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A Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon story
Chronicled by Dro'gan NiteFlier

Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC, and I would be a supreme idiot for claiming it or any of its affiliated characters.

Foreword: On Timelines: This story is set directly after the Doomtree story arc, but takes place in the alternate universe of "Assassin's Loyalty", and as a sequel to it. As you might have guessed, this leads to certain… differences in this universe, as you get to see right off the bat.

On Names and Postfixes: In this story I use the Japanese names in the Japanese manner. Thus George Bush would be Bush George, and Usagi Tsukino would be Tsukino Usagi. Also, the postfixes -chan, -san, -dono and others appear attached to names. Don't worry if you don't know what they mean. I use them simply for flavor, and like any flavor can be left out without altering the reading (or edibility) too much.

A very special "thank you" to Griever, my proofreader, who has given me several valuable insights and corrections for this story. Also among his contributions is the omake at the end of this chapter.


Chapter Three: Information of the Past, Promises for the Future


Six girls are hanging out at the local arcade/ice cream shop. Nothing wrong with that at first glance. The fact that two of them are a year ahead of the others is surprising. As well, one of the girls has spent the majority of her young life outside the country of her birth, and another has been an orphan since childhood.

Three of them are blond, and one brown haired, colors rare in those native to Nippon; and the hair of one is a beautiful aquamarine, a color not natural to any ethnic group. One goes to a different school than the others, and is a priestess at one of the local temples.

They are not your normal group of schoolgirls, no matter how much they might seem like it. They are the Sailor Senshi. Soldiers of Love and Justice.

My teammates.


"So, if this is supposed to be a celebratory gathering for me, why does it look as if Usagi is having the most fun?" Haruka asked Rei. For her part, Haruka was having fun. It just seemed like their princess was having more.

"Well, since that was the first time we ever really got to see you race, I guess that Usagi is just feeling the excitement that she feels you should be. She's like that," Rei answered.

Haruka nodded. The last time the others had come to one of her races, it had been interrupted by a youma, and she had gained the title of Sailor Uranus. She still felt bad for having to destroy her old bike to get rid of the monster; it had been a good bike, after all.


I study the paper in my hands and try to decide if I should really use it or not. To an unknowing observer, the patterns and curves I have penciled in on the sheet of wood pulp may seem to be nothing more than abstract art on a small scale. It is a visual representation of one of my most powerful Divination spells.

Normally, I don't really have to plan out my information-gathering magics. The few I do have "preset", as it were, are minor spells, like the Question/Answer set that is very useful when getting more information with minor leads. Most of my preset spells are in the area of my Ice magic, and those are mostly memorized, like the Question/Answer spell. But this… This spell is dangerous.

I've used lesser versions of it before. When I agreed to come here, for instance, I had used it on Black, but that backfired and released my own memories instead. This time I'm expecting it.

These are the reincarnations of people who knew my incarnation then. This spell is bound to set off more memories from my former life. Now I just have to pick a target, draw her into the spellweave, brace myself, and cast it.

I'll only be downloading her entire memory.


Minako smiled slightly as Mako-chan kept talking about the newest boy that "looked just like my old boyfriend". In the time that she had been friends with Makoto, the descriptions had almost never matched up with each other.

Minako just put it down to faulty memory and a desire for a boyfriend. The blonde did try to help her in her endeavors; after all, wasn't she the Goddess of Love?

As she listened to the brunette go on about her current crush, the taciturn girl shifted her head just a bit to look out the window and across the street. To her surprise, she saw Mizuno-san just outside of an alleyway.

Out of her uniform, she was dressed entirely in black. If it wasn't for her hair, she would have blended into the shadows of the alley entirely.

For just a second, their eyes met.

"MINAKO!!"


I sag, and am glad that I was leaning against the wall. I hazily see that Aino has fallen over in her seat, and her friends are clustering around her. I take a wavering step back into the alley and drag down the wall into a sitting position. I feel as if I've run all day with a hundred-kilo pack on.

Wait, I haven't gotten anything from her yet. All I'm feeling is the drain from casting.

Oh, Shit.


Makoto gently levered Minako back up slightly, so that her head was above the rest of her body. The blonde was hyperventilating, her eyes wide open but unseeing.

"Give her some room!" Haruka shouted as Rei and Michiru crowded around. Usagi hung back and steadied the two. The commotion had attracted Motoki, and he looked worriedly on.

"Is she all right? What happened?" Usagi wailed. She noticed that Minako's breathing had slowed to near normal again and slipped in around Haruka. She was about to take Minako's hand when the girl suddenly bolted straight up.

"Anhara! Ni kilantor sin Helin, Anhara!" Minako yelled out. Her eyes focused then and locked on Usagi. "Anhara theanos Beirylnin, Serenity! Orae Anhara, Serenity!"

The group was stunned. They had never heard the language that Minako was speaking, yet they knew it had to be one of the ones used at the Lunar Court. Usagi reached out and shook Minako slightly. "Mina-chan! Here and now! Not then and there."

The girl shook her head slightly and groaned. "Oh, my head…"

"Are you okay, Minako?" several of them echoed.

Minako nodded. "Y-yeah. I'm okay. Oh! Mizuno-san!"

"What? What about her?" Makoto asked, but Minako was already up and running out the door, totally in defiance of being unconscious less than a minute before.

Motoki stared after the blonde. "Well, she seems better."


My head hurts. Really, really hurts. Reaction headaches do not compare to completely draining oneself of magic. I haven't had a migraine like this since Black asked me to deliberately overextend myself. That hurt too.

My vision is coming back into focus now. That's good. Or at least, it would have been good if my field of view wasn't dominated by two pools of deep blue.

Gee, it's Aino-san. And she's got a look in her eye that tells me that she knows exactly who opened up her memories to her. I don't need my exhausted magic to tell me that.

"Are you all right, Anhara?"

How quaint, she's being nice after I just about overloaded her mind. Deep trouble, here I come.

But what is Anhara? And why does it feel familiar?


Minako looked over Mizuno-san. She had obviously been unconscious as well, for she was slumped against the wall of the building and her head had been lolling. Now her eyes were refocusing on the blonde's face, and they showed confusion that her face was attempting to match.

Minako realized that she had called Mizuno-san by a name she might not remember. There was no doubt in her mind, however, that she had, in another life, been called that.

"Whadda ya'll wan'?" Mizuno slurred. Minako looked over her shoulder to find that the others had followed her and were now standing behind.

Minako paused, then enunciated clearly: "Anhara, dein nuevo e Meskira?"

The blue haired girl shook her head slightly, confusion becoming even more apparent on her features. Then a pained look crossed her face, and she clutched her head. "Shou'na try'd tha'…" Her eyes rolled up in her head and she passed out again.

Minako rocked back on her heels. "I don't think she'll be getting up for awhile, guys."

Usagi knelt near the other two. "Hey, Rei? Do you think we can take her to the shrine? I bet Mina-chan has a tale to tell."


Mizuno-san, it seemed, was lighter than she appeared. Haruka reflected that she also seemed not to have any hidden weaponry on her.

Minako walked beside Haruka and steadied the blue-haired girl, who was being piggybacked to the Hikawa Shrine.

The rest of the group was spread loosely around them, each of them keeping an eye on the surroundings, and the other on the three in the middle.

It was thus that the Senshi brought their last team member home.


"Well? What happened?"

The girls had gotten situated in Rei's room, laying the still-comatose Mizuno on her bed. All wanted to know what had occurred at the Crown.

Minako took in a deep breath and looked at the faces around her.

"I remembered everything. Every detail of my life, both this one and my Silver Millennium one. I remembered names and duties and lovers…" Her eyes suddenly grew large.

"Lovers?!" cried out several of the others.

"Er, heh-heh." Minako nodded. "I didn't think I'd say that out loud."

"What's so wrong with her having lovers?" Michiru asked wryly. "You seem to be very interested in boys Makoto. Don't tell me you hadn't at least thought about it."

"Ah, well, it's just that I'm really too young for that sort of thing, really!" Makoto protested.

Minako shook her head. "We were older, too. Around twenty or so. Except for Puu and Saa. And Anhara."

"What was different about her?" Makoto asked. "I mean, It's not too surprising to find out that Saturn and Pluto were the same back then, but she's the same as us now."

"Are we sure of that? What exactly do we know about her, anyway?" Haruka grumbled.

Minako frowned at the older Senshi's attitude. "Do any of you remember how you were chosen to be Senshi back then?" At the collection of "No's", she continued. "It was on the concept of apprenticeship. An older Senshi would find a young girl and teach them how to be Senshi. We had to have some magic in the area of the Senshi's power, but that was the only real requirement. And, of course, we had to be female."

"You're going to get to the point of this soon, right?" Rei was trying to contain her temper, but she was getting impatient.

"Rei!" The girl started and turned to the owner of the voice. "We are trying to learn more about ourselves back then. That is the purpose of this."

The priestess cringed. "Yes, Serenity-sama."

The girls turned back to Minako as Usagi settled again.

"Anhara was one of the Elder Senshi. She was the only one that had not chosen an heir when an… accident happened."

Haruka perked up. "I don't like the way you said that."

Minako shook her head a little. "You shouldn't. Anhara later learned that it was a setup to get the Elder Senshi in one place. It worked wonderfully, though. Three of them were killed outright, and the other two died shortly after."

"But that's just five!" said Makoto.

Michiru nodded. "Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. Where was Mercury?"

"She was searching for an heir. Had to. But when she heard what had happened, she came back to the Moon, where we younger Senshi were. She went before the Queen and told her point-blank that she would not go back to her search until there were once again eight Senshi."

"So what did she do then?" asked Rei.

"She trained us. Even though she didn't share the same magic as us, she trained each of us. And not just individually. I think one of the reasons we've been unconsciously acting together is from her training."

"What do you mean?" Usagi put in.

"Did you notice the way we came here? We were in a diamond formation, with the wounded in the middle. I can think of some of our fights that we used tactics like that as well." Haruka was looking at the sleeping form of Mizuno as she said this.

"It was probably due to her." Minako said.

Usagi tilted her head to the side. "Mina-chan, what can you tell us about that day?"

There was no need to ask which day. "Er, Usagi, I can't really remember more of that right now. I mean, I could when I was hit by whatever it was, but now it's kind of fuzzy. What I've been telling you has mainly come up out of the blue, and then kind of fading a bit. I don't really know why."

"Because your mind hasn't had time to recover and organize what was brought out and is now lurking."

Heads turned to the bed, where Mizuno seemed to be still sleeping. The only thing that betrayed her now was her small frown. Usagi got up from her cushion and stepped over to the short girl.

"What happened? What did you do?"

There was no reply, but Usagi sat down on the bed and laid her hand on Mizuno's cheek. A shudder ran through the girl and she brought her own hand up to deflect the blonde's.

"Don't do that. You don't know how much it hurts to feel that much power running through you, especially when I am dry of it."

"Will you tell us?" she asked.

The girl nodded. "Venus. Your memory will settle itself over the next few days. You probably shocked yourself out of memory when you ran to me, but that upset the recollection process. The only thing I can recommend is lots of sleep, and to be wary of your dreams."

As Minako nodded warily, she continued. "You each have an area of specialty. Two, in fact. Don't ask me how I know, it was perfectly simple watching." She looked to Usagi again. "You shocked me that day, when you tried to bring me to your friends, like you did now. You have so much power running through you, yet you hide it so well, it takes physical contact to reveal it, even to one such as I. Because of that, I watched you. I've kept on watching you, Serenity, through your trials against the Black Moon Family."

Usagi showed surprise at this, but the girl obviously wasn't done. "Each of the rest of you have a duality of power, like myself. I've studied each of you… especially you, Ten'ou Haruka."

Haruka looked startled. "Me?"

"Yes, Daughter of Tenmura."

Haruka looked sheepish now. "Er, well, when you put it that way…"

The others looked at the tall Senshi oddly. "My Dad… knows her," she said.

The blue haired girl smirked, "He's my contact. But that is not something Senshi need worry about." She looked at each of them in turn. "What else is there to be known?"

"How can we contact you?" Rei asked.

Mizuno shrugged. "Three of you see me at school. That should be sufficient." She looked around again, then turned to Usagi. "What is it?"

The ponytailed blonde was wringing her hands. "Luna never gave me a henshin pen to give to you, and…"

"No."

The Senshi all blinked. "No?" inquired Makoto, confused.

Mizuno cocked her head to the side. "I swore along time ago that I would never swear loyalty to anyone but myself. I've seen you "Make Up" several times. Every time you do, you increase your bonds to the Princess."

A chorus of "Huh? Really?" from the Senshi was not what Usagi wanted to hear. One of the others had to have known about it, right? Minako at least?

She turned back to Mizuno, who was looking on amusement at the confusion of the others.

"Is there anything that you will help us with? For the sake of old debts at least?"

That got a reaction from the girl. She snapped her attention back to Usagi sharply. Now glaring at the blonde, she advanced menacingly. Rei and Makoto made to obstruct her, but she stopped a few steps from the Princess.

"Only for the sake of one so innocent; for if there are debts, they are owed to me, not the other way around." She took a breath, and steadied herself. "Until the day I am cut down, I will see that you come to no harm, Serenity. I so swear by my name: Mercury."

And with that, the last Senshi left the Hikawa Shrine.

 

To be continued.


Griever speaks: And now, because I was feeling silly, not to mention slightly ecchi because of all that shoujo goodness and those priceless setups…


OMAKE-OMAKE-OMAKE-WAI!

by Griever


"MINAKO!!"

"USAGI!"

"MINAKO!"

"USAGI!"

"TETSUO!"

"KANEDA!"

Standing in the shadows, Mercury sweatdropped. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't such a good time to cast the spell.


"MINAKO! Speak to Pai!"


"Anhara! Ni kilantor sin Helin, Anhara!" Minako yelled out. Her eyes focused then and locked on Usagi. "Anhara theanos Beirylnin, Serenity! Orae Anhara, Serenity!"

The group was stunned. They had never heard the language that Minako was speaking.

"Minako-chan, calm down! Or at least have the decency to speak in subtitles!"


"Anhara! Ni kilantor sin Helin, Anhara!" Minako yelled out.

"Omigod!" Rei was appalled, as were the others. "It's a bad DIC dub!"


Mizuno-san, it seemed, was lighter than she appeared. Haruka reflected that she also seemed not to have any hidden weaponry on her.

She had the decency to look sheepish when Michiru's elbow gently but firmly reminded her that even if the girl was unconscious, copping a feel wasn't really the best immediate course of action.


"I remembered everything. Every detail of my life, both this one and my Silver Millennium one. I remembered names, and duties, and lovers…" Her eyes suddenly grew large.

"Haruka-sama!"

GLOMP

"Dear, is there something you're not telling me?" Michiru's voice had the approximate temperature of liquid nitrogen.


"You're going to get to the point of this soon, right?" Rei was trying to contain her temper, but she was getting impatient.

"Un… cute… tomboy." Ami's comatose form twitched, pinky and index finger extended on both hands.


"How can we contact you?" Rei asked.

Mizuno shrugged. "Three of you see me at school. That should be sufficient. Also, there's the Mercury Beacon that was a recent gift to the Commissioner."

<Cheesy theme music from the old Batman TV series begins to play>


Mizuno cocked her head to the side. "I swore along time ago that I would never swear loyalty to anyone but myself. I've seen you "Make Up" several times. Every time you do, you increase your bonds to the Princess."

A chorus of "Huh? Really?" from the Senshi, except Rei, who glared at Usagi and shouted "What's the big idea, meatball head?! I thought that was supposed to be a secret! I knew letting you take those pictures was a bad idea!"

Usagi's eyebrow, uncharacteristically, started to twitch. The others suddenly backed away. Where she'd gotten that riding crop from, they really didn't want to know.


Author's notes: Any comments on the omake go to Griever!

 

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Chapter 4
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