20. Homecoming

	Ryan wasn’t sure what to think.  The palace before him was 
one of the most elaborate pieces of architecture he had ever seen 
and surely had been the most beautiful building ever built when 
it was in its prime.  Now, however, it was ruinous.  Large 
doorways were now half arches or piles of rubble.  Many of the 
walls were now waist high, and there was no sign of windows in 
most of the building.  One or two hallways were still in tact, 
along with one large room that must have been the monarch’s 
audience chamber, which is where he and Sandy now stood.
	“It as all right,” Sandy said, consoling her husband.  “Even 
if you can not remember why you have brought us here, at least it 
is shelter.”
	Ever since early that morning, Ryan had had this overwhelming 
urge to walk toward the Earth.  Sandy had given in, humoring his 
insistence that there was something in this direction, and there 
had been.  Yet, when she asked him how he knew about this, he 
couldn’t make himself remember.
	“Firefly, I am going to place the center of the bubble in the 
middle of the room and enlarge it so we can both move around 
freely in here.  Besides, if I fix it in place, it will stop 
draining my energy.”
	“Good thinking,” Ryan said, not quite knowing what she was 
talking about.  That was the downside of being married to a 
sixteen thousand year old sorceress: she tended to understand 
things he couldn’t possibly comprehend.

***

	“Now you must all go back through the Astral Plane to your 
world,” Yaten told them.  “The sixth of your group will be 
waiting for you.”
	“Sixth?” Scott asked.  He had had the impression that the 
four of them and Ryan were the only Senshi there were.
	“Of course!” Ayre exclaimed from the other side of the room.  
“The bull statue is missing from this room.  The Golden Bull is 
one of us.”
	“He is?” Sean asked.  “How do you know.”
	“The statues are all signs of the Zodiac, and there are 
twelve in all.  I’m Gemini, you’re Aries, Scott’s Leo, Spider’s 
Scorpio, and Ryan is Saggitarius.  That makes five of us.  Add 
that to the six statues remaining in here and that’s eleven, not 
twelve.  Taurus is missing.”  Ayre looked at them expectantly, 
and seemed disappointed when they all merely conceded that he 
must be right.  What was he expecting, applause?
	“Who is he?” Scott asked.
	“SHE is Terra Perino,” Yaten told them.  “Ryan met her when 
he met Kelli, since both of them work in Caroline’s Finery.”
	“You found the bull in the china shop?” Ayre giggled.
	“Yes,” Yaten replied, not batting an eye at Ayre’s 
observation.  “She single handedly defeated one of Sandy’s Bots 
without and special powers.”
	“She what?” Sean said.
	“You heard correctly,” Yaten said.  “We recruited her shortly 
after the fight, and she has been keeping a low profile ever 
since.  Until recently, that is.”
	“What prompted this?” Scott asked.
	“Ryan’s wedding, really.  We sent her out so Ryan could 
pursue his family life,” replied Yaten.  “We never thought Ryan 
would continue to fight once he ceased to be single, a major 
oversight on our part.  We had forgotten the Senshi spirit that 
caused us to choose him in the first place, the spirit that will 
cause him to fight for good as long as he is able.”
	“And we have that as well?” Ayre asked, with a look on his 
face that showed he didn’t believe it.
	“Just wait, Ayre Reed,” was all Yaten answered.
	“If we’ve got this Senshi spirit,” Scott said, “then we have 
to leave now and let it work.  We’ve spent more time here than we 
should have.”
	“Scott is right,” Yaten said.  He raised his hand and made 
another swirling disk of magenta lights.  “This portal will take 
you into the Astral Plane.  Once there, the Plane itself will 
take you where it will - whatever it decides to be your destiny.  
Be careful, and good luck, Senshi.”
	Scott felt strong pride ripple through at being called a 
Senshi; a feeling of rightness.  He confidently walked through 
the portal, knowing everything would work out for the best.

***

	Ryan watched Sandy as she slept, her third nap of the day.  
His thought to add his own energy to Sandy’s was thwarted when 
she told him that, for a crystal to be most powerful, it would 
have to be purely one person’s energy.  Then she had said 
something about standing guard before she dropped off.
	That’s all he was here, a bodyguard.  He had no real skills 
to help them.  Nothing here worked on electricity, and he’d get 
nowhere by blasting away with his Lightning Arrows.  He felt so 
useless.  Sure his being there with her made her happy and gave 
her moral support, but it was nothing tangible, and he 
desperately needed something to do to help; he needed something 
to do, period.
	The boredom overcame him and he began to search the room in 
earnest, instead of another surface scan as he had done when they 
arrived.  He began by taking the rubble, stone by stone, into the 
hallways, to open up the room more.  He was surprised at how much 
there was, considering that the room was still in one piece.  
Where had it all come from?
	He lifted one large stone and carted it to the hall.  When he 
returned to take the one next to it, he was greeted by a splash 
of pink he hadn’t noticed when he lifted the other stone from on 
top of it.  Having finally found something interesting, his work 
progressed much more quickly, until he uncovered the entire 
thing.  It looked like a carpet, but it was upside down.  Lifting 
it, he saw the image of a beautiful queen and her daughter, 
standing in a beautifully lush field of periwinkle and lavender 
flowers.  The pink he had seen was some sort of an aura around 
the two.  Then it occurred to him: this wasn’t a carpet, it was a 
tapestry, and the rubble over it was the wall it had once 
covered.
	Ryan went to the small throne and sat down, trying to picture 
where the wall had been.  The room didn’t seem to be missing any 
walls, so this was a difficult task.  From the outline of rubble 
that surrounded where the tapestry had been, he guessed that the 
wall had been Earth facing, but there was still a wall there.  
Why would someone build a wall over a wall?
	Of course, Ryan thought.  If there had been an attack and the 
rulers wanted to hide something on the original wall, they would 
build a new one to cover it.  But what were they hiding?  The 
wall was bare and featureless stone.  He ran his hands over it, 
searching for secret levers or buttons, and found something he 
hadn’t been expecting.  In the back of the room near the corner, 
his hand passed through the stone.
	Another few inches, however, and he felt the now familiar 
tingle of the perimeter of their containment bubble.  He would 
have to wait for Sandy to awaken if he was going to explore.

***

	The Astral Plane was much different than the one Scott had 
seen on the way to the place where they had become Senshi.  He 
would have to ask Ryan what it was called some day.  They were 
all together on an open prairie, instead of the rolling hills of 
their previous trip.  There was a cluster of dead trees off in 
the distance that was covered in vultures that seemed to be 
waiting for them to die, and behind the trees was their portal.
	So they had to make it through the grasses to the portal on 
the other side of the trees - what was so hard about that?  Scott 
chastised himself immediately for thinking like that.  Of course 
this place was dangerous, otherwise the vultures wouldn’t be 
here.  Whatever it was, since the vultures were safe, it was a 
good bet that the danger couldn’t reach very high out of the tall 
grasses.
	He explained his theory to the others, and they seemed to 
agree with his solution.  If Ayre could do it, he would try to 
levitate them all over to the portal.  If not, he would fly on 
his own and distract whatever was down there, keeping himself 
safe in the sky.  
	Ayre’s hair blew over his eyes and he gently took off into 
the air.  The vultures took off as well, right at him.  Ayre 
didn’t move for a moment, then dropped like a stone into the 
grass.
	“Those aren’t vultures,” he croaked as he dove out of sight 
and sat motionless.  “Don’t move,” he ordered, “no matter what 
happens.”
	The birds circled overhead and one spiraled lower.  Scott 
could tell now that Ayre was right - these definitely were not 
vultures.  Their beaks were serrated and gleamed metallically in 
the sunlight, and their talons were dripping with a sickly shade 
of red.  If it was blood, is was none that Scott had ever seen.  
The birds were black as crows, but had no sheen, as if they 
swallowed the light.
	Scott held his breath and felt pressure on his shoulder.  One 
of them had landed.  Out of the corner of his eye, he could see 
it peering around, looking for Ayre who was motionless in front 
of it.  The bird’s milky black eyes scanned right over Ayre, but 
without recognition, and it pushed off eons later without harming 
any of them.
	As the birds flew off, Scott released his breath, realizing 
that it had been there for a very short period.  He remained 
frozen until the birds were back in their trees, then dropped 
slowly out of sight into the grasses with Ayre, Sean and Spider 
doing the same.
	“Take off your shirt,” Ayre told him, “quickly.”
	Scott felt something sting his shoulder and he quickly did as 
Ayre said.  His new shirt now had a hole in the shoulder where 
the bird had been perched, and it was growing.
	“Get rid of it,” Ayre said.  “It will be gone in a few 
minutes and it will burn any part of you it touches.”
	“How do you know?” Sean asked.
	“I don’t know for sure,” Ayre replied, “but look how fast 
that stuff is eating through it.”
	Scott saw how much bigger the hole was now than it had been 
only seconds ago and he tossed the shirt to the side and away 
from any of them.  Where it landed, the grass began to wilt.  
“Now I see what happened to those trees,” he muttered.
	“That is some nasty poison,” Sean said.
	“And that isn’t the worst of it,” Spider added.  “Did you see 
the beak and talons on that thing?  It doesn’t need the poison to 
kill a person, they’d be shredded long before it dissolved them.”
	“If the bird even saw they were there,” Ayre said.  “Did you 
notice that they weren’t very bright?”
	“They were bright,” Spider told him, “they just didn’t see 
you.  Some predators can only see movement, though I didn’t know 
there were any birds like that.”
	“So we go slowly and stop a lot and they won’t know we’re 
even there,” Sean said.
	“I have a better idea,” Ayre said, “I could use my powers to 
make the grass move, as if something were running from them.  
When they chase it, we can make a break for it.”
	“They’ll see us for sure,” Spider said.  “I say we just 
transform and blast them all away.”
	“That can’t possibly work,” Ayre said.  “There have to be 
over thirty of them out there.”
	“It’s about eight for each of us,” Spider argued, “we can 
handle it.”
	“Spider,” Sean protested.  “The second one of us transforms, 
all of the birds will see us and flock over here.  You’ve seen 
Ryan transform, and it’s not very inconspicuous.”
	“So we shoot quickly,” Spider hissed.
	“It just takes one of them to get through and at least one of 
us will die,” Ayre snapped.  “I don’t want to risk it.”
	“All of you, be quiet,” Scott said, sick of the arguing.  
They all became quiet for the new voice.  “I say we combine the 
ideas.  We sneak along for as far as we can.  Spider, you provide 
us with a shadow, as big, dark, and natural looking as you can.  
When we’re close, Ayre will use his powers to make a distraction 
and lead as many of them away as will go.  When they’re gone, we 
transform and make a break for it.  By the time they turn around, 
we’ll be long gone, but we’ll need our weapons for any that stay 
behind.  Agreed?”
	“I’ll try it,” Ayre said.  Spider and Sean both nodded.
	The four of the crept through the grasses, trying to shake 
them as little as possible.  Sean and Spider were up front with 
their talents for slinking along unnoticed, clearing a careful 
path under the cover of Spider’s artificial darkness.  Scott 
followed, his skill diminished by time, but still effective.  
Ayre was behind him, much to his dismay.  At least he didn’t have 
to guess whether he was watching the person in front of him or 
not - he could feel the boy’s gaze boring through his behind.
	They were within twenty feet of the first tree when one of 
the birds snapped to attention.  Scott froze, as did Sean and 
Spider in front of him.  Ayre, Scott hoped, had ceased movement 
as well.  
	His hope was in vain.
	A few seconds after stopping, Scott felt something ram him 
from behind.  He didn’t know what possessed him, perhaps it was 
his aggravation with Ayre, but he turned around.  “Are you a 
complete moron?” he hissed.  He realized the mistake as soon as 
he finished speaking.
	He froze, pointing with his eyes toward the birds so Ayre 
could see.  They were staring right at the two of them, readying 
to fly at the slightest movement.  Ayre closed his eyes and sent 
a blast of wind through the grass, disturbing it about five feet 
away, moving speedily from them.  A few of the birds struck the 
ground, coming up with clumps of swiftly dying grass.  Scott made 
a flash of light even farther along the path Ayre had set, and 
once again the birds made a barren patch of earth.  The birds who 
had stayed were watching their friends, but there were far too 
many of them to make any movement.  Apparently, they were much 
smarter than Ayre had speculated earlier.
	A shadow moved over the clouds and shot a beam of darkness 
behind Scott.  He didn’t have to turn around to know what had 
happened.  Spider had transformed.  The birds on the tree spun to 
face Spider, as did Scott.  A few of the birds sighted him as 
well once he moved.  He had no choice now.
	“Leo Power, Make-Up,” he whispered.  He could see the air 
around him brighten, but he couldn’t tell what kind of visual 
effects were occurring.  A sudden glow filled his body, as if 
every cell had become luminescent and he could feel the light 
itself shining over each square inch of his flesh.
	The first birds dove for him.  “Leo Light Roar!” he yelled, 
the last word becoming an actual roar as a beam of white light 
shot from his mouth.  The beam seared through the first, second, 
third, all the way through every bird in its path, even taking 
out some in the tree, branches and all.
	“Scorpio Shadow Sting,” Senshi Scorpio rasped.  A smoky black 
scorpion’s tail emerged from her back, lashing forward 
immediately to impale an attacking bird.  She continued repeating 
her attack phrase and the tail continued stabbing birds, but 
there were just too many.
	Senshi Leo roared at the birds attacking Scorpio, making a 
sweeping motion with his head to take out an arc, but the 
duration of the attack was only long enough to eliminate a few of 
them.  Meanwhile, a bird took the advantage and raced for Leo.  
It’s talon scraped the back of his neck just before he felt a 
blast of wind, pushing the bird out of the way.
	“Gemini Power, Make-Up,” Ayre squeaked.  A whirlwind kicked 
up a dust storm and grew around Ayre, keeping the birds occupied 
with just trying to stay in the air.  When it subsided, Senshi 
Gemini stood where Ayre had been, his whitish-silver chest and 
shoulder armor gleaming above his pure white flexible armoring.  
The Roman numeral two emblazoned white on his chest, and his 
jeans below a belt of the same white silver of his other armor.
	“Gemini Wind Split!” Gemini yelled, holding his hands 
together in front of him.  A translucent white beam light shot 
from them, and as it passed into one of the birds, he separated 
his hands and it pushed the two halves apart cleanly.
	A blast of heat signaled Sean’s transformation into Senshi 
Aries, and a blazing pillar of knocked one of the birds into the 
next in sequence, setting the whole row aflame, as Aries yelled, 
“Aries Fire Ram!”
	“Leo Light Roar,” Senshi Leo roared again, removing a large 
swath of poisonous birds this time.  However, he was beginning to 
feel dizzy.  The ten or so remaining birds doubled and he dropped 
to his knees.
	A few more attacks from the others and the birds were no 
more, including those who had been chasing the wind and light 
show earlier.  Scott felt warm while Sean, Spider, and Ayre 
struggled to drag him through the portal into the mortal realm, 
and he recognized a bit of the palace’s stonework just before he 
blacked out.

***

	“You’re right,” Sandy said.  “I can see the illusion spell 
over the gap.  I should have done a spell search when we first 
arrived.  I must have been tired.”
	“You collapsed as soon as you set the bubble in place.”
	“Speaking of which,” she said, moving to the center of the 
room and making some strange motions with her hands.  A small 
light lifted from the floor and into her chest.  “If what you say 
is true, we will need to take this with us.”
	“Shall we dance?” Ryan said with a smile.
	“I would be delighted,” she said, taking his arm and allowing 
him to escort her through the illusion.
	The hallway between rooms was surprisingly short, only a few 
feet long, and the room beyond was nearly empty.  Nearly.
	“Is that what I think it is?” Sandy said, regarding the lone 
plaque on the wall.  On it rested a jewel, identical to the 
Community Stone except for one detail.  The color was a milky 
white, instead of the crimson of the Community Stone, but with 
the same golden veins.
	Sandy went to it and pulled the plaque from the wall.  “How 
do we get the Dream Stone out without damaging it?” she asked.
	“We’re taking it?”
	“We have to, Ryan,” she said.  “This is our only hope to get 
back home.  We can be there in ten minutes if you help me get 
this out of here.”
	Ryan was amazed.  This was the answer to their prayers, but 
how had it happened?  He didn’t know why he had wanted to come to 
these ruins, or what had made him search the room.  He wondered 
if he ever would know what secret force was helping him.
	“How far in is it?” Ryan asked.
	“Not far,” Sandy said, “but it won’t budge.  It is stuck.”
	Ryan tried to pull it out of the plaque, but it wouldn’t 
budge.  He pushed on the back of it, trying to snap the board, 
but it was too hard.
	“Should I transform and blast it?” Ryan asked.
	“I don’t think we should risk destroying it yet.  There has 
to be a way.”
	Ryan noticed Sandy’s shirt glowing.  “Sandy, the Community 
Stone is reacting.”  She reached in and pulled the stone from her 
clothing, placing it to the Dream Stone.  The veins began to 
pulsate and it looked like the gold was flowing through them.  
The stones themselves glowed brighter and brighter until neither 
Sandy nor Ryan could bear the sight, and when it faded, Sandy 
stood holding the Community Stone with the Dream stone attached.  
The two blunt ends were fused, with the long points sticking out 
at a strange angle.  The veins of the stones were fused where 
they connected, forming a single network.
	“Let’s go home,” Sandy breathed.  She raised the stones and 
Ryan could see the power actually go through them before a portal 
opened.  Neither of them wasted any time going through.

	Inside their room at the palace, Ryan was greeted by 
something he would never had suspected.  Three people dressed as 
Stellar Senshi stood over a fourth lying unconscious on his bed.
	“Scott,” Ryan gasped, recognizing his best friend.
	“Make way,” Sandy commanded, kneeling at Scott’s side with 
the double stones in her hand.  “What’s wrong with him?”
	“Poison,” said the woman Senshi in Black, whom Ryan 
recognized as Spider.  The man in red next to her was Sean.
	“It’s all my fault, Ryan, I’m sorry,” pleaded the fourth of 
them.  The young male in white turned to Ryan and he saw that it 
was Ayre.  Ayre?
	“We will discuss it later,” Saggitarius’ knowledge nagged at 
him as he saw the symbol on Ayre’s chest and he added, “Senshi 
Gemini.”
	Sandy reached for a bowl near the side of the bed.  “Stand 
back, everyone.  If this splashes, more of you could get 
poisoned.”  She stabbed the pointed end of the Dram Stone into 
Scott’s - Senshi Leo’s - abdomen and rolled him onto his side, 
placing the bowl under the wound.  A stream of reddish brown 
liquid trickled out, pushed by Sandy’s magic.  When the last drop 
landed in the bowl, a small glow pulled the sides of Leo’s wound 
together and fused them, leaving nothing but a small scar.
	Sandy turned and dropped, panting, her back against the 
nightstand.  “Astral Plane?” she asked.  Aries nodded.  “I 
thought so.  Scott will be asleep for a few days, but he will 
recover.”
	Ryan’s Senshi ring was blinking, and he noticed everyone 
else’s was doing the same.  “How long have your rings been doing 
that?” he asked.
	“Since we got back,” Scorpio told him.  “Why are they doing 
that?”
	“Because we have someone causing harm with magic on this 
planet,” he answered.  “The rings help us find where.”
	“Caliban again?” Sandy asked.
	“Probably,” Ryan agreed.  “Will you stay and watch Senshi 
Leo?” he asked her.
	“Nothing I can do here,” she said.  “What he needs is rest.”
	“So do you,” Ryan said.
	“I will be fine,” Sandy said, struggling to stand.
	He didn’t want to let her go in this condition, but he felt a 
twinge of selfishness, and his conscience was telling him to let 
her do what she wanted.
	“You’re not in shape to go with us,” Scorpio said gently.
	“You need to rest,” Aries added.
	“I can help you guys,” Sandy argued.
	“I’ve known you longer than anyone else here,” Gemini said, 
“and as your friend, I’m telling you to rest - for your own 
good.”
	“When have I ever listened to you?” Sandy coughed.  “Firefly, 
you will let me come, right?”
	The others glared at him, but he couldn’t tell her no.  She 
always had a good reason to do what she did.  “Will you promise 
to stay on the side and use the Stones?”
	“Yes, I can do that.  Thank you for understanding.”
	Scorpio pulled him aside.  “What are you doing?” she hissed.  
“Why would you let her come when she’s so weak?  She could be 
killed.”
	“She can handle herself,” Ryan replied.  “She has had over a 
millennium and a half of battle experience.  I think by now she 
would know when she needed a rest and when she did not.”
	“She didn’t live this long by jumping into life-threatening 
danger all of the time,” Scorpio shot back.  “Don’t you think she 
had people to check her when she wasn’t thinking straight?”
	“She wants to go and she is going.  That is final.  As your 
Crown Prince and as the leader of the Stellar Senshi, I order 
it.”
	Fury blazed in Scorpio’s eyes but she remained silent.  She 
wouldn’t dare disobey a direct order from him and he knew it.  
Ryan transformed, closing off his emotions so he wouldn’t feel 
any guilt for abusing his authority, into Senshi Saggitarius and 
took Sandy’s hand.  “Are you ready?” he asked sweetly.
	As Sandy nodded, he helped her stand on shaky legs and led 
her through the bedroom door, ahead of the others, and followed 
the path indicated by his ring.  The servants in the palace 
dodges quickly out of their way with startled expressions.  He 
could only imagine what they were thinking.  Their Crown Prince 
and Princess vanish in battle and return a few days later with a 
whole troupe of warriors, none of whom looked very happy, and all 
battle ready.  There had to be a mix of sheer joy and absolute 
dread.  Joy that they had finally come back, and with help no 
less, and dread that there was soon to be a massive battle.
	At the moment, however, Senshi Saggitarius didn’t care.  He 
stormed down the hall, angry at Scorpio for arguing with him, at 
Leo for being hurt, at Sandy for being weak and insisting she 
wasn’t, at Caliban for causing everything, but most of all, at 
himself for acting like a spoiled child.  At least one of his 
targets was about to have that anger vented on him, and Ryan 
didn’t envy Caliban one bit.
	They didn’t have far to walk to find him.  As the servants 
opened the palace’s main door, he saw Caliban facing who he knew 
had to be Senshi Taurus.  Her blonde hair hung in a pony tail, 
and where his armor had yellow accents, hers had a rich chocolate 
brown.
	“Taurus Earth Stomp!” she yelled, kicking the ground in front 
of her forcefully with her heel.  An energy wave shook the ground 
and broke a line in the palace steps leading straight to Caliban, 
whose back was to Saggitarius.  The Senshi prepared to dodge the 
attack as well, as he was in its path, but it stopped when it hit 
Caliban and knocked him off his feet.
	Remembering their previous battle and how Caliban easily 
absorbed the electricity of his attack, Saggitarius decided not 
to attack himself, but signaled to Aries.
	“I’m not going to attack him when his back is turned,” Aries 
protested.
	Caliban quickly jumped away to a position where he didn’t 
have his back to any of them once he heard Aries’ voice.
	“Are you happy now?” Saggitarius snapped.
	“You’ve returned,” Caliban said to Saggitarius and Sandy.  “I 
didn’t think you were that resourceful.
	“‘Never underestimate even the most insignificant of 
enemies,’ Caliban,” Sandy recited.  “Your master would have 
taught you that if they were any good.”
	Caliban’s eyes fixed themselves on Sandy, measuring her.  “He 
did teach it to me, in exactly those words.”  Then his eyes grew 
wide.  “It’s you,” he gasped.
	“You know of me?”
	“My master gave specific instructions for what I am to do if 
I find you.  Why did you leave?” he asked.
	“I thought I could win this planet on my own,” Sandy said.
	“And have failed,” Caliban spat.
	“I like this planet,” Sandy said, taking a step toward the 
man.  “You will too if you just give it a chance.”
	Caliban pondered for a moment and reached a hand for Sandy.  
“Perhaps you’re right,” he said.  As she reached to take his 
hand, he fired a beam of white light from the palm of his hand 
that engulfed Sandy.  She screamed in agony or terror or both, 
Saggitarius couldn’t tell, only that his wife was screaming.  He 
ran for her and dove, but the beam stopped before he even left 
the ground.  Senshi Saggitarius landed on his hands and knees 
above a small pile of dust on the step.  “And perhaps I’ll turn 
traitor like you, Stardust,” Caliban growled, “but that’s not 
likely.”
	Ryan’s breath stopped and he gazed without blinking, without 
even a thought, at the pile of dust before him.

	Scorpio watched in horror as Sandy was incinerated, and bile 
was beginning to rise in her throat while she watched Saggitarius 
kneeling over her remains.  She was about to attack Caliban when 
a strange wailing sound arose.  After a moment, she saw that it 
was coming from Saggitarius, and it was growing louder.  It 
became a scream or rage and Ryan lunged at Caliban, beating on 
him savagely.  Blow after blow fell upon the murderous bastard 
and Scorpio wasn’t about to stop Saggitarius, unless it was to 
take over the beating.
	There was another bright flash that sent Saggitarius flying 
from his spot above Caliban’s prone body and into the palace 
wall, knocking him senseless.  Caliban stood and laughed, his 
face bruised and bleeding.  “What’s wrong?  Did I hurt your 
little girlfriend?” he taunted the unconscious Stellar Senshi.
	Scorpio’s rage took over.  All she could hear was her own 
voice, whispering, “Scorpio Shadow Sting.”  The tail rose from 
her back and lashed at Caliban, piercing him through the heart.  
At the same time, he was split in half at the waist and set 
aflame - Gemini and Aries must have had the same idea.  As 
Caliban fell to the ground, the Senshi with brown and silver 
armor walked up to him, spat, and crushed his skill under her 
heel.
	“Three more Senshi,” Taurus said.  “That’s much more than I 
had hoped for.”
	“Four,” Scorpio corrected.  “The fourth was poisoned in the 
Astral Plane and is recovering.”  She looked over to Senshi 
Saggitarius lying near the door.  “Would you help us take him to 
his room?”
	“Of course,” Taurus replied.  “But someone needs to stay and 
make sure the Princess’ remains are properly handled.”
	“I will,” Gemini said.  “She was my best friend, after all.”
	“I have sent for a stretcher,” came a voice from behind her.  
King Philip stood in the open doorway.  His face was stern, but 
she could tell he was holding back his emotion.  It wouldn’t do 
for the King to burst into tears in front of a steadily growing 
crowd.
	“Scott is recovering from some serious poison on Ryan’s bed,” 
Scorpio whispered to Philip.
	“I will have a cot sent in for my brother,” Philip replied.  
“Is Scott a Senshi?”
	“Yes.”
	“Then I will tell them not to move the Senshi.  I think it 
best to keep the rest of your identities a secret for now.  Who 
knows what may be coming for revenge.”
	“I agree,” Scorpio said.  “Right now we should go inside, 
somewhere private, and do what must be done.”  She didn’t say the 
word ‘grieve’, but she knew he would supply it for her in his 
head.
	Philip led the way to Ryan and Sandy’s honeymoon suite, which 
had barely been used.  A cot was already waiting for Saggitarius’ 
prone body, which arrived shortly after them.  He was followed 
closely by an urn, which was placed on the mantle of the room’s 
small fireplace.  Scorpio didn’t have to guess at the contents.
	Philip excused the servants and closed the door behind them, 
leaving the four conscious and two unconscious Senshi, and the 
King.  Scorpio transformed back into Spider with a sigh, as if 
slipping off a heavy burden after a long trek.  She was followed 
by the others.  “I’m sorry,” she said to the blonde woman, “but I 
didn’t catch your name.”
	“Terra,” she said.  “Terra Perino.”
	“I am Spider, and these are Sean, Ayre, and Scott,” Spider 
replied.  “I’m sure you already know who the King and Prince 
are.”
	“Yes,” she said, bowing to Philip.  “I’m sorry I couldn’t 
save the Princess.”
	“It is all right,” the King said gently.  “I was watching 
from a window.  Caliban’s treachery was too sudden and completed 
to quickly for anyone to save her.”
	“He should have been destroyed before the others arrived,” 
she protested.
	“You did your best,” Philip said.  “That is all you could 
have done.”
	Saggitarius began to stir.  “Sandy?” he asked, opening his 
eyes slowly.  “Where is Sandy?”
	“How do you feel, Ryan?” Spider asked.
	“I have to find Sandy,” he said, sitting up.  Terra eased him 
back down.
	“You need to stay down for a bit,” she told him gently.  “Do 
you know what day it is?”
	“Friday?” he asked.  Terra shook her head.  It was Tuesday.
	“Do you know where you are?”
	“Our honeymoon suite,” Saggitarius replied.  “Where’s Sandy?”
	“Try and remember,” Terra said.
	“She is...in Carthage, selling her truck.”  Terra shook her 
head again.  “Setting up for this week’s battle?”  Once again, 
negative.  “She’s in Spider’s Den.”
	“I’m afraid he’s still disoriented,” Terra told them.
	“Who are you?” Saggitarius asked.
	“You probably wouldn’t remember me,” Terra said.  “I am 
Terra.  I work with Kelli at Caroline’s Finery.”
	“The fighter,” Ryan said.
	“Yes,” Terra said with a smile.  To the others, she said, 
“his long term memory’s still strong.  Ryan, what was the last 
thing you remember?”
	“I woke up with Sandy and had breakfast.”  His speech was 
beginning to become less delusional, and he actually began 
concentrating.  “We went through the day.  My ring flashed and we 
went to the mall.”
	Terra looked askance to Spider.  “It was the last place they 
were seen before they disappeared,” Spider said.
	“Then we went to the moon to watch the sunset.  Then the 
castle on the moon, where I moved rocks and walked through the 
wall.”
	Terra once again looked to Spider for help.  “He must still 
be mixing up reality.  It might have been a dream.”
	“What happened when you and Sandy went to the mall, Ryan?” 
Spider asked him.  That seemed to be where his memory cut off.  
“What happened when you met Caliban?”
	His eyes grew angry and he glared at her.  “Where is he?  I’m 
going to kill that bastard,” he snarled.
	“Why do you want to kill him?” Terra prompted.
	“Because...because...oh god.”  Saggitarius began to whimper 
and shake, weeping like a baby.
	“We’re here for you, Ryan,” Spider said.  She and Terra sat 
on either side of him and stroked his back and head as he wailed.  
She wanted to tell him everything would be fine, but she 
couldn’t, it wouldn’t.  Sandy was gone.  It finally began to sink 
in and Spider lost her composure.  Sandy had been like a sister 
to her in the short time they had known each other.  She could 
still remember talking to her on the phone for the first time, 
the two of them discussing the weaknesses of men.  And sneaking 
through the palace halls, dressed as a schoolmarm with her 
pupils.  She had fought with Philip many times over her.
	She glanced up at the King, who was no longer holding 
anything back, weeping silently with a grace that befitted his 
position.  Ayre was curled up in a corner, shivering.  He had 
been crying so much he had thrown up on himself, but Spider 
didn’t think he even noticed.  Sean was rubbing her shoulders and 
she wondered how long he had been doing it.  His face was somber, 
but he wasn’t crying.  Spider knew he wouldn’t - he didn’t show 
sorrow with tears, only silence.  When Scott awoke, he would be 
the brother that cried - probably for days, if she guessed right.  
He was too sensitive not to, but he would also be the first one 
to recover, having cleansed his spirit with constant tears the 
whole time.  Once he was better, he would help the rest of them 
recover as well.
	Terra, like Sean, wasn’t crying either, but she hadn’t known 
Sandy.  She calmed Senshi Saggitarius down enough that Spider 
could do it on her own, then moved on to Ayre.  She helped him 
stand and brought him to the suite’s bathroom to clean him up, 
and closed the door behind them.  Meanwhile, Spider’s bout of 
sobbing was under control enough for her to stand and embrace 
Sean, crying into his shoulder.  She never wanted to let go of 
him for as long as she lived.
	Philip dried his face and cleaned it with some water from a 
basin by the bed.  “I will go and make arrangements for the 
funeral,” he said, “and have them ready a space in the family 
mausoleum for her ashes.”
	It was the highest honor he could have bestowed upon her to 
have her placed with the royalty.  Spider broke down again at the 
beauty of the gesture and Sean supported her.  Sandy had been, 
and now would always be remembered as a true Princess.

----------------------------------------------------------------- BONUS!

All Pics drawn and Copyright 1999 by Joseph Allen

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