Warning:  While this is not a lemon piece, there are definite adult
        themes throughout.  I would give it an R rating, or at least a
        PG-13.

Another Warning: This story is based heavily on events from the whole
       Black Moon Family storyline of Sailor Moon R.  It is written
       assuming knowledge of the events therein, and much of it would be
       considered Spoiler information for SMR, for those who have not
       seen that run of episodes.

       The US Sailor Moon 1st season ends at about the half-way point
       of the Black Moon Family storyline.

Many thanks to Mark Latus for the use of the Dark Kingdom Renegades (DKR).

Warning about the DKR characters:  I have been coordinating with Mark so
       that our two series will both fit together, without us
       contradicting each other, particularly when it comes to the DKR.
       To this end, he has provided me with details of a number of the
       things he plans to do with the characters in his future stories.
       These elements have been incorporated into this fanfic, and will
       be part of the rest of the DKR's part in the Crystal Tokyo saga.
       I will go into a little more detail on this in the author's notes
       of this piece, but for now, I'll simply say that some of these
       facts may be considered Spoiler information for future DKR
       stories from Mark.



The Crystal Tokyo Saga 2: Crystal Renegades
by Andy Combs

Part 1 - Full Circle



Serenity looked down from her throne, carefully keeping her face
neutral.  She knew that she could not afford to let her face show any of
what she truly felt.  Because her true feelings were shaped by knowledge
that she should not know.  Knowledge of the handsome young man who knelt
at the foot of the steps.  Knowledge of his true nature and motives.
Knowledge that she could not let him realize she possessed.

For the day that she had known would come had arrived.  The day that she
had hoped might never come.  The day that she knew was inevitable.

For kneeling before her in supposed respect for her was a young man that
she had met before, but who had never met her.

A young man who was speaking formal greetings of respect from one
monarch to another.  Serenity knew he held no such respect in his heart.

A young man who commanded immense power.

A young man who she knew would bring great pain and suffering to her and
those she loved.

A young man who would grow to love her, and when that love was not
returned would eventually seek to possess her.

A young man who would lead an invasion that would leave Crystal Tokyo
all but in ruins.

A young man who, for all his evil, would in the end sacrifice his own
life to save hers.

A handsome young man who was known as Prince Demand of the tenth planet,
the Black Moon, Nemesis.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

She wanted to hate him.  For all the pain and suffering he would cause.
But she found she could not.  Even after all these years, his final
sacrifice still weighed heavy in her consideration whenever she tried to
hate him.  And besides, it just wasn't in her nature to truly hate
anyone.  Even an enemy, though she couldn't let him know that she
thought of him as an enemy.

Serenity did dislike having to be deceptive.  Again, it just wasn't in
her nature.  But she knew how critical it was.  For she, and several of
those close to her had knowledge of the future that was soon to be upon
them all.

She sighed lightly and looked out over the rest of the Black Moon
entourage.  They were all there, just as she remembered them.

Rubeus, eyes alight with quiet confidence.

Esmeraude, arrogance flashing through her eyes as she lightly fanned
herself.

Prince Saffir, nervously watching his older brother.

About a dozen others were clustered behind these, including the Uncanny
Sisters.

Serenity half-listened as Demand continued his introduction.  She nodded
when appropriate.  Looking for something to distract her thoughts from
matters of the dark future ahead, she began a light scan of the city.
And it was because she was actively scanning that she was able to pick
up a quiet flaring of powers, raised in anger, from a distant part of
the palace.  Someone was about to fight with powers, and she had a good
guess who.  This needed her presence.  The fact that this gave her a
valid excuse to escape from Demand's presence also crossed her mind.

Serenity rose from her throne.  "I'm sorry, Prince Demand, but I have
just been made aware of an urgent problem.  I hope you take no offense,
as none is intended, but I am needed elsewhere.  Good day."  And she
vanished from the throne room.

Serenity materialized high above the combatants, on a small balcony
above a small courtyard, from which the clang of metal on metal already
rose.  A glance was all she needed to confirm the identity of the
combatants.

Serenity watched the two figures below her as they fought.  Both wielded
blades created by their own power, and both were masters in the use of
those blades.  Serenity had to suppress a wave of nervous fear, since to
all appearances, the two below her were fighting a no quarter given,
fight to the death.  Serenity might have been tempted to interfere, as
both of them were close friends, but she knew that such interference
would be unwanted.  By both of them.

The two might look like they were trying to kill each other, but
Serenity knew better.  These two might share an animosity that went back
nearly a thousand years, but they also shared something else that went
back almost as long.  Fights like this between these two were not a
daily, or even yearly occurrence, but they had happened occasionally for
a very long time.   Serenity watched as one of her oldest friends, the
original Sailor Senshi, Aino Minako, AKA Sailor Venus, fought with her
oldest enemy, the man who had been her arch enemy in her days as Sailor
V.  The Dark Kingdom Renegade, Calcite.

The man, Serenity sighed, who was also Aino Minako's husband, if in name
only at the moment.

---------------------------------------

The relationship between Minako and Calcite had been a rollercoaster
from the very start.  It's said that love and hate are two sides of the
same coin, and that it's very easy for one emotion to switch with the
other.  Minako and Calcite were living proof of this.  Their emotions
for each other had been flopping between the two extremes for a
millennium.

Shortly after the creation of Crystal Tokyo, Serenity had finally sought
out the Renegades, who were nearly immortal in their own right, and
brought them into her circle of advisors.  She had promised them before
that she wouldn't hunt them down, but after the creation of Crystal
Tokyo, and Serenity's enhanced new link with the city as a whole, she
had found it impossible to ignore their presence anymore.  Their
existence as beings of power shown to her enhanced sight, and she
decided something had to be done about them.  And being who she was, the
easiest solution had been to accept them publicly for who they were, and
legitimize their status.

The Renegades had been very suspicious at first, but Serenity had won
them over with a single action.  As it turned out, the modifications to
their bodies needed to allow them to survive outside of the Tokyo area
were easily performed (assuming one had access to the Silver Crystal)
and this Serenity did, informing them that this was done, and that while
she would prefer them to be at her side, she had no intention of holding
them there against their will.

That had done it.  Titanite had been willing to pledge on the spot, but
then she hadn't been that suspicious in the first place.  Pyrite had
seemed convinced, and Calcite was swayed, but he had said that the group
needed to think about it.  The Renegades had retired from Serenity's
presence.

The next day, only Calcite and Titanite had returned.  The two swore
loyalty to Serenity, explaining that Azurite had refused to believe in
something "Too good to be true", and had left the city.  Pyrite had gone
with her.

Azurite and Pyrite had returned about a hundred years later, Azurite
making a big show of the fact that their final acceptance of Serenity
came because Calcite and Titanite had been treated well, proving the
sincerity of Serenity's words.

They had much later explained that they had felt the need to split up
the Renegades.  If something should happen to Calcite and Titanite, then
Azurite and Pyrite would be able to start a new race of Renegades
independently.

The reasons for Calcite and Titanite having remained behind were as
diverse as they could be.  Titanite had never had any real fear of the
Senshi, and had in fact fought alongside them quite a few times as
Sailor Polaris.  Calcite, on the other hand, would not have been able to
explain why he remained, though most of the rest of the palace would
have.  While the Renegades were guests in the palace, the relationship
between Calcite and Minako had been blooming, to the notice of almost
everyone in the palace except for Calcite and Minako themselves, who
hadn't quite realized what was happening.

Calcite and Minako's relationship had grown quickly from those first
seeds, eventually becoming a full-blown romance.  The two had thought
the romance a secret, but were actually the talk of the palace
rumor-mill.  Eventually, when they went public and announced their
engagement, the whole kingdom had cheered, with Serenity cheering the
loudest.

They were married less than a year later, and, with a little magical
help from Serenity and the Silver Crystal, were able to overcome the
racial incompatibilities and have several children, all of whom shared
enough of their father's longevity that they were still alive today.
The oldest was starting to show some gray, as the Dark Kingdom blood was
diluted with Minako's human blood, making them not necessarily immortal,
just very long-lived.  In fact, Minako and Calcite were multi-great
grandparents, though the Dark Kingdom blood seemed to loose its effect
after the third generation or so.

The problems between Minako and Calcite had started to develop shortly
after the last child of their first family had grown up.  Serenity
suspected that it had been building for a while before then, and that
the two of them had held a truce for the sake of the children.  Soon
there were regular fights between the two, the precursors to the fight
going on below Serenity right now.  Within a couple of years, the two
had divorced, and gone their separate ways.

They still loved each other, Serenity knew now, but they were beginning
a cycle that would continue until today.  For all their love, it turned
out that they could only stand to live with each other for limited
periods of time at a stretch.  After twenty years or so of living
together, the love would swing almost to hate, leading to a
deterioration of their relationship.  What had been a storybook romance
would be shattered.

The two would breakup and go their separate ways, only to run across
each other ten or twenty years later, after all the hurts they had
inflicted had healed, and they would pick back up where they left off.
Marriage would come soon after that, and the cycle would repeat.  At
their fifth marriage, Serenity had declared that she had had enough.
She made an official proclamation, making the marriage unbreakable this
time.  Later she had privately explained her actions to them.  While she
had no intention of forcing them to remain together when they were at
the lows of their relationship, all three of them knew that the cycle
would eventually bring them together again.  As proof, she pointedly
asked them if either of them had taken a lover while divorced.

Had either of them even *considered* doing so?

Neither had.  The idea of being with anyone other than each other, even
when at the height of hatred for each other, was unthinkable.

And so the cycle of their relationship had continued, but with the new
twist.  And this had unforeseen side effects.  The marriage/divorce
cycle of the two had become a staple for the tabloid journalists.  Now,
while the tabloids still fed on the cycle, they no longer had the
spectacle of regular marriage ceremonies to focus on, bringing at least
a slight decline to their attention.

Serenity might not like the tabloids but she understood the fascination
that she and her friends held for them.  This was an unforeseen
side-effect of the creation of Crystal Tokyo.  While Usagi had enjoyed
the fame of being Sailor Moon, she had always been able to hide as
simple Usagi, and not face the media unless she wanted to do so.
Serenity and those around her could not do so.  They were public figures
now, the ruling class of the city.

And besides, the status of the few Immortal relationships in the world
was of intense interest to psychologists, as well as the media.  While
there were quite a few among the Crystal Tokyo nobility who were either
naturally immortal, or who had been close enough to the Silver Crystal
often enough to gain immortality from it, there were only a very few
actual couples among those immortals.

Immortality might be nice, but it made it hard to gain lasting
relationships.  Relationships with non-immortals would leave the
immortal partner to watch the other age and die, while relationships
among immortals were very difficult to maintain over the long haul.  Few
relationships between immortals lasted more than 100 years or so, and
only two had publicly lasted close to a millennium, making them of
special interest for study.

Neo Queen Serenity and King Endymion were one of those relationships,
and while the stability of their relationship fascinated the
psychologists, it bored the media.  Minako and Calcite were another
matter.  It didn't help things that Calcite was basically a private man.
But both these relationships had been thoroughly studied over the years.
Numerous Master's Thesis' had been done contrasting the two
relationships.

But locking the two of them into a permanent marriage had helped to take
some of the worst attention off of them.  And the fact that the
love/hate cycle was actually fairly predicable helped as well.
Eventually the breakups and reunions between Calcite and Minako were
accepted by the media as routine.  Newsworthy, but not headline material
anymore.

Minako and Calcite had more children after their first family, and
always managed to stay together long enough to bring the children to
maturity within a loving household.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Serenity's attention returned to the fight.  Both of them had immense
powers, and both were using only a fraction of those powers.  Both knew
that if they were to truly open up on each other, one or both of them
would likely wind up dead.  And so they limited themselves to
psychoplasm, potentially deadly enough, but again within a number of
self-imposed limitations.  No exploding blades, no ranged weapons, just
self-created weapons and personal skill in wielding them.

Calcite was a master at the use of psychoplasm, and while Minako wasn't
in his class for full manipulation of the stuff, she had more than
enough ability that she wasn't at a disadvantage under the limitations.
Besides, she had learned about manipulating the stuff from one of the
best, Calcite himself.

Calcite had been surprised when reports of Sailor Venus throwing around
chains of light had started to surface a millennium ago.  He had
investigated, and managed to witness her in action himself.  Sure
enough, while she obviously had no idea of exactly what she was tapping
into, Sailor Venus was generating and manipulating psychoplasm for her
Venus Love-me Chain.  Calcite had shuddered.  With the right teaching,
Venus would become devastating if she learned how to manipulate the
stuff right.

Later, when they were married, they had taken to sparring with each
other.  At first no powers were used at all, then they had made the
mistake of sparring during their first breakup.  Tempers had flared,
followed soon by powers, and the two almost killed each other before
Serenity had arrived on the scene and shut their powers down.  Calcite
had later admitted to the other Renegades that that had been one of the
most terrifying moments in his life since he had escaped the Dark
Kingdom, to first find himself at the receiving end of Minako's power,
and then find himself helpless in Serenity's power.  It was then that he
realized a bit of what Serenity had become.

Serenity had held them both in her power, as the life bled out of both,
and had then done what might have been the most malicious thing she had
ever done, but in the end might also have been one of the most
compassionate.  Ever so briefly, Serenity had forged a telepathic link
between the two of them, to allow them to see the full measure of what
they had done to each other.  Anything else they learned about each
other during that link, they had never revealed.

The link had done its job.  Since then, they had never let their full
powers fly when contesting with each other.  Not that psychoplasm
weapons were any less deadly, in the end, but they were not as
immediately deadly, particularly when in expert hands, and healing magic
was available in plenty in Crystal Tokyo for the loser.

And the fights were generally only to first wound, with an unspoken
acceptance of the win given at this point.  If this had not been the
case, then the wounds would likely add up, as neither would surrender
otherwise, both of them being very stubborn.  There would again be a
chance of one killing the other, an outcome that neither truly desired,
no matter how they might claim such a desire when the hate was at its
height.

Serenity didn't know what was the cause of this specific fight, but she
could guess.  The two had broken up only a couple of years earlier,
still much too recently for a reconciliation.  They had probably run
into each other, and tried to get back together way too soon.  The hurts
hadn't healed well enough yet, and one or two misspoken words would have
been enough to ignite the conflict.   She sighed.  This meant that their
eventual reconciliation would likely be put off another few years.

Usually when they broke up, one or the other would leave Crystal Tokyo
for a number of years, putting a distance between them to allow the
healing to occur.  Most often that was Calcite, as Minako had more
regular duties in the palace, but she had been the one to leave on more
than one occasion.

But that was impossible now, with the Black Moon Family finally showing
itself.  Serenity needed every one of her friends around her for the
coming days, and that meant that, when she saw the breakup coming, she
had had to tell both of them to stay.  She still remembered the pained,
haunted look in Calcite's eyes as he realized that he had to remain in
the same place as Minako.

But it had worked out well, until now, as Serenity had given Calcite
quarters at the edge of the city, while Minako remained living in the
palace, and Serenity had kept an eye on their schedules to make sure
that there were no chance encounters.  Purposeful encounters were none
of her business.  If they wanted to meet, that was their problem.  But
she had made it as easy as possible for them to avoid each other as long
as that was what they wanted.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

As the fight wore on, Serenity prepared her healing magic.  She had seen
enough of these fights to know that this was an especially bad one.  The
two of them were looking for blood, and might not stop at first
wounding.

Again, Serenity considered bringing this to an end, but she knew that
she shouldn't.  For all its ferocity, this was a part of Minako and
Calcite's relationship.  These fights served as a vent for much of the
emotions between the two of them.  Without these fights in which to vent
their anger with each other, it might not be possible for them to
eventually come back together.

As much as it pained her, if these two friends felt the need to hurt
each other in this way, Serenity knew she had to let it happen.  The
physical hurts had a way of cleansing some of the emotional hurts for
these two.

And so, when Calcite finally scored a long, shallow gash down Minako's
arm, Serenity prepared herself.  But as she was afraid would be the
case, Minako refused to yield, instead she quickly added another foot of
length to her own weapon, returning with a vicious slash that would have
gutted Calcite if he had been just a little slower.

Serenity sighed and sat back down, preparing her magic in another way.
While it might be painful to watch her friends hurt each other, she
would and could do that.  What she would not do is allow them to kill
each other, if it came to that.  And with the first blood point come and
gone, Serenity wasn't sure how else the battle could be resolved.  No,
Serenity readied her power, prepared to stop the fight the moment a
truly serious wound was taken.  The two of them could yell at her later,
but there was only so much she would allow.

The fight continued, but the end was nearing, one way or another.  Both
combatants were weary from the long fight, but Minako had it worse, as a
steady stream of blood flowed down her arm, sapping her strength.
Minako seemed well aware of the fact, and began a series of desperate
moves, each more risky than the last, trying to win the battle before
her strength ran out.

Serenity sat ready, prepared to intervene at a moment's notice.

The moment, when it came, was too fast for Serenity to respond in time.
Minako had just completed a wild series of thrusts and slashes with the
weapon in her good hand, all easily blocked by Calcite, when suddenly
she materialized another blade in the wounded hand, stabbing at Calcite
with it almost before it was done materializing.  Calcite barely saw it
coming, much too late to block, before he was run through the chest.
Calcite's eyes glazed over and he slumped to the floor.

Serenity sent out her power to him at once, but she could tell she was
too late.  There was no trace of life within him even as he hit the
floor.  Serenity fought back a scream.

Minako, meanwhile, was quickly realizing what she had just done, and had
dropped her weapons, both of which evaporated before they could hit the
ground.  She dropped to her knees at his side, gathering up his lifeless
body.  A pitiful whimper escaped her lips and she began to sob.

Serenity just stared into space in shock, wondering how this could have
happened.

"You know, as often as we fight, it's a surprise that it doesn't end
like this more often."

Minako and Serenity both startled.  That was Calcite's voice.

"If you truly want to kill me, Minako, you've got to remember that my
heart's not in quite the same place as yours."

"But you were dead."

"When you didn't yield, I decided to do a little dirty fighting myself.
I set my body to do a brief, total shutdown at the first major wound.
That would look pretty close to death, I think.  But I'll be weak as a
kitten for a few days after that trick."

Minako chuckled.  "So you'll be stuck in bed for a couple of days, hmm?
I think I can help to keep you from being bored during that time."

Calcite sat up, his regeneration already closing the wound on his chest.
"You know, Minako, I think one of the reasons we keep returning to each
other is that making up is so much fun."

Minako nodded, a glint in her eyes.  Then she embraced him and began to
kiss him deeply.

Serenity let out a long sigh.  Well, that's one problem solved.  Or was
it?  More likely just delayed.  Minako and Calcite had only been apart
for a couple of years.  Not nearly enough time to heal their emotional
scars.  No, they might get back together for a few months, maybe a year,
but it would all fall apart again soon enough.  And Serenity needed her
friends in top shape for the upcoming war.

Suddenly, a grin split Serenity's face.  Minako might never forgive her
for what she had in mind, but Serenity decided that the needs of Crystal
Tokyo were too great.  She send out a light probe to Minako.  Yep.
Perfect timing.  Serenity then reached out to the Silver Crystal in its
display room, drawing power from it, and sent that power into Calcite,
making a well practiced, temporary modification to Calcite's genetic
code.

Minako and Calcite would be doing a lot of "making up" in the next
couple of days.  And Serenity had just added an extra wrinkle to the
equation.  She had brought Calcite into genetic compatibility with
Minako.  In other words, Minako would soon be pregnant with her first
totally unplanned child.  Her first child in over a hundred years,
actually.  Motherhood had always had a way of mellowing out Minako, and
Serenity had never seen the two of them fight when a child was in their
life.

Serenity hoped she had done the right thing, since this would mean that
they would have a young child to take care of right as the Black Moon
Family was invading, but having them united for a child's welfare would
be infinitely better than having them divided in hatred at the wrong
moment.

She sighed, hoping they would be better at protecting their child than
she knew she would be at protecting Small Lady when the time came.  Oh,
she would do her best to keep Small Lady out of the action, safe from
the coming war, but she also knew that she was fated to be struck down.
Encased in crystal, helpless, while her daughter fled through limbo to
the past, pursued by those who were intent on killing her.

Not for the first time, Serenity cursed this foreknowledge that she had.
She would welcome the day, a few years hence, when she was beyond those
events that she had knowledge of, and could remain blissfully ignorant
of the future.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Serenity's tampering had not gone unnoticed.  Although she didn't know
it, Calcite had grown much in power over the years, and while he knew he
was still no match for Serenity in a direct confrontation, neither could
she have managed to simply neutralize his powers like she had been able
to do in the early days of Crystal Tokyo.  And she was not able to slip
past his personal defenses unnoticed.  Had he been uninjured, she would
not have been able to do what she did at all without his cooperation,
but he was injured, his normal shielding in tatters, and she had been
able to slip in and do her meddling.

Calcite understood at once what Serenity had done, but couldn't
understand why.  Unlike the Sailor Senshi and King Endymion, he had no
knowledge of what was to come, and thus no knowledge of the importance
Serenity placed on his and Minako's presence.  He did, however, put it
together with her order a couple of years back that had forbidden him to
leave the city.  Serenity almost never gave orders.  She had no need to
do so.  Most things she wanted, she would simply say "I would like this"
or "Wouldn't it be nice if that" and things would get done.

Not with this, however.  Serenity hadn't bothered with niceties.  It
could be like how she had handled Minako and himself before.  Serenity
had apparently long ago decided that it did no good to use kid gloves
when he and Minako were acting like kids, and for the most part, he
understood exactly why she had done what she had done each time she had
interfered.  But not this time.  There was no obvious reason to keep him
and Minako together this time.  First ordering them to stay in the city
together, then trying to saddle them with a kid.

Something was going on.  He had caught other whiffs of it in the air,
and he didn't like it.  Serenity hid it well, but something had her
scared.  Had all the Senshi scared, actually.  Suddenly Minako's actions
fit in with the rest.  It wasn't like her to lose control like that.
Whatever was up, she knew about it as well, and she was scared to the
bone.

But, as Minako assisted him up to her apartment, his mind came back to
the problem at hand.  Serenity had adjusted him.  And if she had done
that, then Minako was probably fertile, or Serenity wouldn't have
bothered.  So if the events went as they were looking like they would,
Minako would be getting pregnant, and all hell would break loose in a
couple of months.  Serenity might think she was helping, but he knew
Minako too well.  She would not take a surprise pregnancy well at all.
No, she would be furious, would almost certainly figure out that
Serenity was behind it.  Hell, there was no other possibility.  They had
tried to have children without Serenity's help, to no avail.  No, Minako
would resent Serenity's actions, and with whatever was looming over them
all, might even come to resent the child itself, though Calcite though
that a remote possibility.  Minako was too loving a mother for that.

No, either he had to avoid having sex with her, or he had to tell her
the truth, and let her choose for herself.  And besides, maybe if he
confronted her with his knowledge that *something* was up, she would
share with him what was happening.  Probably not, though.  Minako was
stubborn, and very loyal.  If she shared a secret with Serenity and the
other Senshi, she would keep that secret, even from him.  It was one of
the many things he loved about her that made her impossible to live with
at the same time.

Calcite could think of no way to avoid making love to her without
shattering this small bit of reclaimed happiness they had managed to
grab.  He had no illusions about how long it might last.  Calcite had
long ago learned to treasure the happy days with Minako when they came.
He would not waste an extra opportunity.  Which left telling her, a
thought he did not relish, but that he saw as necessary.

Minako had helped him into her bed, and was about to leave.  To put on
something more comfortable, he suspected, like a negligee.  He grabbed
her wrist as she started to rise from the bed.

"Don't go, Mina, we've got to talk first."

"Hush, Cal.  You're spoiling the mood..." she noticed the seriousness in
his eyes, and stopped.

"Darling, I'm afraid it's been spoiled already, through no fault of our
own.  And now we need to see if we really want to recreate it.  No, let
me finish," he added as Minako started to respond.

"I'm not going to ask you to tell me what, if you don't want to, but I
know something is up."  Minako looked puzzled.  "Something has you,
Serenity, and the rest scared."  Minako gave a start as she made the
connection.  "You guys obviously don't want to talk about it, and that's
fine, especially when the two of us are separated.  We may be husband
and wife in name, but when we sleep apart then it is in name only, and I
have no right to make demands of you.  Besides, I know you too well.  If
you decide to clam up, nothing I can do will pry the information out of
you, so I have no intentions of making things between us even worse by
trying."

"But I want you to know that whatever is going on is now impacting me as
well.  I suspect that it is because of this secret that Serenity forbade
me to leave the city two years back.  For some reason, she wants the two
of us both close by.  Can you at least tell me I'm right in that much?"

Minako nodded almost imperceptibly.  Her skin was almost white as a
sheet.

"But now it's more than that.  It now looks like Serenity has decided
she not only wants to keep us close, but to make us a couple once more
as well.  For a while, at least." Minako looked a little puzzled.

"Minako, Serenity was there today, at the fight.  I didn't notice her at
first, but she was there."  He chuckled lightly.  "I bet I gave her as
much of a scare as I gave you."

"But what does that have to do with..." Calcite placed a finger to her
lips.

"Afterwards, just after I woke up, Serenity hit me with her magic.
Adjusted me."

"But why would she..."

Calcite nodded.  "Minako, I'm in tune.  If you and I make love tonight,
I think you will get pregnant."

Minako went even whiter.  "No.  I can't.  Not now.  Not this close
to..." She cut off suddenly as Calcite embraced her.  "Damn you,
Serenity," Minako said quietly.  She began to sob softly into Calcite's
shoulder.  After a few minutes, Calcite realized that she had actually
dozed off from her crying.  Chuckling softly, he lay back in the bed,
letting Minako end up with her head pillowed by his broad chest.  He
quickly dozed off as well.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Calcite woke to find Minako still on top of him, only now there were a
lot less clothes between them.  In fact, Minako was already nude, and
was working on removing his sword sliced shirt.

"Minako, are you sure about this?"

"We're both going to have a talk with Serenity about what one should and
shouldn't do to one's friends without asking, but for now, yes, I think
I want this.  I would never have picked this as the time to have a
child, but now that the opportunity is here, I don't think I can pass it
up."

"You always were a wonderful mother."

Minako nodded.  "You know, I'm puzzled about one thing, though."

"Hmm?"

"You and I both know that we are about to commit to stay together for
the next twenty years or so.  Considering that we were trying to kill
each other a couple of hours back, how come neither of us is
hesitating?"

"I've never really thought about it this way, but if you look back on
it, I think we are generally the happiest when we have a family.  When
there's a little someone there to depend on us, we never really fight."

"You're right.  I hadn't really thought about it that way."

She fidgeted with the blood soaked buttons on his shirt that refused to
budge.  Finally she materialized a small knife blade and neatly sliced
the buttons away, not even touching his skin a few millimeters below.

Calcite idly said, "You know, we ought to try something.  For the next,
oh... hundred years or so, let's plan to have at least one kid growing
up at all times.  At least one child every ten years or so should do
it."

"You're kidding, Cal.  You know we won't be able to put up with each
other for that long."

"I think we would be pleasantly surprised."

"That's a subject for a couple of years from now, but yeah, that might
be worth a try.  There's only one more thing puzzling me."

"And that is...?"

"If me getting pregnant and restarting our family is the key to
happiness in our marriage, why did it take us so long to figure it out?"

Calcite shrugged.  "Forest for the trees?  We were never before forced
to consider having a child except when we were already blissfully
happy."

"And it took dear, bumbling Serenity's meddling to make us realize
this."

"Well, I for one still plan to read her the riot act, but yeah, I think
she deserves the ultimate credit for this one."  He stopped talking and
took a long, lusty look up and down her nude body.  "Dear, what did I
ever do to deserve you?"

Minako gave him a stern look.  "Nothing.  You don't deserve me."  She
paused briefly, then continued with a grin, "But then, I don't deserve
you either, so we're even."

With that, she collapsed across him in a fit of giggles.  Calcite
brought his arms around her, bringing her head up to a kiss, and the
evening's festivities began.



Crystal Renegades Part 2 - Picture Puzzle

Three days later, Calcite called a meeting of the Renegades.

"Well, well.  The love bird emerges," Azurite quipped as Calcite
entered.

Calcite frowned at Azurite.  Azurite knew he hated when she called him
and Minako that, which was why she did it.

The meeting was in Azurite and Pyrite's apartment.  The two of them had
remained a couple throughout the last millennium, though Calcite would
have loved to know how they avoided the media spotlight.  It probably
had to do with the fact that they had never been as closely linked with
the palace as he or Titanite were.  And speaking of Titanite...

A swirl of cherry blossoms appeared in mid-air, and out of the center
materialized Sailor Polaris.

Azurite began to swat cherry blossoms out of the air, coughing a little
at the smell.  "You get to clean those up, not me, Ti."

Titanite stuck her tongue out at Azurite, and then all the blossoms
vanished at a wave of her hand.

"What's with the sailor-suit, Ti?  This is supposed to be a meeting of
the Renegades, not the Sailor Senshi?"  Calcite was frowning.

Calcite might not totally approve of the lifestyle his sister had
adopted, but it could have been a lot worse, he supposed.  Sailor
Polaris was an official Sailor Senshi, one of the elite rulers of
Crystal Tokyo.  In fact, she was in charge of the press office, which
let her play the media darling, a job she reveled in.  She had a public
personality that fit right in with any major vid-star that one could
name.  Arrogant, vain, flighty.  And she was a vid-star in her own
right, having made a good number over the course of the past millennium.

But Calcite knew that the media personality was just a front.  When
gathered with the other Renegades, she was usually just good old Ti
again.

"Oh, this?"  She tapped a bracelet and the Sailor Polaris costume was
replaced by a much more casual outfit.  "You called the meeting so
suddenly, I didn't have time to rearrange my schedule.  I had a public
appearance just before this, and had to port straight here from there."

Calcite nodded.  "Very well.  I've called this meeting because I've just
put together some of the pieces of a very large puzzle, and I don't like
the picture that's taking shape.  To put it bluntly, something is up.
It's got Serenity and the other Senshi scared, and acting a little
rashly."

"If skewering you is rash, I'd hate to see Minako *really* lose
control," Azurite murmured.

"*How* do you know about *that*?"

"Umm, Cal?  You've been the headline story of the tabloid vids for the
last three days,"  Titanite said meekly.  "Yesterday we had to confirm
most of the real story, as the fictions arising from it were getting out
of control."

"Oh," Calcite responded quietly.

"In fact, a public appearance by you, with Minako if possible, would be
helpful..."  Titanite shut up at a glare from Calcite.

"Cal, you were talking about something being up?"  Pyrite tried to steer
the conversation back to safer ground.  Calcite did *not* like the
media.

"Yeah.  I don't know what it is, but it's almost as if they know
something is coming, and know they can do nothing about it.  But what I
can't figure out is how they would know.  Mars gets visions, but nothing
detailed enough to explain this.  Neptune and Uranus are supposed to
have the sight, but they haven't been seen or heard from in centuries.
It's almost enough to make me believe Pluto actually exists.  Some of
the legends about her might explain some of this, but no one has ever
been able to prove that either her or Saturn ever actually existed."

"Cal.  Pluto's real.  Very real," Titanite spoke softly.

"How do you know that?"

"It's my job to dispel false rumors.  To do that, I have to know a lot
more about the history of the Sailor Senshi than is normal public
knowledge.  Unfortunately, I'm sure there's a lot more I've never been
told, and nothing I do know explains what the others might be afraid of.
Also, remember that I've been alive through their whole career, avidly
following any details I could get.  I know that Sailor Pluto exists.  Or
at least she did at one time."

"Tell us what you know of her.  The pieces of this puzzle may not fit
together yet, but each one gets us closer."

Titanite nods.  "Understand that I really shouldn't be telling you this,
since it *isn't* public knowledge, but I don't see much choice at the
moment.  Pluto really existed, and actually fought alongside the Senshi
for a while, though she was more often linked with Neptune and Uranus
than the Inner Senshi.  She vanished in a helicopter assault on the base
of one of their enemies.  They wouldn't say what happened to her, but I
get the idea that she didn't die in that helicopter.  The only other
thing I can add is the titles that are generally associated with her by
the rumor mill.  `Guardian of the Gate' and `Mistress of Limbo'."

Pyrite pondered.  "Limbo, hmm?  Well, the ancient god Pluto was the god
of the Netherworld, so I guess that could explain that one.  But
Guardian of the Gate?  There's nothing in the Pluto myths about a gate."

"So we have a legendary Senshi, maybe dead a millennium past," Calcite
sighed.  "The legends mention her having control of time, and maybe even
able to travel it.  Did the others ever say anything about that?"

"Nope.  I don't remember anything ever being said about time travel,
except by legend and rumor.  Oh, be right back."  Titanite vanished, no
blossoms this time.

"What the..." Calcite began, but Titanite was back before he could
complete the thought.

"Found it.  My old scrap-book."  She spread it out across the table for
all to see.  "The Senshi couldn't be photographed well, and memories of
their facial details tended to blur, but still, fairly good artists
representations were created in spite of this fact."  She turned to a
picture of a tall, dark clad Sailor Senshi.  She held at her side a huge
key, fully as tall as she was.

"Well," said Pyrite, "We now know where the gate reference comes from."

"Huh?"  replied Titanite.

"The key.  I think we can safely assume that the `Gate' is whatever is
opened by that monster."

"Yeah.  You're probably right."  Azurite peered at the portrait.
"Abysmal sense of taste in uniform, though."

"Hmm.  Whatever.  I'm not sure what this gets us, though," pondered
Pyrite.

"Pieces of the puzzle, cousin.  Pieces of the puzzle," answered Calcite.

"I think I've got a piece, lover," came a husky voice from the doorway.

"Eww.  Who let the cat in?" Azurite tossed off.

"Margrave?  What are you doing here?  I thought you would be watching
the palace," Calcite scolded.

"Palace boring.  Margrave come back to find some action.  Smell all of
old friends in one house.  Know something up.  Margrave listen.
Margrave know piece of puzzle."

Calcite glared at Titanite.  He still hadn't quite forgiven the day that
Titanite had introduced Margrave to anime.  Ever since, Margrave had
loved to talk in that Chinese-accented, broken Japanese that she had
picked up from some purple haired girl on one of the shows.  Margrave
knew full Japanese, she just didn't use it if she had a choice.

"Okay, Margrave.  What do you have for us?"

Margrave pressed up against Calcite, her desires obvious to all in the
room.  "Margrave hear love girl cut you."  Calcite glared.  "Margrave
think, if love girl cut Calcite, maybe Calcite finally want rid of love
girl." "Love girl" was Margrave's scornful pet-name for Minako, playing
off of both Minako's family name, as well as her Senshi planet.

Calcite glared.  "Give it up, Margrave.  You know I'm not going to dump
Minako for you, so why do you bother."

Margrave gave Calcite a playful lick to his cheek, then pushed away from
him.  "Margrave know, but never give up hope.  Someday Calcite and love
girl tire of each other once and for all, and Margrave'll be right there
for you when that happens."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Calcite sighed.  Sometimes he regretted the decision made long ago to
support Margrave in this world.  But it was either bring her under his
wing and keep an eye on her, or cut her loose, and watch her create
havoc until the Sailor Senshi stepped in to execute her.  No, he hadn't
had all that much choice.

Margrave might not be a true Renegade, but she had taken the primary
objective of the Renegades to heart.  Survival above all else.  In
practice that meant subjugating one's normal desires and objectives to
the desires and objectives of the society that one found oneself in.
For the Renegades, in the Dark Kingdom, that had meant acting as
ruthless as those around them in order to hide their true natures.

For Margrave, in Crystal Tokyo, surviving had meant something quite
different.  It had meant living within the rules imposed by the humans
who were in charge.  Margrave had studied those rules, and come up with
the damnedest loophole that Calcite had ever seen.  It was a loophole
that had allowed Margrave to not only live, but thrive in this place.
In fact, it allowed Margrave to not even need to hide who she was.  She
could revel in being a Youma.

The rules regarding the handling of Youma were all unspoken ones.  They
were not codified like the more normal laws that the humans used to
regulate each other.  But they had similar basis, most of which built
off of the need to protect one individual from the malicious, undesired
action of another.  And that brought up the loophole that would come to
allow Margrave to regularly dine on human energy, all the while
remaining untouchable by the Sailor Senshi, who would be unable by their
own code of ethics to do anything to her.  The loophole that Margrave
discovered centered around the definition of "victim".  Is a person a
victim if they willingly submit to something?

And so Margrave had to find people who were willing to allow her to feed
off of them.  And this turned out to be easier than one would think,
when one remembers that Margrave was literally a sex kitten.  So
Margrave began her career of giving nights of exotic sexual ecstasy in
trade for daily snacks of human life energy.  She never drained too much
from one person, though most were bed ridden for a few days afterwards.

Margrave's setup had gone smoothly at the start, until one customer had
decided to try to blackmail her for extra favors, without extra pay.
Calcite had been amazed when he heard how Margrave had handled the
situation.  First, she had simply refused to comply with the guy's
wishes.  When he threatened to go to the Sailor Senshi, she told him to
go ahead.  He had, secure in the knowledge that a fine young member of
the community would be believed over a Youma any day.  The Sailor Senshi
had raided Margrave's apartment, and had Margrave put up the slightest
bit of resistance, she probably would have been killed on the spot.

They found her sitting on the floor, quietly meditating.  They asked if
she was a Youma, which she admitted to, and they had demanded that she
surrender.  At this Margrave had stood, letting her limbs be seen.  She
was wearing a pair of handcuffs on her wrists, and was manacled at the
ankles.  These were obviously intended for sexual play, normally, but
they worked as well for normal restraints.

"The keys are on the table over there.  I place myself in your power,
asking only one thing, I would like a hearing in front of Serenity-sama
herself."

And, because of the uniqueness of the situation, she was easily granted
her request, and brought up before the Queen.  When given a chance to
make a statement, Margrave had looked Serenity directly in the eye.

"Your Majesty.  I believe I am accused of many things.  A few are true,
most are lies.  Am I Youma?  Yes.  But is that a crime in itself?  I
don't see how that can be.  That is who I am, by birth.  Should I be
punished for how I was born?"  Serenity looked uncomfortable.  "If that
is a punishable crime, then I would think that the rest of those who
were born in the Dark Kingdom should be under similar sentence.  By
birth they are the same race as me, and that even includes one of the
Sailor Senshi themselves, and the husband of another."

"Your point is acknowledged.  Your simply being a Youma is no crime."

Margrave continued, "Have I been draining human energy?  Yes."  There
was a murmur from the crowd.  "I admit that I have no need of human
energy for my survival, but having it greatly enhances my quality of
life.  Now, were I stealing this energy, taking it from those who had no
say in the matter, my actions would be evil.  But I assert that every
single person I have drained has come to me knowing what would happen,
and willingly submitted to it.  I am simply involved in a barter
system."

"Have you any proof?"

"Your Majesty.  I have heard many stories of your powers.  It is said
that you have the ability to forge links of the mind.  I would ask you
to link with me and see for yourself that I intend no evil by my
actions.  I have nothing to hide."  It was a bold plan.  If Margrave had
any doubts about what she was doing, if she truly had *any* evil
intentions, a probe by Serenity would find them out.

Serenity appeared startled by the idea, thought about it for a few
moments, then nodded her head.

"No!" came a voice from the side, and Sailor Mars stepped from her spot.
"Serenity, it's too dangerous for you to link with her!" she continued
more quietly, "Please let me be the one."

Serenity stared down at one of her oldest friends, and then nodded.

Mars walked over to stand in front of Margrave.  Mars pulled out one of
her wards, and made a few modifications as she spoke, "Normally, this
might destroy your kind.  But with these modifications, it will simply
lock away all your powers as long as it is in contact with you.  I warn
you not to try to remove it, though, as you would likely lose your hand
in the process."  Margrave simply nodded.

Mars finished her work and activated the ward, attaching it to
Margrave's forehead.  Serenity had reached their sides by this time, and
asked Mars if she was ready.  When she was, Serenity had produced the
Silver Crystal and placed her hands on both girls' heads, forging the
link.

After only a couple of seconds, Serenity removed her hands, breaking the
link.  Mars' brow was covered in sweat, and surprisingly enough,
Margrave didn't look much better.

Mars took a few moments to recover, then reached up and removed the ward
in one fluid motion.  "I...  will not talk about most of what I saw, but
the important things are this:  Margrave's ruling philosophy now is
survival, followed closely by fulfillment of her personal desires and
pleasures.  While I may find it personally disgusting, this unique
`barter' system that she has set up, I can find nothing innately evil
about it.  She possesses a high degree of control over her pheromones,
which she can use to heighten male responses.  She uses this in
fulfillment of her bargains.  But she could have also used it to help
entice men into the bargains in the first place.  She has not done so.
In truth, every single one of her so called victims did come to her of
their own free will, and with full knowledge of the price she would
exact.  And this includes the young man who brought the false
accusations against her.  I would recommend that the young man be
brought up on charges of blackmail and perjury, and that Margrave be
released.  She has done nothing that would demand our attentions."

"So be it," spoke Serenity, and the shackles on Margrave vanished at a
wave of her hand.

Margrave had later spoken to the Renegades a little of what she had seen
in Mars' mind during the link.  "Whatever else the Sailor Senshi are, to
those of our kind, they always have been, and always will be, judge,
jury, and executioner.  I will never willingly do anything to bring that
judgment down on me."  She would say nothing more on the subject.

And thus had Margrave began her status as the officially tolerated Youma
of Crystal Tokyo.  Calcite had hired a secretary for her.  A human to
screen those who sought her favors, and to make sure that the costs were
understood.  An impartial witness, should someone ever try to blackmail
her again.  No one else tried.  Margrave had proven her knowledge of the
human's system, and none tested that knowledge again.

One side effect eventually surfaced.  Once Margrave had outlived the
normal Youma lifespan, Calcite had had Pyrite give her a thorough
examination.  Youma were not normally particularly long lived, to say
nothing of immortality.  One of the "powers" granted by the Renegade
gene was near immortality.  It was closely related to their regenerative
abilities.  Renegade cells were constantly repairing themselves,
restoring any age based deterioration almost as fast as it occurred.
While the Renegades were not strictly immortal, by Pyrite's estimate
they had the potential to live for tens of thousands of years before
showing signs of aging.  Calcite suspected that he and Titanite were
true immortals now as well, as both had had frequent contact with the
Silver Crystal, which was exactly how the Senshi had gained their
immortality.

But Margrave had no regenerative abilities, and should thus not be
particularly long lived.  After quite a bit of study, Pyrite had
pronounced that Margrave's cell structure was being kept at a constant,
highly energized state because of her regular diet of human energy.
While she would not regenerate like the Renegades, and could be killed
by illness or disease unlike most immortals, as long as the diet
continued, her cells would never deteriorate with normal aging.  Thus
she had found her own version of immortality.

After the encounter with Serenity, Margrave no longer had any real need
for the Renegades.  She had needed them for protection from the Sailor
Senshi, and with her status now legitimized, she no longer needed that
protection.  Calcite had thought that she might forswear her loyalty to
him with that need gone.  She never had.  She had stayed just as loyal
to him as she had been when her existence depended on that loyalty.
Calcite had never been quite sure why.  The surface reason was obvious,
Margrave wanted to win Calcite away from Minako, but Calcite had never
fully believed it.  For all her talk about taking Calcite from Minako,
it had always been just that.  Talk.  While he was married, she had
never tried to seriously seduce him.  Well, once during his first
divorce, but he had rebuffed her, and she had never repeated the
attempt, even during his future divorces.  She had also never made any
sort of move against Minako, though Calcite had guarded for such a move
for years.  Margrave had never even threatened such a move.

No, trying to win him back couldn't be the reason, but what other reason
there might be, he could not guess.

Had she not been pure Youma, he could have easily chalked up her actions
to one of a number of emotions that humans and Renegades shared, that
the Youma did not.  Friendship, caring, or a true sense of loyalty.  But
these were all nicer emotions.  Emotions that Youma just didn't share.
So it couldn't be any of those.

One other interesting aspect of Margrave's personality had come to the
forefront shortly after her shapeshifting powers had manifested.  It was
unusual for a Youma to manifest new powers so late in life, but not
unheard of.  Her shifting powers were not all that great, but she began
to take a single alter-form regularly, and soon was able to shift
between that and her natural form almost at will.  Her chosen form was
of a small, purple-white cat, taken from the same anime, in fact the
same character, from which she had taken her speech patterns.  After the
powers manifested, Margrave began to spend much of her time in the
palace itself, in her altered form.  This allowed her to get the
information necessary to fulfill another of her personal desires.
Margrave was an incurable gossip.  After that, the Renegades were always
up to date on recent goings on in the palace.  Titanite had found this
particularly helpful, as it was her job to sort fact from fiction among
the media coverage of goings on in the palace, and having an invisible
ear around the palace had proved an invaluable asset many times.

Margrave had considered it one of her crowning moments when she had run
into one of the two Moon Cats of the palace.  Luna and Artemis were well
known to have incredibly sharp normal senses, as well as unmeasured
psychic senses.  Margrave-neko had been dismissed by Luna without a
second glance, however.  Margrave had been crowing for days.  If the
Moon Cats couldn't differentiate her from an ordinary house-cat, then
what did she have to worry about from anyone else.  Calcite had warned
her about overconfidence, but she had nodded, saying that she knew, and
had no intention of letting her guard down, but that she still wanted to
enjoy this small victory.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Calcite returned to matters at hand in the present.  "You said you had
some information for us.  And stick to normal Japanese, please"

Margrave stuck out her tongue, another irritating thing she had picked
up from Titanite.  "Spoil sport.  Okay, I was up in my normal spot in
the throne room a couple of days ago, sunning on one of the high
windowsills, and I saw something very interesting.  A new monarch was
presenting himself before Serenity.  All formal pomp and circumstance.
Stuff both Serenity and I find quite boring.  Normally.  But there was a
difference this time.  This young monarch had Serenity's full attention,
for one thing, and I could almost swear I saw a brief look of fear for a
fraction of a moment, quickly hidden.  I had almost dismissed it as my
imagination, when I heard you mentioning similar hidden looks of fear
among the rest of the Senshi."

"Are you sure of this?"  Calcite demanded.

"Darling, I've watched Serenity's face for hundreds of years.  I know
every expression she makes.  I've seen her bored, happy, giddy, stone
serious, even angry a couple of times.  But I've never seen fear in her
face.  Until now."

"Describe this young man."

"Well, he was a total hunk, for one thing, but totally outa my class.
He called himself Prince Demand of the Planet Nemesis.  He was tall,
with a full head of silver hair.  He was dressed all in white with a
black trim.  Oh, and he had a strange mark on his forehead.  It was a
black moon crescent.  Sorta like a counterpart to the one on Serenity's
forehead, except inverted."

"A black moon.  Now where have I..."  mused Titanite, staring off into
space.

Margrave continued, "The other major thing I noticed about him was his
power.  He has immense personal power, easily in Serenity's class.  And
he couldn't have been trying to hide it, if *I* could sense it, so
Serenity had to notice it as well.  That might explain the look of fear
on her face, but somehow I don't think so.  I can see Serenity being
impressed by that type of power, but fearful?  No.  I just don't see it.

"Anyway, he was perfectly cordial, and did nothing that one would not
expect done in a formal first meeting.  Serenity did cut that meeting
short, and vanish from the room, but I later put the timing together
with your fight with Minako, so she must have left because of that."

"So Serenity is scared of Demand, but for some other reason than simply
his power level.  Hmm," Calcite mused.

Titanite suddenly jumped up from her chair and rushed over to the table,
grabbing the scrapbook.  She began quickly leafing through.  "It's here
somewhere.  I know it is...  Found it!"  She set the scrapbook back down
on the table.  The page was opened to a newspaper article on a weird UFO
event right over Tokyo.  One shot showed four blurry shapes being pulled
into the UFO, obviously some of the Sailor Senshi, their magic obscuring
the photo.  But it was another shot that Titanite pointed to.  This one
showed a figure with loose red hair, standing in mid-air right below the
spiky spaceship.  The figure had his hands stretched forward, and energy
could be seen cackling around his fingers.  But the most shocking
feature was the inverted black moon on his forehead.  "I knew I had seen
a mark like that before."

Margrave appeared to be trying to turn pale, which wasn't easy for one
covered in fur.  "Ti.  When was that taken?"

"Hmm?"  She examined the dateline.  "1993 or so, I think.  Why?"

"Because that man there was with Demand in the throne room.  Dressed
just the same.  He was part of Demand's entourage.  I believe he was
introduced as Rubeus."

"Curiouser and curiouser.  So it appears that at least one of this new
group of nobles fought the Sailor Senshi a thousand years back."

Azurite was shaking her head.  "That makes absolutely no sense, Cal.  If
these people fought the Senshi back then, why are they here, now,
presenting themselves to Serenity as if she's never seen them before?
And if she has seen them, and recognizes them as old enemies, why do she
and the other Senshi not denounce them for who they are?  Why meet them
in peace like they are?"

"As I keep saying, pieces of the puzzle.  We don't yet have enough
information."

Pyrite had been casually flipping through the scrapbook.  He stopped on
one page.  "Ti, who's this?" he pointed to a portrait of a strange,
pink-haired Sailor Senshi.  The strangest thing about her was that she
appeared to be little more than a child.  Not to mention that it was no
one he had ever heard of before.

"Oh, that's Sailor Chibi-Moon.  The so-called Sailor Senshi of the
Future.  Sort of a Sailor Senshi in training."

"I've never heard of her before," Pyrite puzzled.

"I'm not surprised.  She wasn't around for long."

"What happened to her?" asked Pyrite.

"No idea.  She came out of nowhere, and eventually vanished just the
same.  Oh, while she was here she was living with the Tsukinos under the
name Chibi-Usa.  Supposedly Usagi's cousin, but I looked and could never
find any record of her before she moved in with Usagi."

"When did she first appear?"  asked Pyrite.

"Well, Sailor Chibi-Moon first appeared shortly before Pluto appeared,
though I tracked Chibi-Usa back at Usagi's house to shortly after the
Magnesite incident."

"Right about the time the rest of us stopped actively monitoring the
Senshi.  1993 or so, right?"  Calcite mused.

Titanite nodded.  Calcite continued, "And the same time-frame in which
the picture of Rubeus was taken."  Titanite's eyes went wide at the
implication.

Azurite mused.  "Umm, guys, loony theory time.  Wouldn't a lot of this
make more sense if we toss time travel back into the mix?  Pluto, the
Senshi's knowledge, these Black Moon guys, then and now?  Even this so
called Sailor Senshi of the Future might fit in somehow.  Maybe some
sort of time traveler as well..."  She wound down as she saw the looks
of horror on the faces of the others.  "Umm, guys?  It's just a theory,
okay?"

Calcite shook his head.  "No it fits.  Too well.  Not everything, but it
just seems too right...."  Titanite was tapping his shoulder.  "What,
Ti?"

Titanite seemed shaken to the core of her being.  "I just figured out
who Sailor Chibi-Moon is, and you're not going to like it.  They've
already begun tying her hair in little ponytails just like in the
portrait.  I should have seen it earlier.  Her name is this final key.
Chibi-Usa."

"Who, Ti?  Don't keep us hanging," Calcite pressed.

"Cal, `Chibi-Usa' works as being short for Little Usagi.  Sailor
Chibi-Moon has got to be Small Lady.  Princess Usagi," she finished at
barely a whisper, "Serenity's daughter."

Everyone just stared at Titanite.

Azurite was the first to be able to speak.  "Ho-ly shit."

Calcite spun to face Margrave.  "If you have ever obeyed me, obey me
now.  None of this must leave this room, do you hear?  None of it."

Margrave just nodded, still in shock.


Titanite was on the verge of a panic.  "Cal, this is too big for us.
We're obviously not supposed to know about this.  What do we do now?"

Margrave's ears suddenly perked straight up, and Azurite seemed to
notice something as well.  "Guys, I think we have more immediate
problems.  There's something else in here with us."

Calcite immediately went into full defensive posture, as did Titanite.
Margrave hissed softly.

A voice spoke, "I had hoped I wouldn't have to do this, but I'm afraid
you leave me no choice.  You know too much, I'm afraid, and have become
dangerous to the stability of the timeline.  I'm afraid that I must now
correct that."  And with that, Sailor Pluto stood before them.

At least, she stood there for the fraction of a second it took for
Azurite's plasma wind to envelope her.



Crystal Renegades Part 3 - Revelations

Pluto vanished in a hurricane of plasma.  Calcite and Titanite shielded
themselves from the heat, while Pyrite dived behind a sofa.  Margrave
had vanished and was nowhere to be seen.

When the plasma subsided, the floor where Pluto had been was scorched,
but Pluto herself was... untouched.

Pluto looked right at Azurite.  "Was there a reason for that?"

Azurite's jaw was about on the floor.

Calcite regained enough composure to speak, "I believe she thought you
were threatening us.  And I can't say that I really disagree with her
assessment of the situation."

Pluto responded, "Hmm?  Oh, my entry speech.  I guess it could be taken
that way.  But nothing of the sort was intended.  While I admit that
eliminating you would be one solution, it would be a bad one, for you
have parts to play in what is coming as much as anyone else.  Besides,
there are much better ways to handle this situation."

Azurite was starting to mumble, "But I hit her... and she just... but
that's..."

Pluto smiled.  "Azurite, there was only one flaw in your attack."  Pluto
reached out her hand, and passed it through a table.  "I'm not really
here.  This is just a projection."

Titanite seemed to burst.  "So Azure just toasted her floor for
nothing." She sat down, barely containing the giggles.

Azurite frowned.  "I'm glad someone finds it funny.  We still don't know
what the Limbo Lady here plans to do with us."

Titanite was grinning.  "Yes we do.  I know exactly what she's about to
do.  After all, I do it all the time.  It's my job.  It's called Damage
Control." Titanite looked to Pluto, who nodded.  "We've just put
together a large part of our puzzle.  And we were going to start acting
on what we had.  And based only on what we now know, Pluto considers us
loose cannon.  So she has come to fix the situation.  Kinda like my job.
The media puts the pieces together about what's going on in the palace.
Except that when you are working from rumor and gossip, things get
distorted very quickly.  That's when I have to step in and clear things
up.  How close is that?"

Pluto nodded.  "Pretty close, except in one aspect.  I'm not so much
bothered by you acting on false information, but rather you acting on
true information, or rather too little of it.  As I said, you now know
enough that you have become dangerous.  I intend to give you enough
additional information to make you... useful."

"But not enough to make us dangerous again," Titanite added.  Pluto
nodded.

"While I like to think of myself as on the side of good, I answer to a
higher calling.  I have to concern myself with higher things than which
side wins each fight.  My concern has to be over the stability of the
whole timeline.  All of the knowledge that you have put together tonight
was ultimately available to be gathered because of the reckless use of
time travel by a few individuals."

"These Nemesis people, right?" asked Pyrite.

"Right.  Their proper title is the Black Moon Family." Pluto paused.
"The problem is that the actions of the Black Moon Family have left
quite a few people with knowledge of what will soon happen, and those
people are struggling to deal with the fact that they cannot act to
change things."

"Serenity and the Senshi,"  Calcite said.

Pluto nodded.  "Endymion as well.  And now you five.  Very well.  Let me
give you a few specific requests, then I will answer questions.  But be
warned, if I refuse to answer a question, please let it be.  You cannot
know the answer, and I ask you not to seek answers to such questions
elsewhere."

Calcite responded, "Fair enough."

"You are right that the Black Moon Family is the enemy.  While they are
not totally evil, they are ruled by their darker desires.  I would say
that there are a good number of parallels between them and your own Dark
Kingdom.  Within a few years, they will begin a full scale invasion of
this planet.  Most of the planet will fall within the first couple of
months, with one major exception."

"Crystal Tokyo, right?" asked Titanite.

Pluto nodded.  "Crystal Tokyo will resist them, and appear an
uncrackable nut.  Frustrated and impatient, the Black Moon Family will
use its newly acquired time travel technology to go back to the
twentieth century in an attempt to alter the past to prevent Crystal
Tokyo from being created in the first place."

Azurite repeated her earlier expression, "Holy shit."

Pluto continued.  "The Senshi of the twentieth century were able to hold
off the advances of the Black Moon Family in that time, and eventually
chased the Black Moon Family back to this time.  I cannot tell you of
the events that happened while they were in this time, as you will be in
a position to interfere, while the rest of the Senshi already know that
they will be unable to interfere.

"After a time, the twentieth century Senshi will return to their own
time, where the final battle against the Black Moon Family will be...
was...  fought."

Titanite chuckled.  "I guess even you, a Time Lord, can't keep your
tenses straight when time travel is involved."

"What did you just call her?" Azurite asked.

"A Time Lord, like in that _Dr. Who_ video that Pyr used to watch so
much of."

Pluto actually laughed at that.  "I guess there are some similarities,
but you are correct in that time travel wrecks havoc on the tenses."

"But back to business.  I will tell you this much, before I make a few
requests.  If you do as I ask, and the timeline is preserved intact,
then Crystal Tokyo will win out in the end.  The Senshi know this as
well, and it's probably the only thing holding them together."

"So we'll get through this okay." Titanite was relieved.

"Don't read too much into that statement, Ti.  Just because the good
guys win, doesn't mean every single good guy survives," Calcite said.

Pluto nodded.  "The Senshi don't even have that assurance.  Serenity and
Endymion have reason to believe that they survive, but none of the rest
of you do.  If you knew that you would survive, you might start thinking
yourself invincible, and taking chances you would not ordinarily take.
So, while I'm not implying that even a single Renegade or Senshi will
die in the coming conflict, neither will I say that you don't."

Calcite nodded.

"Now, before I make my requests, I will make one concession to gain your
cooperation.  I will give you a piece of information that even the
Senshi do not have.  A piece that will allow you to maximize your
preparation for the days to come."

"Hold on.  How can you risk giving us more information than the Senshi
have?" demanded Titanite.

"Because, I know what you are supposed to do in the future.  While your
future actions do not directly imply your having this knowledge, they
are right in line with how this knowledge would tend to lead you to
react.  And the knowledge is this:  In the days leading up to the
invasion itself, the Black Moon Family will study the leaders of Crystal
Tokyo very closely.  By the time they are done, they will know much
about all the public figures of the city, including powers and
weaknesses.  This includes Sailor Polaris and the great Lord Calcite,
two of the city's more prominent members."

Titanite shivered.

"But unless you expose yourself, they will have no knowledge of the rest
of you.  If you are careful, they will not even know of your existence
until you choose for them to learn of it.  Use this to the best
advantage you can.  Consider the other three of you your trump cards, if
you will."

Calcite nodded gravely.

"Now to my requests.  I will not call them orders, but cross them at
your own peril.  I have told you that Crystal Tokyo wins in the end in
the correct timeline.  Ignore my requests, threaten the timeline, and
all promises are off.  Even I do not know what would happen then, but
the possibility of the Black Moon Family winning is quite real.  In the
current timeline, their defeat is by the narrowest of margins.

"First, I must ask that you launch no preemptive strikes against the
Black Moon Family.  Not even scouting missions.  The Black Moon Family
must be allowed to make the first move.  If you move against them before
that, the possibility is that they might never reach the point of trying
to change the past, which *would* change what is now our past.  For
better or worse, their attempt is a part of the timeline."

"But, they went to the past in frustration for not being able to take
Crystal Tokyo.  If we frustrate them earlier, and they don't go back,
the invasion might not happen at all," Titanite protested.

"No.  It was the trip to the past that sowed the seeds of their ultimate
defeat.  That brought the Sailor Senshi of the past into the equation,
and those Senshi were able to deal with the rulers of the Black Moon
Family on an individual basis.  The Senshi of the present, and you as
well, will not have that luxury.  You will be too busy dealing with the
invasion to also have the bulk of the royal family in direct opposition
to you."

"Very well.  I assume that this first move of theirs will be hard to
miss?" Calcite asked.

"Let's just say you'll know it when it happens, and leave it at that."
Pluto paused.  "Well, I will say that it is not the invasion itself.
This is treachery on a much more... personal level.

"Once the Black Moon family has shown its true colors, then with a few
exceptions, you are on your own to react as you will.  I will leave the
exceptions to another time, except for what is probably the most
important one.  In the days when all is darkest, when hope is almost
gone, watch for a dragon in the skies of Crystal Tokyo.  This will be
your sign that the Sailor Senshi of the past have brought the battle to
the present.  At that time, cease all operations.  Launch no attacks for
two days.  It is vital that you not disrupt the Senshi while they are in
our time.  And whatever you do, don't contact or interfere with any of
the Senshi of the past, or anyone who comes with them.  After two days,
the Senshi of the past will be gone, back to their own time, and you
will be past the point of knowledge, and free from any threats to the
timeline.  Now, before I go, I will take a few questions, though I
promise no answers."

Calcite began, "Let me start by trying for some confirmations on the
stuff we had figured out earlier.  You are the same Pluto that was lost
in a helicopter a millennium ago, correct?"

Pluto nodded.  "But I can assure you, that incident had no connection to
the present events."

Calcite continued.  "Now, about this Sailor Chibi-Moon person.  Was Ti
correct?  Was she the Princess?"

Pluto nodded again.  "I can give you no details, but at some point in
this mess, Small Lady will join the Senshi of the past in their time.  I
would ask you not to interfere in this matter, but it's not that
important.  Serenity will do her best to protect Small Lady.  Contribute
to that effort as you will.  She will not, however be able to alter
Small Lady's destiny, and neither will you.  Eventually, after this mess
is done with, Small Lady will return to this time.  But when she begins
to come into the power that is her birthright, Serenity will decide that
she should learn to use that power from those who are already using
similar power, the Sailor Senshi of the twentieth century. Thus will
Sailor Chibi-Moon come to be.  And besides, she has several other
critical roles to play in the past.  Eventually she will return to her
rightful time for good."

"And you allowed Serenity to send her daughter back to the past?  I
thought you wanted to avoid contamination," lightly scolded Azurite.

"The contamination from Small Lady's second visit was minor.  She
carried no new news of the future, except for confirmation that Serenity
and Endymion survive this mess.  And I said that she had roles to play
back then.  In the end, she belongs there.  The end result is that her
actions in the past are a part of the timeline, and thus are part of
what I must protect, whether I agree with Serenity's decision or not."

"I'm not sure what you mean by `belongs there'," said Pyrite.

"To explain that would require a few lessons in temporal mechanics.
There are few able to follow such lectures from me.  Do you really want
to try?"

Pyrite responded, "I believe I do."  He glanced at the others around him
"But at another time.  I'm not sure if I'm up to it, but I would like to
try."

Pluto looked him over, as if seeing him in a new light.  "I think we may
both be pleasantly surprised.  When you are ready, just speak my name.
I am particularly tuned to this era, with all the time travel that
originates from around now, and am particularly sensitive to the sound
of my office name.  That's how I found you in the first place, from your
discussion of me."

"Figures," muttered Azurite under her breath.

Pluto just gave her a knowing smile, then faded from sight.

Calcite began speaking as soon as she was gone, "Okay, folks.  For
better or worse, we've passed a point of no return.  With what we now
know, we have a decision to make.  Do we play ball with Pluto, or play
our own game?"

All the others were silent in thought for a time.

Titanite finally spoke up, "I think we have to trust her, and do what
she asks.  At least that way we have some assurance of the eventual
outcome.  Anything else, and we have no assurance whatsoever."

Azurite shot back hotly, "That's assuming that that whole spiel she just
gave us wasn't one big snow job!  A figure out of legend appears from
nowhere, tells us this far out story of time travel, and the Sailor
Senshi of a thousand years ago being able to do what we and the Sailor
Senshi of now will fail to do?  And we are supposed to simply believe
her, and be good little boys and girls and sit on our hands, letting a
group of Queen Beryl clones have free reign for years?  I'm sorry, but
it'll take a lot more than *her* word to convince me."

Calcite nodded.  "I think I'm more inclined to believe her than you are,
but I am very skeptical as well.  Fortunately, there's a very easy way
to get confirmation."  He stood.  "I've been needing to speak to Her
Majesty on unrelated matters for a couple of days now, and I think this
would be an excellent time for me to pay a visit to her.  Besides, she
deserves to know that we know what's coming, and I think she'll need
every bit of support she can get."  He turned to face Azurite.  "If
Serenity confirms Pluto's story, will that be good enough for you?"

Azurite deflated.  "You know it will.  Serenity's the best thing that
ever happened to us, and we all know it.  And anyway, I don't think
Serenity could lie if she wanted to."

Titanite smiled.  "Oh, she can lie all right.  I've seen her tell the
typical little white lie, saying she likes someone's outfit, when she
obviously doesn't, that sort of thing.  But if it's at all important,
then no, I've never known her to lie about anything that counts."

"Very well.  We'll put off any decisions until after I meet with
Serenity."

Margrave finally spoke up again. "Margrave going back to palace.  Try to
dig up more information."  She started to shift forms.

"Umm, Margrave, I don't think that's a very good idea," said Titanite.

"Why not.  Afraid Margrave'll get caught?  No worry.  They no catch
Margrave in last hundred years, they no catch now."

Titanite spoke a little sheepishly.  "Margrave, that's exactly the
problem.  I'm not sure how to say this, but... you were spotted quite a
while back."

Margrave's eyes went wide, and now it was Azurite's turn to laugh.
"But... no one's ever said a thing!" Margrave stuttered, her accent gone
again.  Azurite was about to fall out of her chair with laughter.  "If
they knew, why did they let me stay?"

"Margrave, in most any other palace, there might have been a problem.
But when they discovered you snooping around the palace, it was taken to
Serenity.  And she decided that as long as you were only gathering
gossip, not actively spying, then there was no harm being done.  Those
who needed to know were informed that nothing of any real secrecy was to
be discussed in front of a certain white cat, and that was that.  Only a
few people actually know about you, though that includes all the Senshi,
and Luna and Artemis."

"Which means that Margrave's great victory over the Moon Cats was a sham
as well," whooped Azurite.

Titanite frowned at her, and she subsided a bit.  Titanite continued,
"The point, Margrave, is that as long as you are just after gossip, the
palace doesn't care.  But if you start actively spying on those in the
palace, looking for secret information, they're going to know.  And they
are going to react.  I doubt you will be executed simply for spying.
Actually, I don't think they could execute you anymore at all, barring a
full fledged Youma rampage from you, or something of the sort.  It's one
thing to kill a nameless, faceless evil demon that's wrecking havoc.
It's quite another to kill someone you know, and have worked around for
hundreds of years.  And they do know you quite well, if only as a
friendly cat that's been alive for hundreds of years."

"Margrave, you do know that the normal lifespan of a cat is only ten to
fifteen years.  Even if they hadn't spotted you otherwise, don't you
think they would have become suspicious at that?"  Azurite said with a
chuckle.

"Actually, no.  There are plenty of Immortals in the palace, immortal
from exposure to the Silver Crystal.  Humans are not the only ones
affected.  I know of at least three other cats in the palace that are
well over 100 years old, but none quite my age, the Moon Cats excepted,
of course."  She sighed.  "I think I'll head over to the palace anyway.
It looks like I need to have a talk with Sailor Mars."

"Why?" asked Titanite.

"Because, I've based my survival on living within the rules of the
humans.  What you say about them not executing me makes sense, but I
don't think I can depend on such things.  I can't afford to.  No, I
broke their rules, and thought I got away with it.  I didn't.  They had
simply rewritten the rules around me.  But that means there is a new set
of rules, of limits on me that I don't know.  And I can't live with
that.  With not knowing the rules.  Either I abandon the palace, which I
would rather not do, or I go to the head of palace security, Sailor
Mars, and make sure that these new rules are defined."

"She may just throw you out, you know," said Titanite.

"I don't think so.  I'm not sure what she'll do, but if she's known I
was there for hundreds of years, I doubt she'll toss me out because I
admit the fact to her.  If she was going to do that, she would have done
so long ago."

Azurite spoke softly, "Be careful, Margrave.  I might actually find
myself respecting you, the way you're handling this."

Margrave gave Azurite a strange look, then suddenly she was in motion.
The next instant found her in cat form, landing on the nice perch that
was the top of Azurite's breasts.  An impossibly long tongue snaked out,
giving the stunned Azurite an incredibly sloppy lick to the face.  The
cat then leapt away, a fraction of a second before Azurite's fist swept
the spot she had been in.  Margrave was back in her natural form when
she hit the ground, landing on all fours.  "That's enough of *that*
nonsense."  And she shifted back to cat once more, and was out the
window in a single leap, just barely being missed by an Azurite Special
wind blast.

"When I get my hands on that little hussy...  I swear.  This time I'll
kill her for sure!" Azurite fumed.

Titanite and Calcite just laughed.  Some things never changed.



Crystal Renegades Part 4 - Friendship, Old and New

Serenity rocked quietly in the chair, Small Lady nursing softly at her
breast.  Small Lady was an amazingly even-tempered baby.  Especially
when one considered how much of a brat she had been when Serenity had
known her as Chibi-Usa.  Serenity watched her daughter nurse.  She knew
she wouldn't be able to do this much longer.  Her daughter would soon be
walking, then talking, and Serenity knew she would have to wean Small
Lady soon after that.

A light tone sounded, signaling that someone had arrived in the
transport chamber.  The transport chambers were arrival points
specifically enchanted to simplify teleportation.  They also served to
let someone arrive unexpectedly, without actually barging in on the
person they wanted to visit.  Arriving in a transport chamber was a lot
like ringing the doorbell on a normal house.  It allowed the one visited
to receive or not receive the new arrival.

This particular transport chamber was Serenity's private one.  While
Serenity was a very open monarch, not generally minding unexpected
visitations, there were still not a lot of people who would just arrive
unannounced like this.  Serenity rose from her seat with practiced care.
She crossed the room to Small Lady's cradle and transferred her daughter
to it.  Small Lady accepted the interruption of her dinner with her
normal calm.  Serenity then carefully adjusted her clothes to make
herself publicly presentable, and crossed the room once more, returning
to her seat.  "Enter, please," she called out.

Calcite entered.  Serenity sighed.  She had been expecting him to show
up soon.  Minako had already talked with her about her actions.  Minako
had actually been a lot less upset than Serenity might have expected,
and rather than scolding Serenity, had exacted a promise for Serenity
never to try to make such decisions for her again.  Serenity had agreed,
and Minako had forgiven her, which was good as Serenity's conscience had
been raging within her over her actions.  Before she left, Minako had
had Serenity scan her, and Serenity had confirmed what they both knew.
Minako had indeed conceived, and would once more bear a child in
approximately nine months.  Minako had been satisfied at the news, and
had left.

Calcite, Serenity knew, would be another matter.  Minako had never
mentioned her husband's reaction, but if one knew, the other knew, and
Calcite would not likely be as forgiving.  It also didn't help matters
that she could not explain her actions to him.  That would mean telling
of her knowledge of the coming invasion, and that was knowledge that had
to be kept to as few as possible.  Serenity had tried to think of some
excuse for her actions, but short of an all out lie, there was nothing
she could offer him in explanation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Calcite gave a respectful bow, then without a word he crossed the room
to Small Lady's crib where Small Lady was idly batting at the mobile
hung above her.  He gave Serenity an inquiring look, and at Serenity's
nod of approval, he gently reached into the crib and removed the baby
with the skill of a many time father.

"I thought I should remind myself what this is like.  It has been quite
a long time since I last had one of my own."

Serenity was silent.

After a few more moments, Calcite placed the child back in her crib,
then turned to face Serenity.  "But there's another, much more important
reason I wanted to look at the Princess." He paused.  "Serenity.  I'm
sure you are expecting a lecture from me about what you did.  But that's
not needed.  I think that Minako said all that needs to be said on the
subject.  But I have something much more important to speak to you
about."  He crossed to where Serenity sat, and knelt at her feet.
"Serenity.  Whatever may come, know that I, and the rest of the
Renegades, will stand with you."

Serenity was puzzled.  "I'm glad to hear that, but I'm not sure why you
feel the need to say it.  I know it already.  You swore to me ages ago,
and I know you intend to keep to that.  Why would you feel the need to
reaffirm this?"

Calcite reached up his hands from where he knelt, lacing them across
Serenity's hand where it rested on the armrest.  He looked Serenity
straight in the eyes.  "Because we know what's going on, Serenity.  We
know why you and the rest are worried." He finished softly, "We know the
future, Serenity.  Just like you do."

Serenity's eyes were wide with shock. "How?  How could you..."

"A full answer will take some time.  The short answer is that we figured
much of it out on our own, and then we received a visit from Sailor
Pluto to prevent us from running around like loose cannons."

Serenity was still recovering.  Her eyes had taken on a glazed look.
"Pluto..."

Calcite just nodded, and let the room fall silent, the only sound the
soft mutterings of Small Lady as she amused herself in her crib.
Serenity needed a little while to recover, and Calcite gave it to her.

Finally Serenity sighed.  "We've kept the secret all this time you know.
Just the six of us.  A horrible secret, of the end of paradise.  We've
had a thousand years of peace, and we all knew that it would end.  Most
of us were able to put it from our minds.  A thousand years is a very
long time.  But for those of us who knew, the birth of Small Lady was
like a signal flare.  And now, after all this time, of protecting the
secret this long, it's now out.  I'm not sure whether I should be
horrified... or relieved."

Calcite spoke up, "Serenity.  You have no need to be horrified.  If what
Pluto said is true, then I think I can speak for the rest of the
Renegades to say that we will take no actions to disrupt the timeline.
And that's in part why I'm here.  We need to know if Pluto can be
trusted.  I needed to see the Princess because, unlike Ti, I've never
really taken a good look at her.  But I've seen the paintings of Sailor
Chibi-Moon that Ti keeps, and now that I've seen the Princess, I know Ti
was correct.  They are one and the same.  Pluto spoke of other things,
of the Black Moon Family invading the planet, traveling through time,
and fighting you a thousand years ago.  She also said that if we don't
disrupt the timeline, that we will win over Nemesis in the end.
Serenity, for better or worse, we have to know how much of this we can
trust.  If Pluto is to be believed, then we won't... no, we can't afford
not to do as she says."

"Cal.  Pluto may not say much... usually she says almost nothing...  but
when she does say something... you can trust it to the ends of the
earth."

Calcite nodded.  "That was the impression I got, but I had to have
confirmation."  He rose from where he had been kneeling, and moved to
take a seat in another chair.  "Let me give you the long version, then,
and then we need to talk a bit about plans."

"Plans?  How can we plan for something we're not supposed to know
about?"

Calcite responded, "You mean to say that you have no plans at all for
how to handle the Black Moon Family?"

Serenity shook her head.

Calcite continued, "No wonder you guys are worried.  I get the idea from
Pluto that you and the Senshi actually have a fairly good idea of the
specifics of what is in store for you in the coming crisis."

Serenity nodded.

"Well, she gave us Renegades no such knowledge, which is all for the
better.  The fewer restrictions we have on our actions, the better.  And
if we don't know what we are supposed to do, it's hard to do it wrong.
We will follow Pluto's instructions to the letter.  But beyond them, we
will do whatever we have to do.  She told us not to do anything against
the Black Moon Family until they make the first move.  Very well.  But
we will not be just sitting on our hands, waiting for that move.  Pluto
has said that once they make that move, we are free to act, and we
intend to be ready to act."  He wound down as he saw Serenity staring
off into the distance.

Serenity mused, "I just wish I had such freedom.  You are able to see
this as a call to arms.  I'm afraid that I am imprisoned by the
knowledge.  Locked into a course that I would avoid if I could."  She
sighed, then looked at Calcite again.  "I would like to hear the long
version, if you don't mind."

Calcite nodded.  "Very well.  It began with your actions after my fight
with Minako, and I began to see a pattern.  A picture puzzle, if you
will..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Titanite was wandering the palace.  She didn't really know where she was
going.  She didn't really have a destination in mind, she just felt the
need to be moving while she thought things through.

She had sorted most of it out in her mind.  She had called out for Pluto
shortly after returning home, and had asked a few questions of her own
when the dark-clad Senshi had appeared.  Pluto had answered most, in
more detail than Titanite had expected.  A few she had refused to
answer, which was expected.  Titanite had learned that when the invasion
came, Serenity and Endymion would become unavailable, and that the
Senshi, or rather the original four from Silver Millennium, would end up
linking up to the palace's defense grid to serve as human batteries for
it in Serenity's absence.  Polaris, for all that she was accepted as a
full Senshi, was of different origins, and was thus incompatible with
the system.

Titanite was of mixed feelings about that.  She hated to be left out,
but the thought of being a semi-conscious, magical battery wasn't too
appealing.  Not that things would be much rosier for the rest of them,
but she preferred to be able to act, rather than being stuck in a fixed
role like that.  No, she wouldn't have really enjoyed joining the other
Senshi.

Which left her lost in thought, trying to figure out what her role
*would* be.  Pluto had refused to even hint.  She wandered the
corridors, not really paying attention to where she was going.

She was very surprised, then, when she suddenly bumped into someone
else, sending them both crashing to the ground.

As Titanite sat back up, a female voice came from above her, "Swift
move, bro.  I know I keep telling you to get a girlfriend, but that's
not quite how to go about it."

The young man that Titanite had sent sprawling quickly scrambled to his
feet, and extended a hand to assist Titanite to hers.  "I'm so sorry
about that.  I guess I wasn't watching where I was going," he
apologized.

As she regained her feet, Titanite got her first good look at the two.
The young man she had collided with was about a head taller than she
was, with yellow hair slightly darker than Serenity's.  His hair reached
his shoulders, except for one ponytail lock that dropped down about
another foot.  He looked well muscled, but not overly so, as would one
who worked out regularly, but not excessively.  Titanite put his age at
eighteen or nineteen.

His sister looked quite different.  She appeared to be of similar age to
her brother, probably twins.  She had long black hair that tinted
strangely.  Titanite was used to black hair with unusual tinting.
Rei-chan's tinted red.  Ami-chan's tinted blue.  Even Pluto's was black
with a green tinting.  But the tinting on this girl's hair just wouldn't
stay still.  One moment it looked green, then there was a flash of blue,
soon replaced by yellow then red.  Titanite found herself staring.

The girl spoke up, "You must have really hit her hard, bro.  She's in a
daze of some sort."

"Baka," the boy quipped, then shook Titanite's shoulder's gently.  "Hey!
Are you all right?"

Titanite turned her attention back to the boy.  She was about to answer,
when she spotted one more feature about him.  On his forehead was a
large black crescent moon pointed downward.  A glance at the girl showed
that she bore the same mark.  Recognition flashed through her.  These
were part of the Black Moon Family.  She recovered quickly from that
shock, though, as she remembered that she wasn't supposed to know of
these people, let alone be afraid of them.  She quickly shoved those
thoughts away for later, and prepared to respond.

Except that she again found herself speechless.  This time it was his
eyes.  The two of them locked eyes, and suddenly the rest of the world
was gone.  She felt like a moth drawn to a flame as she stared into
those eyes.  Emotions whirled within her, and all reason was lost.  She
just stood there, eyes locked on his.

It was his sister's voice that broke the spell.  "Bro.  I know she's
pretty, but we really don't have time for this."  As Titanite and the
boy broke off their gaze, the girl addressed Titanite, "I'm really sorry
to bother you, but I'm afraid we're a little lost.  We're supposed to be
in the diplomatic quarters, but... um..."

The boy finished, "We wanted to look around a bit, and got lost.  Would
you mind pointing us in the right direction back?"

Titanite had regained her composure during the talk.  "Sure.  In fact
I'll show you.  I'm Ti." She wasn't quite sure why she didn't give her
full name, but "Titanite" was easily put together with "Sailor Polaris",
and Titanite somehow didn't want him to realize that she was one of the
Senshi.

The girl responded, as Titanite began to lead the way back.  "Good to
meet you.  I'm Opal, and my brother is Topass."  Titanite nodded.  She
was finding herself liking this talkative young girl.  And her brother.

Titanite let Opal carry most of the conversation as she led them back to
the diplomatic wing.  Titanite's thoughts were in a total jumble when it
came to Topass.  <Why am I acting like some lovesick schoolgirl?> she
berated herself.  Lovesick?  Titanite wondered if it was possible.

Titanite had had her share of lovers through the years, and had even had
a few kids with Serenity's help, though not nearly as many kids as
Calcite and Minako had.  Her kids shared the Renegade regenerative
longevity just like Calcite's, and all but one were still alive, that
one lost in an accident long ago.  She had never married, though, and
while she had been in love a few times, it had never been quite like
this.  Love had always been something that grew gently within her, a
lasting caring for someone already close.  This was a torrent, sudden
and unstoppable.

She might have tried to dismiss it as pure animal attraction, simple
lust, except she was familiar with that as well, having let herself ride
that emotion a few times for one hunk vid costar or another.  No, this
wasn't that either, not to say there was no physical attraction
involved.  There was plenty of that, but it was on a different level
from the attractions she had experienced in the past.

Without really paying attention to it, Titanite managed to maintain a
conversation with Opal as they made their way through the palace.  It
wasn't that difficult, as Opal did most of the talking, and Titanite
mainly just responded where appropriate.  Topass remained silent the
whole way back.

When they reached the entrance to the diplomatic wing, Opal thanked
Titanite for her help.  Titanite fell silent.  She wanted to say
something, but she didn't quite know what.  Topass appeared to be in a
similar situation, almost speaking a couple of times, but stopping each
time before he actually spoke.  Once again, Opal was the one to break
the stalemate.

"Ti, do you mind if I ask you another favor?"

Titanite's train of thought was broken.  "Hmm?  Oh... no.  Ask."

Opal chuckled knowingly.  "We're going to be here for a few more days
while the others negotiate.  Topass and I don't really have any official
business here, it's really just a big vacation for us.  You obviously
know your way around here, so would it be possible for you to show us
around a bit tomorrow?"

It was the "us" that most rang in Titanite's mind.  She quickly reviewed
her schedule for the next couple of days, and mentally shoved a couple
of things around, leaving a couple of large blocks of time free.  She
still wasn't quite sure about what she was feeling, but she knew she
couldn't pass up an opportunity to spend more time with Topass,
especially when the opportunity was handed to her on a silver platter
like this.

Titanite nodded.  "I'll pick you up right here at noon tomorrow.  How
does that sound?"

"Great!  It'll be fun.  Us youngsters have got to stick together, you
know," Opal said.

Titanite was surprised.  Youngsters?  She was almost a thousand years
old, for goodness sake.  Then she realized the reason for Opal's
comment.  Titanite hadn't aged physically since she had matured.
Neither had she picked up that knowing look of maturity that many
immortals did, Serenity in particular.  Serenity might have the same
physical appearance of youth that Titanite had, but there was something
about her, mainly in the eyes, that instantly gave away her great age.
Titanite had never picked up anything like that.  She suspected it was
because of her views on life, and how she had never felt the weight of
those years.  Titanite lived from day to day, and had done so as long as
she could remember.  To one who didn't know her, she would simply appear
to be in her late teens or early twenties.

Outwardly, Titanite just smiled in response.  She glanced at Topass, who
was busy studying his feet.  She chuckled.  Obviously she wasn't alone
in her feelings, which both simplified and complicated things at the
same time.  She waved goodbye and headed back down the corridor,
returning to her chaotic thoughts.

While she knew that his reactions didn't guarantee that he was feeling
similarly towards her as she was towards him, she was pretty confident.
He had been just as locked by their initial eye contact as she was.  So
she was able to dismiss the normal apprehension about reciprocal
feelings.  But there were bigger problems.  Topass was no ordinary young
man.  He was a member of the Black Moon Family, which carried various
implications.

First, he and his sister likely had a fair measure of personal power.
Titanite wasn't the type to be intimidated by such powers, but the fact
that he likely had them, and that she had no idea what they were, raised
concerns when combined with the second implication, namely, that she and
Topass were likely to be enemies within a few years.  The threat of the
coming invasion began to take on new overtones for her.  It was one
thing to think about fighting some faceless, evil enemy.  It was quite
another to have one of those enemies as a potential lover.  That thought
made her stop dead in her tracks.  Lover?  Was she already thinking of
him that way?  She shook her head.  She was losing control of herself
fast.  Titanite might seem quite wild at times, but in reality she was
always in total control of her actions.  Now, she felt that control
slipping away.

A soft meow from around her feet brought her back to the real world.
She looked down and saw Margrave-neko sitting on her haunches, watching.
Titanite crossed her arms in front of her, creating a little perch which
Margrave quickly jumped up to.  Titanite glanced around her to make sure
there was no one else around, then bent her head down to whisper in the
cat's ears, just in case.

"Margrave.  I need to talk to someone, desperately.  Got a bit of time?"
The cat gave Titanite a quizzical look, then nodded.

Titanite got a good grip on the cat, and teleported home.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Serenity was tired.  She and Calcite had talked for a long time,
settling many things.  Serenity had provided no details, but confirmed
that she, Endymion, and the four Inner Senshi would be incapacitated for
much of the duration of the invasion, leaving the defense of the city
leaderless.  Unless someone else was available to assume that
leadership, namely the Renegades.  Serenity had agreed to speak to the
head of Crystal Tokyo's defense forces, Sailor Jupiter, ASAP to arrange
to work Calcite into the command structure.  Calcite would spend the
next couple of years working with the troops, getting to know them and,
more importantly, letting them get to know him.  That way, when the time
came for him to assume command, they would be ready to follow him
without question.

Once she had time to analyze the situation, Serenity found herself quite
relieved to have the Renegades sharing the knowledge.  Whereas she and
the Senshi had had to live with the knowledge for a millennium, and had
long ago resigned themselves to what was to come, the Renegades had no
such resignation.  They were preparing themselves to act when the time
came, and apparently Pluto had placed very few restrictions on those
actions.  Serenity trusted the Renegades to act in the best interest of
Crystal Tokyo.  Thus she found comfort in their knowledge.

Their knowledge also answered one of the nagging points that had
bothered Serenity all along.  She knew that she, Endymion, and the Inner
Senshi would be out of the picture.  Which had appeared to leave no one
in charge of Crystal Tokyo.  Calcite's knowledge changed that.  In
addition to the military arrangements, Serenity prepared for Calcite a
small power crystal.  This crystal was specially tuned to map Calcite's
bio-signature and replace it with Serenity's own.  With it, Calcite
would have the ability to access any of the palace's magic as if he was
Serenity herself.  All the defenses of the city would be at his disposal
if he needed them.  He could probably even wield the Silver Crystal
itself with it, but Serenity knew that the Silver Crystal would be just
as unavailable as Serenity herself when the time came.

Whereas anyone else might have hesitated to hand over control of so much
power, Serenity had no hesitations.  She trusted Calcite to do the right
thing, and that was all the justification she needed.

Serenity sighed and sent out a mental call.  For better or worse, the
others had to know of the Renegades' knowledge.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Calcite lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling.  He knew he would be
getting little sleep tonight.  It wasn't just that he had a lot to think
about, though all that had happened today would have been enough to make
him lose sleep by itself.  No, there was also the fact that Minako was
due home from work very soon, and he would have to have a long talk with
her as soon as possible.  This wasn't something he could keep quiet
about.

He was concentrating so hard that he almost missed the soft whisper of
magic that accompanied his wife's return.  She materialized at the side
of his bed, a serious look on her face.  The look, combined with
Serenity's signature on the teleportation magic that had brought her
here, revealed instantly what had happened.  Serenity must have called
the Senshi together, which made the issue of how he should tell her what
he knew moot.

He sat up in bed.  "Mina, I..."  She shook her head, and simply began to
undress.  Calcite understood.  Talk would wait.  Now that he knew what
was going on, he could see the signs of it in almost everything Minako
had done over the last few years.  She didn't bear nearly the weight
that Serenity bore, but she carried quite a load of raw emotions none
the less.  They would talk in the morning.  For now, what she needed was
a violent, raw, emotional release, totally in contrast to the slow
loving sex they had made the past few nights.  For Minako, a full
session of passionate lovemaking, followed by a night of blissful sleep,
was what she needed for a soul-cleansing.  To wash the weight of the
world off of her.  Calcite prepared himself.  From the looks of things,
he was in for a wild ride.



Crystal Renegades Part 5 - That's What Friends Are For

Titanite materialized in her quarters in the palace, and casually tossed
Margrave across the room.  Margrave easily twisted and landed on all
fours on Titanite's bed.  She morphed back to her normal form at once.

"Okay, Kitten.  What's up?"

Titanite smiled at the private nickname.  She and Margrave had a
longstanding private relationship that even Calcite was unaware of.  In
a way that Titanite always found hard to put into words, Margrave was
almost a surrogate mother for her.  A shoulder to cry on.  A pillar of
support when times got rough.  An ear when a confidant was needed.  And
a source for advice on topics she could never go to her brother about.
Topics that had at times included how to deal with men.

When Titanite had her first lusty crush, on a dreamy costar in one of
her vids, it was Margrave that had encouraged her to make a move on him,
but cautioned her to not expect anything long term.  Thus Titanite had
not been particularly upset when he dumped her after about a month.

When Titanite had found herself falling in love with her long-time
agent, it was Margrave that had suggested that the man would make a
perfect father for Titanite's first child, but had also cautioned
against going as far as marrying him, as Margrave just didn't believe it
would last.  Titanite had heeded her words, and begun a slow campaign to
win his heart, a campaign that took three years before they even kissed.
By that point she was in what at the time she thought was total love.
She had finally gone to Serenity, and then born the first of three
children to him.  He had never asked her to marry him, and when she had
finally broached the possibility of asking Serenity to grant him
immortality so they could remain together, he had declined, saying he
had no interest in living forever.

Titanite had been devastated, and they had had their first major
argument.  Afterwards, Titanite had raged to Margrave about the man,
until Margrave had finally had to tell her to shut up and stop acting
like a child.  A child over a hundred years old, but a child none the
less.  Margrave had given her a long talk, after which she had returned
to the man, shortly thereafter to conceive their third and final child
together.

And the advice had never been one way between her and Margrave.  Just as
dealing with her baser emotions didn't come naturally to Titanite,
dealing with the finer ones didn't come naturally to Margrave.  Titanite
was probably the only person who even knew that Margrave had any finer
emotions.  But Margrave did have them.  Margrave was no Renegade, of
that Titanite was sure, but just as one didn't have to be a Youma to be
of an evil nature, a Youma didn't *have* to be a Renegade to be of a
basically good nature.  Her lack of sexual morals and her taste for
human life energy would have many a religion labeling her as evil, not
to mention her occasional violent rages.  However, Titanite knew that in
the ways in which it really counted, Margrave was of a good heart.

Unlike most Youma, Margrave had very little personal drive beyond her
pleasures, and even there her drives were easily held in check when
necessary.  And, in one of her most redeeming traits, Margrave had no
drive to advance her desires at the unwilling expense of another.

Margrave hadn't needed assistance nearly as often as Titanite had, but
when she had needed it, Titanite had been there for her.  Love and lust
were flip sides of the same coin.  Margrave knew lust well.  It had been
her first venture into love that had been one of the toughest.

The problems had all centered around Calcite, of course.  The others
would never understand, but after all the time Margrave had spent with
Calcite, she had fallen in love with him without even knowing it.  He
was there for her, and she had taken it for granted that he would always
be there for her.  She hadn't even realized that she loved him until it
was too late.

Margrave had spotted Calcite and Minako sitting out in one of the palace
gardens, shortly after Azurite and Pyrite had left the city.  The two of
them were holding hands and staring into each other's eyes, lost to the
rest of the world.

Titanite had found Margrave a while later on Titanite's bed, sobbing.
Titanite had been shocked.  She had known that Margrave was really a
nice person, in spite of being Youma, but this was the first time that
she had seen Margrave doing something so... human.  A true Youma should
have raged with jealousy that quickly spawned violence.  Margrave's
reaction was totally un-youma.

They had talked the rest of the day, and long into the night.  Margrave
had faced one of the toughest decisions of her life: giving Calcite up
to Minako.  The deciding factor had come when Titanite had asked
Margrave who's happiness was more important to her.  Hers, or Calcite's?
Margrave had thought hard on that one, finally acknowledging that it was
Calcite's happiness that was more important.

That had been the beginning of their confidence sessions.  Margrave had
quietly given up Calcite, and except for that one time during Calcite's
first divorce, had caused no trouble for the couple.  She had simply
faded out of Calcite's life for a while.  It was during this time frame
that Margrave had established her barter system.  Titanite had been a
sounding board for the development of the system, but the ideas
themselves had come mostly from Margrave.

Titanite had had a larger role in Margrave's handling of the
blackmailer.  Margrave hadn't handled that one nearly as well as she had
handled Calcite and Minako.  Margrave had come close to reverting to her
Youma nature and simply slaughtering the guy when he first blackmailed
her.  She had resisted until later that evening when she and Titanite
had had an emergency conference.  Margrave had let any trace of humanity
go and raged for a good two hours.  Titanite had simply set her defenses
and let Margrave rage, knowing that Margrave possessed nowhere near the
power needed to breach Titanite's shields.  While Titanite herself was
untouched, her apartment had not been so lucky.  Margrave had done a
thorough job of trashing it.

Titanite still shivered when she thought about how close the young man
had come.  He had ended up with a little jail time and a hefty fine for
his false testimony.  He didn't know it, but he could have very easily
lost a lot more if Titanite hadn't managed to calm Margrave down.  In
the end, it was simple survival instinct upon which Titanite had been
able to play to bring her back to her senses.

Dragging her thoughts back to the present, Titanite began to describe
her current situation to Margrave.

When she was done, Margrave asked, "So you are falling for him, but
worried about what happens when he becomes an enemy, as seems
inevitable, right?"

Titanite nodded.

Margrave continued, "And how would you be reacting to him if you didn't
know?"

Titanite looked up.  "What?"

"Ti, you're basing your reactions on the knowledge of the future that we
found out this afternoon.  Without that knowledge, you wouldn't be
worrying like this.  And isn't that just what we want to avoid?"

Titanite sighed, "I know.  But the consequences..."

"Ti, look at it this way.  You have a chance to go into this with your
eyes open, knowing the risk.  He *may* become an enemy, but even if he
does, does that mean there's no hope?  I know Cal and Minako don't have
the best of marriages, but given their start, as bitter enemies, who
would have thought they would have this much.  I say try to forget what
that little black mark on his forehead represents, and simply let things
go as they will.  If you end up lovers, then maybe we'll have some pull
when things go bad."

Titanite sighed, "I'm beginning to see why the Senshi would hate this
knowledge.  I wish Pluto could have warned me about this."

"Actually, I think she did, in her own cryptic way," Margrave responded.
"Remember what she said about the Black Moon Family: 'not totally evil,
they are ruled by their darker desires.'  When you think about it, they
may very well be closer to us than we know.  Maybe this Topass fellow is
their equivalent of a Renegade."

Titanite got a look of hope in her eyes.  Margrave continued, "If he is,
then we should provide him with the chance to escape his situation if
that's what he wishes.  But for now, we don't know.  His heart could be
as black as Beryl's, or as saintly as Serenity's, but we simply don't
know.  But you can find out.  Get to know him.  Become friends.  Become
lovers if you think it's the right thing to do.  But be prepared for
disappointment if he doesn't think like we do.  Oh, and don't probe.
Pluto said no scouting expeditions, and I think that pressuring him with
questions that you shouldn't know enough to ask qualifies."

Titanite nodded.  "Understood.  This is..." she sighed.  "This is not
going to be easy."

"Nothing worthwhile ever is.  And I think that this is one of the most
worthwhile things to ever come your way.  Kitten, this has all the
markings of the being the big one.  Your true love, love of a lifetime,
and all the other cliches.  And if he is, then be prepared to fight the
fight of your life for his heart and soul."

Titanite nodded again.  "I had wondered about that.  I guess if he is
the love of my life, I should tell him who I really am."

"You should tell him anyway.  You don't really have much reason beyond
the future knowledge to not tell him.  And besides, how long do you
think you could hide something like that?  Like it or not, you are a
public figure in this city, not the simple maid they probably took you
for.  They will find out soon enough, and a lie like that, even a lie of
omission, is enough to destroy a relationship before it has a chance to
even start."

Titanite nodded, grinning slightly.  Even after all this time, it still
amazed her at how easily Margrave could cut to the heart of a problem so
quickly and come up with solutions just as quickly.  That brought
Pluto's promise to mind.  Azurite, Pyrite, and Margrave would be the
Renegades' hole cards.  Calcite might be already planning how to use
Azure and Pyr, but Titanite could already guess that Pluto's comments
might have been even more in regards to Margrave than the other two.

It wasn't that Margrave was particularly powerful.  If fact, with one
exception, Margrave's abilities were all rather mediocre.

She had the normal Youma enhanced strength and agility which, while
useful, were nowhere near the tops of Youma potential for either.

She was lightly presentient, but rarely got more than vague impressions
and hints of the future.

She had her shapeshifting, but learning to maintain stability in her cat
form had been a long and hard task.  Most anything else she tried to
assume would break down in a matter of seconds.  Titanite would be
surprised if Margrave hadn't taught herself a few other forms in the
last few centuries, but the cat form was the only one Titanite knew of
for sure.

She had her pheromone manipulation, but that was really only of use in
sexual matters.

Margrave could even do a bit of energy shielding, but on such a low
level that her shields would have little chance of holding off a
gunshot, let alone a magically backed attack from anyone of power.

Actually, if you catalogued them all, Margrave had more separate powers
than even Titanite and Calcite, who had a full arsenal themselves.  It
was just that they were all of very little use against anyone with real
power.

With one exception.

One very big exception.

Margrave's intelligence.

Margrave's intellect was staggering.  Titanite suspected that Margrave
was on a similar scale to Pyrite and even Mizuno Ami when it came to
intelligence.

It had taken Titanite quite a while to realize just how smart Margrave
was.  Titanite had never been particularly fooled by the "dumb youma"
act that Margrave tended to put on, with her Shampoo imitations and so
on.  But it had taken a while for the full scale to become apparent.

When a stranger looked at Margrave they saw a lot of things, but
intelligence wasn't on the list.  People saw her and saw a Youma, built
for sex or violence and little else.  And that was exactly the way
Margrave wanted it.

When Margrave wanted to insert her intelligence into a situation, she
had a way of making others think that they had been the one to come up
with the answers Margrave wanted them to come up with.  Margrave was an
expert at leading other people to exactly the conclusion she wanted them
to reach, and letting them take the credit.  Margrave never wanted the
credit.

Margrave's gossiping was really only an aspect of the real passion in
her life: the desire to know.  To know anything and everything that she
could know.  And she had long ago discovered Sailor Mercury's lab.  Ami
had a similar desire for knowledge, and was always experimenting on one
strange theory or another.  Margrave had discovered the lab, and found
that she could follow most of what Ami was working on.

Which brought another thing to Titanite's mind.  While Margrave had a
brilliant mind, she had one tremendous blind spot: if her emotions were
at all involved in an issue, they tended to override her thinking,
obscuring even the most obvious of things.  And if Margrave's meeting
with Sailor Mars had gone as Titanite suspected it had, then Margrave's
was quite possibly blinding herself to a big opportunity.

"Um, Marge, did you talk to Rei about your status in the palace?"

"Hmm?  Oh, that.  Yeah.  I'm fine.  Status quo.  In fact, Mars mentioned
hiring me to do some work for her.  I'm not supposed to talk about it,
though."

Titanite nodded.  She had expected as much.  "Marge, I think there's
something else you should think about, then.  If you are now officially
accepted in the palace, why don't you go talk to Mizuno-san about it?"

"*It*?  What *it*?"

"The fact that you've been observing her work for all this time.  She
knows it was you, remember, and the fact that you have been going there
all this time, and actually following the stuff she does, made it rather
obvious to her just how much you've got up here."  Titanite tapped the
side of her head.  "I wouldn't be surprised if she was interested in an
assistant in there."  Titanite knew this as the truth.  It had been a
long time ago, but Ami had once expressed to Titanite her amazement at
Margrave's intelligence, and lamented that Margrave's desire for secrecy
in her presence in the castle prevented Ami from getting her assistance.
That had been how Titanite had confirmed her suspicions about Margrave.
Titanite had then put a few things together, realized Margrave's desire
to keep her intellect a secret, and had stressed this to Ami, who had
agreed to keep it a secret as well.

Margrave just stared at Titanite.  Titanite could almost hear the gears
spinning in Margrave's head, tracing the lines of deductions that
Titanite had opened.  Once one of her self-blindings had been pierced,
assuming she wasn't in an emotional overload, (Read fit of rage)
Margrave could analyze her own matters as well as anything else.

Margrave finally sighed.  "Kitten... thanks."

Titanite just grinned.  That's what friends were for.



Crystal Renegades Part 6 - Dangerous Liaisons

Titanite's thoughts were again in a whirl as she waited for the twins,
seated on a bench near the diplomatic quarter.  She wanted to see Topass
again desperately, but was at the same time dreading the encounter.  She
didn't know quite how to tell them who she really was, but knew it had
to be done.  So she had come here a little early to try to sort it out
ahead of time, but it just wasn't working.

"My, my, my.  You are in just as bad a shape as Topass," came Opal's
voice from behind Titanite.

Titanite was momentarily startled, but quickly recovered.  "Hmm?  What
do you mean by that?"

Opal moved over to take a seat beside Titanite, her motions exhibiting a
precision and grace that Titanite hadn't noticed the previous day, when
Topass had been foremost in Titanite's mind.

"Topass has been lost all night in exactly the same daze that you were
in, just now."

Titanite sighed.  A deep sigh.

Opal saw this and nodded, smugly.  "If I ever had any doubts about the
existence of love at first sight, you two have dispelled them."

Titanite nodded.  "I never thought it could happen to me."  Titanite
came to a conclusion, and turned to look right at Opal, "But there's a
problem, Opal.  How much do you know about the leaders of Crystal
Tokyo?"

"Hmm?  Oh, I know that Neo-Queen Serenity and King Endymion rule here,
and that there's this group of women who help them rule.  Sailor Senshi,
right?"

Titanite nodded.

"The Queen and the others are also supposedly immortal or something like
that, right?"

Titanite nodded again.

"Wow.  To live forever.  Sounds romantic, but I bet it would get pretty
boring after awhile."

"Only if you let it..." Titanite added quietly.  Opal didn't seem to
notice.

Opal chattered on, delving into descriptions of the Senshi that were
right out of one of the local encyclopedias.  Titanite knew those
descriptions almost by heart, from her work, and only listened with half
an ear.  Damn it.  She was supposed to be telling Opal who she was.
Instead, she was letting Opal chatter on.  She started looking for an
opening in which to join the conversation.  She found one when Opal
reached her description of Sailor Polaris.

"Then there's Polaris.  Green hair, blue eyes, green nails.  Supposedly
of different origins than the rest of the Senshi..."

Titanite interrupted, "Umm, Opal.  About Polaris...  She's...  I mean
I'm..."

Opal turned to look at Titanite.  "You're related, right?  I guessed as
much yesterday.  The resemblance is pretty close."

Titanite shook her head.  "Closer than you might think," she thought to
herself.

"You're not related?  Hmm.  I thought for sure you were her daughter."

Titanite flashed images of her children through her mind.  Renegade or
not, one thing that Youma blood was good for was variety.  Rarely did
Youma children look anything like their parents, and this held true for
Renegade/human crossbreeds.  All her children were fully humanoid, but
none looked a bit like her.

Titanite shook her head again, her mind racing to find the words to
explain who she was.

"Hmm.  Strange.  I would have sworn...  Oh, well." Opal shrugged.

"Sis, I'll love you forever, but sometimes you are *soooo* dense," came
Topass' voice from thin air.

Opal's face took on an irritated look.  "Arrrgh!  You know I hate it
when you spy on me like this!  Show yourself, Bro."

Topass' form wavered into existence.  <Invisibility powers,> Titanite
thought, and filed the thought away for future reference.  Then she took
notice of his dress.  Topass was dressed in an elegant yellow and white
tuxedo, faintly similar to the one that King Endymion used to wear.  On
anyone else, the colors might have looked gaudy.  On Topass, they
looked... just right.  In his arms he held a large bouquet of flowers.
Not roses she noted, with relief.  That would have stretched the
parallels too far.  In fact, they were some species of flower that she
had never seen before.

Topass knelt before Titanite and held out the flowers to her.  "Opal,
may I present to you the Lady Titanite, also known as Sailor Polaris."

Titanite gathered in the strange flowers, as Opal just stared in shock.

"They're a fairly common breed on our homeworld, but I figured they
would be exotic enough here, Lady Titanite."

"They're lovely.  And please, call me Titanite, or just Ti.  I've always
hated formalities."

"As you wish, M'Lady," Topass responded.  The two of them locked gazes
once more, and Titanite let herself become lost in his eyes again.

For once, Opal was speechless for a time.  While Topass and Titanite
just stared at each other, Opal's mouth moved several times, but no
sound came out.

After a couple of minutes of this, Opal finally found her voice.

"Okay, okay.  Hold on just a minute."  Topass and Titanite broke their
gaze and both turned towards Opal.

"Bro, you're saying that this is Sailor Polaris herself?  You have one
of the Sailor Senshi themselves sitting here, making gaga eyes with
you?"

Topass chuckled.  "I wouldn't put it quite that way, but yeah, Sis, that
about sums it up."

Opal turned to Titanite.  "Ti, this can't be true.  He's wrong, isn't
he?"

Titanite shook her head.  "I'm afraid not."  She lightly tapped the
bracelet on her wrist, and her outfit shifted quickly to her costume.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you."  She tapped the bracelet
again, leaving her now dressed in a fairly elegant, low cut gown of
emerald green that matched her hair, and was in line with Topass'
tuxedo.

"But that would mean... that you're..."  Once again Opal was finding
herself speechless.

"What's the problem, Sis?"

Opal was still speechless.  Titanite spoke up. "Topass.  I think she's
referring to my age.  I don't look it, but I'm almost a thousand years
old."

Opal nodded, her eyes wide.

Topass chuckled again.  "Oh, that.  I thought about that last night when
I figured out who Ti was, but I guess I decided I wasn't going to let
that come between me and the woman I was falling in love with..." Topass
came to a halt as he realized what he had just said in front of
Titanite.

Titanite grinned, set the flowers aside, and reached out a hand to
firmly grasp one of his.  She reached her other hand up to his cheek and
lightly brushed it.  She had been about to lean forward for what would
almost certainly have become a kiss, when Opal cleared her throat.

"I get the idea that I'm unneeded here.  Why don't I take a rain-check
on that tour, and leave the two of you alone for today?"  She grinned,
knowingly.

"Now that's not fair.  I promised you a tour, and I intend that you get
one," Titanite responded.  "On the other hand, I'd probably be a
little...  distracted to give you a fair one myself."

Opal giggled.  "No problem.  I can take care of myself."

"No, I insist.  I have a few relatives of a similar age to you, I'm sure
one of them would be glad to give you a tour."

Opal grinned.  "Sounds great.  Any of them hunks?"

"Oh, a couple," Titanite laughed.  "I think I have just the right guy.
One of my nephews, a couple of generations removed.  Quite a ladies'
man, so I hear, but also a complete gentleman.  Be warned, though.  He
has a reputation for broken hearts.  He captures hearts easily, but has
never had his own caught in return.  Don't expect anything long term
with him.  Short term, however..." Titanite winked slyly at Opal, who
grinned.

"Sounds good to me."

Titanite nodded, and pulled out a small phone from her purse.  She
tapped a couple of numbers on it, then spoke briefly to the person who
picked up the other line.  Titanite was laughing as she hung up.

"He'll be right over.  He seemed very willing to help when I described
you.  I wonder why?"  The three of them had a good laugh.  Opal was
quite beautiful.

Titanite stood and moved to Topass' side, linking arms with him.  "He'll
meet you right here within a half hour, I think, although I wouldn't be
surprised if he manages to con someone into teleporting him over
faster."

Opal nodded.  "You two have fun.  And don't come home too late, Bro."
Topass blushed slightly at the implication, and Titanite laughed.

Titanite tugged lightly on Topass' arm, pulling him off.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Azurite was being followed.

She hadn't been able to spot anyone, but she still knew someone was
there.

It might have been a while since she had been actively in battle, but a
thousand years of instincts were still there.  She could feel the tail,
even if she couldn't spot it.

She thought for a while as she continued to move through the crowds of
Crystal Tokyo.  She didn't consider herself in any danger.  When one can
teleport, losing a tail became rather easy.  But did she want to lose
it?  Who the hell could it be?  She couldn't believe it was the Black
Moon Family.  According to Pluto, they wouldn't know about her yet.

But who else would have an interest in her?  Blast it, with all the
Black Moon Family shit coming down, she decided she had to know.  Which
meant catching the tail.

She looked around for a good place to set a trap.  There, a small alley
off of the main thoroughfare.  She walked casually towards it and calmly
walked in.

As soon as she was within the darkness of the alley, she looked up.
Perfect.  There were a couple of balconies up on the walls of the alley.

In an easy leap, Azurite jumped up to one of the lower ones, and then
ducked down to watch the mouth of the alley.

As she watched, she tapped a bracelet in a precise pattern.  Her
clothing quickly morphed into her old Sailor Arcturus costume.  It had
been a long time since she had worn it, but she had never cleared the
program for it out of her bracelet, just in case.  And in this case the
psychological edge that appearing as one of the Sailor Senshi would give
her might be quite useful.

She didn't have to wait long.  Soon she saw a silhouette peak around the
edge of the alley and peer down it.  Then the figure began to cautiously
move down the alley, its head in constant motion, searching for any sign
of its quarry.  Azurite couldn't tell much from this distance, but the
figure appeared to be of a slight build.  Probably female, but not
certainly so.

As the tail passed below her, Azurite moved in what she hoped was
silence, and dropped from the ledge.

Whether it was luck, or some minute sound Azurite made, the figure
looked straight up at Azurite just as she dropped from the ledge.  The
tail made a definitely feminine "Eep" of surprise, and quickly dodged
out of the way of Azurite's descent.  Azurite shifted in mid-air and
landed lightly.

Her opponent obviously knew how to fight, as she had dropped into a
defensive stance, watching Azurite warily.  Azurite still could not get
a good view of her in the dark of the alley.

"Okay.  What's this all about?" Azurite demanded, as she dropped into a
defensive stance of her own.

It was just then that she felt the prick on the back of her neck, and
heard a soft hiss.

Azurite tried to spin, but was already getting woozy.  She dropped to
the ground.  Her last thoughts as all went black were to berate herself
as an amateur for not realizing there might be more than one of them...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Opal frowned slightly as she watched her brother move off with Titanite.
<One of the Sailor Senshi, hmm?>  If Topass had been faking his reactions,
she might have been able to think of this as a great opportunity to get
information on the people of Crystal Tokyo.  But he wasn't faking, which
made this a major complication of the situation.  She wasn't privy to
the plans of the leaders of her planet, but she had pieced quite a bit
together on her own.  Demand was hungry for conquest, and Earth was the
next logical target.  And Demand would never do things halfway.  If he
invaded Earth, he would aim to control the whole thing.  Which would put
them in opposition to the people of Crystal Tokyo.  Topass and Titanite
would be enemies.

She decided to let the matter rest for now.  She didn't *know* that an
invasion was coming, so there was no use in reporting Topass while it
was just guesswork on her part.  "Bro, I hope you know what you are
doing," she muttered softly.

A figure materialized right in front of her.  <My, my.>  Titanite had
been right.  The boy really was quite a hunk.  Today was shaping up to
be better and better.  As the boy presented himself to her, she put
thoughts of her brother from her mind, and settled down to enjoy an
active day that would most likely be followed by an equally active
night, if she had any say in the matter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Azurite spun slowly up to consciousness, her head still ringing from
whatever drug was used on her.  She marveled momentarily at how powerful
a drug it must have been if it could knock her out for any length of
time in spite of her regeneration factor.  She put that thought from her
mind.  She had much more important things to worry about, like where she
was, and what was happening to her.

She kept her eyes shut for the moment, not wanting to tip off whoever
might be guarding her to her return to consciousness.  Cautiously she
probed out with her "sixth sense".  While she had never been prescient,
she had been told that what she did have was quite similar, only founded
in the present.  She had a way of instinctively feeling out the way
things were about her.  Over the years she had honed this way of
"feeling" things so that it could be used consciously, as well as
instinctively.

The first thing she could tell was that she was no longer in Crystal
Tokyo.  She almost didn't need her sixth sense for that.  Crystal Tokyo
was a city pulsing with magic, where magic was almost alive.  There was
none of that here.  Though she could tell that there once had been.  She
could feel the ancient echoes of magical power running faintly around
her.

The absence of Crystal Tokyo's magical energies helped her, though.  In
Crystal Tokyo her senses tended to become drowned out, limiting her
range dramatically.  Here, she had no such limitations.  She felt out,
trying to determine who had her, and how many of them there were.

Almost at once, though, she felt her senses blocked.  Shielded, somehow.
She sighed inwardly, though made no movement physically.  Should have
known it wouldn't be that easy.

The ringing in her head was subsiding.  Soon her head would be clear
enough that she would be able to teleport, and then she could leave here
any time she chose.  Assuming that the place wasn't shielded from
teleportation as well, which it most likely was, she thought with
another mental sigh.

There was no one within the range she could sense, before the blockage,
so she decided to give up on feigning continued unconsciousness, and
opened her eyes to look around.

She found herself, not in the prison cell she expected, but rather in a
fairly plush room, laid out on a firm, but not uncomfortable bed.  Even
more surprising, she wasn't restrained at all.  The room was not large,
but was well furnished for its size, with bed, dresser, and even a full
height mirror on one wall.  A mental push brought a small breeze to the
room.  Her powers weren't blocked, conveniently enough.  She rose from
the bed and crossed to the mirror, examining the strange clothes she had
been placed in.  The person who stared back at her was almost
unrecognizable.  <Surely that couldn't be her staring back?>  She had
been dressed in an elegant gown, faintly reminiscent of the one Serenity
wore regularly.  The sky blue of the gown offset the darker blue of her
hair perfectly.  Azurite knew she could be incredibly sexy when she
wanted to be.  She had long prided herself in that ability, even
cultivated it for her modeling and acting careers in her younger days.
But rarely had she felt simply...  beautiful.

The image was nice, but it just wasn't her.  She reached for her
bracelet, quickly realizing that it was now gone.  Figures.  No way
whoever was playing dress-up with her was going to just let her morph it
off.  She quickly looked through the dresser and closet, but found no
other suitable clothes.  Looks like she was stuck as she was.
Wonderful.

A hesitant knock came at the door.

"Lady Azurite, are you awake?" came a soft female voice.

Azurite debated ambushing whoever it was, but quickly dismissed the
idea.  Despite kidnapping her, these people hadn't really done anything
to her.  She decided to play along with them for now.  She still needed
to know who they were, and what they were up to.

"Just a moment," Azurite called out, quietly closing the dresser drawer
in which she had been rummaging.  "Come in," she called.

The door opened without the click of a key.  Not even locked,
apparently.  A very nervous looking young girl of fourteen or fifteen
stepped in and bowed deeply.  "If the Lady Azurite would accompany me,
Sensei* would like to speak with her."
Sensei == Teacher

<*Lady* Azurite?>  She was no lady.  But she nodded to the girl and
followed her from the room.  The girl had short, red hair, soft
features, and seemed to be almost terrified of Azurite.  No, not
terrified, reverent.  Azurite felt herself sinking in another one of
Calcite's blasted "picture puzzles".  None of this made sense.

"You know who I am, but I don't know you," Azurite asked the girl as
they walked.

"I am called Hitomi, Lady Azurite," the girl responded.

"Well, Hitomi, I have a request for you.  Please stop with the `Lady'
stuff.  I've never been a `Lady', and I never will be."

"But Lady Azurite, I must.  You are one of the Elder Senshi, and I must
show you the proper respect."

"*Elder* Senshi?  Does that mean that there are Younger Senshi?"  Hitomi
didn't respond, just looked down at her feet.  Azurite sighed.  She
could tell that the girl was too nervous to give much good information.

Finally they reached a large set of double doors, which Hitomi walked up
to and knocked on firmly, in sharp contrast to how hesitantly she did
everything else.

The doors opened at Hitomi's touch.  Azurite expected a throne room of
some sort, but instead the doors opened up on a large gymnasium.
Gymnastics equipment and other such items were spread all around, much
of it in use by a number of young girls and women, none of whom appeared
to be older than twenty-five.  Azurite discounted this, though, as she
was well aware of how young most immortals looked.

Several of the girls looked up as Azurite and Hitomi entered.  A couple
bowed lightly before resuming.  Azurite nodded.  Not quite as awe-struck
as Hitomi, but respectful none-the-less.  Weirder and weirder.

One young woman who was working out on a set of rings did a couple of
loops that would have made an Olympic athlete proud, then did a spinning
dismount, somersaulting twice before a perfect landing.  Hitomi led
Azurite over to the woman.  She had short blond hair and a fairly
masculine build, though one could not mistake her for a man in the
leotard she wore.  Hitomi walked up to the woman and bowed to her.

"Sensei.  I have brought the Elder Arcturus, as requested."

The woman grinned, and suddenly Azurite could see the age in her eyes.
This woman was far, far older than she appeared.

"Well met, Azurite.  It's been a long time."

"Umm, do I know you?"

The woman laughed.  "Well, we met a couple of times, though it was very
long ago.  And besides, I doubt you would recognize me in this form,
anyway." She chuckled, and extended her hand to Azurite.  Azurite took
the hand in a very firm handshake.  "I'm Tenou Haruka.  Welcome to
Golden Millennium."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

In spite of the way they had been losing themselves in each other's
presence earlier, Titanite and Topass managed to avoid more of this for
quite a while.  Mostly they walked, wandering almost aimlessly through
the huge palace, and talked.  Talked about themselves and those they
loved.

Titanite told much about both Crystal Tokyo and her homeland, the Dark
Kingdom, which she now barely remembered.  Whether consciously or
subconsciously, she managed to avoid revealing anything about Crystal
Tokyo that couldn't be discovered with a little research.

Topass talked about his own homeland, the planet Nemesis, revealing much
more than Titanite could have hoped for, even if she had been probing
for info, which she wasn't.

Nemesis Prime itself was not a planet but a dark sun with a system of
planets around it.  The sun glowed a barely visible red and put out only
a small amount of heat compared to Sol at the center of the solar
system.  Nemesis Prime had four habitable moons, or small planets
circling about it.  It was obviously an artificial system, as there was
a large tube, called the Tunnel, that stretched between the four worlds,
holding them in fixed orbits around Nemesis Prime.

How Nemesis had been colonized, no one knew, though they knew that it
had to have been colonized from somewhere else at some point in the
past.  Nemesis had no native species.  The environment was just too
harsh.  Harsh, but habitable.  Great storms scoured the surface, but the
air was breathable.  Nemesis Prime provided very little heat and light,
but it was enough.

The Nemesians' colony had been restricted to one of the four worlds in
their earlier history, and they generally referred to that world as
Nemesis, rather than the whole mini solar system.

With the acquisition of sufficient technology to begin building
spaceships they had been able to settle the other three worlds.  The
other three had proved almost identical to Nemesis itself.  Devoid of
life, but habitable, as if some great cataclysm had scoured them clean.
The Nemesites had had to import the few crops they had in order to
survive there, but the few plants they did possess thrived in the harsh
conditions, though they had to be protected from the frequent storms.

With no native species on the planets, there were no predators.  None of
the hazards that the Dark Kingdom had held.  But there was the struggle
for existence against the environment itself, and there were hazards of
another kind.  The human kind.

With no outside threats besides the weather, the people of Nemesis had
turned their energies on each other.  They had evolved an elaborate
system of power games and politics.  It was called the Game of Houses,
or simply The Game.  There was almost no limits to what was done in the
pursuit of power.  Bribery, assassination, blackmail, duels, or
sometimes even all-out war were all employed in an unending struggle to
be the one on top.

Titanite was amazed.  Politics in the Dark Kingdom had been black, but
this went beyond even that.  In the Dark Kingdom, there had always been
at least a few constants.  Queen Beryl ruled at the top, and her top
four Generals had all been secure in their positions, as long as they
held Beryl's favor.  Those under the Generals might struggle for
position among themselves, but Beryl and the Generals kept a lid on much
of it.  While it was good to have the strongest under you, there were
arguments to be made for the benefits of a consistent and stable power
structure.  So most of the Generals had kept a close eye on the doings
of their underlings, keeping reign on the worst excesses.

On Nemesis, however, there was no such controlling force.  The Game went
on full force, with only the strongest surviving.  The only reason that
the whole planet didn't descend into anarchy rapidly was because of the
bureaucracy.  The ruler might give the orders, but it was the
bureaucracy that carried out those orders.  And the bureaucracy extended
into almost all aspects of life on Nemesis.  The bureaucracy kept the
planet running, even when there was no one to give them orders.

While not itself totally immune to the Game, the bureaucracy tended to
be left alone as a whole.  Those playing the Game knew of the importance
of the bureaucracy, and few were foolish enough to disrupt it.

It was also very efficient, for a bureaucracy.  Its ability to quickly
implement shifting policies increased its value to the planet's leaders.

Into this world Opal and Topass had been born.  As distant cousins of
Prince Demand himself they would be part of the ruling elite of Nemesis
before too long.  Topass didn't know what his position would be.  Didn't
know what he wanted to be.  Titanite chuckled at that.  She was all too
familiar with children who didn't know what they wanted to do with
themselves.

Their father was starting to pressure them to decide, or at least show
some interest in something.  To that end he had brought them on this
trip to Earth, hoping to broaden their interests and maybe have one or
the other make some sort of decision of what to do with their lives.

Aimless wandering eventually took them to what Titanite fondly referred
to as the "Danger Room", after a similar training room in an old
American superhero animation.  Pyr called it the "Holodeck" after his
own old American TV passion, Star Trek.  Whatever you called it, it
combined much of both concepts, using elaborate illusion magic and
psychoplasm shaping to create a place where the environment could
conform to any number of desires, for any number of purposes.

As they walked up, Titanite got a mischievous look in her eye.  Excusing
herself briefly, she walked up to the external control crystal and
rested her hand across it.  The contact was enough for her to access the
command systems.  Luckily, the room was unoccupied at the moment.
Titanite sent out a search command for a specific program.  In almost no
time the system responded with success, and queried whether she wanted
the program run.  She responded in the affirmative, and removed her hand
as the outer door of the room faded from existence.

She resumed her place at Topass' side.  "Shall we go?"  The two entered
and the door reappeared behind them.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Just after the door returned, a dark figure appeared in the corridor.
The figure chuckled lightly and then stepped forward to place his hand
on the same control crystal that Titanite had just used.

The figure's eyes glowed briefly red.  After a moment, the control
crystal glowed red in response.  The figure removed his hand, but the
crystal continued to glow.  "Have fun," he said, and then vanished from
sight.



Crystal Renegades Part 7 - Of Dreams... Visions... and Prophesy

Azurite watched in amazement as the girls sparred below her.  She and
Haruka were watching from a high observation platform overlooking a
combat training room.  The six girls were all now in Senshi costumes,
and had been divided into two teams for the current exercise.

Haruka had introduced herself as Sailor Uranus, or "Elder Uranus" as she
tended to be called now.  That explained her earlier comments about
having met Azurite, but Azurite not recognizing her.  The true Sailor
Senshi all had a weird distraction aura about them that prevented all
but the most determined from realizing that they all looked almost
identical in and out of costume.  But once one knew of the double
identity, the aura had no more effect.  The Inner Senshi had publicly
revealed their true identities a millennia ago, so few people were
effected by their aura.  But the so called Outer Senshi had never
revealed themselves, and thus their aura still held full effect.
Azurite had met Sailor Uranus several times in the last thousand years,
but never Tenou Haruka.  But as soon as Haruka had revealed herself as
the Elder Uranus, the resemblance had become obvious.  The "Elder" was
because there was another Sailor Uranus among the Younger Senshi.

<Younger Senshi.  Who would have imagined it?>  But there they were
below her, fighting each other in training.

And not all of them were all that young either.  Younger Jupiter was
well over 100 years old.  Younger Mars, who Azurite had met as Hitomi,
was the youngest, no older than she looked.  The rest were in between
these two.  Younger versions of Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and Neptune.
Which left a number of the planets unaccounted for.

Haruka explained the missing ones.  "Nemesis appears to be next.  Which
is strange, as there's never been an Elder Nemesis that we know of.  But
the indications do point to a Younger Nemesis appearing."

"On the other hand, Younger Moon may actually be next, though we already
know who she is."

"Princess Usagi," Azurite said.  Haruka gave her an impressed nod, and
continued.

"There is no Younger Pluto, and likely never will be.  Pluto simply is.
Setsuna appears to be immune to the Great Cycle, and happy with it that
way."

"As for Saturn, well, we may be better off if we don't find her.  She
had power on Serenity's level, and not nearly as nice a disposition."

"Sailor Terra may show up eventually, though that office might be male
or female.  We don't know.  King Endymion is actually the Elder Terra,
so who knows what his successor will be like?"

"Successor?  Is that what this is all about?  Replacing the Senshi?"

Haruka shook her head.  "Not really.  What you see before you is
natural.  As far as we can tell it happens in every inhabited solar
system.  Each world is represented by a guardian, who draws powers from
that world.  And every so often the power is born anew in another, so
that the older guardian may retire without leaving their world
defenseless.  There is nothing forcing the older to retire, and the
presence of the younger in no way lessens the power of the older.  But
most of the time the older guardians are glad for the chance to retire,
so long as their worlds are in competent hands.  Immortality isn't all
it's cracked up to be, you know as well as I do."

Azurite nodded.  She knew it well.  While she hadn't grown tired of
life, neither had she ever really found purpose in it.  She had tried
numerous different occupations, but none had held her interest for all
that long.

Haruka continued, "But this is not about replacing anyone, though some
of the Elder Senshi could be said to have already retired.  Mercury, for
one, just works on her research.  I don't think she's accessed her
powers in decades.  But for the others, with their posts in Crystal
Tokyo, that's fine for them, but it's all a dead-end.  Crystal Tokyo is
stagnant.  It's almost the same now as it was when it was created a
millennium ago.  What we are here about, though...  How much do you know
about the old Silver Millennium?"

"The Moon Kingdom?  Quite a bit, actually.  I've been part of the recent
archeological digs up there.  While Serenity has provided historians
with some basic idea of the ancient civilizations, she doesn't have all
that much direct memory of her past life up there.  And there's Captain
Ferrite.  He's still reincarnating every now and then, and he supposedly
has full memories of that time, but I gave up trying to get info out of
him centuries ago.  So we've turned to the next best source of info, the
ruins themselves.  We've been sifting through the rubble, trying to
gather up a better picture of what life was like back then."

Haruka nodded.  "All very good, but none of that will help you to
understand what we're about up here.  Hmm.  Where to begin..."

"The thing to realize is that while Silver Millennium was a place, in
many ways it was also an idea.  An idea of the abilities of Humanity to
spread out from its birth-cradle, the Earth, to inhabit the rest of the
solar system, and maybe some-day the stars.  And spread out they did.
The moon was just one of the worlds colonized.  From the caves of
Mercury, to the cloud cities of Jupiter, to the ice-shrines of Pluto,
humans tamed the whole system through the power of magic.  Tamed it, and
held it for thousands of years.  The first great age of mankind it would
be called, if people knew enough about it to label it such."

"While Silver Millennium was never the seat of temporal power in the
system, in many ways it was the spiritual heart.  When the people of
other worlds would have let petty squabbles pull then apart, it was
always those of Silver Millennium that calmed the fires.  The
peace-makers.  The diplomats, if you want."

"Of course you know how it all ended, at the hands of one madwoman, and
her pet demon.  Beryl destroyed Silver Millennium, and was banished by
the Silver Crystal, which was in turn broken and dispersed.  But what
you probably don't know is that Silver Millennium did not fall alone.
The battle between Queen Serenity and Metallia unleashed a wave of
energy that swept the system, disrupting the delicate magical balances
that kept the other worlds habitable.  Some died quickly, like the
Jovian cloud cities, which were crushed almost at once.  Others had time
to escape.  Many from Mars managed to flee to Earth before their world
became uninhabitable.  A few from Venus got away, and some from Jupiter
lucky enough to be on one of its moons made it back to Earth as well.
Others, we don't know.  Contact with Mercury simply stopped.  Does the
Great Library still exist there, somewhere beneath the Mercurian
surface?  Probably, but we can't be sure."

"The great cycle of the Senshi was destroyed.  No one knows why.  Maybe
it has something to do with the way Queen Serenity used the Silver
Crystal to reincarnate her daughter and her Senshi.  Our best guess is
that she also locked up the power of the planets with those souls.
Whatever the reason, no new Senshi were born for many thousands of
years.  Until the souls that Queen Serenity had caught were all reborn,
and the cycle could begin again.  And it has begun again, with a new
generation of Senshi being born, unnoticed by any, except for a few who
had been watching for them.  Watching and waiting for the hope for a
brighter future.  Our new Golden Millennium."

"We have grand goals.  Maybe too grand, but isn't it better to dream too
big, and not quite get there, than to dream too small and fall short of
where you could have gone?  The Senshi you see before you were all born
on Earth.  But that's not right.  Each Senshi is the guardian of her
planet, and should live on her planet.  We plan to fix this, to send
these Senshi back to the planets on which they belong.  We plan to
re-colonize the rest of the solar system.  To recreate what was
destroyed long ago."  Haruka grinned at Azurite, who was staring at
Haruka in shock.

Azurite found her voice.  "But that's... impossible."

"Not at all.  What was done once, can be done again.  The energy pulse
of Metallia and Queen Serenity's battle is long gone.  The magic of the
various worlds should have stabilized long ago.  We have the records of
how it was done on each world the first time, and nothing in them is
outside the reach of humanity today.  In fact, it should be a lot easier
this time.  For one thing, back then mankind knew only magic, the
manipulation of the magical energies of the universe.  Magic, while it
can do miracles, can also be a very fickle thing.  Today mankind has
magic, but it also has science.  Because most of the sources of magic on
Earth were sealed for so long, mankind had to find other ways to do
things.  Science may not be able to perform miracles, but in the long
run it's a lot more dependable than magic.  And put the two together, as
magi-sci, and the possibilities are limitless.

"For another thing, The first time humanity was exploring where it knew
nothing about.  This time we know what things should be like on each
world.  And the machinery on most of the worlds to make them habitable
should still exist, even if it's inoperable.  Mercury, Venus, Mars
should be able to be made habitable with a little effort, and a bit of
time.  Others, like Jupiter, we'll have to start from scratch, as the
cloud cities are long gone, but we have the plans for them, so it's
doable."

Azurite interrupted.  "Records?  Plans?  Where the hell did you find
plans for Jovian cloud cities?"

Haruka chuckled.  "Closer than you might imagine.  Follow me.  I'll show
you." She rose and stepped towards the door.

"One thing first." Azurite stopped her.  "Could I have my transmutation
bracelet back?  No offense to whoever designed this dress, but it's just
not me," she grinned, and Haruka laughed as well.  Azurite found herself
liking this woman.  Haruka was very little like the grim, serious Uranus
of legends.  Azurite wondered how much of the difference was from the
passage of time, and how much simply from inaccurate details of history.

"Sorry about that.  I told Michiru you wouldn't like it, but she
insisted." Haruka tossed Azurite her bracelet, which Azurite quickly
placed on her wrist.  On a whim she had the bracelet scan her current
clothes before morphing them to a much more normal outfit of utilitarian
T-shirt and shorts.  Haruka nodded, then motioned once more for Azurite
to follow.

Haruka led her through a series of corridors and up several flights of
steps finally dead-ending at a simple door.  "I think that this will
answer a lot of your questions," said Haruka.

Haruka opened the door into a small observation lounge, quite similar to
the one overlooking the training room they had just left.  But this one
overlooked a lot more.  It looked out over thousands of years, in fact.

Azurite stared out over an all-too familiar valley, with an all-too
familiar ruins poking up in various places.  Familiar, because she had
spent many recent years here, searching for answers in the past.
Digging through the rubble of what had once been a glorious
civilization, but was now only memories.  The ruins of the grand city,
Silver Millennium.

Memories that she began to believe might someday live again.

"Holy shit," Azurite whispered to herself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Titanite and Topass walked arm in arm down a quiet forest path.  The
sounds of the forest echoed all around them.  This was a place full to
overflowing with life.  From the birds that sang in the trees, to a
family of squirrels that played a game of tag through the trees with
carefree abandon, to a large buck deer the watched them warily across
one clearing.

Topass was marveling at the sheer number of different species around
him.  Titanite grinned quietly at his amusement, and took her own
amusement simply from his presence.

The path wound gently downhill, until finally breaking out of the forest
at the edge of a large, clear pond.  The pond was by a small waterfall
that tumbled thirty feet or so from an overhanging cliff.  The waterfall
made a gentle roar that only added to the calm and peacefulness of the
place.

Strangely out of place, a large blanket lay spread out at the edge of
the lake, with a large basket and several other items spread out on it.

Topass frowned for a moment, but Titanite led them straight to the
blanket.

Topass spoke as he took a seat beside Titanite.  "I never imagined a
place like this.  So... brimming with life."  He looked at Titanite.
"Is it real?"

Titanite chuckled.  "Ask me an easy one.  With magic involved, it's
sometimes hard to know."  She leaned in close beside him, resting her
head on his shoulder.  She began to speak again, more quietly this time.

"I'm sorry for not telling you who I was.  I guess it's just that
everyone in Crystal Tokyo seems to know who I am, it was refreshing to
talk to someone without my office, and everything that comes with it,
between us."

Topass shook his head, and then leaned it over to rest on hers.  "No, I
understand."  They stayed this way for awhile, just drinking in each
other's fragrance.

Titanite sighed.  <Everything seemed perfect.  The birds singing.  The
gentle breeze rustling the trees.  The scent of her soon-to-be lover,
full in her nose.  A three foot tall Godzilla climbing out of the lake.
Everything was perfectly romanti....  Godzilla!!>

Titanite just stared as the walking lizard slowly waddled up the path
towards them.  Except he wasn't three foot now, he was closer to six
feet tall and growing.

Topass had noticed him too.  "Umm.  Is that supposed to be part of the
program?"  Titanite just shook her head.  "Then I think that we should
be careful."  Titanite nodded, and the two rose to their feet, warily
keeping an eye on Godzilla.

It was at about that point that everything went to hell.  Literally.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Haruka let Azurite sit for a while, staring out across the lunar
landscape.

While Azurite drank in all the possibilities, Haruka reflected once more
on the events that had brought them to this point.

It all led back to the visions.  It always did.  For as long as she
could remember she had spent her life chasing after one vision or
another.  The "gift" of the sight that she and Michiru had was more
often than not a curse, demanding actions when one would rather just sit
back and let life pass by.  But Haruka had long ago accepted that she
would never be able to live on the side-lines.  No, whatever deity sent
her the visions would never allow her to sit life out.

No, the ones sitting life out were Serenity and her bunch in Crystal
Tokyo.  They had their own little crystal paradise where nothing ever
changed.  Crystal Tokyo was just too powerful.  The rest of the
countries on Earth had long ago decided to just leave it alone.  World
conquerors had come and gone in the last millennium, but none had
challenged Crystal Tokyo.  None had dared.  So Serenity just sat in her
little gilded box, and let life pass her by.


When the first vision of the new millennium had hit Haruka she had
already reached those conclusions.  What had it been?  A hundred years
ago?  Two hundred?  Haruka couldn't really recall.  She and Serenity had
been having frequent arguments about the direction that Crystal Tokyo
was taking, or the lack of it.

After one such argument, Haruka had returned to her rooms, and thrown a
few objects to let off her frustration with Serenity's stubbornness.
She thought about leaving the city, but dismissed that as childish.
What was the point?  Where would she go?  This was where her home and
her Queen were.

Haruka went over to open up the window and stare at the city.  Stagnant
though it may be, it was still one of the most beautiful cities on
Earth, and staring at it had a way of calming the soul.  She had opened
the shutters to a totally unexpected sight.  What spread out before her
was not Crystal Tokyo, but a different city, just as beautiful, with
gleaming golden spires, and high walkways that ran from spire to spire
like golden spiderwebs.  And somehow Haruka could tell that there was no
stagnation here.  This was a city that prided itself in change, in
growth.

Then her attention was drawn to the sky, where a half circle hung.  The
Earth.  This golden city was on the moon.  Then she looked to her right,
and she could see ships taking off into the sky, and somehow she knew
that they were headed, not to Earth, but elsewhere, to the other
planets.  And she knew then that they were all inhabited.  That mankind
had once again reclaimed the stars, or at least the rest of this one
star.

The vision had shifted, and she saw a figure with flowing hair wrapped
in shadows.  The only feature not covered with shadow was her hair,
which billowed out behind her, a shimmering blue hue.

The figure could be seen standing on the Earth, and then the figure
stepped off of the Earth, leading other figures.  The other figures were
also wrapped in shadow, except that on the forehead of each shown a
symbol of one of the planets.  The figures then spread out across the
solar system, each one coming to rest on the planet of the matching
symbol.

But what of the one in the lead?  Haruka had looked around, but of the
blue haired figure, there was now no sign.

The vision shifted one more time, and Haruka could see Crystal Tokyo as
she should have seen it at first, but she could tell she was still in
the vision.  And then she felt her eyes being drawn up.  And she saw the
moon, much larger in the sky than it had any right to be.  And as she
saw it, she knew where she had to go.

"I understand," Haruka spoke out loud, to whoever or whatever had sent
the vision, and Haruka suddenly felt as if reality itself shifted at her
words.

She heard the words, "It is done!" and the vision was gone.

Haruka shook her head, trying to sort it all out, when the door of her
room slammed open.  Standing in the doorway was Michiru.  One look told
that she had see it as well, or something similar.

"Haruka..." she began, but Haruka shook her head.

"Pack.  We're leaving here," was all Haruka said.

They had said their good-byes and left.  Serenity had made motions of
not wanting them to leave, but Haruka could tell that Serenity would not
miss their arguments.

How to get to the moon?  Serenity could have teleported them there
easily enough, but Haruka didn't want to involve Serenity in this.

The technology of the rest of Earth was a strange mix by this time.  A
mix of science and low-magic.  (The only source for high magic was
Crystal Tokyo, which didn't share.)  While high magic could carry one
anywhere within the system in the blink of an eye, low magic was much
less powerful.  Humanity had reexplored the system, and even located the
ruins of the old colonies on a number of worlds, but had been unable to
profitably exploit those other worlds without the magic that would allow
humans to survive there.

And then there were the disappearing ships, and rumors of strange spiky
UFOs seen in the outer reaches of the system.  Humanity always liked to
have things to be afraid of, and at that time they had come to be afraid
of space in many ways.  Few were willing to spend the money on
spaceships in those days, considering the risk.

So Haruka had dipped into the fortune that she and Michiru had built up
over the years, and funded the first purely archeological expedition to
the Moon Kingdom.  And staffing the expedition was no problem.  Mankind
might be fearful, but it was always easy to find individuals that broke
from the masses.  And when the ones putting up the funding had no fear
at all, the rest just fell into place.

Haruka and Michiru had almost expected another vision when they got
there, but none came, leaving the two frustrated at what to do next.
After a month with no progress in their private mission, Michiru
literally tripped over the solution.  Michiru had taken paper and
sketching pencils and, putting on an atmosphere belt, had gone hiking
out the airlock to find a view that suited her fancy for sketching.  She
had climbed a hill overlooking the dig, and sat on a ledge to assess
doing a sketch of the dig itself.  She had leaned back against what had
appeared to be normal rock, and had kept right on going, tumbling
backwards into a small room.  (The same viewing room from which Azurite
was now staring.)

After fetching Haruka, the two had begun a systematic exploration of the
place Michiru had found.  It was large, but not huge, and amazingly
intact.  There were a few areas that had suffered damage in the fall of
the kingdom, but not many.  Maybe because, unlike the rest of Silver
Millennium, this place had been built mostly underground.  There was
also a breathable, though stale, atmosphere in there.  Empty room after
empty room greeted them, though, yielding no answers as to what this
place had been.

Finally, as frustration began to set in, they had made their first
significant find.  After giving a quick scan around still another empty
room, Haruka had turned to exit, when she felt a prickling in the back
of her neck.  From long experience Haruka had learned to trust such
feelings, and began to give this room a thorough search.  Tucked away in
the corner of a closet she found two strange cylinders, each about a
foot long, and four to five inches in diameter.  They were opaque, and
she could not tell what was in them, but Haruka knew that this was what
she had been looking for.

After finding Michiru, the two had settled down to examine the
cylinders.  They could both sense the magic emanating from the
cylinders.  That they were magical artifacts neither doubted.
Unfortunately, neither of them were anything close to experts in magic.
Sure, they wielded it as Senshi, but that was all mostly instinct.
There was very little conscious thought involved in the Senshi
abilities.  They were there, and you used them.

Haruka had turned the one she was examining over and over, but could see
nothing to hint at what it was.  There were two buttons on the end,
though, and finally Haruka had suggested that they simply try pressing
one.  Michiru had nodded, but insisted that they transform first, as
they would be able to handle any trouble better in their Senshi form.

Once transformed, Uranus had picked one of the two at random, and set it
in the center of the table.  She had pressed one of the buttons, and
then stepped quickly back, ready for anything.

The cylinder had hissed for a few moments, releasing a white mist into
the air, and then started to hum.  After a few moments of this the hum
stopped as well, and there was a loud click.  The cylinder then split
open, releasing its contents.  Out rolled a large, orange tabby cat,
with a yellow moon crescent on its forehead.  The cat yawned, stood, and
stretched, then looked around, taking note of the two Senshi.

"Hmm.  You would be Neptune and Uranus, from your costumes, though I
can't say I've met either of you individually before."

The cat made a bow towards them.  "I am Apollo, at your service." He
looked around.  "Was there another module, or was I alone?"

Neptune shook her head, and picked up the other cylinder from where she
had placed it.

"Thank goodness," said Apollo.  "Selene can be exasperating at times,
but I'd miss her if she didn't make it."  He looked at Uranus with a
grin.  "And if you tell her I said that, I'll deny it forever."

Neptune set the second cylinder down on the table, and Apollo went over
to it at once, quickly tapping the same button Uranus had tapped on his.
The cylinder hissed and hummed, then released another cat, this one a
much smaller tortoiseshell, though she still had the familiar crescent
moon on her forehead.

Selene awoke in almost the same way that Apollo had, yawning,
stretching, then looking around to analyze the situation.  "Hmm.  A new
Uranus, a new Neptune, same old Apollo."  She sighed.  Selene looked at
Apollo, "How long?"

Apollo shrugged.  Selene turned to Neptune.  Neptune shook her head.

"Sorry.  I don't know how far back Silver Millennium fell.  Several
thousand years, at the least."  Selene stared.

"Several... thousand... years..." Selene repeated.

(The archeological digs of the Moon Kingdom had later placed the date of
the Fall at around 10,000 BC, give or take a millennium.)

Apollo had taken to staring at Uranus.  "Something strange here..." he
said.  "Uranus, could you pick me up?  I need to check something, and
physical contact helps."  Uranus shrugged, and carefully scooped up the
cat.

Apollo locked eyes with Uranus, and stared deeply at her.  Uranus could
almost feel his gaze boring down into her soul.

Apollo shook his head to break the trance.  "By the Ancients!  How can
this be possible?"

Selene crossed the table.  "What are you babbling about now, Apollo?"

Apollo again looked at Uranus, as if seeing her anew.  "Selene, I don't
know how this can be, but she's *not* a new Uranus.  She may wear a
different face, but the soul's the same.  That's Lady Rhea herself."

"Apollo, can you never be serious?  This isn't the time for your jokes."

Apollo sighed.  "If you doubt me, then check on Neptune.  If one's the
same, they both are.  They always were inseparable."

Selene frowned, but walked back to Neptune, who grinned, and picked up
the cat without having to be asked.  Uranus watched them lock eyes, and
idly began to scratch Apollo behind one ear.  Selene and Neptune stayed
linked for much longer than Apollo and Uranus had.  Finally, Selene
broke the link.

"Have fun in there?" said Apollo.  Selene glared at him.

"I don't have your skill at such things, Apollo.  I had to be sure." She
paused, then shook her head.  "You were right, though.  It's her.  But
how?"

Uranus spoke, "If I understand it right, then you can blame Queen
Serenity."  Uranus explained, as she had heard from Neo-Queen Serenity.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Margrave hummed quietly to herself.  She was in cat form, so it came out
as little more than a purr.  Unlike the Moon Cats, she didn't have the
necessary vocal chords in this form that would have allowed her to
speak, or truly humm.  She didn't mind.  Had she wanted to be a Moon
Cat, and be able to talk, she would have fashioned the form that way.
But with the ability to talk would come the temptation to do so, and
that would have blown her cover right away.  Not that her cover had
helped all that much.

Other than that little snag, her day had been going quite well.  Ti had
been right on the mark about Mizuno Ami.  Margrave had entered the lab
as usual, but instead of making for her normal window perch, she had
headed straight for Mizuno-san, who was puttering on her latest
experiment.  Mizuno had noted the cat's presence, and then resumed her
work, taking up a running dialog about what she was working on.
Margrave had followed along with the dialog.  Finally, after about
thirty minutes of this, Mizuno had suddenly sighed and stopped what she
was working on.

Mizuno had looked right at Margrave.  "You know, for a couple of
millennium-old immortals, we're being awfully childish about this.  I
know it's you, Margrave, and *you* know *I* know, so why are we still
playing this game?"

Margrave blinked, then grinned, shifting back to her natural form.  She
chuckled.  "I dunno.  Momentum?"

Mizuno had grinned.  "Well get that `momentum' over here and help me
figure out why this formula won't work like it should."  Margrave had
joined her, and they had spend the next couple of hours debating
possibilities for what could be wrong.  They had broken it up a few
hours before, with Mizuno saying that Margrave was welcome in there any
time.

So she was in a fairly bubbly mood as she wandered the palace.  So the
place was going to be invaded in a few years.  Who cares?  They would
deal with that when it came.

As she crossed one corridor intersection she detected a very familiar
scent.  She grinned.  <Titanite.  And the second scent must then be
Topass.>  She turned to follow the scents.

<Hmmmm.  The two of them must be really cranking out the hormones, given
the amount of pheromones they were both kicking out.>  Margrave was
impressed.  They were both running almost on her pheromone level, and
with her, pheromones were a consciously controlled power.  She drank in
a full dose of Topass' scent.  <Hmmmm.  Dreamy.>  If it was anyone else
but Ti, she might have been tempted to make a play for him herself.
Actually she was still tempted, but she quickly put a lid on it.  No,
she would never do anything to hurt Ti.

The trails led down a few levels, and then headed towards the
holo-rooms.  Margrave grinned.  If Ti and Topass were in one of Ti's old
programs, it should be very easy for her to slip in and observe them for
a while.  She just had to get a look at Ti's new beau as soon as she
could.  Following the trail up to one of the doors, she morphed back to
her natural form and placed her hand on the control pad.

<Hmm.  Locked out.  Not too surprising.  Ti probably wanted privacy.>
Which made Margrave even more determined to get in there and see what
the love birds were up to.  Margrave knew most of the passcodes that Ti
tended to use, and began to send them in to try to override the locks.

As the passcodes failed, Margrave began to get a bad feeling about
things.  Ti was in emotional overload over Topass.  Her scent proved
that.  So how was she thinking straight enough to think about the need
to come up with a new passcode?  Why would she have thought there was
such a need?  No, it didn't fit.  She frowned at the control crystal,
which just glowed red back at her.

Glowed red?  She realized that she couldn't remember seeing it glow that
color before.  She pressed her hand to it and summoned up a help image,
displaying notes on various status indicators.  She flipped through a
couple of sets of data before finding what she wanted:

Red indicator - Use extreme caution.  Lethality interlocks disengaged.

Margrave began to curse loudly.  <Lethality interlocks were off?>  That
meant that almost anything could happen in there.  Ti might be
adventurous, but she wasn't *that* stupid.  To hell with niceties.  She
strode to the door and tried to rip it from its hinges.  Except that her
claws could find no purchase on the door.  <Forcefield.  Wonderful.> She
pounded the door and howled in frustration.

Margrave suddenly stopped, and retracted her claws with a visible
effort.  There were appropriate times for a Youma rage, and this was
definitely not one of them.  That would do Ti absolutely no good.  She
shifted back to cat form and dashed off down the corridor.  Much as she
disliked what she was about to do in principle, she would do whatever it
took to help Ti.  And in this case that meant running to the nearest
source of help in the palace, the security office and Sailor Mars.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometime later Haruka had finished her story.  She and Michiru had
transformed back.

Haruka said, "The only part of it I've never understood was how Michiru
and I came to be reincarnated as well.  We weren't there when the
kingdom fell.  We weren't there for Serenity to affect with the Silver
Crystal.  I don't think we died for quite a while after that."

Apollo spoke, "It probably depended on how Queen Serenity worded her
final wish to the Silver Crystal.  If she wished for simply the souls
here on the Moon, then no, you would have been left behind.  But if she
wished the souls of the Senshi explicitly, as well as those of her
kingdom, then the magic would have tagged your soul as well, and simply
waited for your death before it caught you."  He grinned.  "Makes me
quite glad you left us here."

Haruka was surprised.  "We?  Are you saying that I'm the one who put you
in these... things and tossed you in a corner?"

"Sleep modules, specifically designed for Moon Cats, and yes, it was
you, or rather your past self."

"But why?"

"The Moon Cats were designed as advisors and companions for the Sailor
Senshi.  But when we all returned to find the Moon Kingdom in ruins, and
the other colonies either abandoned or destroyed, you must have decided
there was no more need for us in that dead world, but that there might
one day again be a need for us.  You didn't say.  For that matter you
didn't ask if that's what we wanted, probably because we wouldn't have
put up with it.  But what's done is done, buried in the past.  Whatever
the rational, you're here, and we're here."  He bent down his head and a
solemn look crossed his face.

"As I have for untold ages, since the day I first had the awareness to
do so, I hereby pledge my loyalty to House Uranus, and specifically to
the Guardian Senshi of that house.  In peace or in war will my loyalty
be unquestionable, my service unrelenting, and my advice freely given.
Thus it has been, and thus it will be, until the Kingdoms crumble to
dust."

"Umm, Apollo..." said Selene.  "You might want to rethink that last bit.
The Kingdoms are already dust."

"Oh...  right," said Apollo.  Haruka and Michiru laughed.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

<Having a large, feline Youma breakdown one's office door was not a
great omen for the rest of the day,> Rei thought as Margrave did just
that.

Rei started to give Margrave a tongue lashing, but stopped when she
noticed the look in Margrave's eyes.  Rei knew full well what Margrave's
frenzies were like, and her eyes showed her walking the edge of one.  On
the other hand Rei could see that none of Margrave's rage was directed
at *her*, which spoke volumes about the situation.  That Margrave would
go to one of the Senshi in her condition, clawing to retain control of
herself as she was, let alone for her to have come to Sailor Mars, whose
responsibility it would be if Margrave lost that control, meant that
something was very, very wrong.

By the time Rei's lieutenant had come in the broken door behind
Margrave, Rei was already crossing the room, transforming into costume
as she went.  That the lieutenant had just gotten an eyeful crossed her
mind briefly, but she dismissed the thought.  She had more important
things to worry about.  Margrave had already spun in place and shoved
the Lieutenant aside as she went past.

She paused as she passed the Lieutenant.  "Place all personnel on Red
Alert, scramble a riot squad and have them follow my tracer.  And see if
any of the other Senshi are available to join me."  With that she ran
out.

Margrave ran down the corridor full tilt, Mars close behind her.  It
took less than a minute to reach the door of one of the holo-suites.
Margrave appeared for a moment as if she was going to ram the door full
speed, but pulled herself up short at the last instant.  Margrave looked
to Mars and spoke in a hiss.  "Ti... Sailor Polaris is in there with the
interlocks off.  Someone is trying to kill her."  Mars narrowed her
eyes.  No wonder Margrave was in such a state.  From all reports she and
Titanite were quite close.  Mars shook her head and approached the door.

First she tried the control crystal, not really expecting success.
Whoever had done this appeared to be too much of a pro to make it that
simple.  Mars tried her override code with no luck.  Nope.

She turned to the door itself.  <Hmm.  Not a normal forcefield.  Quite
powerful, and apparently generated from inside, which could mean a lot
of things.>  She debated just blasting it, but wasn't sure if even that
would breach it.  And besides, that level of a fire blast might just as
well bring down the ceiling on them as break the forcefield.

No, that wouldn't work, but she had one other option.  She pulled out a
special ward.  She didn't like using these, considering what it cost her
to make them, but she didn't see much choice.  They needed to get in
there fast.

The ward she pulled out was much fancier than her normal anti-spirit
ones.  It generally took her a week of dedicated time to write one out,
a week without interruptions, even sleep.  Creating one left her
incapacitated for days afterwards, and left her powers severely weakened
for weeks after that.  But she always kept several on hand, for
situations just such as this.

Mars carefully dispelled her gloves.  She had long ago learned to
control her transformation to a high degree, and could make such
modifications as needed.  And this one was needed, since it was not a
good idea to invoke an anti-magic ward in hands covered with magical
gloves.  The only thing that would do would be to leave her with her
Sailor Mars powers disrupted for several hours.

Mars spoke a series of sharp words similar to, but not the same as, the
ones she spoke to invoke the much simpler anti-spirit wards.  A few
drops of sweat dotted her brow.  Invoking one of the anti-magic wards
was nowhere as difficult as making them, but it still took a lot of
effort.

The ward began to glow brightly as she spoke.  She finished the litany,
and took a few steps forward to the door, raising the ward and placing
it firmly against the forcefield.  The ward now glowed far too brightly
to look at, and the forcefield began to spark and sputter as its magic
was disrupted.  Mars was impressed.  There was a lot of power behind the
field.  Most spells hit with one of these wards disintegrated at once.
A frown crossed her brow.  Something was not right here...

"Margrave!  Get over here!  Now!!" she spoke as she realized what was
happening.  Almost at once she felt the sharp pricks of twenty claws as
Margrave-neko landed on her shoulder.  Mars was already weaving a wall
of flames around her as she spoke again.  "Hang on tight.  Even with
this I think this'll get rou...."

The world went white around them as the door exploded.



Crystal Renegades Part 8 - Holographic Chaos

Mars coughed a couple of times as awareness returned.  Something heavy
was pressing down on her.  A quick shove with her enhanced strength
moved the object off of her.  It turned out to be a large section of
ceiling.  <Great.  So much for not destroying this part of the Palace.>

Mars sighed and glanced around.  No sign of Margrave.  But the shield
had deflected most of the explosion, so she should be fine.  The
clearing smoke revealed a gaping hole where the door had been.  Fine.
That explained what had happened to Margrave.  She had already gone in.
What Margrave thought she, a low powered Youma, could do that Titanite,
the most versatile of the Senshi, could not do, Mars didn't know.  But
for all that Mars had never cared for Margrave, she had never found
fault with Margrave's courage.

Mars rose to her feet to follow, and quickly dropped back down at the
intense pain that shot through her ankle.  She turned her senses briefly
inward.  Her ankle was broken.  A clean break, it would heal quite
easily given time, but she had none of that now.  She had to get in
there herself.

A brief moment of concentration, and her costume shifted.  Her normal
highheeled shoes were replaced by a pair of bulky boots.  The one on her
injured ankle was stiff like a cast, and would hold the ankle
immobilized well enough for her to get moving.  Her agility would be
greatly reduced from its norm, but at least she would be in the fight.
And besides, she had fought on before with much worse injuries.  No way
was she letting a simple broken ankle stop her.

She rose to her feet once more.  The boot worked as designed, no more
waves of pain from the ankle, just a dull throb that she could ignore
easily enough.  Nodding, Mars moved forward into the holo-room.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Apollo and Selene had proved to have a wealth of information.  Names,
descriptions, personalities of most of the major persona of the Moon
Kingdom and the other colonies.

There had been ten Moon Cats created originally.  Each of the colonies
had one, as well as the Moon and Earth.  Except for Pluto, which had
never accepted a Moon Cat.  What had happened to the rest of the cats
was unknown, though it was quite possible that some still slept in the
ruins of their colonies.  The Martian cat, a aggressive tom named Aries,
had been brought to Earth with the Martian refugees, but he had then
vanished into history.

Likewise the Terran cat was known to have survived at least the initial
cataclysm unleashed on Earth.  But the cats had no information on him
for the thousands of years that they had been asleep.

The Jovian cat had likely died instantly with the destruction of the
cloud cities.

That the Lunar and Venusian cats, Luna and Artemis, had been revived a
millennium before, had surprised the two cats.  Apollo had asked a
question about whether Artemis had managed to bed Luna yet, and earned a
clawed swipe across his rump from Selene as a response.

While Moon Cats were an artificial race, they were living beings in all
respects, including reproductive.  While female Moon Cats were fertile
very rarely, they did on occasion breed.  Apparently for all their
sniping, Apollo and Selene were the Moon Cat equivalent of a married
couple, and had even managed to have a son once, though his whereabouts
were as lost in history as most of the rest of the cats.

One of the more interesting types of information that the cats held was
their knowledge of sorcery.  Sorcery had been a valuable part of the
abilities of the Outer Senshi in their quest to protect the solar system
from external threats, and the past lives of Haruka and Michiru had both
been proficient Sorcerers, though neither had been anywhere near Wizard
class.  When one's Senshi attacks packed more punch than one could hope
to push with normal sorcery, why bother learning attack spells?  But the
more simple, utilitarian spells, from lighting to teleportation, were of
great use.  Apollo had proclaimed that the ability was still there in
the modern incarnations of the two Senshi.  While the cats were by
nature unable to wield magic themselves, they did hold great knowledge
on the subject, and after a number of years of tutelage, Haruka and
Michiru had augmented their abilities with a wide array of spells.  Once
again, if it came down to a fight, they would be much better off relying
on their innate Senshi powers, but otherwise...

Michiru had been the first to master teleportation, which had allowed
them to come and go as they pleased.

The cats had also led them to another underground bunker.  This one was
not airtight, as the first had been, but that proved to be all the
better, for in a vacuum the contents of this second bunker had remained
intact: the Royal Archives.  Here had been gathered the knowledge and
history of the Moon Kingdom.  Minute, Selene had said, compared to the
knowledge that had been housed in the Great Library of Mercury, but
still large in itself.  It was here that they had found records of the
other colonies: the caves of Mercury, the villas of Venus, even the
original designs for the Jovian cloud cities.

Another interesting find had happened a few years later when one of the
continuing archeological expeditions had found something very
interesting in the rubble of the Palace.  An intact transformation wand!
Haruka and Michiru were still funding the digs, and used a fineprint
clause in the contracts to claim the wand, but that brought up other
issues.  If one wand was buried, might there be others, or other magical
artifacts?  Apollo and Selene had scanned the area and located magical
traces several yards below the surface.  Uranus had used her Earth
powers to dig it up, revealing a magically locked safe.  The spells on
it were tattered with age, but they still took every precaution,
eventually opening it up.  There, hung carefully side by side, was a
complete set of Senshi wands.  All ten planets were there, as well as
the Moon and a number of other celestial bodies.

One interesting wand was topped with what was obviously a image of the
sun, though Apollo and Selene swore they had never heard even a hint of
a Solar Senshi.  The Senshi had come about as humanity had inhabited the
worlds, and consolidated the rule of each world enough to channel the
power of that world to one person.  (Actually, Selene had stressed, it
was a good bit more complicated than that, involving alien invaders,
slavery of humanity, and a war for freedom.) Earth had never really had
a Senshi, as splintered as it was politically, the Moon had never
bothered preferring diplomacy to fighting, and Nemesis had had such a
volatile political situation that it had rarely been able to field a
Senshi.  There had been minor Senshi from some of the asteroids and
inhabited moons.  But even back then the sun had never been colonized.
It probably could have been, but the expenditure in magical energy to do
such a thing would have been so great no one ever tried.

That night, Haruka had dreamed the vision again, again seeing the
figures with the celestial symbols spreading out across the system.

She tried this time to follow where the blue-haired figure went, but
again lost it before it arrived at a destination.  She noted that the
shadows around the figures seemed a little less, though she could still
make out nothing of substance about them.

And the years had passed.  Apollo and Selene tutored them in history and
sorcery, while they worked to rebuild the base.  The base had once been
the Uranian ambassadorial quarters, and as Uranians liked to live below
ground as they did on their home, they had built that way here.

The vision repeated over the years as well, slowly growing clearer.
Michiru finally noticed that some of the figures were growing clearer
faster than others, and correctly interpreted that to mean that they
would appear first.

And thus began the gathering of the Younger Senshi, as the great cycle
once more began.  Some, they had seemed to find by coincidence, like the
street urchin Haruka caught picking her pocket, in... Haruka forgot what
city.  Haruka had clamped her hand down on the little hand in her
pocket, and instantly known what she had.  The girl had turned out to be
the Younger Uranus, of Haruka's own House, somehow descended from the
one child she had born centuries before.

Haruka might have been amazed at the sheer coincidence of it, but she
had long before realized that when one was the pawn of destiny, as she
and Michiru were, there was no such thing as coincidence.

Others of the Senshi they had been led directly to by visions and
similar trails.

When the first of the Younger Senshi had matured another problem became
evident.  From the rate at which the figures in the vision were becoming
visible, it was obvious that it would be a long time before all were
gathered.  While Haruka and Michiru were immortal, the Younger Senshi
(they had the Younger Jupiter and Uranus by that point) were not.  It
would do no good to gather the Younger Senshi, but have some be old and
infirm by the time.

Michiru had insisted that they should visit Serenity, as she could
easily bestow immortality on their charges.  Haruka had opposed the
idea, and they had had one of the worst arguments they had ever had.  In
the end Haruka had given in, but refused to come along.  Michiru had
gone, then returned later to pick up the two Younger Senshi.

Michiru explained that she had met secretly with Serenity and told her
of their plans.  Serenity didn't approve, as such a plan would require a
return of high magic to humanity, and Serenity dreaded the horrors that
could come with that.  But Serenity had said that it was not her place
to oppose the two, and in the end granted two concessions to their
cause.

First, she would allow the Younger Senshi to be brought before her as
needed to be subjected to the Silver Crystal.  For this, Serenity asked
to be allowed private conversations with each, that she might assess
them herself.

Secondly, Serenity had promised that when she finally did have a child
herself, that child would inherit not only the mantle of Sailor Moon,
becoming the Younger Moon, but the Silver Crystal as well.  Upon her
child's coming of age Serenity would bestow the Silver Crystal upon the
child, and would allow the child to determine her own path from that
point.  If her path led with Haruka and Michiru, so be it.  But in
response she elicited a promise from Michiru that if the child chose not
to throw in with them, that they accept that as well.  The destiny of
Serenity's daughter would be of her own choosing.

Haruka still had to chuckle at the idea of choosing one's destiny.  She
had never been given any choice, and she knew that Serenity's daughter
would not have one either, for among the figures in the vision was one
with a golden moon crescent, that settled down on the Moon.

Haruka thought back to a small pink-haired girl she had met a millennium
back.  She didn't know the reasons for Serenity's daughter being in the
past, but still had no doubt that that had been her.  Brave, maybe a
little too much so.  Strong of character.  That was how Haruka
remembered her.  No, Haruka expected that the Princess would eventually
join in with the rest, though Haruka would hold herself to Michiru's
promise to Serenity and not force the issue.

The Blue-Haired One, on the other hand had remained elusive.  Her image,
now identifiably female, had grown steadily clearer, but it seemed not
to help.  When finally, a few years back, she and Michiru had been able
to make out the face, it had still been of little help.  The face seemed
faintly familiar, but neither could place it.  When one had a whole
planet to search, even having a face wasn't always a big help.

Not that they had been particularly searching.  Whatever controlled the
visions had either led them to (or led to them) each of the Younger
Senshi so far.  They had little doubt that when the Blue-Haired One was
to appear, she would do so.

And that was exactly how it had happened.  Haruka had taken the youngest
of the Senshi, Sailor Mars, on her first visit to Crystal Tokyo to meet
Serenity and be bathed in the Silver Crystal's power.  Serenity had been
strangely nervous as she met with Hitomi and Haruka in her private
chambers.  Haruka had taken a peek at the infant Princess and confirmed
to herself that it was the same child that she had met a millennium ago.

After the meeting Haruka had taken Hitomi sightseeing.  "Coincidence"
had been in full swing, as Haruka had left Hitomi alone briefly to run
an errand.  Haruka trusted Hitomi enough to leave her alone for the
short period of time.  Hitomi might be the shy, nervous type, but she
had the deep sense of duty and responsibility shared by House Mars in
the ancient days.

Haruka and Michiru had created magical images from their visions of the
Blue-Haired One, and shown all the Younger Senshi, so that they could
keep an eye out for her as well, and as luck would have it, (or rather
whatever tugged at destiny's strings, thought Haruka) Azurite walked
right in front of Hitomi while she was waiting.  Hitomi thought to call
for Haruka, but quickly realized that the woman would be lost before
Haruka could get back out.  So Hitomi had started to follow Azurite,
calling up training that she had been given, but never used before.

Haruka had returned to find Hitomi missing, and quickly realized
something was wrong.  She had scanned for Hitomi, but in the magic-rich
environment of Crystal Tokyo, she could barely get a direction, let
alone location.  Haruka had set off in the direction.

She had come within sight of Hitomi just in time to see Azurite
disappear into the alley, with Hitomi heading after her.  Haruka's first
thought was to realize what Hitomi was up to.  That had been the
Blue-Haired One.  Haruka's second thought was to realize what the
Blue-Haired One was up to.  A trap, and Hitomi didn't have nearly enough
training to spot the trap, or likely to fight the Blue-Haired One.

Haruka assessed the distance.  Too far to make it before Hitomi entered
the alley.  Very well.  She hurried after anyway.  She hoped Hitomi
could handle herself well enough for the few moments it took to catch
up, and join her.  As she hurried, Haruka whispered a retrieval spell,
summoning up a hypo-injector full of a fast-acting sedative.  The last
thing Haruka wanted was to injure the one they had sought for so long,
and if she could get the element of surprise, this should knock her out
without a fight.

And luck (Hah!) had been with her.  As she rounded the corner into the
alley she could see Hitomi enter a combat stance against the woman, who
had her back to the mouth of the alley.  With magically enhanced vision,
Haruka could see that the woman was in a Sailor Senshi costume.  Sailor
Senshi?  The Blue-Haired One?  Haruka couldn't let it distract her.

"Okay.  What's this all about?" the woman demanded of Hitomi.

Haruka made her move, and was behind the woman in less than a second,
pressing the hypo to the back of the woman's neck.  The woman made a
small sound, then tried to spin on Haruka, but the sedative was already
at work, and she collapsed.  Haruka quickly scooped the woman's limp
body up.

"Haruka-sensei!  Thank goodness you..."  Haruka put a finger to her
mouth, and motioned Hitomi to her side.  No time for causalities.
Haruka had no idea what the woman's immune system was like, or how long
she might be out.  As Hitomi joined her, Haruka curtly spoke a
teleportation spell and took the three of them home.

Her worries had been well founded, as the woman was already twitching as
they materialized in the infirmary.  Haruka quickly laid the woman out
on one of the medical beds, and tapped out a command on a console beside
the bed.  A hum emerged from the bed, and the area above the bed dimmed
as a stasis field slowed the passage of time within it to a crawl.

Haruka had to chuckle as people began to arrive.  Teleporting directly
to the infirmary had set off medical alarms throughout the base.  One
look at who was on the bed answer most questions, though.  They had all
seen the images of the Blue-Haired One.

Michiru took one look at the costume Azurite was wearing.  "My goodness.
No wonder she looked familiar.  She's Sailor Arcturus."

Haruka was looking at the woman.  "Sailor what?"

"Sailor Arcturus.  She was part of Polaris' and Calcite's group." Haruka
nodded in understanding as memories of the few times she had met with
the Renegade Senshi returned.

Hitomi looked puzzled.  "Sensei?  Sailor Arcturus?  I know who Polaris
is, but Arcturus?"

Haruka spoke without taking her gaze from Azurite.  "Same situation as
Polaris.  As I remember they were all refugees from the old Dark
Kingdom.  They had powers, but couldn't use them publicly without
causing a fuss.  So some of them assumed Sailor Senshi names and
costumes.  Unlike Polaris, for whom being a Senshi was a passion, with
Arcturus it was more a matter of convenience.  When the need for the
identity had passed, I believe she simply stopped using it.  They may
not be true Sailor Senshi in the strictest definition, but after a
thousand years I think they have as much right to the title as any of
us." Haruka turned to Hitomi.  "So while there won't be a Younger
Arcturus, I want you to consider her to be one of the Elder Senshi
anyway."  She glanced around at the gathered Younger Senshi.  "Give her
respect for that, but don't anyone refer to her as the Blue-Haired One.
I will handle that when the time is right.  For now, she is the Elder
Arcturus, or Azurite, which I believe is her real name."  Michiru nodded
in confirmation, and the Senshi acknowledged their understanding.

Haruka returned her attention to the present.  The problem at hand, then
was how to handle Azurite now that they had found her.  Haruka had a
feeling that, for now at least, any mention of the "Blue-Haired One" was
a bad idea.  Azurite was obviously one who disliked the spotlight,
evidenced by her life in obscurity in Crystal Tokyo.  She could easily
have gained a public position in the Palace had she wanted it, given her
links to Titanite and Calcite.  So revealing that she was a figure that
had been sought for 200 years, not to mention that she had taken on
messianic status among some of the Younger Senshi, would more likely
drive her away than entice her.  No, until she knew more about Azurite's
personality, that was best left alone.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Margrave ran in cat form through the most surreal environment she had
ever seen.  As far as she could tell, characters from dozens of anime
and science fiction series were running rampant, all locked in deadly
combat with each other.  She could recognize some, others she had no
idea who they were.

At one point Luke Skywalker was having a light saber duel with Gourry
Gabriev.

At another she barely dodged the foot of some unidentified giant robot
which was trading blows with Godzilla, of all things.  Margrave spared a
glance upwards at the two.  She knew intellectually that the ceiling of
the chamber was nowhere near tall enough for them, but she couldn't see
any point where the constructs became images on the ceiling.  She moved
on.

Miyu and Karla were tossing fireballs at each other.

A Starfury roared past overhead, pursued closely by an alpha fighter.

Ryouko and Iczer were having a sword fight in mid air.

The landscape itself was just as chaotic, shifting as she ran from a
city street to a barren plain to dense forest in very short distance.

And somewhere in all this were Titanite and Topass.  Margrave could
smell Ti, but in all the chaos there wasn't enough scent to form a
followable trail.  Margrave pushed on.  So far no one had bothered with
the harmless looking little cat running through things.  She hoped no
one would.

Suddenly she caught a familiar scent close by.  Not Ti, but almost as
good.  Topass.  She changed course to follow it, but had to skid to a
stop after a short distance, as the trail ended abruptly.  She
backtracked briefly, and stopped when she smelled him again.  The scent
was strong.  She had to be almost on top of him, but there was no sign
of him.

Okay.  Her eyes and nose were giving her contradictory messages.  Which
probably meant that something was deceiving one of them.  The logical
assumption was that her nose was the correct one.  When one wanted to
mask oneself sight was the obvious way to do so.  Then aura, or magical
senses, and maybe even sound.  But few people remembered that smell
could give them away as well, and fewer still were able to successfully
mask it.  It had always been hard to fool Margrave with glamours because
of this fact, and Margrave had always been careful to not tip her hand
to this fact.  If someone knew she trusted her nose like she did, then
they could have set a scent based trap specifically for her.

So that meant Topass was right by her, and likely was able to block
sight.  Invisibility was the simplest explanation, and the most likely.
Not a simple power, almost impossible to achieve unless born with the
ability, invisibility was basically a constantly shifting glamour that
presented each view of the person with the image that the person wasn't
there.  Though there had been few youmas in the old Dark Kingdom with
the ability, there had been the hide-behinds.  Thoughts of them still
sent shivers down her spine.  The paranoia over hide-behinds had made
use of invisibility powers extremely dangerous back then.

Since then Margrave had met a few individuals who could turn invisible,
but none had been able to mask their scent.

With that ability, Margrave had never been particularly intimidated by
invisibility powers.  The only one who had still scared her back in the
old Dark Kingdom had been one of Beryl's personal assassins who achieved
invisibility not by glamour, but mentally, by a low level mental field
that simply prevented one from noticing him.  He could stand in plain
sight, and all senses of those around him would simply ignore him.  His
weakness had been those with mental shielding, as they blocked his
projections, but Margrave had no such shields.

So the fact that she could smell Topass meant he was using the glamour
type of invisibility.  Hmm.  She needed to link up with him.  Then it
would simply be a matter of finding Ti and getting out of this insane
asylum.  But how to link up with him without tipping her hand of her own
abilities?  Even if hadn't been a potential future enemy, she would have
been loath to reveal herself.  As it was, letting him know her secrets
was out of the question.  She had to simply be the strong, agile, but
dumb catgirl friend of Ti.  Her public attributes.  But how to flush him
out from where he was hiding invisibly without breaking that illusion?
Hmm...

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Mars had decided on a "Bull in the China Shop" tactic for moving through
the chaos.  She had set a flaming shield around her, put a "Don't mess
with me" look on her face, and just started walking.  The attitude,
combined with the show of power, was enough to make most of the denizens
of this place think twice about taking her on.  The few who had not been
intimidated she had casually incinerated.  They were all holo-illusions,
not worthy of any sympathy.  Serenity would have been horrified to see
her so cold-bloodedly logical about what appeared to be living, thinking
beings, but Mars had no time for such luxuries.

Her progress was still slow, but with seemingly random chaos in all
directions, it didn't seem to matter which way she went.  One direction
was as good as any other, so she kept walking, looking for any sign of
Margrave, Titanite, or Titanite's new beau, Topass.

Mars wondered about that situation.  A couple of her people had been
keeping an eye on the two wayward Nemesites the previous day when they
had first met Titanite.  All the Nemesites were watched when they were
away from the diplomatic quarters.  So Mars had received a full report
on that first meeting.  She didn't know what to make of it.  Personal
relationships had never been her strong point, so figuring out what
Titanite saw in a man a fraction her age, and one of the Black Moon
Family at that, she couldn't begin to guess.

On the other hand, while she might not trust the Nemesites, for good
reason, Mars did trust Titanite.  And she respected Titanite's privacy,
and so had ordered the watch on Topass removed while he was with
Titanite.  A bad decision, in retrospect.  If she had kept the watch on
Topass she would have known about the sabotaged holo-room as soon as it
happened.  Her people might even have seen who did it.  They were very
good.  Oh, well.  Much too late for that now.

Mars had just finished incinerating a random demon that had attacked
her, when she heard her name being called from above her.  Looking up,
she saw Sailor Polaris standing on a high tree branch.  Polaris motioned
for Mars to join her, and when Mars shook her head, Polaris shrugged and
dropped down beside her.

"A little crazy in here," Polaris said.

Mars nodded.  "Just a little."  A dark elf stepped from behind another
tree, and flipped several daggers at the two of them.  Polaris raised
her shields and deflected the ones headed at her, while Mars casually
sidestepped those aimed at her, and caught one out of the air.  A moment
later that blade had been returned to its owner, point first.

"Why are you still in here?  I would think you would have ported out at
the first sign of trouble."

"Tried it.  Teleport block."

Mars nodded.  She figured it was something like that.

"You might try again.  Whoever did this put a pretty powerful forcefield
around the whole room.  I got rid of it when I came in."

Polaris nodded.  "Even so, I'm not leaving without Topass."

"Understood.  Let's find him."

The two of them started moving again.

"By the way, what the hell are you doing in here, Rei-chan?"

"You can thank Margrave for that when we find her.  She figured out
something was wrong and went and fetched me."

"Marge is in here?  We gotta hurry up and find her!  She's not powerful
enough to hold her own in here!"  Polaris started to run.

"Titanite!" Mars shouted.  Polaris stopped in her tracks.  "Calm down.
You know Margrave better than I do.  Do you really think she's fighting
her way through this?  She's a master of misdirection.  I never would
have found out about her presence in the Palace if it had been just her.
If she doesn't want to be noticed, she won't be."

Polaris looked embarrassed.  It had been her fault that Margrave had
been discovered in the Palace.  Margrave's deception had been almost
perfect.  It had been Titanite who slipped up.  Mars had been the one
with the spy network, when suddenly Titanite had begun reacting to
events in the Palace before even Mars was aware of them.  Obviously
Titanite had a new source of information in the Palace.  A source that
Mars knew nothing about.  And that was not acceptable to Mars.

Mars had begun a private investigation, and eventually put the pieces
together about Margrave.  She had confronted Titanite, and gotten the
full story.  A private session with Serenity later, and the issue was
past.

But Mars had never told Titanite that she had figured out about
Margrave's intelligence level.  It was obvious once you placed her in
Mercury's lab as often as Margrave went down there.  Mars had long ago
sworn to never underestimate Margrave.  There were so many layers of
secrecy to her, that Mars still wasn't sure how much of what she though
of as the "real" Margrave was all that real.

Heck, even the full extent of Margrave's powers were still unrevealed.
Strength, agility, and pheromone manipulation were public knowledge.
Margrave's shape shifting, while not *public* knowledge, was no longer
all that secret either.  And then there was her intelligence, of course.
But what else could she do?  Mars didn't know, but she knew better than
to end the list at the above.  With Margrave she couldn't afford to do
that.  Making assumptions about Margrave was setting oneself up for
trouble.  About the only assumption Mars felt safe making about Margrave
was that Margrave would do what was best for Margrave.

Thinking about powers gave Mars an interesting idea, though.  She bent
down and picked up a small rock from the path.  "Polaris, isn't
everything in here made up of that psychoplasm stuff you guys play
with?"  She tossed the rock to Polaris.  Polaris nodded as she caught
the rock.  "Think you could dispel any of it?"

Polaris got a thoughtful look on her face.  "I'm not sure.  The computer
that controls this place is pretty powerful."  She stared at the rock,
and seemed to be looking through it.  After a moment the rock began to
glow briefly, then seemed to fold in on itself before vanishing.  "That
wasn't easy.  Getting rid of more than that is going to take a lot more
power than *I*'ve got...."  her voice trailed off, and she got the
thoughtful look again.  Then, without warning, she vanished.

Mars sighed.  Titanite was like this at times.  Get her distracted, and
she tended to forget the little things, like being polite.  On the other
hand the issue of whether the teleport block was still active had been
resolved.  As soon as the missing people were located, Titanite could
get them all out of here quickly enough.

About thirty seconds later Polaris reappeared, and she wasn't alone.
Her brother and sister-in-law were with her.  Mars nodded.  This brought
all three of Crystal Tokyo's resident psychoplasm shapers together in
here.  Mars quickly noticed a look of extreme irritation on Calcite's
face, and one of intense embarrassment on Polaris' face.  Mars had to
suppress a chuckle, wondering exactly what Calcite and Minako had been
up to when Titanite teleported in on them.  She would have to inquire of
Minako about it at a later date.

Calcite spoke.  "Very well, we're here, Ti.  What did you have in mind?"

"I was hoping that with all three of us working together, we might be
able to dispel enough of this insanity to start shutting things down."

Calcite nodded, and glanced around just as a giant gorilla burst from a
nearby bush and leapt to attack.  Mars was just summoning up her flame
to hit it, when Calcite gave the snarling beast a stern look.  The
gorilla stopped in its tracks, glowed briefly, then vanished in the same
way Polaris had made the rock vanish earlier.  Mars gave him an
impressed nod.  She knew that Calcite and Titanite actually had
identical potential, but practice and frequency of use made for a world
of difference in power levels.  Calcite practiced his shaping abilities
constantly, and was currently at a significantly higher level than his
sister.  Titanite on the other hand might not be as powerful a shaper,
but she was *far* more creative than her brother had ever been.  She
also focused on other aspects of her abilities more than Calcite did.
Polaris was far stronger at force-shielding than her brother.  Calcite
tended to be of the "The best defense is a good offense" philosophy, and
worked the more offensive capabilities more, while Titanite worked the
defensive capabilities.  It also helped that Polaris' favorite attack,
her "Polaris Missile", was a combination of force-shielding and energy
projection, while Calcite's favorites, exploding psychoplasm blades,
were built off of shaping and energy projection.

Calcite looked at Mars.  "If you could keep those things off of us while
we set this up, I'd appreciate it."  Mars nodded and concentrated
briefly, erecting a wall of flame around the other three.  She then
prepped a flame blast and began to keep an eye out for any brave enough
to try to cross the wall.

Calcite, Polaris, and Venus linked hands in a circle and appeared to go
into a trance.  Mars knew this was the critical point, when they would
be the most defenseless, as they raised their powers.

Just as Mars began to believe they would get through it without
incident, a giant foot slammed down nearby.  An incredible roar
announced that Godzilla had arrived.  Mars rolled her eyes, and then
released a full power blast at the giant lizard.  The blast struck him
full in the chest, and dissipated harmlessly.

"Not good," Mars muttered.  She took a step towards the tranced trio and
placed her hand into the wall of flames, which flickered and went out.
It would not stop something like Godzilla, and she needed the power
herself.  She could now see a small ball of whiteness slowly growing
between the three.  Good.  That should take care of the overgrown
lizard, if she could just give them time to grow it.  Now she just
needed to distract it, not defeat it.

She ran a bit away from the trio, and tossed a much smaller fireball
right into its face.  The lizard bellowed in rage, and turned toward the
source of the irritation.

"That's it, you overgrown lizard.  Pay attention to the moving target
that stings, not the harmless little trio over there."  She kept tossing
little fireballs at its face as she ran, still not doing any damage, but
getting Godzilla into a royal rage.  She had been lucky so far, and had
been able to avoid being crushed by the enraged monster.

It was then that her luck ran out, as her enlarged boot slipped on a
loose rock, sending her sprawling.  She couldn't bounce to her feet like
normal because of the boots, and had to scramble around to try to regain
her footing.  But before she could a huge shadow covered her.
Godzilla's foot, she saw as she looked up, coming down right on top of
her.

"Oh, shit," she muttered, and the thought that she was about to die
flashed through her brain.

Suddenly the shadow vanished as a new light source drove away all
shadows.

"BRILLIANT BEAM!" shouted an unfamiliar voice, and the new light struck
Godzilla, upsetting his balance and toppling him backwards.

A figure appeared at her side from thin air and reached down a hand to
help her up.  She knew at once who he was from the reports she had read.
Topass of the Black Moon Family.  She clamped down on her reactions and
allowed herself to be helped up.

"You're the Lady Mars, from the looks of your costume."

Mars nodded.  "How did you find me?  Or did you just happen along by
chance?"

Topass shook his head.  "Not chance.  I had a little help."  He motioned
towards the ground beside him, where Margrave sat in cat form.  "Pretty
impressive pet you have there.  She found me in spite of my
invisibility, and pestered me until I followed her.  She led me right
here."

Mars noticed that Margrave had a smug look on her face.  Wonderful.  The
only thing worse than having Margrave be indirectly responsible for
saving her life was having Margrave knowing the fact.  Margrave would
consider Mars to be in her debt.  Just great.

Topass motioned to the monster that was working to regain its feet.
"Whatever were you doing playing with that monstrosity?" he asked.

"Trying to keep his attention away from some friends who are working to
put an end to all this," she motioned at the continuing chaos.

Topass nodded.  "Ahh.  Well, why don't we give him something closer to
his own size to play with."  With that Topass' eyes seemed to go vacant.

Just as Godzilla was regaining his feet, another huge shape appeared.
This was a monster out of nightmares, a swirling black cloud with many
eyes, mouths, and tentacles protruding from the surface.  It whipped a
few tentacles at Godzilla, but didn't hit him.  Godzilla roared in fury
and charged at the form, which floated away from him.  The apparition
and Godzilla both vanished into the distance.

Topass dropped to one knee, sweat knotting his brow.  He looked up at
Mars.  "Maintaining such a large illusion is quite tiring."  He toppled
over on his side.

"Topass!" Mars instinctively grabbed his wrist, checking his pulse which
was strong and steady.  Only after she had checked did she realize that
he might not have even had a pulse in the same place she did.  Mars
shrugged and picked his unconscious form up from the ground and headed
back towards where she had left Polaris and the others.  Margrave
trotted contentedly at Mars' heels, not making a sound.

Mars spoke to Margrave without even looking down at her.  "When this is
all over, come visit me in my office."  She didn't even look down for
Margrave's response.

They were about halfway back to the others when the wave hit them.
Considering how the shifting landscape made seeing much of any distance
difficult, it was upon them without any warning.  One moment they were
walking in the remnants of some blasted-out city, the next the wave
passed them and everything else vanished, leaving just the three of them
standing there.  Margrave gave a momentary startled look as the world
vanished around her, but after she reassured herself that she was still
intact, she shrugged and resumed.

Mars and Margrave approached the concentrating trio.  Mars had never
really understood what the shapers did, but whatever it was was
obviously working.  Venus was glowing almost too brightly to look at.
Mars nodded.  So that was how they were getting the energy to oppose the
control computer.  Energy for all magic had to come from somewhere.  The
most common power source was the mana energy generated by the various
planets.  All the Sailor Senshi had fairly direct links to their
planets, allowing them to draw upon immense amounts of power when they
knew how.  On the other hand, youma, and thus the renegades, didn't have
nearly as good an energy source for their powers.  They were living
magical energy batteries, absorbing energy from their environment and
storing it until needed.  The amount a youma could store had been a
pretty good indication of the youma's overall power level.

After a millennium of life, the Renegades likely had more storage
capacity than any youma had every had, except maybe Queen Beryl herself.
But their reserves would have been nowhere near enough to do what the
trio was doing.

But add Venus into the equation, and it worked.  Calcite and Venus had
worked out a method ages ago that allowed Calcite to borrow power from
Venus.  It was a variant of the way youma could absorb human
life-energy.  Polaris had obviously been let in on the secret at some
point.  Or maybe she was drawing through her brother.  Whichever, Venus
was serving as a conduit for close to the full mana output of the planet
Venus, an immense amount.

Mars suspected she was doing very little of the actual shaping.  Just
keeping that amount of energy under control was extremely difficult,
Mars knew from first-hand experience.  She had fully opened her link to
planet Mars a couple of times herself.  The "Mars Super Nova", as
Polaris had dubbed it, was Mars' most powerful solo attack, but it was
also her most dangerous.  Easily powerful enough to level a city block,
it was totally unaimable.  Mars could barely keep it from burning
herself out, she had no concentration left to aim with.  Mars had never
been able to watch the Nova herself, being absorbed with launching it.
Polaris had described it as sea of white flame that spread out from Mars
in a circle, annihilating anything it touched.

Mars gently laid Topass down and sat down herself to wait for them to
finish.  Margrave curled up beside her.

Mars was startled by a voice behind her.  "Well, I see you all have
things under control here."  Mars sighed and looked up at Serenity, now
standing right behind Mars.  Serenity grinned at Mars and took a seat
beside her.  She reached down and began to pet Margrave, an act which
caused Mars to raise an eyebrow.  Serenity just grinned, and Mars could
hear Margrave purring.  Mars just rolled her eyes and returned her
attention to the trio.  The glow around Venus was dimming, showing that
Venus was closing down the link.

Serenity spoke softly, "Sorry I didn't come earlier.  I had no idea
anything was happening until Minako opened up.  Kinda hard not to notice
when *that* much power is flowing."  Mars nodded.  "I'm not sure what's
wrong with the computer.  They never were my strong suit.  But I don't
think it'll give us any more trouble."  She grinned.

Mars grew suspicious.  "Serenity, what did you do?"

"I think you could call it pulling the plug.  The energy for all this
flows from me, like most of the rest of the city.  I've cut it off.  And
it's pretty much exhausted its reserves fighting them," she nodded
towards the trio.

The glow was gone from Venus now, and she began to collapse.  Calcite
moved faster than Mars thought possible, and caught her long before she
could hit the ground.  Her transformation dissolved around her, leaving
her clothed in an incredibly sexy negligee.  Mars chuckled at the
confirmation of what Minako and Calcite had been up to when Polaris had
teleported in on them earlier.  Serenity blushed momentarily, then made
a brief hand motion, and Minako was dressed much more modestly.  The
very fact that Serenity was worried about Minako's clothes, and not
Minako herself showed that Serenity had already scanned Minako and was
not worried about her condition.  Simple exhaustion, then.  Mars knew
how tiring that type of link could be, and Minako had held it open for
much longer than Mars ever had for her Nova.

Serenity spoke again, "Any idea why this happened?"

Mars shook her head.  "But I'll find out."  Serenity nodded.

Polaris had been a bit slower coming out of the trance than Calcite, and
now shook her head to help her regain awareness.  She glanced around and
her eyes fell on the unconscious Topass.  She didn't move quite as fast
as Calcite had, but her speed was still impressive.  She was at his side
in a moment, raising him up and calling his name.

Mars said, "He'll be alright.  He just passed out from exertion, like
Minako."  Polaris nodded in understanding, but continued to hold him as
if he would vanish at any moment.

Serenity grinned and reached out to place a hand on Topass' side.
"Here.  This should help him."  Her hand glowed momentarily, then Topass
glowed as well for a couple of seconds.  When the glow faded, his eyes
flickered open.  He looked up into Polaris' face and grinned.  "I guess
it's over?"

"Yep," responded Polaris.

"Well, it was a memorable first date, I'll admit," Polaris chuckled.

Polaris suddenly got a gleam in her eye.  She looked at Serenity.
"Serenity, if you'll excuse us?"  Serenity nodded, and Polaris and
Topass vanished.

Calcite had picked up the still unconscious Minako.  "If you don't mind,
Your Majesty, we'll be going as well."  They vanished, leaving only
Mars, Serenity, and the still purring Margrave.

Serenity spoke without looking at Mars, "I don't suppose you'll let me
heal your ankle, will you?"  Mars shook her head.  Unless the injury was
life threatening, Mars preferred to heal naturally.  The continued pain
and inconvenience of the healing served as a reminder of her failure.
If she was perfect at what she did, then she would not have been
injured.  Her injury would serve as a reminder of her lack of
perfection.  Perfection she knew she could never achieve, but striven
for anyhow.

Serenity shook her head in sadness, but didn't argue.  Mars had never
been able to get Serenity to understand her views in this matter, but
had long ago gotten her, however reluctantly, to agree to abide by them.

Mars rose to leave as well, leaving a thoughtful looking Serenity
sitting there still petting a purring Margrave.



Crystal Renegades Part 9 - Aftermath and Epilogue

Azurite sat on her bed, pondering everything she had learned.  Her own
bed, back in Crystal Tokyo.  Now that she had been there, she could
teleport back and forth to the lunar base as needed, if she chose to
accept their offer.

And that, then, was the critical point.  They had offered her a part in
their efforts.  Said she was the first non-Senshi to be let into their
"Inner Circle", so to speak.  And there was the problem. Azurite
couldn't imagine why they wanted her.  It was still looking like one of
Calcite's blasted picture puzzles.  Except now she had too many pieces,
and none of them fit.

The Moon Crew had singled her out, abducted her, and then done their
best to persuade her to join them.  They had made no effort to stop her
when she decided to leave.  (Not that they could have stopped her.
Without teleport blocks, or some sort of power suppression, it's damn
near impossible to hold a natural teleporter.)  Which brought it back to
"Why her?"  Something was still missing from it all.

Even so, she was finding it hard to find reasons not to join up.  She
had known for a few hundred years that something was lacking from her
life.  If you came right down to it, her life simply had no purpose.
She had tried career after career, but there had always been something
missing, and she had moved on to something else.

She had even been thinking, recently, about trying motherhood again.
Her first, and so far only, child had been one of the biggest disasters
in her life, but Adamite was hundreds of years in the past now, and she
had been debating with herself whether to propose to Pyrite that they
try again.  That was now out of the question, for a while at least.
Azurite had no intention of bearing a child with the Black Moon War so
close at hand.

But she felt drawn by those fanatics up on the Moon.  Or rather by their
dream.  To be a part of helping humanity reclaim the solar system, and
maybe then the stars.  To be involved in possibly one of humanity's
biggest undertakings ever.  The sheer scope of it intimidated her, and
intrigued her at the same time.

No, there was really only one answer she could give them.  She would be
wary of them, at least until the remaining questions were answered, but
she would join them none the less.  She would be part of the coming
Golden Millennium.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Titanite appeared in her room, still holding Topass.  As she set him
down on her bed, he was obviously taking in the entire room.  He quickly
propped himself up on one elbow, his strength quickly returning.

She sat on the edge of the bed, but couldn't meet his gaze.  She knew
what she wanted of him.  What she wanted to ask him.  What she
desperately needed to do with him.  But not how to ask.

Topass then made the first move, moving in behind Titanite, and wrapping
his arms gently around her.  He set his chin on her shoulder, and spoke
softly into her ear.

"Where I come from, bringing me here like this, to your private
chambers, can be considered an invitation.  But this isn't my home.
Tell me, then, if I misread your intentions."

Titanite felt the point of no return come upon her.  This was her last
chance to back down.  But she knew that she could not.  The answer
seemed to come not from her mind, but from the depths of her soul.

She spoke at barely above a whisper, "No.  You misread nothing, my
love."

Topass didn't respond with words, but with actions.  He gave a light
kiss to the ear into which he had been speaking, and the hands with
which he had enwrapped her began to gently explore her body.  Titanite
sighed and surrendered to the passion that had been building.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

The room was darkened when he teleported in.  Not surprising.  Whoever
his employer was, Zircon had already seen that he liked his privacy.  It
didn't matter.  As long as the man paid well, Zircon didn't care who he
was.

"Report!" came the sharp voice from the blackness.

"The operation was a mixed success.  I managed to catch Topass and
Polaris alone in one of the Palace's illusion rooms, and did a bit of
reprogramming.  Added every dangerous entity the computer could find,
and set them against one another.  Also had the room create a strong
forcefield around itself that would also block teleportation in or out.
I had hoped that there might be at least a few serious injuries or
casualties before the room could be shut down.  At the least I could get
a first hand view of some of the local powers in action.  In the first I
was unsuccessful.  In the second, well, I did see them, but didn't
really pick up any new information."

He paused a moment to give his employer a chance to respond.  Silence.
Zircon continued, "I'm not sure how she was alerted, but Sailor Mars
showed up fairly quickly after that.  She used one of her wards on the
field, and set off the feedback loop I had set up.  That set off an
explosion, as all the energy of the field concentrated in one place.
Mars appeared to suffer a minor injury, but that was all.

"She then entered the room, and I lost track of her.  I did not enter
myself."  For obvious reasons.  Zircon's abilities were all in the area
of espionage, not combat.  He wouldn't have lasted long in the chaos of
the holo-room.

"So I watched the entrance, and slipped away as soon as I felt Serenity
herself arrive.  Sticking around after that point would have risked
discovery.  If any of them could have spotted me, it would have been
Serenity."  Zircon shivered.  The amount of sheer power that woman
wielded was every bit as high as he had been warned.

The voice came from the shadows, "You have done well.  The Senshi are
indeed formidable opponents.  Resourceful as well as powerful."

A small pouch was tossed to Zircon.  "The agreed upon amount.  Please be
gone now.  I will contact you if I need you again."

Zircon bowed and teleported away.


--------------------------------------------------------------------

Margrave purred contentedly to herself as she trotted down the corridor.
She was headed to Sailor Mars' office to "talk".  Margrave was quite
pleased with herself.  In the little "game" she had played with Mars
throughout the years, it wasn't often she could credit herself with such
a major victory over Mars.  Oh, she regularly credited herself with
minor victories when she managed to tweak Mars and get away with it, but
this was different.   To actually have Mars in her debt was by far the
biggest victory she had ever scored.  Margrave enjoyed collecting on
debts, and this one would be one of the most enjoyable ever.

Margrave transformed back to her natural form before she got to the
office.  Mars might know Margrave's secret, but there was no reason to
reveal it to the rest of the Security Office.  Margrave casually walked
up to the office, nodding calmly to the secretary.  Just yesterday she
had cowed the woman as she came crashing through.  Margrave expected
some sort of reaction, but the woman just waved Margrave through to
Mars' office.  Margrave frowned slightly, but moved on.  She didn't like
it when people didn't react as she expected, but she dismissed the
thoughts.  A secretary wasn't worth getting worked up over.

The door to Mars' office was still in tatters from the day before.
Margrave frowned again.  It wasn't like Mars to leave it like this.
Mars was so meticulously neat that this just didn't fit.  The secretary
she could dismiss.  She didn't know the lady at all, and so couldn't
really predict beyond general predictions of human behavior.  But
Margrave knew Mars about as well as she knew any human.  For Mars to be
acting unusually...

Suddenly it hit her.  Mars, you sneak.  She had broken from her norm
deliberately, just to rattle Margrave, and it had nearly worked.
Margrave mentally complimented Mars.  In their long association it was
very rare for Mars to come this close to scoring on Margrave.  She
grinned.  Now that she knew what Mars was up to, she could ignore it.
Today was the day for one of her biggest victories over Mars, and she
wasn't going to let herself be distracted from it.

"I see you're in a good mood this morning," said Mars from behind her
desk.  She wasn't transformed, which was a good sign.  It meant that
this was on an informal level.  Mars tended to use her transformation as
a sign of the level of formality of a situation.  If she was in Mars
form, then things were going to be by the book, no informality
tolerated.  It was when she was in that mood that it was most
entertaining to needle her, because it deflated the mood she wanted to
set.  But when she appeared as Hino Rei, she was much more relaxed, much
less easy to provoke.  But Margrave was a master of provocation.  While
getting a rise out of Rei wasn't as good for pure entertainment value as
it was with Mars, it was much more challenging, giving it its own
charms.  Margrave got ready for the fun.  After all, she was the one in
the controlling position, what with Mars in her debt.  That should give
her the edge she needed to really fluster Mars.

"Well, getting down to business," Mars said as she pushed a folder
across the desk to Margrave.  Margrave picked up the folder, puzzled.
"I told you I might have some work for you, considering your abilities.
Consider this a test run."  The folder contained reports on various
members of the Nemesian embassy.  Significant pieces of data were
missing, though.

"As you can see, there are quite a few gaps in our info on these people.
Fill in any holes you can.  Payment for your work will be in the form of
information exchange, like we discussed last time."

Margrave nodded.  For each significant piece of info Margrave delivered,
she could get one answer of similar scope from Mars.  Mars had reserved
the right to refuse to answer any specific question.  Had Mars been
youma, such a blanket clause would have made the deal worthless to
Margrave.  Mars could simply refuse every question Margrave posed, and
escape her debts.  But Mars was one of the Senshi, and one of the most
honorable of them at that.  (Not that any of the Senshi were
dishonorable.)  She would do her best to answer if she felt she could.
Mars had already hinted at two areas she would likely refuse to answer
on, namely Crystal Tokyo security issues, and questions that invaded
other people's privacy.  (Not that Mars had ever worried about others'
privacy in her own investigations.)  Margrave was looking forward of
formulating the questions.  The challenge of getting the most
information possible, without forcing Mars to refuse to answer was
intriguing.

The one condition Margrave had gotten was that there be no time limit on
when Margrave asked her own questions.  Whether it's five days, or five
centuries later, it would be nice to be able to come down here and get
info as the need for it arises.  Mars had easily agreed.

Mars said, "Very well then.  I guess I'll see you again when you have
something for me."  Margrave began to nod, but stopped herself, puzzled.
That had sounded like a dismissal.  She frowned.  Mars had neatly
deflected her from the real subject, and was now trying to rush her out
without acknowledging her debt.  No way, Mars.  I've got you and you're
not getting off the hook that easily.

Mars had a puzzled look on her face.  "Was there something else?"

Blast you, Mars, you are going to play innocent all the way.  But you're
not getting away with it...

Margrave put on a grin.  "Oh, just a small matter."

"Hmm?"

"About a life-debt incurred yesterday.  I just thought we might
formalize it."

Mars still wore a puzzled expression, but suddenly comprehension
appeared to dawn on her.  "Oh, that's right.  How nice of you to bring
it up."

Margrave just kept the grin plastered on her face.  Get the debt
formalized, *then* she could gloat.

Mars pulled out a pad of paper, then looked up at Margrave.  "So, what
did you have in mind?"

"Oh, something like the debtor being the personal servant of the debtee
for, say a month?  The debtor would still do their normal job, but all
free time for that month would be spent serving the debtee, catering to
her every wish.  And before you object, I will agree to a clause that
the debtor has the right to refuse any order that violates her moral
principles."  Margrave would get enough enjoyment from humiliating
orders.  Trying to force Mars to, say, service one of Margrave's
clients, would have been impossible with or without an agreement.  And
just as with the clause in the information exchange deal, Mars' personal
honor would prevent her from refusing orders that were simply demeaning,
but not morally objectionable.

Mars frowned slightly.  "Hmm.  A little steep, don't you think?"

"Not at all," Margrave responded.  "You humans do put an exorbitant
value on life."

Mars thought for a moment.  "Very well.  If you insist..."  She
scribbled on the pad for a few moments, then signed it.  She handed the
pad over to Margrave.  "Take a peek, then sign it yourself."

Margrave almost signed it without reading.  She trusted Mars to write it
how it had been proposed.  But some twinge of remaining instinct from
the Dark Kingdom wouldn't let her, so she glanced at it first.

This is to swear that Margrave, last of the Youma race, owes a life-debt
to Hino Rei, Sailor Mars, to be paid back...

Hold on.  Margrave "owes", not "is owed"?  What the abyss was going on
here?  She looked up at Mars, anger plain on her face.

Mars looked puzzled again.  "Is something wrong?" she asked, innocently.

"This says that *I* owe *you* the life debt."

Mars nodded.  "Correct."

"Why the heck do *I* owe *you*?  *I'm* the one who saved *your* ass
yesterday."

Comprehension again dawned on Mars' face.  "Oh, *that*.  I hadn't
thought about that, but if you think back, you were only indirectly
responsible for saving me.  Topass did the actual deed.  On the other
hand, if you remember just a little while earlier than that, when we
were breaking into the holo-room, I *directly* saved your life by
warning you to get behind the barrier I was erecting.  In fact, if I
hadn't taken the time to warn you, I probably would have gotten the
barrier fully up, and wouldn't be stuck in this."  She swung one leg up
and propped it on the desk.  The foot was in an old-fashioned plaster
cast.

Mars had a smug look on her face.  She had played her trump, and dropped
all pretense of not knowing what was going on.

Margrave struggled for a response, grasping for anything to salvage the
situation.  "But that explosion.  It was your fault in the first place,
you and that ward of yours."

Mars nodded, acknowledging Margrave's point.  "There is that.  But if I
hadn't used it, who knows what would have happened to Titanite?  Hmm.  I
guess a direct save from a threat of my own, accidental causing, and an
indirect save would about cancel each other out."  She reached across
the desk and picked up the pad.  Before Margrave could react, she had
ripped the top sheet from the pad and casually tossed it in the trash.
"Oh well.  I guess that settles that."

Margrave just stared at the trash can, realizing that this was exactly
where Mars had wanted this to end from the start.  Mars wasn't the type
to care about holding debts, she had just wanted to avoid being in such
debt herself.  Margrave deflated, and looked up at Mars, seeing her in a
new light.  That she was able to pull this off, after all these years of
quietly taking everything that Margrave had heaped on her... Well, not
exactly quietly, but there was a difference between getting mad, which
Mars usually did, and fighting back with Margrave's own tools.  That
Mars could pull something like this off, when the stakes really mattered
to her, spoke volumes about Mars, as well as about how little Margrave's
previous "victories" had really mattered to Mars.

"I have underestimated you, Hino Rei.  Substantially.  I shall not do so
again."  Margrave gave her a bow of respect, and then turned and left,
before Mars managed to con her out of anything else.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Serenity stared out over her city.

Mars had just left after delivering her preliminary report on the events
in the holo-rooms.  The report was short.  Frustratingly so.  The
computer had been reprogrammed to create as many combatants as possible
and let them loose.  To find patterns for so many characters the
computer had drawn on any sources it could access.  Most had come from
Titanite's old Anime files, as her directories were already handy, it
having been her program that had been running when the change was made.

But who had performed the changes?  There were few clues to answer that
question.  The person had used no access codes, or at least left no
trace of having used them.  They had also only been connected to the
system for a matter of seconds.  Nowhere near enough time to do
everything that had been done.  At least not enough time under normal
circumstances.

Mars had suggested a cyber-telepath.  Someone who could access computer
systems indirectly, and at the speed of thought.

But the only known cyber-telepath in the world was one of Titanite's own
children.  The chances that she would have tried to assassinate her own
mother.... But Mars had already cleared her.  The range of her abilities
was limited, and she had been on the opposite side of town that evening.

That didn't mean that there wasn't another one.  Crystal Tokyo's
intelligence resources on certain parts of the globe were minimal.
Freezone, for example, could and did hide any number of beings of power
from Crystal Tokyo's scrutiny.  And of course there were the Nemesites.
Beyond the selected few who would travel to the twentieth century, they
had very little information on them.  There could easily be a
cyber-telepath among them.

But then why?  What purpose could there be behind those actions?  With
Small Lady still an infant, it was far too soon for them to make their
move.  And besides, they had endangered one of their own.  If it had
been the Nemesites.

And that brought her thoughts to Topass.  Titanite's new boyfriend.  In
order to reenergize him, she had had to form a link between herself and
him.  At the same time she had given him her energy, she had gotten
back... questions.  It would have been impossible not to probe him as
she had done.  With him unconscious, he had been unable to receive and
direct the power she was sending, so she had had to monitor the
operation closely, being careful to control where within him the power
collected.

She had stayed away from his mind.  To sift through his thoughts and
memories without his permission would be a kind of mental rape.  But
that didn't prevent her from making a shocking discovery.  A discovery
about not only Topass, but the rest of the Nemesites as well, she
suspected.  A discovery that, she was sure, the Nemesites themselves
were unaware of.

For the thousandth time she debated telling Titanite.  She would be the
most directly effected by the information.  And once again she decided
to put it off.  Ti seemed to be finally finding love.  The last thing
Serenity wanted to do was destroy that happiness.

Serenity sighed, and looked across the room to the vase full of flowers.
Flowers that had just been delivered.  Nemesian flowers, from Demand.
It had begun.  Demand's courting her.  She had known he would.  Just as
she knew many other things he would do.  She crossed the room and
scooped up the Princess from her crib.  Holding her daughter helped to
bring back some of the confidence in the future that she had felt during
her pregnancy.  Confidence that she found harder and harder to reclaim
these days.  She still knew, intellectually, that they would win.  But
these days another emotion was growing.  Not the untraceable dread that
had held her before Small Lady was conceived.  No, this was much more
easily explained.  Serenity was afraid.  Afraid of what was coming.
Afraid of what would happen to her.  Afraid of what would happen to
those around her.

There were times when she was tempted to grab Small Lady, rush down to a
certain park, tear open the dimensional portal that she had long ago
sealed there, and flee this dimension altogether.  Flee to somewhere
else.  Anywhere else.

But she knew she wouldn't.  Even in the early days she had never run
away.  Even when she had been the most scared, she had run forward
instead of back.  And she would do so now, she knew.  It just wasn't in
her to run away, when so many people depended on her.

Small Lady giggled, and reached one of her tiny hands up to pat her
mother's cheek.  Serenity had to grin, and gently swayed, absorbing the
aura of peace that her daughter seemed to radiate.

Serenity sighed again.  War was coming.  Inevitable, unstoppable.

--------------------------------------------------------------------


That's it for Crystal Renegades (CR).  I know there's a lot more to
tell, and I will tell it.

Sorry this all took so long.  There are times when I know what I want to
say, but not exactly how to say it.  (Most commonly called Writer's
Block.)  Crystal Renegades suffered from lots of it.

Thanks go out to the rest of the Sailor Moon Expanded crew, who have
made this an enjoyable experience all around, even when my writing was
at its most stuck.

And special thanks to Mark Latus once more, for creating the wonderful
characters who have been the focus of this piece.

The next few stories in Crystal Tokyo Saga should be much shorter, and
thus come out much sooner.

Next up is sort of an epilogue to CR, where I reveal just what Serenity
discovered.  All I'll say is that Titanite is in for a shock.

After that, I plan to do four focus stories on the four Inner Senshi.
These will serve a double purpose of letting me expand on each's status
in the thirtieth century, and cover more general events over the next
couple of years after CR.

Then, events kick into full gear with "First Move", where the BMF
reveals their true colors.

I may also start to do some writing on the "Tales of the Golden
Millennium" front.  This series of tales follows the Golden Millennium
Crew as they set out to recolonize the solar system.  Some of the stuff
there is just itching to be written, and I suspect I won't wait until
I've finished with Crystal Tokyo Saga before turning to those events.

--
Alexander (Andy the Android) Combs   android@texas.net
Video Librarian, The Anime Club at the University of Texas
RAAC Assistant Moderator

TEXT to HTML conversion by Douglas Helm.