's Eve 1999?
You don't need to get a glimpse of the future to become convinced that the
world is coming to an end."
     Ami looked up at Rei again.  "But the difference is that I saw it.  How
can I just ignore that?"
     "You want me to tell you a secret?  For the first couple of weeks after
Chibi-Usa went back to Crystal Tokyo, I spent every night in front of the
fire praying for some sign about what would really happen to the Earth.  You
know what I found?"
     "What?"
     "Exactly what I wanted to find: lots of images of ice and snow and all
the living things in a deep slumber.  The images would be particularly strong
just before a cold snap hit Tokyo."
     Rei was relieved to see that Ami looked more thoughtful than angry now.
"Maybe you're right." Ami said with a sad smile.  "Maybe I am reading too
much into this."
     "At least try to relax a bit and sleep on it, okay?"  Rei ate some more
of her ice cream in silence for a few minutes.  Then she picked up the map
again.  "Still, I don't like the looks of this.  I guess it can't hurt to try
doing a reading, as long as I'm focused on this."
     Ami's face immediately brightened.  "You mean it?"
     "Sure.  Not being obsessed doesn't mean not being on our guard.  Like
you said, it's our duty.  And that's fine, as long as you at least take the
time to feed yourself."
     "Huh?"
     "That sherbet you haven't touched has all melted.  Should I go get you
a straw?"

     Ami, Makoto and Minako were in Rei's study, sitting on the floor around
the low table and finishing their tea.  Occasionally they could faintly hear
Usagi's laughter from the next room.  As soon as Rei had gone to prepare the
fire for her reading, Usagi had taken the opportunity to go rummage through
Rei's manga collection.
     Ami had spent the past week reading back issues of various astronomical
and geological journals.  Since the apparently inexplicable wave of natural
disasters that had accompanied the Dark Kingdom's last aborted assault on the
Earth, the world's oceans were teeming with research ships trying to make
sense of what had happened.  There was suddenly a wealth of data to draw on.
Since many of the journals were only available in English, it had been
difficult work, but it had borne fruit.  Taken separately, various reports of
anomalous temperature changes in the Arctic Ocean, earth tremors and magnetic
anomalies in the upper atmosphere could be seen as simple after-effects of
earlier events.
     But if you knew exactly where to look, a repetition of the pattern
preceding the Dark Kingdom's last emergence could be clearly seen.
     Minako looked at the maps again and shook her head.  "Honestly, I don't
know how you see a new threat from the Dark Kingdom in just a few lines on a
map."
     Ami smiled.  "I keep telling you there's nothing definite, just a
pattern.  Rei should be able to confirm if there's anything to it."  Ami
suspected that nobody but her really expected to find anything.  Rei had
probably agreed to do this reading just to set Ami's mind to rest.  Luna and
Artemis, who would probably be here if they thought there was anything to
Ami's concerns, were conspicuously absent.
     Makoto finished her tea and pushed her cup away from her.  "Ami, I can
take your word for it that you've done your homework on this, but you've been
really vague about what all these numbers might mean.  Do you really think
the Dark Kingdom could make a comeback so soon?"
     "The last time they were put down with the power of the Silver Crystal,
it was a thousand years before they were heard from again,"  Minako added.
     Ami thought for a moment.  "We know so little about the Dark Kingdom.
About all we know for certain is that they control a very powerful source of
magical energy.  We don't know what it is, but we've seen the effects using
that energy has on the natural world."
     "Sort of like pollution," Minako suggested.
     "Something like that.  Anyway, if I'm right then somebody is making use
of that same energy source again."
     "But I thought we had wiped them out!" Makoto suddenly said, thumping
her fist down on the table in frustration.
     "Not necessarily.  Queen Beryl took most of their gathered energy into
herself, and we destroyed that along with her stronghold.  But they must have
their own way of drawing magical energy from the Earth itself.  That's how
they built up their strength over the centuries."
     "So why did they start taking energy directly from humans?"
     "Probably because it was quicker, maybe they just got impatient."
     "So what if Rei says it's them?"  Minako asked.
     Makoto sighed.  "In the end, I guess that's up to Usagi."
     They sat in silence for a while.  "I'm worried about her," Minako
finally said.
     "How so?" Ami asked, genuinely concerned.  Ami had recently become very
much aware of how her obsession with millennial doom prophecies had put her
out of touch with what was going on with her friends.
     "I just think seeing Chibi-Usa leave was harder on her than she's
willing to admit."
     "Well, she seems to have gotten over it nicely,"  Makoto said, smiling
and nodding toward the bedroom.
     Minako shook her head.  "I don't know, it just seems we see less of her
these days."
     Makoto nodded, looking more serious now. "I guess we've all needed some
time on our own to think things over, after all that we saw.  I can see why
Pluto was so worried about us seeing the future.  For days I could hardly
sleep, thinking about what's to come.  It must have been a lot worse for
Usagi."
     "How are she and Mamoru getting along?" Ami asked.
     Minako shrugged.  "Okay, as far as I know.  They're going out a lot.
Still, it's got to be weird having seen what their lives together are going
to be like.  At least now Usagi can really say they're destined for each
other!"
     But do they get married before or after the world freezes over, Ami
thought.  *There I go again*.  Trying to ignore it wasn't going to be that
easy.
     The door to the hallway slid open.  Rei walked in, wearing her shrine
maiden robes.  "Okay, we're all set."  She looked around.  "Where's....?  Oh
Buddha's buns!"  She marched across the room and slid open the door to her
bedroom with a bang.  "Usagi!  Could we please *focus*?"

     Rei did her readings in the largest room of her temple, a place big
enough to hold scores of worshippers.  Ami loved the way this room looked
during the day, the sunlight making it come alive.  As Shinto shrines went it
was rather plain, but somehow Ami found its simplicity elegant and
comforting.  How different it seemed now with the five of them gathered
around Rei's small fire.  Looking into the dancing flames, the room seemed to
disappear altogether, they might as well have been lost on an infinite floor
of bamboo mats.
     Rei sat directly in front of the fire pit, her chanting barely audible.
Her four friends sat in a row behind her, watching in silence.  As Rei's
chanting continued, the flame slowly changed color.  The orange-white fire
that fed off the burning wood was replaced by a blue-white flame that fed off
no earthly fuel.  Suddenly Rei shouted, "sacred flame, show us our new
enemy!"
     The fire suddenly erupted towards the ceiling, and in it's midst a
flurry of images flashed by.  Pieces of an enchanted forest faded in and out,
strange trees and flowers, waterfalls and babbling brooks, all seemingly
surrounded by steep cliffs or rough walls, all illuminated under an alien
sun.  Then suddenly they were looking at the backs of people, a large
congregation all kneeling with hands upraised as if in worship.  In front of
the crowd, in the distance, a silhouette of a woman upon a high stone
pedestal, with four other figures at her feet, all shrouded in blinding
backlit mist.  Before they could come into focus, the flame abruptly
dissipated.
     They sat in silence for a few moments.  They were once again illuminated
by an ordinary wood fire.  Rei turned to face the others.  Her eyes rested on
Usagi, and she frowned.  "Usagi, what's wrong?"
     The others looked to see that Usagi was still regarding the fire with
what looked like shock and fear.  Minako leaned over from where she knelt and
placed an arm on the frightened girl's shoulder.  "Usagi, what is it?  What
did you see?"
     Usagi looked down, shook her head.  "That woman.  I... I think it was
Queen Beryl."
     The rest of them looked at each other in stunned silence.  Their own
memories of Beryl were very sketchy, having seen her only when their spirits
had rallied to help Princess Serenity destroy her.  But Usagi's memories of
the evil and twisted queen who had struck down her beloved Endymion would be
all too vivid.
     "No, she can't be alive!" Makoto exclaimed.
     "I don't think she is,"  Rei said.  "Those figures in the background, I
didn't get any sense that they were living.  They had the feeling of statues.
Stone idols."
     "Then what does it mean?" Minako asked.
     "That somebody still worships that Beryl as a goddess,"  Rei said
bitterly.
     "Then I guess that makes her four generals arch-angels,"  Minako
suggested half jokingly.  It was as good an explanation as any for the four
shadowy figures that they had seen surrounding Beryl's image. "But what was
that weird forest?"
     "Caves,"  Ami said absently.  They all looked at her, and she seemed
surprised that she had spoken aloud.  "Well, I got the feeling that all this
was in caves, deep under the ocean floor, under some sort of artificial sun."
     "That makes sense,"  Rei said.  "During the reading I had this
claustrophobic feeling.  That could explain it.  And those people..."  She
shivered.  "I felt awe and worship, but... also hatred.  Like..." she fought
for the right words.  "Almost like they were getting ready for a Jihad."
     "Jihad?"  Minako asked, looking puzzled.
     "A holy war," Ami said.
     "Did you get a feeling for how strong they are?"  Makoto asked Rei.
     "I got a feeling of intense evil from the crowd of people, but not the
concentration of evil magic I would feel from a demon," Rei answered.
"Certainly nothing like what I felt from Beryl and her generals.  The power
I felt came more from that forest and the odd globe that lit it up.  It was
a neutral sort of energy."
     "It's just like you said,"  Minako said, looking at Ami.  "They're
tapping into some natural energy, building their strength.  They must be
trying to rebuild the Dark Kingdom!"
     "I just don't understand how we can detect them so early so easily,"
Rei said.  "Last time we couldn't find their stronghold until they actually
broke onto the surface.  It makes no sense."
     "I can't believe it's starting so quickly,"  Makoto said, shaking her
head.
     Rei shook her head. "It's starting, but they don't seem to have much
strength yet.  It might be many years before they even try anything."
     There was an awkward silence.  Each in their own way, they were still
trying to deal with what they knew or what they thought they knew about the
coming future.  They still hadn't reached the point where they could easily
talk about it.  Nobody would voice the question now going through their
minds: what happens if the denizens of the Dark Kingdom emerge from their
realm to find all the life on the surface lying helplessly in frozen slumber?
     The others had not noticed that since she dropped her bombshell about
recognizing Queen Beryl, Usagi had been sitting quietly, lost in thought.
She abruptly turned to face Ami.  "Ami, do you think we can teleport there?"
     All the others gasped in unison.  Ami looked back at Usagi, her
surprised look slowly giving way as she considered this.  After a moment she
nodded.  "Yes, I think so.  I might be able to get us a picture of what the
caves look like, that would make it a lot safer.  If I take all these seismic
surveys they've been doing in the arctic lately, feed them into Luna's
computer... yes, I think it would work."
     Usagi smiled, somewhat sadly it seemed.  "I'll leave it to you."
     "Usagi, are you serious?" Rei asked.  "What are you planning?"
     Usagi regarded Rei calmly, but still somewhat sadly.  "I plan to destroy
that energy source."
     They all looked at her in silence.  It suddenly seemed to them that
Usagi's place had once again been taken by Neo Queen Serenity, her self from
the distant future.  The ease with which she made such a bold decision was
eerie.  The spell was broken when the sadness of her expression suddenly
intensified.  Usagi's lip trembled, and as she dropped her gaze down to the
floor a tear crept down her face.
     Minako moved closer to her, and gently wiped the tear away.  "Usagi...?"
     Usagi sniffed, look back up and tried to smile.  "I'm sorry.  I just...
if we can do this now, once and for all, I won't have to go through that
again."  She looked down again, as if embarrassed.  "Last time, the Silver
Crystal brought us all back."  She clutched the broach where she kept the
Crystal.  "But we know it's power isn't infinite.  It might not be able to do
that again.  If we let them become more powerful, and we have to fight them
again, they may take you away from me for good.  I... I love you all so much,
I couldn't bear it..." she closed her tear-filled eyes, unable to speak any
further.
     Usagi's friends were overwhelmed with emotion.  Like the others, Ami was
suddenly confronted with her half-restored memories of their final battle
with Beryl.  The memory of her own death was the thing she could not
approach, the thing she must never look at, the thing that required her to
keep that day buried deeply.  The dying itself had been easy, almost a
relief.  But Ami was suddenly aware of how infinitely more painful it had
been to watch Sailor Jupiter die impaled on that magic-spawned pillar of ice,
suddenly aware of what Usagi must have gone through watching all four of them
die.
     Finally, Makoto slid over to Usagi and hugged her tightly from behind.
"Don't worry.  We'll go there and put and end to it, just like you said.  It
will be okay."
     It was not too difficult to get Usagi to stop crying, especially when
Makoto brought out the sweet bean paste manju she had made for them all.

     Ami was just keying the last of the Arctic Geological Survey data into
her PC when the phone rang.  She glanced at the clock as she picked up the
phone, noting that she had lost track of time and wondering who would be
calling at this hour.
     "Hello?"
     "Hi, Sad Eyes."
     "Ryou!"
     Ryou Urawa normally talked with Ami either by letter or electronic mail,
so she was surprised to hear his voice on the phone.  Ami was suddenly
flooded with warm memories of Urawa's last visit.  Just days after the Sailor
Senshi had destroyed Wiseman's Dark Gate, Urawa had shown up in town again.
It had been mutually understood that his story about accompanying his father
on a business trip to Tokyo was a little white lie.  Naturally, Ami had
telephoned him immediately after they had destroyed the Gate, to let him know
that she was all right, but even without that call he could of course have
gathered that she had been involved in its destruction.  They had spent most
of the weekend together just walking around and talking.  Against her better
judgment, she had told him everything about what she had seen and been told
while in Crystal Tokyo.  Somehow she also ended up telling him everything
about the Silver Millennium as well.  For the most part he had seemed content
to just listen intently.  He had hung on every word, but never prompted her
for more than what she had volunteered.  But being worried that her
experiences had damaged her cheerful disposition, he had teased her by
calling her Sad Eyes.  That had quickly become his standard term of
endearment for her.
     "Are you in Tokyo?"
     "I just got off the train, I'll be heading to my Uncle's place right
away.  I just wanted to call when I knew you'd be home, to let you know I was
in town."
     "Great.  Can we meet somewhere tomorrow?"
     "Actually, I thought tomorrow morning we could have breakfast and then
start working on your problem."
     Ami was taken by surprise.  "Problem?"
     "Yes, you mentioned it in your last letter.  You want to find a way to
transfer that geological data into that fancy computer of yours."
     Ami laughed nervously.  "Oh, that!  You're teasing me again, you know I
only read that stuff to practice my English.  And as for analyzing that data,
I'm just practicing using the computer."
     "You mean practicing for the next time the Dark Kingdom tries to surface
again?"
     Ami was stunned.  "How did you know?" she said in a small voice.
     "I didn't, but it was a good guess."
     Ami knew she'd been outmaneuvered.  "You did it again!  You make me
believe you're using your precognition and you're just getting me to confirm
a wild guess of yours!"
     "I'm sorry, Ami.  But I'd really like to help."
     "I know.  I forgive you.  It looks like I can't hide anything from you,
though."
     "Oh, you can, but I don't think you wanted to.  I just had to read
between the lines."
     Ami sighed.  "Even if you can't help with this, I'm glad you're here."
     "You'd be surprised.  I bet you're expecting to find caves below the
ocean floor, right?"
     "You figured that out just from my letter?"
     "Like I said, between the lines."
     "You're right.  Of course normally there could be no natural caves
there, that's why the researchers who are collecting this data aren't even
considering the possibility.  They're totally misinterpreting their data, but
I think with my computer I can actually map out the caves!"
     "I think so too.  But I also think the problem is a little more subtle
than an obsessive data collector like you might suspect.  We should talk
about it."
     "You're getting cold noodles for breakfast, mister."
     "Sounds great.  What time?"

     "If Rei can confirm this with a reading, I think we've got it."  Ami hit
the print screen key.  In the next room, the noisy impact printer began the
slow process of printing out the map she had generated.
     Urawa finished the last of his coffee.  "If we're right, you can
teleport straight into that caves."  He sat down on the floor, leaned back on
Ami's bed and rubbed his eyes.  "I haven't done an all-nighter like that in
a long time.  I feel awful."
     Ami walked over to sit down beside him.  "It might have taken me days to
do this alone, together we got it done in one weekend."  She squeezed his
arm.  "Thank you, Ryou."
     He held up a fist and winked.  "Geniuses of the world, unite."
     "Now tell me what's wrong."
     Urawa's smile faded.  He crossed his arms over his knees and seemed to
stare intently into space.  "Ami, I suspected the Sailor Senshi were planning
to do something.  When you kept talking about the stuff going on in the
arctic, that just resolved me to my original purpose in coming here."
     "Which was...?"
     "To see if I'd have to beg you not to go."  Urawa looked at Ami, who
was clearly startled.  "Since you casually mentioned that arctic atmospheric
data, I've had a premonition that you were about to do something that you'd
regret.  I know what you want to say, I lost that power when I lost the
Rainbow Crystal, I shouldn't trust it anymore.  But the fact is, that power
didn't really go away.  I just had to learn to trust my instinct again.
Whatever the Rainbow Crystal gave me is still with me.  It doesn't matter
whether you call it precognition or whether you explain it away as some
unconscious data processing in the brain.  If I get a precognition about
something, I go and collect data.  If the precognition goes away, it was a
fluke.  But if it stays or just changes a little, I've learned that I can
trust it."
     Ami turned to face Urawa.  "And what is it telling you right now?"
     Urawa closed his eyes.  "That you will come back.  That you will succeed
and you will all come back safely."  He opened his eyes and looked at Ami.
"But it won't work out the way you think.  You'll have to do something you
don't want to do, and when you come back you will be very sad."
     Ami tried to smile.  "I like the part about coming back."
     Urawa didn't return the smile.  "That's the only reason I'm not begging
you not to go."
     When the printer finally decided to finish, it just accentuated the
silence.
     Gradually feeling awkward, Ami asked "What do you think I'll have to do
that will make me so sad?  What could be sad about destroying the Dark
Kingdom once and for all?"
     "It just may not be the Dark Kingdom that you know."  He wouldn't tell
her anything more.

     When Ami climbed to the top of the stairs leading to the temple grounds,
Minako was already there talking with Rei.  Like Ami, she was wearing her
warmest jacket.  The mist only made the early morning chill bite all that
much harder.  Last night, another of Rei's readings had very strongly
confirmed Ami's analysis.  The caves were right where she had predicted, and
somewhere within them was the newly emerging energy of the Dark Kingdom.
They had decided to meet the next morning and teleport directly there.  Since
they knew little except where to go and how to find the energy source once
they were there, ironically not much planning was required.  It was most
important that they all start off with a good night's sleep.  Though they
hoped for this to be a quick strike and return, it could involve hours of
walking through the caverns.  It might be a full day before they could
return.
     Rei and Minako greeted her just as if they were meeting to go to the
mall.  This had long since become their way of dealing with a coming battle,
and they slid into their casual banter with practiced ease.  Minako hoped
they'd be back in time for her to try out for the volleyball team tomorrow.
A little light exercise tossing the "Venus Love Me Chain" at the denizens of
the Dark Kingdom was just the ticket.
     Ami made her standard reply, she hoped to get some extra studying in for
next week's calculus test.  Even before she and Urawa had parted, she had
resolved not to mention Urawa's premonition to the others.  It's not just
that it would break the delicate mood they so carefully constructed, but she
was now much more aware of what a two edged sword precognition could be.
     Their talk was interrupted by familiar sounds of shouting from the
bottom of the stairs.  The sound carried perfectly in the still morning air.
This was Rei's cue to wonder aloud whether Usagi planned on announcing their
presence this loudly in the Dark Kingdom.
     Usagi's monologue grew louder as she approached and the three of them
listened and found out in no uncertain terms that Usagi felt cold, clammy,
sleepy and was sick and tired of climbing these stupid stairs.  Two
silhouettes could be seen through the mist as they topped the stairs.  The
tall, willowy shadow walking beside Usagi left no doubt that Makoto was the
recipient of this tantrum.  As they approached, two small figures could be
seen flanking them.  Somebody had to make sure Usagi woke up and got here on
time.  Luna, Artemis and Makoto had the detail this time.
     When they approached the other girls, Usagi made a production of
crossing her arms and shivering.  She looked accusingly at Rei.  "I
distinctly recall meeting at this hour being *your* idea."
     Rei beamed.  "Nice to see you too, Usagi."
     "Rei, did you check on your grandfather and Yuichiro?" Luna asked.
     "Fast asleep.  We're all alone, so we can start any time."
     "Great!"  Makoto slammed her fist into her hand.  "If we hurry, we can
get this done and be back in time for lunch!"
     "Then let's go!" Minako said.
     Reading the mood with his usual impeccable timing, Artemis said in a
clear voice "Okay everyone, time to transform!"
     Ami already had her pen clasped in her hand.  It tingled her hand with
what felt like static charge, already responding to her wish to become Sailor
Mercury.  How different from the first time she had done this, she thought as
she raised it over her head.  A lifetime ago a monster had shattered the
nice, orderly world of her cram school and suddenly nothing had made sense
anymore.  In the midst of this madness, the terrified girl hadn't thought
twice when a talking cat told her how she could make things right again.
Then, as now, the words "Mercury Power!" plunged her into a dazzling
kaleidoscope of dancing blue light.  What had seemed then to take an eternity
she now understood happened in the blink of an eye.  The tingling in her hand
raced up her arm and then up and down her whole body, quickly infusing every
inch of her with fresh energy.  And just as quickly it was over.  The intense
light, the sound like a thousand wind chimes in a hurricane and the feeling
of being a lightning rod should have left her blinded, deafened and stunned,
but when it ended the transformation abruptly left her with senses all the
more heightened.  Now, trees that had been hidden in the mist were clear and
sharp.  Rei's two crows, whose incessant cawing at the other ends of the
grounds had seemed to come from the other end of the world seemed so much
closer.  She could feel the mist as a physical presence, identify a dozen
distinct smells all at once.  More so than the powers the transformation
allowed her to unleash, it was this heightened awareness that Ami most
marveled at.
     The other four Sailor Senshi stood before her.  She was aware that they
were looking to her to start the next move.  "Okay, we should lay out the
map."  Mars went over to a bench and picked up the sticks she had left there.
She walked over to Mercury and handed her one, then went to hand the rest to
the rest of the Sailor Senshi.  Mercury went over to the spot they had
decided upon.  She started drawing her part of the map in the fine gravel.
From the work she had done she had a vivid image of the network of caves they
would be teleporting into, but for this to work it was important that all of
them have the same image.  They had agreed the best way to ensure this was to
have them all take turns at drawing parts of the map, just before trying the
teleportation.
     Mercury knelt down and drew the outline of the cave they would be
teleporting into.  Each of the Sailor Senshi in turn drew one more tunnel,
one more cave, working from memory.  After two rounds of this, they had their
complete map.  Ami noted with satisfaction that it matched her own mental
image of the caves.  Even Sailor Moon had done her part accurately.  No doubt
memorizing the map had kept her up much of the night.
     As the final touch, Mercury drew a small circle in the center of the
cave.  "That's the spot.  Remember everyone, if at any time you think it's
not going right, just break the circle.  If these caves look the way we think
they do, we should be able to image them clearly."  She stood up in front of
the map.  The others formed a circle around the map and clasped hands.
     "Good luck, everyone!" Luna said.
     "Be careful," Artemis added.
     Mercury closed her eyes and imagined the map lying at her feet.  Her
mental image seemed to become more distinct, details filling themselves in of
their own volition.  A small part of her thought, *we've got it!*  This
sharpening of the image from that of simple mental concentration to that of
a distinct image like in a dream was the sign that they had made contact with
the place they wanted to go.  She did what she was supposed to: let the
process happen as the concentration of the five Senshi reinforced each
others' dream image in a positive feedback.
     Though she was expecting it this time, the sudden spontaneous expansion
of the dream image of the caves still made her stomach turn.  With a
swiftness to induce vertigo, the caves leapt out at her, and suddenly she was
in them.  The now familiar sense of weightlessness came, and she knew they
were past the point of no return.  They were headed into the heart of the
Dark Kingdom.

     Sailor Mercury's first thought when she opened her eyes was *thank
goodness there's plenty of light*.  As they had rehearsed, the Sailor Senshi
immediately let go their hands and turned around, facing outwards from their
circle.  Ami took in her surroundings.  She was facing what she knew to be
the south side of the cave.  The illumination was coming from blue-green
phosphorescence emanating from moss growing on the walls and ceiling, in
occasional small pools of liquid in low spots in the smooth but irregular
stone floor and from within translucent crystals embedded in the ground near
the walls.  It was dim, but sufficient to clearly show the outline of the
cave, a rough circle about forty meters across with small tunnels piercing
the walls in three places.
     Mercury wasn't sure which came as more of a relief, the fact that the
cave's size and shape were more or less the way she had predicted or the fact
that they were alone in the cave.
     Mars, Venus, and Jupiter each crept towards the tunnel entrance closest
to them.  Meanwhile, Mercury prepared to pinpoint the energy source.  She
reached up and touched her tiara, and the transparent blue visor materialized
over her eyes.  She flipped open her computer and started scanning.  When she
was done, she looked up to see Sailor Moon watching her anxiously.
Unconsciously speaking very softly, she said "It's not very distinct, so I
still can't say for sure which cave it's in.  But it's definitely that way."
She pointed to the tunnel Sailor Venus was now standing in front of,
alternately looking down the tunnel and back at them.  Sailor Moon waved to
Jupiter and Mars, and pointed to where Venus stood.  They all made their way
over there.
     As they approached, Mars and Jupiter both shook their heads, indicating
they had seen and heard nothing.  Without a word, Mercury took the lead and
entered the tunnel, the others close on her heels.  She walked slowly,
splitting her attention between the tunnel ahead and the nebulous energy
readings flashing across her visor.  This was as far as rehearsal could take
them, from here on they were winging it.
     Like the cave, the tunnel had the same smooth but irregular floor that
suggested centuries of wear.  The walls and ceiling formed a very rough stone
arch over their heads that made it look like a natural cavern, but like the
perfectly round cave behind them it's relatively straight course suggested an
artificial source.  The glowing crystals low in the walls were also just
regular enough to have been put there deliberately.
     A few minutes later, Mercury was relieved to see the tunnel open up
ahead more or less where she had expected.  She slowed down even more, then
crouched down and hugged the right wall as they approached the entrance to
the next cave.  The other Sailor Senshi did likewise.
     As more of the cave became visible, Sailor Mercury's heart sank.  She
had been secretly harboring a hope, however slim, that they were approaching
a naturally occurring or abandoned source of magical energy, and would find
the caves long since abandoned.  But it was becoming more and more obvious
that they were approaching a well maintained larder.  Crouching at the
entrance, Mercury looked about.  It was another roundish cave, about ten
meters across.  The furniture was an odd assortment of stone tables and
stools, and shelves of wicker and what looked for all the world like
petrified bamboo.  All sorts of odd fruits and vegetables were piled on the
shelves.  What looked like strips of dried meat was hung on racks along one
wall.  There were also an assortment of large clay urns, mostly lined against
the walls.
     "Nobody home,"  Sailor Mars murmured.  Mercury nodded.  She stood up and
they entered the room.  There was only one other entrance, almost directly
across, another open tunnel entrance much like the one they just left.
     "I guess we lucked out and came in the back way,"  Jupiter said.  "No
guards, no nothing."
     "We still have at least a couple of more caves to go through," Mercury
cautioned.
     Sailor Moon picked one of the fruits off a shelf and sniffed at it.
"This smells kind of like a pear.  Where could they grow them down here?"
     "Don't eat that!  It could be poison to us!" Mars hissed.
     "I wasn't going to!"  Sailor Moon said in a huff, replacing the fruit.
"Say, what if the next room is a big dining hall or something and there are
hundreds of them having dinner?" she asked nervously.
     "Only one way to find out,"  Venus said.  She walked to the far
entrance.
     "Wait, let me scan it first,"  Mercury said.  She headed towards where
Venus was, then stopped dead when Venus abruptly put up her hand to stop
them.  They all froze for a few seconds.  Then Jupiter, who was almost as
close to the entrance as Venus, turned back to the rest of them and briskly
waved them back.  *Someone's coming*.  She and Venus crept to either side of
the entrance with their backs to the wall, while the others frantically hid
behind whatever was handy.  Now they could all hear footsteps from the
tunnel, coming closer.
     A strange boy came into the room.  He had sickly gray skin and a mop of
tangled black hair.  He wore a simple tunic of rough brown fabric like
burlap, tied at the waist with a cord.  He was carrying a basket of what may
have been potatoes.  His bare feet slapping on the stone broke the silence.
Peeking from behind a large urn, Mercury absently thought *he must be cold*.
His rather homely, big-nosed face bore the grim resignation that spoke of
some harsh taskmaster goading him to greater efforts.  He put the basket down
on a table, picked up a small knife and started cleaning it, no doubt
preparing to peel the vegetables.
     He had not turned around, so he had not noticed Venus and Jupiter still
frozen against the wall behind him.  But there was no way the others spread
across the room could leave without him knowing.
     Jupiter waited long enough to convince herself that the boy was probably
alone, then made her move.  In one bound, she was on him.  Her momentum threw
him against the table and his breath was knocked out of him with little more
than a grunt.  She threw him down on his back and was on him again, one hand
over his mouth the other on his shoulder.
     Venus stayed where she was against the wall, alternately peering
anxiously around the corner down the tunnel and looking back at where Jupiter
had the boy pinned down.  The other Senshi emerged from their hiding places
and converged on Jupiter and the boy.
     Jupiter was panting from her effort and from the released tension.  She
quickly caught her breath and said to the boy in a low voice, "I won't hurt
you but you have to promise not to make any noise, okay?"
     The boy was offering no resistance, but even firmly pinned down he was
shaking uncontrollably.  He looked back at Sailor Jupiter with what looked
like real terror.  He caught sight of the other three Sailor Senshi as they
approached, and impossibly seemed to become even more horrified.  His
breathing became irregular, and his eyes now saucer like darted wildly
between the four of them.
     "Is he going into a seizure or something?" Mars asked, worried.
     Sailor Mercury knelt down next to him.  "No, I think he's really that
terrified.  Jupiter..."
     Sailor Jupiter nodded.  She released him, and stood over him, still
watching him warily.  But all he did was meekly raise his arms up a bit,
protectively, still shaking.  If anything, her standing over him like that
seemed to terrify him all the more.
     Sailor Moon kneeled down at his other side.  "Poor kid.  Jupiter, did
you really need to be so rough?"
     "I didn't really hurt him," Jupiter insisted.
     "We must look like monsters to him,"  Ami suggested.  But there was
something more to this, she thought to herself.  She leaned forward and
smiled.  "I'm sorry we hurt you.  What's your name?"
     The boy looked at her, and with what seemed like great effort he got his
breathing under control and worked up the courage to speak.  "Oh... Oh Great
Mercury, I am called Ren."
     The Sailor Senshi all regarded him with surprise.  *I knew it,* Mercury
thought. *He recognized us.  He knows who we are.*
     "How do you know us?"  Sailor Moon asked, more to herself than to him.
Very slowly and carefully, as if mortally afraid of showing offense or
appearing as a threat, the boy rose up off his back and assumed a kneeling
position, bowing formally towards Sailor Moon.  "Oh great and terrible
Princess of the Moon, even the lowest subjects of our kingdom are taught to
know and fear the Sailor Senshi."
     "Fine, whatever,"  Jupiter said impatiently.  "So what now?  We've got
to keep moving, but what do we do with him?"
     "That cave behind us looked unused,"  Mars suggested.  "If we take him
far enough back that way and leave him tied, he probably won't be found until
after we're gone."
     "That would take time,"  Jupiter said.
     "It's probably easiest to just take him with us,"  Sailor Moon
suggested.  "If we can make it to the energy source without being spotted by
anyone else, we can let him go.  If we're attacked, I don't think he'll be a
threat to us."
     Jupiter looked skeptical.  "Well, I don't like it, but I guess you're
right."  She crouched down beside where the boy knelt, still bowing toward
Usagi.  "Okay Ren, listen up.  We're here to get something done, but there
are people here who don't like us and will probably attack us on sight.
We're going to try to avoid them, and if we can do that we'll just let you go
when we're done.  If we're attacked, it will be very dangerous for you, so
you just run and hide somewhere and we'll go on without you.  Until then, you
just stick close to me and don't make any noise.  Okay?"  Ren straightened
his back and nodded, eyes still cast down.  He slowly got to his feet and
stood shivering, his shoulders hunched, his hands clasped before him.
     Mercury regarded him sadly.  *Whatever could they have taught him about
us that makes him fear us so?* she wondered.
     They all walked over to the tunnel entrance where Venus was waiting, and
continued on their way, Mercury in the lead again and Jupiter taking up the
rear with Ren in tow.  Jupiter was afraid he would slow them down or expose
them somehow, but their pace was checked by their desire for stealth, and he
continued to meekly plod along beside her.
     As they walked, in low voices, Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars told Venus
what little Ren had said.  "He might know how we can avoid running into other
people," Venus suggested.
     "I wouldn't want to trust anything he tells us," Mars said flatly.
     Ahead, Mercury could see that the tunnel widened ahead.  She was worried
since it seemed too soon for them to have reached the next cave, but as they
walked it appeared that this slightly wider and higher tunnel simply
continued on without becoming a cave as such.  There were large niches carved
into the walls at regular intervals here, and as they approached it became
clear that each contained a life-sized stone statue, each on a low, wide
dais.
     They came up to the first pair of statues.  On the left was a tall,
slender woman in an elegant long gown that went down to her feet and spread
out to flow over the surface of the dais.  Her arms were spread out as if to
embrace them.  Her mouth was open in a devilish grin, and here eyes stared
wildly.  Upon her forehead had been carved a large star, whose points reached
down between her eyes, to her temples and up to her short curly hair.  On the
right was another tall, willowy woman with longer hair and in a simple knee-
length tunic, who grinned and looked out at them with slitted, lupine eyes.
She held a long scepter with a deadly looking blade on top of it.
     Mercury stopped and regarded one, then the other.  The others came up
behind her.  "What's wrong?" Venus asked her.
     Mercury pointed to the one on the right.  "That one looks familiar."
     "That one too,"  Sailor Moon said, pointing to the one on the left.  She
suddenly gasped.  "I know!  It looks... something like the first demon I ever
fought.  Naru's mother was possessed by a demon dressed like this, with that
same star on her forehead, but... then she was withered, ugly!"
     Mercury turned back to the other statue.  "Sailor Moon, I think the two
of us fought this one too.  The one who could manipulate time and our sense
of time."
     Sailor Moon looked at the other statue.  "You're right.  But she was
different too.  She didn't look as horrible as that first one, but here she's
almost beautiful."
     "Ren, what is this place?" Jupiter asked casually.
     Startled at suddenly having been addressed by his captors, Ren managed
to keep his composure.  With averted eyes, he said, "Oh Great Jupiter, this
is called the Hall of Heroes."
     Mercury walked closer to him.  "Ren, do you know who this is?"  She
pointed to the statue on the left.
     Ren glanced at the statue, then looked down again.  "Oh Great Mercury,
that is Morga, who long ago took upon herself the spirits of her clan and
ascended to serve the great Queen Beryl."
     Mercury shivered, suddenly uneasy.  "Ren, what do you mean taken the
spirits of her clan?"
     Before he could answer, Mars said, "Mercury, do we really have time for
this?"
     "It might help us understand what's happening here," Mercury insisted.
     "How much do we need to understand?" Jupiter asked.  "We know where the
energy source is, right?"
     "Please, Jupiter..."
     "I'd like to hear this too," Sailor Moon said.
     Jupiter shrugged.  "Fine, just try to keep it short."
     Ren glanced briefly at Mercury, apparently to confirm that she was once
again awaiting an answer.  He hesitated, as if unsure how to answer.  He
seemed to suddenly draw resolve from somewhere, and incredibly worked up the
courage to look Sailor Mercury in the eye.  "Oh Great Mercury, the clans live
only to serve the great Queen Beryl.  The clans draw strength from the light
at the top of the Earth."
     "You mean the light in the garden?" Mercury asked.  He might mean that
odd light they saw illuminating the plants in Rei's vision, she thought.  It
may be the energy source.
     "Yes, Oh Great Mercury.  The clans train long and hard to become
warriors who can take the energy into them and use it.  Each year, the great
Queen Beryl will send her servants to us and they will call forth the
greatest warrior from each clan.  On occasion, one will be found worthy.
That clan will rejoice greatly, for their warrior will absorb their spirits
and ascend to serve our Queen forever."
     Mercury was astonished at how the frightened young boy had so suddenly
turned into a well spoken young man, still no doubt frightened but heroically
trying to bear himself with dignity.  "Have you ever seen one of the heroes
ascend?"  Mercury asked.
     Amazingly, the boy smiled with pride.  "Yes, Oh Great Mercury, I am old
enough to have seen a hero ascend.  Three years ago, Faraya of clan Rothim
was chosen to ascend.  My clan had many blood relations with clan Rothim, so
I was allowed the honor of attending the ceremony.  It was glorious, Great
Mercury!  The servant of Beryl called the clan before him, and with a word we
could see their spirits fly from their bodies and join with Faraya.  She
glowed with the power of their spirits!  With another word of power, the
servant of Beryl bore her through the gates to Queen Beryl's palace."
     "What happened to the rest of the clan?"  Venus asked in a way that
suggested she wasn't expecting to like the answer she got.
     Ren looked at her as if he did not understand the question, then
realization came across his face.  "Oh Great Venus, the empty vessels that
were the bodies of clan Rothim dissolved before our eyes, and became smoke."
     Venus drew in her breath, looked over at Mercury.  "Oh, Ami!"
     Mercury nodded.  They both realized the same thing.  Every demon they
had defeated had been built with the lives of a whole family of these people.
This was the breeding ground for the Dark Kingdom's spirit warriors.  "We
should go," Mercury said, suddenly regretting having stopped here.
     They slowly walked down the hall.  Among the statues they recognized
many of the other demons the Dark Kingdom had sent against them.  But they
could only be identified by having a few distinct features in common.  Either
these severe figures of dark nobility were hopeless idealizations, or the
ludicrously flamboyant demons that the Sailor Senshi had faced on the surface
had been fashioned as parodies of their original form.  Ami tended to believe
the latter: Queen Beryl's despite could easily have moved her to shape her
demons into travesties that mocked their own forms.  If only these people
knew how contemptuously Beryl and her generals had thrown away the lives of
their revered heroes, she thought.
     She was concentrating more on the energy readings of her visor and the
implications of Ren's words than on the road ahead, so by the time she
spotted the two men far down the tunnel one of them was already pointing her
out to his companion.
     Suddenly in panic, Mercury stopped dead.  A moment later she realized
this was a mistake.  The two men, no doubt realizing they had been spotted,
exchanged brief words and turned to run back down the tunnel.
     "We've been spotted!" Mercury shouted.  She touched her temple to
withdraw her visor and broke into a run.  She heard Mars cursing behind her
and what sounded like Jupiter telling Ren to get back to his kitchen.  The
others followed behind Mercury at a dead run, none questioning her move.  She
thought furiously as she ran.  If they could catch and overpower these two
before they warned anyone else maybe they could still avoid a fight.  That
would still leave Ren, who could very well be running to warn his people even
now.  They might still do it if they hurried the rest of the way.
     Though the two men were also running hard, the Senshi were rapidly
gaining on them.  One of the men broke his stride to glance back.  She could
now see that he was very much an adult counterpart of Ren, a stocky man with
tousled black hair and gray skin wearing a simple tunic and going barefoot.
He shouted something incoherent to his companion, who was now several paces
ahead.  He then came to an abrupt stop, spun around, and assumed a defensive
stance.  The Sailor Senshi would be upon him in seconds.
     The safest course would have been to stop and take him out with the
"Shining Aqua Illusion," but that would delay them enough to put the lead
man out of their reach.  She ran on, intending to knock him down with a
flying kick.  When she was still several meters away he suddenly shouted and
thrust his hand out in front of him.  His hand seemed to shimmer as if it
came at her from under water.  Something invisible slammed into her chest
and she went sprawling.  She fell helplessly on the ground in front of the
man, shocked less by the pain than by the fact that she hadn't even
considered the possibility of his being telekinetic.
     "Venus Crescent Beam!"  The ray of brilliant golden light shot over
where Mercury lay on the floor and drilled straight through the man's
abdomen.  The result was spectacular.  Blue-white incandescent fire exploded
from his body and raced up his head, arms and legs all in an instant.  Then
he was gone.  Venus blinked, staring in disbelief.  There was nothing left
but the after-image in her eyes.
     Sailor Mars, having been running right beside Venus, helped Mercury sit
up against the tunnel wall, and the others gathered around.  Wincing with
pain, Mercury spoke with shallow breaths. "Okay soon... Just wind knocked
out... wasn't watching... my fault... sorry..."
     "It's okay,"  Sailor Moon said, putting a comforting hand on Mercury's
shoulder, though the glance they exchanged showed they both knew full well it
was not okay.  Now they were very unlikely to avoid a serious fight.
     Venus was still staring down the tunnel where the man disappeared.
"They can't be just regular humans, the way he... disappeared like that," she
said, as if struggling to understand what happened.
     "They may have been human long ago, but it's like they've been shaped by
strange magic," Mercury said, sounding much better than moments ago.  She
found that much of her pain had been shock from the unexpected attack and
stress pain from her anxiety over having blundered their sneak attack, and
was quickly fading.  She looked down the tunnel, where an irregular little
pile of gray ash marked the spot of the man's demise. "They don't have the
concentration of power we saw in the demons they sent to the surface, that's
why they're harder to detect on my visor.  His attack really wasn't that
strong, if I'd been on my guard I could have blocked it easily."
     "I don't sense a strong aura in them either,"  Mars said.  "I didn't get
any warning of those two at all.  And the way that one... collapsed, they
can't have very strong defense against our attacks."
     "But there's no telling how many of them there are," Jupiter reminded
her.  "And those two may not have been their strongest."
     "What if there are a lot of them around the energy source?" Venus asked.
"We'll probably have to combine our powers to destroy it, but we can't do
that as long as they're attacking us!"
     Mercury looked over to Sailor Moon, who was still kneeling beside her.
She could sense Usagi's anxiety, the same sick fear Mercury had been feeling,
fear that her mistakes were putting her friends in danger.  She hated to
burden Usagi further, but they needed to make a decision.  "Do we go on, or
leave now?"
     "They'll only be stronger when we come back,"  Sailor Moon said.  "We
should go on.  As fast as we can."
     Mercury got up, having almost fully recovered.  "I'm ready."
     They continued down the corridor, running not at the same breakneck
speed as before but at a pace they could easily maintain.  By unspoken
agreement they now took up a defensive formation, with Mars and Mercury
running side by side in front, and Venus and Jupiter taking up the rear.
Shortly, they came upon a spot where the tunnel branched left and right, more
or less where they had expected it basis the map they had memorized.  They
paused just long enough for Mercury to confirm that the energy source was on
the right, then continued down that tunnel.
     They had not encountered another soul.  But they would soon be
approaching one of the largest caves.
     "There it is!" Mars said, and moments later the rest of the Senshi could
also see where the tunnel opened up ahead.  It was clearly visible, since the
cave beyond seemed somewhat brighter than the tunnel.  Also clearly visible
was a figure silhouetted in the opening.  It appeared to be gesticulating
wildly.  As they drew nearer, they could see it was a man facing away from
them.  He was standing on what looked like a ledge that extended a little
ways beyond the tunnel entrance.  He was shouting something.
     Either he had been checking the tunnel periodically or he heard the
footfalls of the approaching Sailor Senshi, for when they were a few meters
from him he suddenly looked back towards them.  It was the other man they had
encountered, more than likely.  He froze for an instant, his face in a rictus
of fear and shock.  He turned back again, and they heard him shriek "They're
here!"  Sailor Jupiter cursed, and the Senshi stepped up their pace.  The man
stepped over the edge and ran down what was apparently a stairway below it
not yet visible to them.  As they followed him into the cave, a multitude of
other voices, many raised in alarm, could be heard.
     The Sailor Senshi stopped dead on the ledge just inside the cave, and
took in the astonishing sight before them.
     The almost perfectly circular cave had been fashioned into an
amphitheater.  The nearer half of the bowl-shaped stone floor below them had
been carved into benches, concentric semicircles descending down to a
circular stage at the bottom.  They had emerged near the right hand side of
these benches.  The ledge they were on curved around to their left, going all
the way around to the other side of the cave, the wall punctuated along the
way by two more tunnel entrances.  The further half of the bowl floor off to
their right was utterly different, an unassailable jumble of rocks, fissures
and stalagmites.  Beyond it, against the wall on their right almost level
with them, was the altar that dominated the room.  A large statue of Queen
Beryl stood on an immense smooth stone dais.  The front face of the dais was
pierced by a large circular gate, apparently sealed by a featureless door of
black obsidian.  Arrayed against the wall on each side of it were smaller
statues of her four generals, all with swords upraised.  On all sides, not
far above their heads the walls gave way to a great dome encrusted with
glowing crystals of all colors.
     This they all had to absorb in an instant, for of more immediate concern
was the hundreds of people gathered below them.
     Clearly a gathering of some sort had been interrupted.  The people were
spread out along the lower benches, though most of them were now standing and
facing the man running down the stairs and the Sailor Senshi above him.  Many
of them now cried out and pointed to where the Sailor Senshi had appeared.
There were men, women and children, all dressed in naught but a short rough
tunic and rope belt.  They were all of the same sickly gray pallor.  On the
stage were several men, all in long black robes, looking just as shocked and
bewildered as the rest.
     When the man had descended close to the crowd he spun around and pointed
back up the stairs.  "There, what did I tell you?" he shrieked.  "We are
assailed by the unholy ones!"
     The tone of the crowd was swiftly changing from alarm to anger and
hatred.  No doubt finely attuned to the mood of his mob, one of the men on
stage seized the moment.  He drew himself up and with a clear voice that
carried throughout the room he shouted, "The final conflict is upon us!  Do
not flinch! Destroy the unholy ones!"
     The result was utter pandemonium, as people in the crowd reacted in a
dozen different ways.  Many simply began clambering up the stone benches
towards the Sailor Senshi, some with grim determination, others howling with
battle lust, others simply following their one source of courage, the mob.
Many, mostly women, were getting in their way by carrying or dragging
terrified children in the opposite direction, fighting to reach the stairways
that truncated the stone benches and led to the other two exits.  Many stood
paralyzed, seemingly agonizing over whether to choose fight or flight.
     One of the black robed men on the stage, an old man with long white hair
and beard, raised his arms out before him and a stream of orange-red flame
shot from his fingertips, heading straight for the Sailor Senshi.  Either he
misjudged the distance or only intended his attack to help galvanize his
flock, for the flame had mostly dissipated by the time it reached its target.
The five Senshi, standing in a row and on their guard, projected a magical
barrier that deflected the harmless flame easily.
     Harmless or no, Jupiter reacted to the attack instinctively.  Her arms
shot up before her, her tiara crackled with energy, and she called forth the
Supreme Thunder.  A writhing tangle of lightning shot across the room, and
the old man and two of his comrades were consumed by the same white
incandescent flame that had incinerated the man in the tunnel earlier.  The
other men on the stage fell to the ground screaming, their skin, hair and
robes charred and smoking.
     A few among the crowd seemed to possess almost supernatural nimbleness,
bounding up the benches as easily as if they were stairs, crossing the
distance to the ledge in seconds.  But the Senshi were ready for them.
Almost simultaneously, Fire Soul, Venus Crescent Beam and Shining Aqua
Illusion shot out into the running attackers left, right, and center.  They
mostly went down in an instant, either incinerated with fire, or frozen and
shattered into a million ice crystals, or hit by the golden beam and
flashing out of existence.  A few here and there seemed to have the ability
and the presence of mind to stop and put up some sort of defense.  But even
these staggered under the attacks and fell dazed to the floor.
     For Sailor Mercury, what came after this was a jumble of horrific
images and a cacophony of screams.  As each new wave of attackers climbed
towards her, she called forth another ice storm to sweep them away.  Most
had no defense, and were shattered by being flash frozen colder than deep
space.  The few who could put up a defense mostly lay shivering and
convulsing on the ground, covered in white frost, their very breath now
clouds of ice.  And still they came, and still they wouldn't *stop*!  She
was vaguely aware of a group of men on the ledge to their left advancing
slowly in a tight wedge formation, the man in the lead holding a glowing
stave before him and chanting.  A roiling, incandescent ball lightning
suddenly shot in front of her, arced back in towards the ledge, and the
"Sparkling Wide Pressure" slammed into the formation and sent them to
oblivion.  A woman with great bat-wings and talons for fingers swooped at
them from above, apparently having just shape changed.  The shimmering
golden rings of Mars' "Burning Mandala" sailed out at her, and she was gone.
A few of those in front of them, having deflected the attacks and now
recovered, tried to leap up and grapple with the Senshi, but Venus called
forth her golden chain and sent it arcing left and right, a shimmering
buzz-saw that sliced through them, incinerating them.
     Mercury suddenly fell to one knee, arms shaking, breathing in gasps,
head swimming, her strength utterly spent.  Everything went quiet, and she
thought she was passing out.  But when her dizzy spell passed, the silence
remained.  She blinked hard to clear her swimming vision, and looked up
again.
     The attack had ended as quickly as it had begun.  The survivors, who
seemed pathetically few, were utterly routed, running or limping or crawling
away, many leading injured comrades.  Through a haze of mist and smoke, they
could see people converging on the other two exits.  In moments, they would
be gone.  Other than those injured who simply could not move, the few left
behind were mostly down on their knees, either wailing or sobbing or babbling
or simply dazed.  Some of it sounded like desperate prayer.
     Sailor Moon came and knelt beside Mercury.  Her tiara was held absently
in her hand, no doubt having just been used.  She looked as dazed as many of
the people scattered below them.  In silence they both looked out over the
devastation they had wrought.
     Mars, Venus, and Jupiter were still standing, scanning the room for new
threats.  They were all breathing in gasps and shaking almost as badly as
Mercury.  Every nerve in their bodies was screaming at having been made the
conduit for such an extravagant outpouring of energy.  Gradually it dawned
on them that the battle was over.
     "Ami, I..." Sailor Moon choked, swallowed and continued in a hoarse
voice. "I'm not sure if I can go on."
     Mercury turned to look at her. "Are you hurt?"
     She shook her head, still staring out into the room. "They're not
demons, they're people.  How could we have done this?"
     Ami had no idea what she could say.
     "We shouldn't have come," Sailor Moon continued.  "I was wrong, we
shouldn't have come."
     Mars came up behind Sailor Moon, bent over and put her hands on her
friend's shoulders.  "Usagi... don't."  She pointed over Sailor Moon's
shoulder down at the benches below.  "Look, and you'll understand."
     A stout, bearded middle aged man lay just two benches below them,
motionless except for shallow, convulsive breathing.  It looked as if he had
just missed being frozen solid.  Ami, also looking, suddenly understood what
was about to happen.  The man's fight for life ended, he breathed his last,
and his eyes closed.  Almost immediately, he was engulfed in gray mist, and
there was a gentle hissing as his very flesh seemed to sublimate right into
the atmosphere.  In seconds there was only the mist, which rose a little ways
and dissipated.
     "They're held together by magic,"  Mars said.  "When their life ends,
the spell is broken.  Beryl, or somebody even older than her, must have
turned people into these magic-spawned creatures long ago.  They live and
breathe, but they aren't human."
     Sailor Moon shook her head.  "What difference does it make?" she said in
a hoarse whisper.
     "They were created by and for the Dark Kingdom," Mars said gently.
"When it is gone, they will be gone too.  It can't be helped."  She bowed
down and closed her eyes.  "I'm sorry."
     Jupiter and Venus had also gathered around.  They were silent for a
moment.  Presently, Sailor Jupiter said "We should get going.  There may be
more of them on the way."
     Ami shook her head, unable to imagine the survivors of this holocaust
being any threat to them.  But Jupiter was right, there could be others.
However soundly they had defeated this group, the Senshi were in no condition
for another fight.  She stood up and offered a hand to Sailor Moon, who took
it and also stood.  Without another word, they made their way along the
ledge.
     They came to the first exit.  A couple of steps below them, an old woman
knelt on the staircase, facing away from them.  She was bowing repeatedly
towards Beryl's statue.  As they approached, they could hear her softly
sobbing "Queen Beryl, why have you forsaken us?" with each breath.
     Ami gazed at the statue.  The obsidian gate below it must have been a
portal to Beryl's palace, she thought.  Before the Sailor Senshi had
destroyed her stronghold and everything in it.  She touched her tiara and her
visor materialized.  The portal was dead.  The energy source seemed much more
diffuse now, as if it spanned a wide area and they were now much closer.  It
was far to the left of the statues, so Mercury led them to the next and last
exit.  Nobody challenged them, and the tunnel was deserted as far as they
could see, so they entered.
     The tunnel was much the same as the one they had entered the
amphitheater by.  Ami  told herself that she set a rapid pace in order to
reach their goal quickly and avoid another confrontation.  But in fact she
was anxious to put as much distance as possible between herself and the scene
of those horrors.  They continued in silence at a brisk walk.
     The tunnel branched again, and they went right.  The energy readings
were becoming so overwhelming that Mercury withdrew her visor.  It was pretty
much irrelevant at this point.  Down this corridor should be a small cave and
then a very large one.  The energy source had to be in the latter.
     Presently they came upon the entrance to the first cave.  Mercury was
concerned to see that it seemed to be much darker than any of the caves they
had seen yet.  Mars and Jupiter, also noticing this, had advanced to either
side of her.  They all approached cautiously, all too aware that they would
be perfect targets for anyone waiting in the darkened room.
     The three of them walked into the room, then stopped.  Sailor Moon and
Sailor Venus, still in the corridor, were surprised to see them relax their
guard and look in astonishment from one corner of the room to the other.  The
two of them came up behind their friends, and soon their eyes adjusted to the
gloom.  Venus looked to one corner and gasped.  "It's..."
     "Us!"  Jupiter completed for her.
     Indeed, at each corner of the square room was a life size statue of one
of Serenity's four guardians.  Each was atop a massive pedestal that went
above the girls' heads.  The top of each dais must have been covered with the
ubiquitous glowing crystals, for each statue was underlit by an eerie
greenish glow that provided the room's only illumination.  The pretty Sailor
Senshi were depicted with uncanny realism, yet they looked more frightening
than any gargoyle.  Mars' face was twisted into a berserker rage, her arms
thrust forward as if to strangle the life out of all comers.  Venus seemed to
laugh with maniacal glee as she pointed down to them, eager to unleash her
power.  Jupiter seemed ready to foam at the mouth, consumed with blind,
animal hatred, her arms raised over her head and her hands curled into claws,
ready to rain destruction upon them.  Mercury, perhaps most ominously, simply
radiated cold malevolence, as if dealing out deadly ice storms with her
casually outstretched hand came as easily and naturally to her as breathing.
     As their eyes adjusted further, they could see that the walls were all
carved in bas-relief.  They depicted apocalyptic scenes of destruction, with
people running madly as they were assailed by flood, fire, storm and meteor
swarm, the myriad stylized carved faces twisted in fear and pain.
     "Look!" They all turned to Sailor Moon, who was staring up and pointing
to the ceiling.  They followed her gaze, and gasped in unison.  Barely
visible in the gloom, they could see that an image of Queen Serenity had been
carved into the middle of the ceiling.  She seemed to be floating in space,
her unnaturally long gown and hair floating all about her.  Eyes closed, her
face was a picture of stoic calm, as if utterly oblivious to the holocaust
going on around her.
     "What is this?" Venus finally asked, to nobody in particular.
     "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse," Mercury said absently. "That's
how they picture us."
     Jupiter shook her head in disbelief.  "This is in between that garden -
their energy source - and their... church.  They must have passed through
here every day."
     "To remind themselves who they were fighting." Mars suggested.
     Sailor Moon was looking at one of the horrific wall carvings.  "No
wonder they were so terrified.  They must have really thought it was the end
of the world."
     "It was."  They all looked to see Sailor Mercury gazing sadly at her own
statue.  "It's the end of their world."
     "I hate this place," Venus said in a shrill voice, suddenly shivering.
She was already near the far exit to the room, looking impatient.  "Let's get
out of here."
     Sailor Mercury walked over to her, which Venus took as a cue to turn
around and continue down the tunnel.  The others followed wordlessly.
Mercury came up beside Venus, and glanced at her as they walked.  Minako was
putting on a brave face, but it was easy to see how upset she was.  Ami
thought she understood what Minako was feeling; it was about finally truly
seeing her own image through her enemies' eyes, about knowing what those
people felt as the Sailor Senshi shattered their world.  She wanted to
comfort Minako somehow, but had no idea what she could say.  Almost
unconsciously, she took Venus' hand.  Sailor Venus simply squeezed Mercury's
had briefly in acknowledgment, and they continued on hand in hand.  The
other Senshi walked very closely together, as if they too were trying to
derive some comfort from each others' presence.
     In just a few minutes, they could see the tunnel opening up into the
next cave.  Far from being another dark shrine, it was already clear that
this cave was bathed in light.
     "I smell flowers," Venus said.
     "Like a greenhouse," Mars said.  "It must be that garden in the vision."
     They warily hugged the walls of the tunnel as they came to the entrance.
Mercury stopped and shaded her eyes, letting her eyes become accustomed.  It
was in fact no brighter than a day with light cloud cover, but after the
relative gloom of the tunnels it was dazzling.  Mercury looked from one end
of the cave to the other, watching for movement, but very soon she was simply
taking in the breathtaking beauty of the place.  The round cave was at least
twice as big as the amphitheater they had left, with a rough domed ceiling
and a shallow bowl shaped floor.  Spread out below them was a wondrous
garden.  Hedges of various sorts split up the cave into little groves of
fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and fields of what looked something like
corn.  There were even small pens where goats with flamboyantly curved horns
grazed, and others where some unearthly, brightly feathered fowl pecked
about.  It was clearly a functional garden, but pains had been taken to make
it look as natural as the confined space would allow.  Splashes of color
here and there showed that flowers were also grown here.  There were pools of
water here and there, and in the nearest one Mercury was sure she could see
fish swimming about just under the surface.
     At the apex of the dome was a huge glowing crystal that bathed the cave
in its unnatural light.  It was just bright enough to make it uncomfortable
to look directly at it.  Mercury could feel only a bare hint of warmth as she
moved into the light.  Yet inexplicably she felt as if she were standing
under a tropical sun, as if this globe far outshone the temperate sun of her
homeland.
     Other than the animals, the cave appeared to be deserted.  They emerged
out onto a stone path that led down among the gardens.
     "Mars, what's wrong?"  Mercury suddenly heard Sailor Moon say behind
her.  Alarmed, she spun around to see Sailor Mars staring up at the glowing
crystal with a look of overwhelming anxiety.  Sailor Moon was beside her,
holding on to her as if afraid she was about to collapse.
     Sailor Mars shook her head in disbelief, and looked down to the ground,
blinking.  "Such power... it's incredible.  It's like tapping into the
psychic energy flow of the planet itself, focusing it on that one point.  The
light, that's just a small part, it's..." she looked up at Sailor Moon. "It's
feeding life energy right into everything here, not just the plants."  She
suddenly put her hands to her temples and closed her eyes. "I can feel it.
Like I'm a flower, drawing life from the sun.  But it's... twisting
everything."  She opened her eyes and looked around her.  The other Senshi
were gathered around, their faces all pictures of confusion and worry, but
she was looking beyond them.  "They're all infused with magic, it's what
keeps them alive.  If we were to stay here, maybe for a few days, or a few
weeks, we would start to look like them."  She pointed vaguely back the way
they had come.  "They eat what's in here not for physical nourishment, but
for its concentrated magical energy."
     "Mars, take it easy," Sailor Jupiter said, placing a hand on her
shoulder.  "Why has it got you so spooked?"
     Mars looked at her. "I sense a presence, like the crystal is not just a
blind energy conduit, like it has a consciousness."
     Sailor Moon suddenly stepped away from Mars, and glanced briefly up at
the crystal.  "I thought it was just my nerves but... that presence, I feel
it too.  It's familiar.  It's like... Beryl," she said, as if the last word
almost stuck in her throat.
     The other Senshi all gasped.  "You mean... she's in there?" Venus said,
pointing up at the crystal.
     "I don't know.  I don't think so.  It's more like, I don't know, an
aftertaste, like that crystal once housed her soul, or still holds part of
it, or..." she shook her head, at a loss for words.
     "Or could hold it again," Mars completed for her.
     "Beryl, or somebody before her, may have put some of their own living
magic into the crystal when they made it so long ago," Mercury said.  "It's
such an incredible concentration of life energy, my visor was completely
overloaded even before we came into the cave.  In time it could be enough
to..." she suddenly trailed off, realizing what she was about to say.
     "To resurrect Beryl all by itself," Sailor Moon said.  Mercury didn't
respond, but it was clear to everybody that Usagi had hit the mark.  There
was no use in Mercury denying it.
     "We have to destroy it," Jupiter said, breaking the silence.  They all
nodded in solemn agreement.
     "Should we do it now?" Venus asked hesitantly.
     "No," Sailor Moon said, and they all turned to her.  "We need a little
while to rebuild our strength after that fight.  We don't know what effect
destroying the crystal might have on this place, we might have to teleport
out of here quickly.  I don't know if we're strong enough to do that yet."
     "I don't like just sitting here," Jupiter said skeptically.  "We routed
them, but that doesn't mean they can't rally and come after us again."
     "Let's at least move away from the entrance, so that we can't be taken
by surprise," Mars suggested.
     Sailor Moon nodded. "Okay, but we shouldn't be right under the crystal
either."  She pointed off to their left, where a branch in the stone path
snaked off between the various pens, gardens and little groves.  "Let's find
a place somewhere over there to rest."

     Mercury sat on the edge of a little stone arch bridge that spanned an
irregular pool, her dangling feet almost touching the water.  She watched
colorful carp swimming about below her.  They had come across this
particularly lovely walled garden of fruit trees, flowers and fish ponds.
After slaking their thirst at a gurgling fountain, they had decided this was
as good a place as any to rest.  Jupiter paced back and forth, edgy and
impatient, glancing repeatedly at the cave entrances above them.  Mars was
equally restless, making a production of scouting the perimeter of the little
garden.  Sailor Moon and Venus seemed content to just sit together on the
grass at the edge of the pool.
     They had already agreed to when and how they would destroy the crystal,
but had danced delicately around the why of it.  Mercury well understood why
that was.  Never before had they been forced to hurt the innocent, not like
this.  It was the right thing to do, no doubt about that.  This place
represented a threat to the surface world that could not be allowed to remain
standing.  Under the direction of a resurrected Beryl, these Clans would be
forged into another army of monstrosities.
     She could think of many other reasons why this should not hurt so much.
The Clans were imprisoned here, utterly dependent upon the Dark Kingdom's
unnatural concentration of the Earth's power, with no hope for freedom
regardless of what the Sailor Senshi did.  Their lives were a continuous
process of Jihad, the ultimate perversion of religion.  They worshipped a
false goddess, and would go on doing so forever; the only alternative for
them was to be told the truth and be shattered by it.  They were born and
bred to be twisted mystical warriors.
     And yet they had been sinned upon.  They were innocent.  It wasn't their
fault.
     Mercury glanced over at Sailor Moon and Venus, whose murmured
conversation had now lapsed into silence.  She could see the same dilemma,
the same hurt in their faces.  Sailor Moon glanced over at Mercury, and after
a moment just smiled sadly and looked away.  They're hoping I can find a way
out of this, Mercury thought.  Why can't I find a better way?  I'm letting
them down.
     "Everybody!"  Sailor Mars called from the other side of the bridge.
They all turned to look, instantly alert.  She had called out clearly, but
with no sense of urgency.  She was standing faced almost away from them, her
head turned back towards them just long enough to know that she had gotten
their attention before turning back again to look down the stone path that
led to the gate they had entered the garden by.
     A small boy was walking towards them.  When he saw that they were all
looking at him, he stopped, bowed down low, then stood with hands clasped
before him, his eyes cast down.
     It was Ren.
     All the Sailor Senshi were soon gathered around him.  "I don't believe
it."  Jupiter said.  "Ren, what are you doing here?"
     "Oh Great Jupiter, I am honored that you have remembered this humble
one's name," Ren said formally, making only brief eye contact with her before
looking down again.
     "Oh never mind that," Jupiter said as gently as she could manage.  "I
told you it was dangerous to be around us, why didn't you go hide like I
said?"
     "Oh Great Jupiter, I..." Ren's formality faded, as he struggled for
words.  He boldly looked straight at Jupiter, looking so desperate to be
understood.  "I have seen the truth.  They told me that on Judgment Day,
Queen Beryl and her Warriors would do battle with the great and terrible
Sailor Senshi and defeat them.  But they lied."  He looked over to Sailor
Moon.  "Victory went to the great Princess of the Moon.  This can only mean
that Beryl is the unholy one and the Princess of the Moon is the true
savior."  He abruptly knelt down, one fist held down on the ground.  "Oh
Great and Terrible Princess, this humble one has sinned against you by
following the false one.  Though I am unworthy, I beg your forgiveness and
ask that I be allowed to serve you all my days."
     "Now wait a minute..." Jupiter began, but a gesture and a stern look
from Sailor Moon made her stop.  Usagi walked over to Ren and kneeled down.
She took his hand, and he looked up at her awestruck.  She kissed his cheek,
and he seemed to be in rapture.
     "Ren, there's nothing to forgive," Sailor Moon said to him.  "You didn't
do anything wrong.  None of you really did.  You're right, Beryl is the...
the unholy one.  She tricked you all, so it wasn't your fault.  We're not
here to punish you.  But there is something we have to do here, Ren.  The
crystal that lights up this room is a great evil, and we have to destroy it."
     Ren's jaw dropped down in utter shock.  His goddess had just told him
she was about to strike the sun from the sky.  "Oh Great Princess.... please,
take me with you, let me serve you!"
     Sailor Moon shook her head. "I'm sorry, where we are going, you can't
follow us."
     Ren fought valiantly with his growing fear.  "Oh Great Princess... can
you, can you tell me what will happen to us?"
     Sailor Moon had to take a moment to fight back tears.  "Ren, I... I
think when this place is gone, you will be going to a much, much nicer place.
Can you believe that?"
     Ren smiled.  "Yes, Great Princess."

     The Sailor Senshi stood in a row, facing towards the great crystal far
over their heads.  Ren had assured them that the surviving Clansmen were
cowering in the furthest caves, no threat to them at all.  The grim task at
hand would not be interrupted.  He stood in front of the Senshi, watching
them.
     At a nod from Sailor Moon, Mars brought her hands together in front of
her.  She cried out "Fire Soul!" and sent a pillar of flame arcing up to the
crystal.  The flame spread out and engulfed the crystal, instantly casting
the whole cave into a dancing orange-red shadows.  It was a strong, steady
flame that went on for several seconds, its intent being to deliver heat
instead of shock.
     When her flame finally flickered out, they waited in silence for a few
moments, as the heat of Mars' flame worked its way into the crystal.  Far
away, they could hear goats bleating in fear, and fowl clucking and honking
in alarm.  Presently, Sailor Mercury raised her hands over her head and
brought forth the "Shining Aqua Illusion". The ice storm splashed across the
crystal, and the room seemed suddenly to be underwater, as if the ocean far
above had poured in.  Even from this far away they could hear the snapping
and crackling of the crystal as its complex structure labored under the
strain of the immense temperature gradient that had been forced upon it.
     A few seconds later, Venus raised her arm straight up and cried out
"Venus Crescent Beam!"  Just as the golden beam shot upwards, Jupiter was
ready with the Supreme Thunder, which enveloped the beam, lending it further
strength.  The slanted golden-silver pillar struck the crystal.  With a
blinding flash and deafening thunderclap, it exploded.  A silver cloud spread
out in all directions, and a shower of larger crystal shards came raining
down on the cave floor.  The five Senshi took up defensive positions, and the
resulting shield deflected the fragments away from them and Ren, sending them
to embed themselves into the soil or be shattered against stone paths and
walls.  For a few seconds, a din worse than any hailstorm assailed them.
This was gradually replaced by the barely audible tinkling of the tiniest
crystals falling to the ground, as the cloud of silver flakes fell like snow
over the garden.  The Senshi lowered their guard and let the gentle shower
come down on them.  Mercury caught a few in her hand, they were light and
delicate as snowflakes.  She looked around her, struck by the unearthly
beauty of the garden suddenly plunged into twilight.  The trees and grass
were covered in these glowing silver flakes, and everything was bathed in the
soft silver light of the shards that lay everywhere.
     "Ren!" Jupiter suddenly cried out.  They all looked at the boy.  Sailor
Moon gasped.  "Oh, No!"  Ren was looking down at his hands, which like the
rest of his skin seemed to be dissolving into the air, turning into gray-
silver mist.  He suddenly looked up to them and smiled.  His expression was
a mix of awe and gratitude.  He spread out his arms as if to embrace Heaven,
and in a few seconds he was only mist.
     The Senshi stared at the spot where he had disappeared in stunned
silence.  Hesitantly, Venus said, "They must.... they must have all..."
     "Yes," Mars said firmly.  "They must all be gone."
     "But gone where?" Sailor Moon asked her.
     Mars looked at her and smiled sadly.  "Ask me an easy one, why don't
you.  To some place better.  We have to believe that."
     They were startled by a sound like an avalanche, and looked up to see
the part of the ceiling where the crystal had been embedded cave in.  In a
sudden panic, Mercury thought the cave was about to collapse on them.  But
the rest of the cave remained intact, and the shower of rocks that fell down
on the center of the cave floor was suddenly replaced by a huge stream of
water.  Soon a deafening waterfall fell in a stream shimmering in the silvery
glow of the slowly fading crystal shards.  It whipped up a cloud of steam
that crept up to where the Senshi stood.  Mercury shivered in the sudden
chill, and could smell the salt air.  The ocean was reclaiming what had been
taken from it by unnatural magic.  In a matter of minutes, the cave would be
flooded.
     Sailor Moon stepped out in front of the other Senshi, turned to face
them and held out her hands.  The din of the waterfall made talking almost
impossible, but her intent was clear.  *Let's go home*.  Without a word, they
formed a circle and joined hands.  Within seconds, they were embedded in the
soft glow of the gathering magical energy.  In a flash, they were gone.
Minutes later, the advancing seawater extinguished the last of the glowing
shards, and the cave was plunged into eternal darkness.

     Ami walked into Rei's room to find Rei and Usagi arguing about whether
the water was warm enough to make the tea yet.  Makoto, who was at the low
table reading a magazine, smiled and waved at Ami.  "Seems like you brought
more than usual."
     Ami sat down on the floor beside the table and put the two boxes of roll
sushi down.  "I felt inspired today," she said.  In fact, she was really not
in the mood for the Sunday lunch they had planned, but she was determined not
to let that show.  Everyone was trying their best to get over what had
happened, and Ami wanted so much to help them.  She could at least do that
right.
     It had been a week since they returned from the Dark Kingdom.  Ami had
of course called Urawa to fill him in on what had happened.  His words stuck
in her mind.  "I wish I had the power to take all your pain away and make it
my own instead, only I know you wouldn't give it to me."  He was right about
her not wanting to share the pain, but was partly wrong about his ability to
make it go away.
     Ami had hardly heard from her friends other than seeing Usagi at school,
until Rei called her to say she was arranging a pot luck lunch for them.
They had been rather awkward on the phone.  She was beginning to understand
why.  They were all wondering whether it could ever be the same between them,
whether they could be as close as they were before, knowing what they had
done.  More than anything else, Ami feared losing the friendship that had
brought meaning to her life.
     The door slid open, and Minako stepped inside.  She smiled shyly.  "Hi
everyone."
     Ami regarded Minako sadly as she walked over to sit at the table.  Of
all of them, she had seemed most visibly affected by what had happened.  She
had seemed almost in despair when they parted company at the temple after
teleporting back there.  Even now, her usual vivacity was gone.  She was even
dressing plainly, usually going out for Sunday lunch would be an excuse to
put on one of her shocking pink dresses that you could see coming a mile
away.
     Usagi brought in the sweet potatoes that had been cooking in the fire
outside.  "Okay everyone, get 'em while they're hot!"
     Rei batted her playfully across the head.  "The way you announce
yourself, you'd think you had prepared those yourself, lazybones."
     "Well, what can I say, I slept in but Rei saved the day by doing it all
herself!"  She placed them on the table.  "Dig in."
     They all started eating and talking.  When they had just about finished
off the batch that Usagi had brought in, Ami noticed that Minako hadn't taken
any for herself, she had just been sipping tea.  Ami picked up another sweet
potato and put it in front of Minako.  "Here, don't use your diet as an
excuse, we have at least two more courses to get through."
     Minako just regarded it expressionlessly.  "Down in the caves, those
things that Ren was bringing into the kitchen, they looked something like
this.  I remember wondering how they would taste.  I guess I'll never find
out.  They must all be frozen in seawater now, or maybe dissolved into mist
like Ren."  She had been talking absently, almost to herself, but suddenly
realized that everyone was staring at her.  "Oh...! I'm sorry.  Me and my big
mouth, I'm ruining it for the rest of you."
     Makoto put a comforting hand on Minako's arm.  "It's okay Minako.
There's no use pretending that we all haven't been thinking about it."
     Minako tried to put on a brave face.  "Still, I'm sorry to bring
everyone down, I... I'm just having trouble dealing with it, that's all."
     Ami clasped her hands tightly, almost painfully in front of her,
fighting her own feeling of guilt.  "I almost wish I had never even started
looking for the Dark Kingdom."
     "Ami, you know you don't mean that," Usagi insisted.  "You did what you
had to, just like the rest of us."
     Ami simply continued to contemplate her clasped hands.  "I still can't
help feeling that I should have been able to find a better way."
     "Ami..." Usagi reached across the table, covering Ami's hands in her
own.  She looked at each of her friends in turn.  "Rei.  Minako.  Makoto.
Everybody, let's make a promise to ourselves.  Let's promise that if we ever
have to hurt anybody again, if we ever have to hurt the innocent, even if we
think we have no choice... that we'll stop and try to find a better way.
Just that, nothing more.  We'll just try to find another way.  Even if we
can't find one, if we know that we really tried... won't that be enough?"
     Ami looked back at Usagi, and suddenly wanted to leap across the table
and give her a big hug.  Overcome with emotion, all she could manage was to
breathe "Yes."
     Makoto put her own hand over Usagi's.  "You're right, we can't expect to
do any more than that.  It's enough for me."
     "Me too," Minako said brightly, putting her own hand over Makoto's.  The
sparkle was back in her eye, as if the spirit of Venus flowed through her
veins once again.
     Rei smiled, suddenly reminded of why she loved Usagi so much.  She
gently put her own hand on top Minako's.  "Okay, promise."
     "Promise!" the others cried out in unison.
     "Speaking of promises, I recall mention of a dozen octopus balls that
somebody was going to be bringing for us," Makoto said, glancing over at
Minako.
     Minako suddenly covered her mouth with both hands, her eyes wide.  In a
tiny voice from behind her hands she mumbled, "... guess ... forgot at
home..."
     "What!?" Makoto sat bolt upright.  "Jeez, did part of your brain miss
being teleported back here?"
     Minako's hands came up defensively, "Makoto, it's nothing to get upset
about..."
     "Didn't you ever hear the phrase 'Matters of food run deep'?" Makoto
said and unceremoniously launched herself at Minako.  They went rolling over
and over each other, squealing in mock rage.
     "Honestly, those two are getting almost as bad as you," Ami said,
looking at Usagi and then at Rei.
     Rei beamed at her.  "Almost."  But right now she just couldn't get mad
at anything, even Makoto and Minako over there grappling and turning her
carefully piled manga collection into a disaster area.  Right now she really
felt that no matter what happened, it would all work out.  Even the
apocalyptic nightmares she had started to have regularly in the past few days
seemed like just another case to solve.  The visions were more frightening
than any she had ever seen, a raging holocaust that devoured her friends and
her world while she pleaded with an unmoved and uncaring savior to help
them.  But in time the visions would yield their secrets, and the Sailor
Senshi would be ready.  She got up and pulled a protesting Usagi to her feet.
"Come on, let's see if we can't pry those two apart before they trash my
room."


                         The End