Earth,  New Delhi Gate, 2066 AD (Serenity Year -926, 2817 Years 
after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 22230, Federal Year -
1918)

        Dr. Henry J. Wise had visited subspace before.  However, he 
had never visited a region being actively shaped by a malign 
Archetype before.  The area beyond the gateway, which itself 
resembled a fanged maw, was a vast sea of ashes into which he 
sank deeper with every step.  A huge cauldron full of lard and 
human limbs, simmering over a crackling black fire sat off to one 
side, and stars were going nova one by one in the night sky above.  

         A huge woman stood before them.  She was six-armed and 
naked, except for a belt of skulls and a skirt made of strips of flesh.
He didn't want to know the origin of that skirt.  Her hair was long, 
black, and wavy, her eyes pure black orbs, her face alternately 
withered with age and pure with the freshness of youth.  
Sometimes she was covered with scabs and pus laden wounds, at 
others, she was the healthiest looking person Dr. Wise had ever 
seen.  Her voice had a strangely metallic tone to it, and she grasped 
a sword of bones with one hand, a ball of flame with a second, a 
whirlwind with a third, a bucket of water with the fourth and a 
huge whip with the fifth.  The sixth hand, however, was what drew 
his gaze.  The Time Orb.  Ultimately, everyone else here was just 
another distraction for Kali.  If he couldn't get the orb away from 
her, then they could never close the gate, laden with time 
distortions as it was.  He prayed they were right and that she 
actually DID need the Orb.

       Henry remembered the words of Wayland Smith, the 
Archetype he had successfully cajoled into helping him make it.  
'Anything well made deserves a name, but choose wisely, for by 
naming something, you gain power over it, but at the same time, it 
becomes a part of you.  If you also made it, the bond is that much 
stronger.  You can use the bond to touch the object, but that bond 
can be used to touch you.'

       Sabre Prime, Sabre Yellow, Sabre Orange, and Sabre Black, 
followed by a dozen Kasugas, led by an old man and two old 
women, along with Noa Izumi and Alphonse, which was an Ingram 
of all things.  He could hardly believe any of those things were still 
functional.  He didn't remember them firing energy blasts either.  

        Kali ignored him, which was exactly what he wanted.  He sat 
down crosslegged, then stared up at the orb and cleared his mind.  
He sank into himself, searching for the bond between himself and 
the Time Orb.  This wasn't his normal style, and the battle raged on 
while he was trying to get his mind to be silent.  Kali was playing 
with them, for they were about as much threat to her as an angry 
potato.  Well, slightly more dangerous, but not by much.

       It's the unwatched potato that bites you though.  Okay, maybe 
not.  He found the link, a tiny cord that took semi-solid shape, a line 
of blue mixed with black, running from himself to the orb.  He 
could see a larger cord, with much more black in it, running from 
the Orb to the portal and beyond.  

        Two screams almost shook him from the Void, which was 
shakey enough in his case, anyway.  The first was from Sabre 
Yellow as he lost his right arm to a sword stroke.  The second was 
from Noa as Alphonse's electronics fritzed from the geyser of water 
erupting from Kali's bucket.  He focused again, and his state of 
peace firmed.  Slowly, he reached with himself to the Orb, touching 
it ever so lightly.

        He nearly threw up, and only retained the void with a struggle 
of non-struggling.  The orb had been filled with Kali's energy.  
There was a mind within it, laughing.  It was Kali's mind, and yet 
not.  He did not know its name, but it relished the prospect of the 
Sabres being destroyed.  Some part of it sought revenge on others 
as well, but he could not probe that deep without risking 
destruction.  It was the Sabres that filled its mind, though it 
seemed slightly confused.  They weren't quite right.  

        That didn't concern him.  What did was that its energy was 
slowly creeping through its link to him towards him.  The creature 
wasn't even really aware that the link existed.  It feared the 
youngest of the Kasugas more than it feared him.  

        Fire lashed out from Kali's hand, baking the old man, their 
leader.  Henry couldn't remember the man's name, but the two 
women clearly did.  For a moment, they both stared silently, then 
screamed in unison.  The sand whipped around in a huge 
whirlwind, encasing Kali's head and pouring down into Kali's throat.  
Her stomach began to distend, and she staggered.  The other 
psychics joined hands with the two women, who continued to howl 
loud enough to break entire buildings of glass.

        The being in the orb winced, and Henry launched his attack.  
Even the sliver of Kali within the orb was more powerful than he, 
but it was on grounds he had created.  Fire, water, air, earth, all 
battered the fragment, which howled.  It lost half its self in the first 
few seconds.  

        Then it surprised him.  It did not attack with magic, but 
instead simply leaped onto his mind, his self within the Time Orb.  
His body was adequately warded, but he had had to leave his 
wards to enter the orb.  Desperately he struggled as it tried to write 
itself over his self.

        Kali recovered as well.  The ground erupted in a vast 
explosion, sending everyone flying.  Kali had visibly shrunk, though 
only a bit.  The swallowed sand erupted in a great gout that sent 
several Kasugas and Sabre Orange crashing back through the gate, 
which chomped down for a moment, biting several Kasugas in half, 
including the old grey-haired woman who had been married to 
their now dead male leader.  

        That really, really made the other old lady angry.  She howled 
curses that Henry hadn't heard in several decades.  She vanished, 
and a second later, she landed on one of Kali's hands, the one 
grasping the bucket.  With a great shout, she vanished, along with 
the hand.

        Kali staggered, then unleashed a gout of fire.  Sabre Black 
became a charred mess of ceramics and burnt flesh.  Sabre Yellow 
fell over, clearly knocked out.  More dead Kasugas littered the 
ground.  Sabre Prime was standing in what looked like a praying 
position, and two shining white blades floated in the air before her, 
blocking the fire.   She stretched out her arms and the blades 
seperated, becoming a sword in each hand.  

        Deep inside the Orb, Henry howled.  Flashes of a life not his 
own erupted in his mind.  Images of destruction.  He saw Rome fall.  
He saw Socrates die.  A nameless couple were knifed in an alleyway 
just for the necklace they were wearing.  A woman rejected his 
offer of immortality.  And then...pain.  Pain and darkness.  All 
because of...

         His enemy didn't know how he/she/it had been defeated.  
Not in detail.  Only a fear.  A fear of some woman who had been a 
vessel of powers that Kali's shard didn't understand.  The being 
who had caused The Miracle.

        Henry remembered The Miracle.  He had been dying in a 
hospital bed after being run over by a drunken student.  Suddenly, 
a voice had filled his ears, a smile filled his sight.  His injuries had 
vanished in an instant.  For a moment, he had heard his mother's 
voice, though she was ten years dead.  Across the hospital, there 
had been stunned silence, and then laughs of joy.  

       He took that memory, and turned it into a weapon.  It was a 
weapon that Kali's power could not stand before, for she could not 
understand it to counter it.  Kali poured more power into the orb to 
try to overwhelm him, but he grew stronger with every moment.  
He turned her fear upon her, walling in her power, trapping it in 
the orb.  

       She poured yet more energy into it.  Outside the orb, the old 
lady, Dr. Quest's wife, he remembered now, reappeared, staggering.  
Even with the energy she was pouring into the orb, Kali was able to 
spare the time to punt Hikaru into Alphonse, sending both flying 
across the sands.  

        Even armed with new hope, it was starting to be too much.  He 
took a bit of the orb's energy and planted a thought in Sabre 
Prime's mind, hoping his idea would work.  It did.  She struck with 
one of her blades, sending the Time Orb flying out of Kali's hands, 
and with that, her link to it was weakened.  The power she had put 
into the orb was cut off from her.  It came at him again, but he had 
the advantage now.  Inch by inch, he devoured it, carving it up into 
bits and using himself as a filter, possessing it as it had tried to 
possess him.  The Orb strengthened him, and Kali's power howled.

        He understood now why Kali had not crushed them instantly.  
Most of her power was extended through the gate, freezing the 
world and strengthening the Winter Queen, making new monsters 
to serve her.  This was not Kali in her full strength, this was but a 
shard itself they faced, and what he faced was the shard of a shard.  
The Orb itself was holding the gate open.  He severed the bonds 
that held it open.  It began to close, for subspace and realspace are 
not meant to touch in such ways.  

       Sabre Prime called the retreat just as Kali vaporized Henry's 
body.  Kali and Sabre Prime raced to grab the orb, but Henry could 
tell that Kali was going to win this race.  He solved the problem by 
willing the Orb away through subspace, which is highly malleable 
to an aware will.  

       His battle with the remains of Kali within the Orb took hours, 
or maybe days, for he had no way to tell time.  Finally, he emerged 
victorious, then realized his body was dead.  He sank into a 
dreamless sleep that would last for a period of time he could not 
measure.  It was, however, not the sleep of death.  

******************
Black Moon Rising

Chapter 3:  New Friends and Old

By John Biles

(With a section by Jeff Hosmer. Thanks, Jeff!)  
******************

Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       Arcadia ate breakfast with Ryo, Ami, Ami-chan, and Hermes.  
"I hope I wasn't too much of a party pooper last night," she said 
quietly.

       "I understand,"  Ryo said.  "The future often isn't pretty.  I 
often wish I didn't know anything about it, but then I would never 
had met Ami-chan."

       "Your future powers got you together?"  Arcadia asked.

       They explained everything.  "And then they had me!"  Ami-
chan said when they finished.  "I'm a suuuuupergenius!"

       "Who doesn't clean her room,"  Hermes said.

       "I'm busy thinking!"

       Arcadia laughed.  "I made a new friend after I left to go to the 
garden.  We're going 'somewhere fun' this afternoon.  She wouldn't 
tell me where."

        "What's her name?"  Ami-chan asked.  "Is she as cute as me?"

        "Her name is Usagi."  Arcadia said.  

        Ami snarfed her milk through her nose and looked really silly.  
Ami-chan said, "Mommy, how'd you do that?"

       Arcadia said, "Are you okay?"

       Ryo smiled.  "I'm sure you'll have a fun time with Usagi-chan.  
You won't starve, anyway."

       Ami laughed.  "Unless she eats all of your food."

       "I've been so hungry, I can hardly believe it."  Arcadia said.  

       Ami frowned.  "I'll give you a full examination after dinner.  
You haven't been using large amounts of magic, have you?"

       "I've done a lot of running."

       Ami stared into space for a moment.  "Well, we can look into it 
later.  I've got to try to find Pluto in hopes she can help us figure 
out what to do about that Time Key."

***************

       Michael twitched for about the nine hundredth time that 
morning since getting out of bed.  Some of it was nerves, and the 
rest was his itchy red robes, which marked him as a devotee of 
Senshi Mars.  Raphaelle wore the green of the Jupiter worshippers, 
Gabrielle was garbed in the white and gold of a High Initiate of the 
Cult of Serenity, and Uriel wore blue robes, marking him as a 
Lesser Initiate of Mercury.  They were standing at one of the palace 
gates, waiting for the tour group to finish collecting.  Several other 
people there wore the garb of the cult, simple hooded robes with 
golden insignia, but most wore a wide variety of clothing.  Two 
Kzinti and a blue-skinned Andoran were also waiting.

        The doors opened and a tall woman with long green hair 
stepped out.  Her bangs arced wildly in all directions.  She was clad 
in a long blue dress that left her shoulders bare.  Her figure was 
slender, and she had a blue four pointed star upon her forehead.  
"My name is Morisato Keiko, and I'll be your tourguide today!  Is 
everyone ready?"  Her voice was pleasant, and Michael could tell 
she was enjoying this, which seemed insane to him.  Most people in 
Crystal Tokyo seemed insane to him anyway.  

        "Be careful,"  Gabrielle whispered to the others.  "She's one of 
Serenity's Troubleshooters."

        "Should we be worshipping her?"  Michael whispered back.

       "Nope.  But we should keep an eye on her."  

       "Why does she have a tatoo on her forehead?"  He asked.  "Does 
it mean something?"

        "Her entire family is like that,"  Gabrielle said.  "Our 
intelligence reports aren't very clear, but she's thought to be a pre-
Great Ice mage from a family of strong mages.  Some rumors 
claim..."  She trailed off.

        "What?"

       "That her parents were gods."

        "Wouldn't that make her one?"

        Gabrielle just laughed faintly.

        Michael checked the droid gem in his pocket and prayed the 
Wiseman had been right and no one would be able to tell it was 
there.  They all followed the group into the palace.

***************

       Ryo and Arcadia walked up the stairs to the second floor of the 
Window of the Present.  "This next floor talks about various events 
during the Great Ice, while on the Third Floor, we'll find the start of 
Serenity's Reign."

       "That's what I'm really curious about,"  Arcadia said.  "No one 
really knows where she came from, or how she got the title of 
Queen."  

       They rounded the landing and headed up to the third floor.  "It 
started with the Day of Awakening..."

*****************

Earth, The Crystal Mountain, SY 1 (2992 AD, 3743 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23156, Federal Year -993)

       The notes of the trumpet hung in the air as the great crystal 
mountain 'erupted'.  A pillar of pure white light stabbed into the 
clouds that overshadowed the battle that was on the verge of 
taking place.  The desperate tiny army of Those Who Watch And 
Wait stared to the heavens, as did the Winter Queen's legions of 
monsters.  

       Light melted the clouds, and the sun shone down unhindered 
for the first time in centuries.  In seconds, ice melted and sank into 
the ground as if it had never been, and with the passing of the ice, 
came the rebirth of green.  It erupted from the ground in a wave, 
spreading out from the mountain in a growing circle.

        The Winter Queen's army began to stumble backwards, 
confused and afraid, while from the few hundred that stood before 
them with sword and shield came a great shout of joy.  And with 
that shout, the light became flesh, figures in the sky.  They rode the 
winds and wielded the elements, light, fire, lightning, rain, earth, 
fire, metal, and other primal powers.  Male and female the light 
made them, and they were both the wrath and the joy of the light.  

        At their head flew a man wielding a long black rod with a 
white tip and a woman wielding a long white rod with a red heart 
at its tip.  Hands joined them and hearts, for they were two souls 
made one, a union forged by love and war.  

        The hosts of heaven descended upon the Earth, putting the 
Winter Queen's host to rout.  Her servant, the duke to whom this 
land had been given, rose into the skies to challenge the host, but it 
was a battle that was no battle.  With every step he shrank, until 
finally, driving a blow at her heart, only a single icy droplet 
remained to splatter against her long white dress.

        That ended it.  Another shout went up from the humans.  
"Hail!  Hail to the Queen of Heaven and her host!  All hail the King 
of the Earth who has returned to his people!"  They looked upon the 
king and queen and they knew them.  "All hail to Queen Serenity 
and King Endymion!  Long may they reign!"

        And the hosts of heaven landed upon the ground.  The army 
fell to its knees and four men came forward to approach the host, 
their heads bent.  "We are the elders of those who Watch and Wait.  
Long have we awaited your return."  They fell to their knees as 
well.  

       The Queen gazed upon them, her eyes shining.  The King 
stepped forward, and lifted each of them to their feet, then he 
himself fell to his knees.  "I ask your permission, honored elders, to 
enter your city."

        They stared in shock, and raised him up in turn.  "Our home is 
yours, oh King.  We beseech you to reign over us.  Our guardianship, 
we turn over to you."

       "Thank you.  I accept."  He turned to his wife.  "It is time."

       She held up her hands, and a crystal formed from the light in 
which she walked.  And the hosts raised their hands, and cast their 
eyes to the heavens that gave them birth.  They cried with one 
voice.  "IT IS TIME!"

        And their shout shook the heavens.  They sang to the 
mountains, and the mountains echoed the refrain.  They sang to the 
plains, and the grass and flowers grew.  They sang to the valleys 
and the animals returned from their hiding.  They sang to the 
forests, and leaves turned to green and birds sang along.  The 
beasts of the field, the fish of the deeps, the masters of the air, sang 
as they had not sung since the day when the Five Ruling Wizards 
had begun the last liberation of the Earth.  

        And with a song, the reign of Endymion and Serenity began.

                                     ****************

       Deep in what had once been a great rainforest, and now was 
the last of the great forests of any kind, the Amazons fell back 
before an army too great for them.  Only a lack of good leadership 
kept the monsters from exterminating them completely, for even 
the superior skills and leadership of the Amazons could not stand 
against the numberless hordes pouring onward.  

       They retreated towards the heart of the forest, which was 
forbidden to them, by the Bargain they had made with the one who 
ruled there, but as had been the case when they made the Bargain, 
they had no choice.  

        Hundreds of years ago, they had fled a home they no longer 
remembered.  Across the oceans they had fled with the Winter 
Queen's armies in pursuit, finding themselves in a forest that the 
ice could not penetrate, they had run as far into the forest as they 
could, only to find out the reason why it was free of monsters.

       The forest was alive, it had a mind, and it didn't like humans 
any more than it liked monsters.  Only the Bargain had saved them 
from annihilation.  Their leader had given herself to the forest, 
become the avatar of the forest as part of the bargain, and the 
Amazons had become tenders of trees and their guardians.  Yet, a 
part of the forest remained barred to them.  Only the animals and 
the Mouth of the Forest dwelt within that zone.

       Through their labors, the forest grew strong and slowly 
expanded, reclaiming a tiny swathe each year from the ice that 
lived beyond its limits.  They had absorbed many refugees, and 
changed in many ways.  When the Winter Queen's armies came, 
they were never strong enough, never well organized enough to 
defeat the Amazons.  They still were an untamed chaotic horde, but 
now they came in numbers beyond reckoning that could not be 
stopped.  

       The current High Matriarch was named Sunrise.  She was old 
and a warrior of puissant strength.  Her hair was riven through 
with grey, though some green locks remained, her eyes a deep 
purple, her skin dark, though not half as dark as some of those 
within her army.  She stood next to one of the boundary markers 
beyond which there was no passage.  She prayed to her ancestors, 
watching her from heaven, that they might help sway the Mouth of 
the Forest to aid them and not destroy them.  
   
       This proved to not be a problem.  The army hounded them 
further, but the trees took no action, either to hinder or to help.  
Indeed, it was colder in the heart of the forest than the legends 
said.  

       The moment of panic finally came when it began to snow.  It 
had never snowed in the Forest's Heart in the history of the 
Amazon nation.  They ran, fleeing deeper into the forest.  Sunrise's 
heart sank.  She was afraid she knew what had happened.

        By the banks of the Great River, they found what she had 
feared.  The Great River was frozen, and a huge segmented 
chitinous white beast jutted from the ice, coiled around the Mouth 
of the Forest, who was dying.  Trees stood in odd postures near the 
beast, some of them moving slightly, many taking root as they 
forgot how to move.  

        Sunrise shouted, "SLAY THE DRAGON!"  She was sure that was 
what it was, though she had seen them only in paintings and the 
handful of books they still possessed.  Many of the Amazons gave 
in to despair, or turned back to battle the monsters, for at least the 
monsters were something they knew.  Still, two dozen joined 
Sunrise in her assault.

       A single blast of icy breath reduced that group to a dozen.  
Sword and axe, mace and spear, all bounced off the dragon's hide.  
Only Sunrise, her son Morning Star, and her daughter, Tylenol, had 
the strength and mastery of Chi to pierce its hide.  They were not 
enough.  More Amazons arrived on the battlefield, but most of 
them couldn't do any better.

       Yet, their battle was not entirely in vain.  The Mouth of the 
Forest began to stir, for the Ice Dragon was too busy to finish her 
off.  Her eyes focused, and the trees began to move, slowly as if 
waking from slumber.  She began to cry, for hurt as she was, it was 
the most she could do.  By joining with her, the Forest had gained 
her wisdom, her ability to plan, her capability for coherent thought.  
But it had also gained a weakness, for its mind, its will could no 
longer survive hers.  Even primal rage would be denied it.

        Far off, a trumpet blew.  The battle field fell silent, and all 
froze in place, listening to its notes, cutting crystal clear through the 
woods and gently falling snow.  

       Silence followed, but not for long, for twin voices cut through 
the noise that was beginning as everyone turned back to their 
battle.  "IT IS TIME!"  The voice echoed in their minds and ears, a 
sign of hope or fear or both to all.  A light dawned in the west, 
shocking all of them, for while it was late at night and they 
expected the sun soon, even the youngest Amazon knew the sun 
rises in the east.  With the light came a song, and with the song, 
came power.

        The dragon stared and let out a great howl.  It hated the light.  
A warm breeze blew across the field and the dragon hated it more.  
What it hated most of all came next.  The light rushed across the 
forest, and the cold vanished.  The ice in the Great River melted in 
an instant.  The dragon howled in pain, but he was too strong for 
the light to melt as it had melted the ice.

        As the light rushed across the forest, all felt the touch of a 
mind, a presence, a soul woven of nature, of lightning and wood.  
That soul's bearer was not far behind.  With a crackle of lightning, a 
woman appeared with long reddish-brown hair, clad in a  strange 
uniform that was utterly alien to the Amazons.  In an instant, she 
leaped to the side of the Mouth of the Forest and touched her brow.

       Energy rushed into the Mouth of the Forest, healing her 
wounds and renewing her strength.  Her pain gone, she was one 
with the forest once more, and it awakened in full.  The trees 
turned on the monsters, ripping them apart.  The fish of the river, 
the grass beneath it, the trees around it assaulted the dragon, 
which thrashed and destroyed as best it could.

       Sunshine called back the remaining Amazons and turned them 
to the task of aiding in the destruction of the monsters, while the 
strange green-clad warrior aided the Mouth of the Forest against 
the Ice Dragon.

       Soon, the battlefield was silent except for the cheers of the 
Amazons.  The Mouth of the Forest spoke briefly with the warrior, 
then walked over to Sunshine, who fell to her knees.  The Mouth of 
the Forest said, "Without your aid, we would be dead.  The time has 
come for a new Bargain, for a new age has come."

       The warrior in green fell to her knees and said to Sunshine, 
"Greetings, High Matriarch, I have come to ask your aid."

        "You, a goddess, would ask aid of me?"  The Matriarch was 
shocked.  "I am but an old woman."

       "I am not a goddess.  I am Sailor Jupiter,  sworn to the service 
of Queen Serenity.  We intend to drive the power of the Winter 
Queen from this world.  Will you aid us?"  It was hard for the 
Matriarch to determine Jupiter's age.  Indeed, the Mouth and 
Jupiter, who looked little like each other, shared one thing in 
common--you could fix a true age to neither.  At times they seemed 
ancient beyond measure, at others, they appeared in their teens at 
best.  Yet, they changed without changing, for even at their oldest, 
they possessed not a single wrinkle.  

        "Yes.  She is our ancient enemy.  Long have we desired 
revenge on the one who drove us from our home.  Eagerly we will 
join you."  She stood and embraced Jupiter.  "Be welcome here, as 
are all women warriors.  Come, we shall share tea and talk."  She 
looked Jupiter up and down and smiled, thinking of her grandson.  
"Tell me, are you married?"

********************

       The founders of Mount Roosevelt had been regarded as fools 
and paranoid maniacs by their neighbors.  There's not going to be a 
nuclear war, the neighbors said.  The laser satellites will stop all the 
missles, they said.  The government isn't beaming mind control 
rays into your brain, they said.  Global warming isn't a plot by the 
New World Order, they said.  The men and women and children and 
dogs of Mount Roosevelt ignored them and kept building, digging a 
small city within the mountain, and stockpiling food, ammunition, 
magical artifacts, rare herbs, and copies of "The Government Doesn't 
Want You To Have This Spellbook" and "How to Survive Nuclear 
War in Twelve Easy Lessons."  They were completely out of touch 
with reality and in any reasonable universe should have 
completely wasted their lives preparing for a doomsday that never 
came in a totally futile manner.

        But the universe isn't always reasonable, and planning ahead 
for bad reasons is still planning ahead.  Thus, when the world went 
to hell, they blamed AT&T, the Democratic Party, Communists, and 
People Who Don't Like Elvis, then slammed the doors and spent the 
next nine centuries shooting everything that moved outside those 
doors.

        As decades turned into centuries, they experienced a major 
problem.  The mountain was big, but they lacked the equipment 
and skills to enlarge their home much, but their population was 
booming.  The mutants created by the nuclear war, or so they 
believed anyway, attacked, but if there was one thing the nation of 
Mount Roosevelt did well, it was kill things.  Even when the leaders 
wished obnoxious people would die in battle, they usually didn't.  

       They had tried to start colonies, but they all got eaten, froze, or 
starved.  This did reduce population pressure, though.  So did the 
occassional really large scale mutant attack.  This one was more 
creative than the last few.  A huge rock eating worm erupted up 
from under the complex and ate fifty people before Jim Bob Hodges 
jumped down its throat with a grenade and blew it to bits.  It was 
good eating, too.

        Unfortunately, its entrance had made a highway for mutant 
attacks, and soon another frothing horde of tentacular horrors 
erupted up through it.  They fought, all of them, men, women, and 
children.  Even a really small child could at least throw hand 
grenades.  You learned your numbers early in Mount Roosevelt.  

       They might have turned back the assault, except that more 
mutants began attacking the front gates with battering rams.  
General Beauregard cursed.  If the gates shattered, it would take 
months to repair them, and the mutants would come back sooner 
than that.  This was the most coordinated mutant attack yet.

               Far off, a trumpet blew.  For a moment, the General 
wondered why Billy was blowing that damn trumpet again.  The 
battle field fell silent, and all froze in place, listening to its notes, 
cutting crystal clear through the rock that surrounded them.

       Silence followed, but not for long, for twin voices cut through 
the noise that was beginning as everyone turned back to their 
battle.  "IT IS TIME!"  The voice echoed in their minds and ears, a 
sign of hope or fear or both to all.  Those watching the mutants 
attacking through the darkness saw a light dawn on the western 
horizon and wondered if the sun had gotten lost.  With the light 
came a song, and with the song, came power.

        Light rushed across the mountains, driving away ice, and 
panicking the mutants, who dropped their rams and fled.  Light 
erupted through the tunnel and into the mountain, panicking the 
mutants within as well.  All felt the touch of a mind, a presence, a 
soul forged of steel, a sister to the earth and rock.  That soul's 
bearer was not far behind.  The ground erupted and  a woman 
appeared.  Her hair was short and yellow, she looked boyish, and 
she was clad in a  strange uniform that was way too indecent for 
the inhabitants of the Republic of Roosevelt Mountain.  She pointed 
into the tunnel.  "EARTH SHAKING!"

        The earth shook.  The tunnel enterance collapsed, filled in, and 
sealed itself off.  The few mutants trapped within the complex were 
soon mowed down.  

        The meeting with the Supreme Council of the Republic, 
however, did not go as smoothly as the battle.  "You say you're 
from Queen Serenity, who is trying to recruit help to battle some 
other Queen?"

       "The Winter Queen.  She's the one who froze the planet."

       General Ann Wilson laughed.  "Uh huh.  With her magic wand?"

       Uranus frowned.  "With the aid of Kali."

       "Whut?"

       "With the aid of an evil being from another dimension."

       "Everyone knows that the cold is the result of a nuclear winter 
caused by the war between the Trilateral Commission and the 
Masons,"  General Scott said.  "Even a five year old could tell you 
that.  Besides, we stay out of everyone else's politics as long as they 
aren't pointing nukes at us or preaching communism."

       "Do you even know what communism IS?"  Uranus asked, 
starting to get irritated.

       "We don't like Queens!"  One of the onlookers shouted.  "The 
Queen pushes drugs!"

        Uranus' temper flared.  "The Queen does NOT push drugs."  
Heck, even the Winter Queen doesn't push drugs, Uranus thought.  
"And I will not stand for such insults to my queen!"

       "This is a republic.  None of your snotty monarchy noble my 
horse is a duke stuff here."  General Walcott said.  "We don't want 
part of someone else's war.  But we do appreciate your help, even if 
you do dress rather indecent.  We'll give you the place of honor at 
our victory feast, and loan you a bed for the night before you go 
home."

       "But you have to put on some decent clothes!"  another person 
shouted from the 'assembly'.

        Things only got worse from there, although no one was 
permanently injured.

****************

       Thorgrimm Thorinson peered out through the crossbow slit.  
"They're still massing, Balin.  There's thousands of the damn things 
out there.  We're going to die.  Why'd I ever come to this damn 
frozen iceball hellhole of a planet?"  He tugged his long red beard 
irritably.  Thorgrimm was a dwarf.  Not a midget; that would have 
implied he was human.  He was about three and a half feet tall and 
about twice as strong as the average human.  He also drank twice 
as much and was twice as cranky.

        "Because there's enough lead on this planet to make us all 
fantastically rich for the rest of our lives!  In two years, we've 
found as much lead as the entire city of Ostgard probably 
possesses.  As long as we're careful and don't flood the market too 
much with it, we can live like kings,"  Balin replied.  He was tall for 
a dwarf, at four feet tall, with bright yellow hair, a beard down to 
his feet, and, unusually for a dwarf, no mustache.  He claimed that 
mustaches made him sneeze all the time, so he grew a longer beard 
to compensate.  He started pacing back and forth waving his arms.  
"And all these artifacts we've found!"  He held up a short rod made 
of some strange material unknown to the dwarves.  It was capped 
with a tiny human head of the same material, brightly colored, and 
hinged in such a way that you could open the mouth.  Originally, 
someone had been storing some sort of tiny pills in it, but Balin had 
replaced the pills with some dust of invisibility he had made.  He 
waved the rod about.  "Dozens of these useful little things.  Too bad 
the magics faded on those pills, but still...and these..."  He picked up 
a bag full of short paper tubes full of brightly colored powder.  
They each had an inscription that with much effort they had 
managed to puzzle out the word "Pixie" and something they thought 
meant "Stick", although it seemed to be mispelled.  "Eight hundred 
tubes of Pixie dust.  We're going to be the richest dwarves in the 
history of the universe."

       "If we don't all die."  Thorgrimm said.  "There's only 200 of us, 
and at least 10,000 of these damn trolls and goblins and whatnot.  I 
only came on this trip because you assured me that the Ice had 
killed everything hostile.  Oh, we'll just spend a few years mining 
and come back rich, Thorgrimm.  There's nothing bipedal more than 
a few hundred miles from the equator, Thorgrimm.  We'll just..."  
The horde of trolls and goblins and whatnot were starting to form 
up into groups around a series of poles and knocked down trees.  
Thorgrimm frowned.  "We should have sent for a ship as soon as we 
saw the first troll."

        "Odin's blood, you're the biggest scaredydwarf I know, 
Thorgrimm,"  Balin said.  "Our ancestors used to stomp on giants.  
These idiots are no threat.  Besides, Bewara built our gates herself.  
They're forged of lead, for goodness sakes!  The ram hasn't been 
built that could get through that.  They'll bust their skulls a bit and 
give up."

        Slowly, a thick cloud of mist began to drift through the dusk.  
The horde of monsters parted and it began sliding up the slope 
towards the gates, windows, and arrow slits of the dwarf hold, 
carven into the mountainside.  Thorgrimm sighed.  "How do you 
propose we stop the evil sentient mist that's coming?"

       "Oh get off it, Thorgrimm.  Where would the trolls get an evil 
sentient mist?"

       "They bought it at the Bazaar.  How should I know?"  The mist 
brushed one of the trolls which didn't get out of the way, and it 
howled, withering and crumbling to dust.  "It should take about 
five minutes, which should be long enough for me to kill you for 
getting me into this."

       Balin went to an arrowslit and looked out.  "Okay, we just block 
the arrowslits."

      "With what?  Our bodies?  The fire from our eyes?"  Thorgrimm 
began firing at the mist with his crossbow, as did Balin, but this 
was about as effective as trying to kill a whale with a cap gun.

      The pitter-patter of tiny feet interrupted their discussion.  
Hermes sprinted into the room, then paused to pant.  "Lord Narvick 
wants to know if you've spotted anything new?"

      "Well, we're probably all going to die,"  Thorgrimm said.  "Does 
that count?"

      Hermes stared with big doggy eyes.  "All...going to die?"

      "Crimson Fog,"  Balin said.  "I thought they killed all of those 
things millenia ago."

       "You can kill them?"  Thorgrimm asked.  "I don't suppose you'd 
like to tell us how before we all die?"

       "You need a fire magician to evaporate them, an ice magician to 
freeze them, or a conjuror to banish them to another dimension."

        "In other words, you need an Elf to kill it for you.  Unless 
you're proposing we lure it into the Forge somehow."

       "Well, yeah, the Elves did do most of the work of killing them 
all.  Dwalin the Great had an axe that shot flames and he killed two 
of them himself."

        "Well, do you have his axe?"  Thorgrimm asked sardonically.

        "No."

       "Do you have him in your back pocket?"

       "No."

        "Then I suggest we save time and start our funeral dirge now."  
The cloud was getting closer.  In two or so minutes it would reach 
the fortress.  

         Hermes said, "I'll...uh...go let the others know."  He ran off, 
yelping.

        Balin sighed.  "Maybe we can bribe it with lead."

        "Maybe Durin will crawl out of his grave and forge us all 
enchanted weapons too,"  Thorgrimm grumbled and prepared to 
face his doom like a dwarf.

        However, as fate would have it, he was denied that.  Far off, a 
trumpet blew.  The horde of trolls, who had been yammering in the 
distance,  fell silent, and all froze in place, listening to its notes, 
cutting crystal clear through the mountains and gently falling snow.  

       Silence followed, but not for long, for twin voices cut through 
the noise that was beginning as normality briefly returned.  "IT IS 
TIME!"  The voice echoed in their minds and ears, a sign of hope or 
fear or both to all.  A light dawned in the east, shocking all of them, 
for the sun was in the process of setting in the west.  With the light 
came a song, and with the song, came power.

       The light washed across the field, setting the horde of trolls 
and goblins into a state of acute panic.  Some of them turned to 
stone on the spot.  Others ran screaming about, or attacked each 
other, or fled.  The mist shrank, and its screams sent Balin 
staggering back from the arrowslit, clutching his ears.  Thorgrimm 
simply stared in shock.  

       A second trumpet blew in the east, and the clouds split open.  
From the sky they came, riding winged horses.  Of every race they 
came, all female, all armed and armored for battle.  At their head 
rode a woman with short blue-black hair, carrying a banner, which 
flapped in the wind.  The entire army shone with its own light, and 
by that light, Thorgrimm recognized the banner, the banner of 
Mercury.  

       She spoke words of power and tiny sparkling lights erupted 
from her hands into the crimson cloud, which began to freeze into 
tiny red droplets.  Its death howl was music to Thorgrimm's ears.

************

      The Winter Palace had once been a merry place, full of tiny 
elves who served the kindly Lord of Gifts, the many-named bringer 
of presents to good little boys and girls.  The halls had rung day 
and night with the sound of hammers and saws, drills and people 
yelling because they had glued their fingers together again.  For 
364 days (Leap days were usually spent getting drunk) of the year, 
a slowly growing mound of presents would build up in the great 
warehouse, then on the last day of their year (If not the last day of 
most calendars in use), the Lord of Gifts would mount his sleigh and 
ride forth, girdling the Earth in a single night.  On that night, he 
became the most powerful being on Earth, capable of feats that 
would have burnt out half the magi on Earth if they tried together 
to accomplish them.  He saw the souls of every living being and on 
them, judgement was passed, a present or a punishment, treats or 
tricks.  He was everywhere at once, delivering gifts to a million 
homes per second and more.  A single sleigh sufficed to pull 
millions of tons of presents, and a single bag to hold them all.  Eight 
reindeer could pull a sleigh faster than a supersonic jet.  For that 
one night, nothing could stop him.  Nothing.  He had been killed 
thousands of times, by nutcases, experimenters, and the occassional 
accident, but he always returned the next year. 

        Sadly, the Winter Queen hadn't come on that night.  He was 
only a little more powerful than any mortal mage the rest of the 
year, and he had died a horrible messy death when she took over 
his home in the middle of the year.  For over a thousand years, she 
had dwelt there, ruling the world from a throne of blue ice.  

        She had forgotten her origins, almost forgotten she had ever 
not ruled the world.  There had been someone else once, someone 
she had served, but no one remembered who.  Three dozen 
generations of servitors had come and gone in that time, and only 
she remained to remember what once had been.  

        Today, she was in a rage.  Dimly, she had known for centuries 
that she was slowly sinking into madness, and for the last five 
months, she had struggled to control herself, to avoid the futile 
rages, to avoid losing herself in aimless distractions like spending a 
year carving a mountain of ice into a duplicate of her own head.  
This was the cost of that control.  Three of her servants were dead, 
the rest were hiding from her.  

        What had triggered the rage was two things.  First of all, 
someone had nailed a long red sock over the fireplace that sat 
behind her throne, a fireplace that hadn't been used in over a 
millennium.  There was a lump of coal in the toe.  The second thing 
was the fire lit in the fireplace which had melted her throne down 
to a vaguely defined squarish hunk of ice.  

         She had snapped and gone on a rampage.  Finally, her wits 
returned to her.  She took a deep breath, then another, then more 
breaths.  Calm returned.  It's not the end of the world, she thought.  
I can make another throne.  Whoever seeks to defy me must die, of 
course, but it's just a lump of coal.  That's all.  My throne wasn't 
even magical.  Calm.  I am calm.

         And then the trumpet blew in the distance.  It rose in a 
crescendo, echoing from somewhere to the south, not that south 
means much at the North Pole.  Silence replaced the trumpet's 
notes as they faded, the silence of the grave.

         Two voices spoke, and the Winter Queen went over the edge 
once more.  

******************

Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       Arcadia pushed the button and watched the hologlobe slowly 
spin.  Most of it was a mass of white, but small circles of green 
dotted parts of it and a narrow belt around the equator.  The 
continents were invisble under the ice.  "So all the people in 
suspended animation woke up when Serenity and Endymion did 
that...uh, whatever they did?"

        "Only in the ruins of Mega-Tokyo did people wake up 
immediately.  Elsewhere, Serenity's power began to melt the ice, 
but it would take years to fully undo the damage that the Winter 
Queen had done.  What came next was the Liberation War, in which 
Serenity and the Senshi lead the assault on the Winter Queen's 
forces."  He pushed another button, and the holo globe showed a 
series of arrows moving out from some of the green zones, and the 
green itself spreading.  A calendar appeared, and the pages began 
to flip.  

        Arcadia examined the globe carefully.  "Why aren't there 
arrows coming from all the zones?  Did they have no armies?"

        "Not everyone chose to join Serenity's alliance.  Some places 
like the Republic of Roosevelt Mountain chose to not become 
involved because they no longer trusted anyone else.  A few like 
Wallachia had fallen under the control of monsters and marched in 
her armies.  And some chose to stand aloof and let Serenity do all 
the work, hoping to claim the rewards afterwards, like Albernia 
and Sealan."

        Humans never change, Arcadia thought.  We can't even unite 
to get rid of a hideous monster who froze the Earth for a thousand 
years.  "So Serenity became Queen of the Earth after she defeated 
the Winter Queen?  What happened to all the places that didn't like 
her?"  I bet she squashed them, Arcadia thought.  

        Ryo pushed some more buttons and the globe shimmered, 
then turned into a patchwork of colors.  About 80% of it was 
overlain with yellow, another 10% was orange, and 10% was blue.  
"The yellow was Serenity's territory in 2999, the orange was her 
allies, and the blue were either hostile or a sort of hostile neutral.  
It was the issue of the Purification that set off the crisis of 2999 
that followed on the defeat and death of the Winter Queen in 
2998."

        "What was the Purification?"

        "Well, the problem was that millions of people had been in 
suspended animation.  Unfortunately, some of them became 
corrupted by the evil energies freezing the Earth over the years.  In 
fact, almost everyone on Earth outside a few highly pure locations, 
whether they had been asleep all those years or awake and trying 
to make a living were effected.  The closer you were to the equator, 
the better off you were, more or less.  For many people, it wasn't 
too bad.  They became a little more cranky or morose.  However, 
the real problem was that with the surge of magic to a higher level, 
one of the laws of magic suddenly became a major source of 
danger."

       "What law?"  Arcadia asked, staring at the map again.

       "The law of polarization.  Magical energies come from a variety 
of sources, but you can categorize them ultimately in two categores:  
benign and malign.  If you try to weild both, it is almost impossible 
to become a powerful magician.  As you draw more on one type, it 
becomes harder to draw on the other, and at the same time, you 
can draw on more of the type you normally wield.  At the same 
time, as you control the magic, it controls you.  Slowly, it reshapes 
you to match the way that it represents.  Now, before the war, 
many people had used magic, but virtually everyone could after 
Serenity's awakening.  The law of polarization had existed then, but 
because the magic was much weaker, it was much weaker.  Magic 
had nudged personalities instead of reshaping them."

        Arcadia suddenly realized where he was going.  "And with so 
many people infected with dark energies..."

       "Exactly.  About one out of every thousand people became a 
'droid', as they were called, in the first year.  Most were not so 
unlucky.  About three percent sank into heavy, but not irreversible 
spiritual corruption.  However, things became worse."  He led 
Arcadia across the room to a complex line graph full of colored lines 
zigzagging up and down.  "As we look at this, we can see the 
number of droids was increasing.  A few could be turned back to 
normal, but most either joined the Winter Queen's armies or had to 
be destroyed to protect everyone else.  Still, the droids weren't the 
real problem.  It was all the people who were sinking deeper into 
spiritual corruption whether they really wanted to or not.  Once 
you became tainted, you tended to taint yourself further.  That's 
why the purification was necessary.  Sailor Mercury had projected 
that by Serenity year 20, over 60% of the population would have 
been almost unsavable, and over 20% of those would have become 
droids.  We later figured out that was an underestimate, because 
we didn't know what Albernia and the other kingdoms were doing."

        "What, they were being really evil?"  That sounds really silly, 
Arcadia thought.  

        "While we were fighting Serenity, Albernia and its allies had 
been building an army of droids to challenge us once we got rid of 
the Winter Queen.  King Hari hoped we'd be exhausted and 
vulnerable.  He might have won, actually, if he had had more time 
to prepare, but he was impatient and the Purification forced his 
hand."

       "They had been recruiting these 'droids'?"  Arcadia asked.

       Ryo shook his head.  "The Wiseman taught them how to make 
droids."

       "They turned people into monsters deliberately?"  It figures, 
Arcadia thought.  The Kalgan empire clones its best warriors and 
raises them from birth to pilot its mechs.  Not much different.  Turn 
people you want to get rid of into monsters and send them to smite 
your foes.  Kills two birds with one stone.

       "Most were volunteers, and almost none of them really 
understood what they were getting into.  Serenity had magical 
warriors, why shouldn't Albernia or Rajputan?  They trusted the 
Wiseman;  more fools them."  He sighed.  "We were clueless.  We 
knew some of the kingdoms were hostile, but we didn't realize they 
were going to attack us.  None of us really knew anything about 
politics, except Sailor Mars to some extent, and even she hadn't 
done it on the international level.  So the attack caught us 
completely by surprise."

        They just thought everyone would fall at their feet and say 
thank you, Arcadia thought.  Get rid of the bully on the block and 
you just become the next target to be brought down, she thought.  
It's human nature.  "So what was this purification thing?"

        "Basically, it was intended to cleanse the world of the lingering 
dark energies from the Winter Queen's reign, and to fully fix the 
planet's climate so it would be back to normal.  Weather was a total 
mess.  It would also purge the population of the dark magics that 
had infected them, stop various epidemics that were now raging, 
and generally prepare us for the next problem, which was the 
horde of Things From Beyond heading into our system once the 
Great Veil had collapsed.  So, the Senshi and our allies, the Zodiac, 
scattered to the major nodes of the world and prepared to perform 
the great ritual of purification.  When Albernia, Rajputan, and the 
others refused to participate, we should have expected trouble, but 
we couldn't afford to wait any longer, so we made do without their 
places of power."  He walked over to another hologlobe.  "Now, you 
can see that Serenity was here at Crystal Tokyo, Astra at what 
would become Astra City, Venus at Olympus..."

************
Earth, Crystal Osaka, SY 8 (2999 AD, 3750 Years after the founding 
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23163, Federal Year -986)

      It had been an excellent quarter for Tendo-Ozaka Enterprises, 
known affectionately to its employees as 'TENDOM', since the 
President's daughter was married to the grandson of Ozaka Daisuke, 
the founder of GENOM, and it had bought up many of GENOM's 
possessions in Japan after the Japanese government nationalized it 
in 2034 after the Tokyo Riots and the Miracle.  

        While things had become very different for businesses after 
the Great Ice, Tendo Nabiki II, the president, and her husband, 
Kenichi Kunou, were both very intelligent people, and the wise can 
prosper in almost any situation.  T-O Enterprises had been virtually 
wiped out after the Ice.  Its international holdings were 
irretrevably gone.  Over half its employees were either dead, had 
become rampaging monsters, or were just plain lost.  Its corporate 
HQ had been entirely destroyed except for the basement, which 
meant that only the things that cost more to throw away than to 
keep were left.  

       T-O Enterprises had only three assets left.  First, it had the 
loyalty of its surviving employees.  T-O had been one of the nicer 
megacorporations to work for, and its employees looked to Nabiki 
and Kenichi for leadership when they reawakened.  That provided 
the base upon which they could rebuild.  Things can be replaced 
more easily than people.  Secondly, it had two great brains running 
it.  They understood business.  They understood how economies 
work.  Kenichi had become Serenity's Minister of Commerce with 
that knowlege and helped to shape the form that economics, 
business, and commerce would take in the new world that was 
forming.  Thirdly, the magic surge provided the resources on which 
the company could be rebuilt.  From being a maker of things, it 
became a supplier of skilled magical labor (which often made 
things.)  Resources weren't such a big deal anymore.  While almost 
everyone could meet their needs without money or 'physical stuff', 
some things like building an entire house, were beyond any single 
person's ability, and other needs were better met by specialists.  In 
this world, the new T-O Enterprises flourished.

        Business was booming, especially magical construction.  The 
most exciting thing was that they had recieved the contract to build 
the Crystal Palace, which would be Serenity's home.  Today, Nabiki, 
her daughter Kasumi, and her son-in-law, Hiroshi, were meeting 
with the architect they had chosen, the brilliant Miki Matsuura.  
Miki's father and grandfather had designed GENOM Tower.  Her 
father had built the park that replaced it.  Miki herself had 
designed the layout of Crystal Tokyo, Crystal Osaka, and several 
other cities.   She made Nabiki vaguely uncomfortable, mainly 
because while Nabiki showed everyone one of her seventy-nine 
years, Miki was 43, but looked 22 at most.  Some of Nabiki's 
grandchildren looked older.  She also was so bouncy happy cheery 
shiny bright that Nabiki occassionaly wanted to smack her on 
general principle.

       "And then, at two o'clock, the palace will start singing for an 
hour.  Serenity-chan and I worked out some nice music and..."  Miki 
rattled on.  

        The real problem wasn't Miki, though.  The real problem was 
this Purification thing.  Nabiki wasn't sure what to make of it.  
Indeed, she wasn't really sure what to make of anything that 
happened since the Awakening.  

        Nabiki had been trained by her mother since birth to run with 
the wolves.  Not to be a wolf, but to be able to hold her own among 
them, because the world was full of wolves.  The world was divided 
into two groups:  your people, who you took care of, and the 
wolves, who you did whatever was necessary to, because they were 
waiting to do the same thing to you.  Sometimes what you had to do 
to the wolves wasn't very pretty.

       People had suffered and died because of things she had done, 
she knew that.  She hadn't ordered any deaths; she wasn't that 
hardened.  But there had been spying, there had been rival 
companies driven into bankruptcy, there had been a variety of 
dirty tricks, all of them necessary to avoid being pulled down by 
the wolves, but none of them had been pleasant.  That was the 
lifeline she clung to at times; that she didn't like doing the things 
she had sometimes done.  That she hadn't done them for her own 
benefit.  She had done them to aid her family, her friends, her 
employees.  I was protecting the innocent so they could stay 
innocent.  

        She knew better.  Money and power beckoned to her.  It 
hadn't been necessary to become a corporate CEO.  If money and 
power hadn't been drugs she couldn't live without, she could have 
done something like nursing or counselling or teaching or writing or 
charity work, something that wouldn't have demanded the moral 
compromises she had made.  

         And so, adapting to this new world, a shiny clean world in 
which the wolves were few and far between, was hard for her.  She 
could feel the stain of her sins on her soul, and they were dragging 
her down.  The wicked were punished as they had not been before, 
for the price of evil was the loss of your humanity.  She had seen it 
happen.

                               **********

Earth, Crystal Osaka, SY 6 (2997 AD, 3748 Years after the founding 
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23161, Federal Year -988)


        David Yamano had been a highly successful CEO before the 
Great Ice.  He had stabbed his way to the top, the very model of a 
21st century businessman, using people and discarding them.  
After The Miracle, he had also become the model of those who 
successfully integrated magic into their business.  He had also 
become a model for those who integrated magic into the less 
reputable side of business.  

        He and Nabiki had clashed many times, and she knew he had 
tried to have her assassinated three times.  The third time, only the 
fact that her father had been visiting her had saved Nabiki and her 
family from the rampaging djinn that David had sent after her.  She 
had never been able to prove, nor had she been able to bring 
herself to retaliate.  That was one of the few things she had always 
rejected, no matter how necessary it was.  She would not resort to 
murder, although she had come close a few times.

        David had survived the Great Ice, but Schizawa Industries had 
not.  Unlike Nabiki, he had not been able to cope.  David didn't 
know how to build a company from the ground up.  His employees 
had fled, for he had lacked the ability to give them anything they 
needed, and many had hated him, but clung to a steady job, even a 
crappy one, rather than starve.  

       And so he had turned to the one thing he had left:  his magic.  
He couldn't convince people to serve him, so he forced them to.  He 
had always been skillful, and now he was vastly powerful as well.  
For a while, he had gotten away with it.  He wasn't an idiot; his 
subtlety enabled him to build his own petty empire.  There was 
only one problem.  

        All magic has a price, and only fools believe otherwise.  Good 
magic makes demands of your life, of how you live.  By calling on it, 
you agree to let it call on you.  Dark magic, on the other hand, 
seems free, but it slowly consumes you.  David became a recluse, 
rarely seen, dwelling admidst the wreckage of what had once been 
his home.  

        Finally, he had come for Nabiki.  She had been in the middle of 
conferring with a librarian, Natsumi Okame, about setting up a 
public library for Osaka when David had come crashing through the 
wall with a pack of glowing black dogs.  "NOW IS THE HOUR OF MY 
REVENGE!"  he shouted.  

        At first, Nabiki had thought David had some kind of skin 
disease, but then she realized his mottled skin was covered with 
words and pictures in a strange patchwork.  His white hair had 
turned a light green, his eyes solid black without an iris, his 
fingernails long and sharp, shaped like the nib of a fountain pen.  

        Nabiki ran for her life, dragging the clueless librarian after 
her, since Natsumi was too busy panicking to run.  A barrage of 
sharp, glowing pieces of paper and small, flat, round metal 
projectiles hurried them on their way.  David and the dogs had 
chased them through her new 'corporate headquarters' ,which was 
about the size of a two story house and patterned on the same 
model since she also lived there, for several minutes, before finally 
they managed to lose him for a few seconds.

         Nabiki had to hold her hand over Natsumi's mouth to keep 
her from screaming.  She whispered to Natsumi, "Be quiet, so I can 
call for help."

         She had just enough time to whisper, "Help!" into the phone 
when David crashed though the wall again.  For a moment, Nabiki 
had a flashback to several times her father had done the same 
thing.  It lasted just long enough for him to destroy her phone with 
what she now realized was a one yen coin, then to strike her and 
Natsumi with several of the pieces of paper, which bore a 
disturbing resemblence to Deutschmarks...if Germany had opened a 
mint in Hell.  

       Natsumi collapsed screaming and bleeding.  Nabiki, although 
she was twice Natsumi's age, was also made of sterner stuff.  Her 
father had forced her to learn Martial Arts, and while she had 
hated it as a child, it had made her strong.  She could take 
punishment that would reduce most bodybuilders to tears.  She 
relished the look of shock on David's face when she stood up and 
moved into a fighting stance.  Her muscles screamed at her to lie 
down and die, but she assumed the no-mind, and her pain 
vanished.  "Okay, you bastard.  We should have done this a long 
time ago."  Her muscles moved, screaming, but she ignored the 
screaming.  She could see his eyes getting bigger as her feet crossed 
the distance between them, followed by the rest of her body.  He 
went flying through the wall and tumbling down the stairs.  

        She hit the ground, and the no-mind almost broke, but she 
rolled and came to her feet.  The dogs had been stunned too.  
Before they could react, she drew on an old technique she hadn't 
used in over forty years.  She wasn't sure if it would work, but she 
knew she was angry enough to use it.  In her mind, her aunt Akane 
spoke the words along with her.  "FLAME OF THE DRAGON...STRIKE!"  
A huge red firey aura formed around her, striking out at the dogs.  
Nabiki had never been very good at it, so she mainly expected the 
dogs to be scared off.

         The 'Dragon' engulfed the entire room, bathing it in cold 
flames for an instant.  The dogs seemed unharmed for a second, 
then suddenly crumbled to dust.  The fire winked out as Nabiki 
stared mindlessly.  Did I really do that?  Nabiki had known that chi 
and magic had become more powerful, but this was the moment at 
which she really fully internalized that knowlege.  A second later, 
she thought, NATSUMI!

       She turned to Natsumi, who was miraculously unhurt.  In fact, 
Natsumi looked less hurt than she had before, which made no sense 
to Nabiki.  Nabiki was trying to bandage Natsumi's wounds with 
bits of their clothing and wondering why no one else had shown up 
when David charged back into the room.  The barrage of dollars, 
yen, deutschmarks, lira, and money Nabiki didn't even recognize 
sent her crashing through a wall herself this time.  

        Part of her mind dimly noted that her foot was broken.  She 
ignored the pain and stood, putting her weight on the other foot 
and grabbing the remains of a chair for a cane.  She staggered back 
to the room, where David had put some sort of odd leash around 
Natsumi's neck.  Energy was flowing through it into David, who was 
laughing.  

        He seemed to have forgotten Nabiki entirely, his eyes rolled 
back, his mouth twisted into a smile.  While Nabiki was sure that 
the Dragon Strike would probably do for David as it had for the 
dogs, she couldn't risk it actually hurting Natsumi this time.  Her 
husband's father had been able to cut through anything if he held 
something wooden.  She looked at her cane and prayed.  Father-in-
law had explained how the trick worked, but she hadn't been very 
good at it.  Maybe that was different now.  

         My foot's going to be a twisted mess, she thought.  She ran 
forward, swinging the chair leg in the complex patterns that 
Father-in-law had favored.  Getting him to teach her anything had 
been almost impossible, but her husband had somehow browbeaten 
him into it.  By that point, Nabiki had learned the value of her 
fighting skills, although she rarely used them.  She focused her ki, 
and the chairleg was glowing by the time she struck the leash.  It 
shattered, and David staggered back, howling.  

       Pain ran up her leg, and her foot twisted in several very bad 
ways.  She ignored it, clinging to the no-mind like a lifeline.  "Come 
and get me, you bastard!"  She ran.  I have to get him away from 
Natsumi, she thought.

        David ran after her, following her into the spare bedroom she 
had converted into an office for her daughter, Kasumi.  Kasumi's 
going to kill me, Nabiki thought.  I don't have much choice.   David 
entered the room through the only door.  There was no way out.  
He laughed.  "I have you now!  You can't get away.  Unless you 
want to try jumping from a second story window with old brittle 
bones and a broken foot."

       Nabiki laughed bitterly.  "No, I have you."  She fell to her knees 
and struck the floor with a single finger.  "BREAKING POINT!"

      The floor erupted in a shower of crystal.  Nabiki was bleeding 
from a dozen cuts and several dozen tiny ones when the spray of 
crystal fragments ceased.  David, on the other hand was riddled 
with fragments, bleeding a dark green ichor.  His clothing was a 
shredded mess.  He also plummeted into the kitchen below, because 
the floor was gone.  

       Nabiki had been ready for this and landed right.  He didn't.  
When she pulled the refrigerator over on him, it didn't help him 
much either.

       Nabiki took a deep breath.  It's over, she thought.  Of course it 
wasn't.  He stood up, throwing the refrigerator onto her.  She heard 
her legs break, and the no-mind quivered on the edge of 
destruction.  With effort that was not effort, she shoved it back into 
place.  She only had one option left that she could think of.   Her 
father would have picked up the refrigerator and hurled it back at 
him, but she wasn't that strong.  

        However, the surges of pain and despair that hammered at 
her no-mind were something her father had known as well.  They 
had been the key to his ultimate weapon, a chi-attack based on 
depression, despair, and pain.  Becoming happy had robbed him of 
much use of it, but he had taught it to his children anyway, for it 
was highly useful for truly desperate situations.  If this didn't 
work, she was truly doomed.

        Luckily, as such beings usually do, he paused to gloat over her 
body, giving her the opening she needed.  She released the no-mind 
and opened herself to her fear, depression, and despair.  A ball of 
energy began to grow in her hands.  He didn't notice, lost in a litany 
of complaints against her.  She could feel the strength of the ball.  It 
was strong.  Too strong.  To her horror, she could feel herself 
growing more and more depressed.  Her pain drew in power, which 
itself fed her depression and fear, in a growing spiral.  This hadn't 
happened any of the VERY few times she had done this before.  

       The ball grew larger and stronger, bigger than her head.  She 
could feel its power.  Already, it was strong enough to vaporize the 
house.  She had become a conduit for the power.  It felt like she 
was pumping toxic waste through her mouth.  What have I done? 
she thought.  She stopped concentrating, but the power kept 
building, her emotions swirling down further as her guilt at trying 
this manuever given the likely consequences began to engulf her.  

       She wrenched her hands about and tried to force the power to 
release itself.  It erupted in a great black gout, punching a hole in 
the roof of Kasumi's study and blasting its way into the heavens 
above.  In a few seconds, it guttered and went out, leaving behind a 
nasty residue that made Nabiki feel ill.  I should have blasted him, 
Nabiki thought, but if I hadn't tried to just get rid of it, I think it 
would have levelled the whole house.  

        David laughed.  "Your aim is bad."

       "Mine isn't," another voice said.  "FUJISAWA KICK!"  It was 
Nabiki's neice once removed, Ranko Fujisawa.  The blue haired girl 
soared through the air, crashing into David, who went flying into 
the corner.  Ranko held up her right hand, on which she wore a 
blue-gemmed golden ring.  "AQUA ASCENSION!"  A spiral of water 
rose around her and formed into a blue-glowing barrage which 
struck David, who screamed and went limp.  She casually bent 
down and hefted the refrigerator with one side, tossing it aside.  
"Kasumi-chan's gone for a doctor.  Don't worry, Uncle Kenichi is 
okay.  We had to stomp a few billion of those dogs, or I'd have been 
here faster."

       "Keep an eye on him, or he'll get up and attack you while 
you're off guard,"  Nabiki said, then decided to take some quality 
moaning time while she still could.

                                 *****************

Earth, Crystal Osaka, SY 8 (2999 AD, 3750 Years after the founding 
of Rome, Juraiian Year 23163, Federal Year -986)

      Miki waved a hand in front of Nabiki's face.  "Are you okay?  
You zoned out on me.  Where do I need to start from?"

      Nabiki sighed.  Maybe this Purification will make me stay in the 
present more frequently.  "Miki, what do you think about...this 
Purification that's planned?"

      "I know a lot more about architecture than I do about this, 
but...anyway, to answer your question, I'm for it.  I trust Queen 
Serenity.  I know some people think this is some kind of trick, but I 
think it's pretty obvious we have to clean up all this damage and all 
the toxic waste left over from the Winter Queen's rule.  It'll be like 
the Miracle, except bigger.  Longer lasting."  She smiled.  "No more 
disease.  You can kiss your arthritis goodbye.  And no more people 
turning into monsters either.  You remember The Miracle, right?"

        Nabiki smiled faintly.  "T-O Enterprises was under siege.  I 
was firing at Boomers with a machine gun when they suddenly 
stopped and all went limp for a moment.  The world went white 
and I..."  She laughed.  "I saw one of my old teachers, and she had 
all the light of the world around her.  I hadn't thought about Mrs. 
Chiba in decades.  She was..."  A realization suddenly struck her.  
"She was..."  No way, she thought.  She...She's SERENITY?  For the 
second time in her life, Nabiki nearly fainted.  I threw an eraser at 
the Queen of the World and knocked her out.  She's forgotten that, 
right?  She's got to have forgotten that.  "I...anyway.  When she 
vanished, the boomers...got down on their knees and apologized for 
attacking.
I nearly fainted."

       Miki laughed.  "I was in a fight on the playground.  We all 
apologized to each other after that and became best friends."  She 
smiled the smile of a happy child, and Nabiki envied her ability to 
do that.  "It'll be great!  So why are you so worried about it?"

       "You can tell?"

      Miki smiled.   "I'm not as good at knowing what people are 
thinking as Grandma, but I'm pretty good."  

       "What's going to happen to people who don't want to be 
purified...or who can't survive it?"

      "Well, it won't affect anyone who tries to fight it.  Serenity's not 
that powerful, even if she wanted to force people to be purified.  
Not when she and the Senshi are trying to do the entire world at 
once.  I can't see why anyone wouldn't want to be free of all the 
dark energies floating around."  She frowned.  "Especially the 
people who weren't as lucky as I was.  Grandma and Mom's and my 
magic protected all of my family from the worst of it, but I know a 
lot of people got tormented by horrible nightmares and stuff.  A lot 
of them still have the nightmares and this is the only way to be 
free of them."

      Nabiki knew all about it.  They had faded somewhat, but she 
still had horrid dreams at time.  "A lot of people are worried it's 
going to be some kind of brainwashing."

      Miki got big eyes.  Clearly she had never contemplated the idea.  
"Queen Serenity would NEVER do that!"

      Nabiki sighed.  "I wish I could be as sure of that as you.  I like 
her.  I trust her, but...I've walked in the dusk all my life.  I'm 
getting too old to change.  I just...Sometimes I miss the old days."

      Miki got up and came over and hugged her old friend and 
business associate.  "So do I, sometimes.  All my work, dozens of 
buildings, wiped out in a few days.  Friends slain, dreams crushed.  
You miss your father too, I bet."

      Nabiki fought back the urge to cry.  "We don't know for sure 
he's dead.  He was lost for a decade after Mom had her heart attack 
and died."  Her voice trailed off.  

      "Want me to go get Kenichi-san?"  Miki asked.  Nabiki could see 
her eyes were a little misty.  How can she be so compassionate, 
Nabiki wondered.  How can she open her heart so much?  

       Nabiki shook her head.  "I'll be fine.  Let's finish discussing 
your contract."

      Soon, Nabiki was back on the solid ground she knew.

                             ******************

       Nabiki sat on the balcony outside her bedroom and checked 
her watch.  Her husband, Kenichi Kunou, sat next to her, dressed in 
a formal kimono, decorated with blue slashes on a green 
background.  She laughed faintly.  Like his father, he was a bit vain.  
Only Kenichi would dress up for this, she thought.  He was tall and 
had a rugged face, with deep brown eyes.  His hair was curly and 
steel grey with only a few brown hairs remaining, except for his 
eyebrows, which remained a pure brown, a quirk which seemed to 
run in his family.  He sat with the family honor blade on his lap, in 
its sheath of course.  Nabiki stifled more laughter when he glanced 
over at her.  You'd think the Queen was coming to visit, Nabiki 
thought.  I suppose in a sense, she is.  

       He smiled at her softly, then his face returned to its usual 
sternness.  "I suppose I am being silly," he said quietly.

       Nabiki laughed loudly this time.  "Sometimes I think you read 
my mind."

       His lips quirked in a smile.  "My mother always seemed to be 
able to do that.  Perhaps it's hereditary."

       "All mothers can read their children's mind."

       He cocked his head slightly.  "It has begun."

       Either that, or someone's blown a dog whistle, she thought.  
Kenichi had much wider range hearing than most people, as she 
had discovered after an unfortunate incident with a dog whistle.  
He could hear turned on electronic equipment, even if it wasn't 
supposed to make any noise.  

        A few seconds later, she heard what he had sensed.  Music, 
coming from the northeast.  The horizon glowed, and a wall of light 
rushed across the countryside towards Crystal Osaka.  It was 
beautiful and terrifying.  Nabiki felt herself tensing.  She was 
scared.  She hated not being in control of a situation, and this was 
beyond her control.  

       The city began to vanish into the light.  The music was 
soothing, but then, bugs driving into an oncoming car headlight 
probably found it soothing as well.  She glanced over at her 
husband, who had closed his eyes and was smiling.  

        A few seconds later, the world vanished.  Even the chair she 
was sitting in vanished.  She was still sitting on something, but 
whatever it was, it didn't actually exist.  An invisible embrace was 
wrapped around her, and a voice sang a soft lullaby.  It was her 
mother's voice.  Nabiki began to cry.  Her mother had been a 
wonderful singer, although she had never done much with her 
talent beyond karaoke and singing to her children.  

       Am I dead? she wondered.  Is this heaven?  Where's Saint 
Peter and Buddha?  Nabiki had religious beliefs that would have 
angered some people and simply confused others.  It can't be Hell, 
or Grandfather would be trying to shave my head again.  

        The singing voice grew louder, and Nabiki realized it was 
behind her.  She got up and stood on the nothing and turned 
around.  A girl with short black hair was approaching, dressed in 
blue jeans and a blue shirt with two overlapping hearts, one red 
and one yellow.  A camera hung from a strap around her neck, and 
she was smiling gently.  She finished singing as she reached Nabiki.  

        Nabiki looked at the girl.  She looked familiar, but...Is this my 
mother?  What's going on?  "I...are you...Mom?"

        The girl smiled.  "I am."  She stepped forward and hugged 
Nabiki, who hugged her back confusedly.

        "I don't understand...what's going on?  You...you're dead."

        The girl sighed.  "Normally, the dead are forbidden to walk the 
world of the living, but there are special times when exceptions are 
made.  We have come to give you your choice.  You can return to 
the land of the living unchanged, or you can walk with us and 
accept rebirth."

         "To become a baby again, you mean?  Who's gonna bear all 
these babies?"

        Nabiki's mother's lips quirked for a moment.  "You will be 
washed and made clean, sent back as a new person, the stain of the 
curse on this world washed away."

        "But what's the price?  You always taught me that nothing 
good comes for free, Mom."  

       "Your life, your suffering has been payment enough.  This 
world has paid the price in blood and pain for thousands of years.  
Still, you are right.  There is something demanded of you.  First, you 
have to trust.  You have to trust me, and trust Serenity.  You'll be 
putting yourself into our power.  Trust can kill if given wrongly.  I 
taught you that as well.  And secondly, you must be willing to let go 
of your self.  You cannot be healed unless you truly want it and 
unless you let go of your wounds."  She reached over and squeezed 
her daughter's hand.  "You'll have to open yourself, and I know how 
hard that is.  Take as long as you like to decide.  I wouldn't mind an 
excuse to spend a little more time with you."  She winked.

        It could be a trick, Nabiki knew.  Her aunt-in-law Kodachi had 
been noted for putting sleep poisons in roses.  Well, before she 
went utterly over the bend and tried to become a goddess or 
whatever exactly had happened to her.  Nabiki hadn't been there, 
and no one had been able to explain really coherently what had 
happened at that reunion.  Spirits couldn't possess most people 
unless the person invited them in, in some way.  She could be 
walking into a trap.  Serenity might have been stringing them all 
along, then set this up to simply take the Winter Queen's place.

        She stared into her mother's eyes.  Could it really be you, 
Mom?  "Where...where is Father?"

        Nabiki's mother laughed.  "In theory, he's with your brother 
Soun.  Of course, since it's your father and Soun, they're probably 
somewhere on Mars by now."  Soun was the youngest of Nabiki's 
siblings, and the one who took the most after her father.  

        "Mom, I...I don't know what to do with myself.  This world...I 
just...I don't really feel like I belong."

        Nabiki's mother sighed and hugged her again.  "I understand.  
I wish I could tell you what to do, but I'm afraid being dead didn't 
make me any wiser, although I did learn a few things.  I think 
you've done pretty well, so far.  Well, besides letting the Wildinsons 
beat you out on that temple construction contract."

       That was enough for Nabiki.  Even death couldn't stop her 
mother from giving her business advice.  She laughed.  "Let's go, 
Mom."

       Nabiki's mom blinked.  "You confuse me as much as your 
father sometimes, daughter."

       "That's what we're for.  I don't know if I can trust Serenity... 
but I trust you.  I hope that's enough."  She looked around.  "Which 
way do we go?"

       Nabiki's mother smiled.  "Come with me to the water."

*****************

Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       "And here we see the Great Hall, where state receptions are 
held and Queen Serenity formally recieves foreign ambassadors, 
heads of state..."  Keiko ran through a very long list of kinds of 
people recieved here, but Michael wasn't paying attention.  

        He did look around the room, though.  It was beautiful, a 
mixture of white marble and red and green crystals forming a 
delicate tracery through the marble.  The ceiling arched up, forming 
a high vault studded with stained-glass windows depicting various 
events of the city's history.  

       One of the pictures especially caught his attention.  It was the 
marriage of Serenity and Endymion, who were both dressed oddly.  
He looks better in black than that awful lavender, Michael thought.  
Same mask, though.  

       He glanced over at Gabrielle, who was performing a blessing on 
some of the real cultists of Serenity in the tour group, and it took 
all of his willpower not to laugh.  Raphaelle was choking back 
laughter as well.

       Uriel held up a hand with five fingers.  He folded down one, 
then another.  It was the signal.  The droid they had dropped in the 
hallway was about to start its attack.  It would be slaughtered, but 
it was just a droid.  Droids were utterly expendable.  In the chaos, 
they would easily be able to scatter through the palace and carry 
out their missions.  Or so Wiseman had told them.  

       Three.  Two.  One.  There was a shout from the hallway.  
"ASTERIX!"  came a gruff male shout from the hallway.  A short, 
pink skinned figure about three and a half feet tall charged into the 
room.  He had a huge nose and the biggest white moustache that 
Michael had ever seen in his entire life.  He wore a tiny red horned 
helmet and was carrying an eight foot tall statue of Serenity that 
had been standing in the hallway outside the Great Hall.  

        For a moment, everyone stared.  

        "ASTERIX!"  The droid shouted, and hurled the statue into the 
middle of the tour group, which scattered.  The Andoran got 
trapped under it.  The droid pulled a spear out of nowhere and 
charged into their midst.  

        The four spies scattered in four directions to do their work.  

******************

       "The Khunds are massing their forces.  The third Khund War 
will likely have erupted by the time I get home,"  Ryu said to 
Serenity.  He, Nene, Serenity, and Endymion were conferring in one 
of the small conference rooms.  This one was blue with nice plush 
padded chairs and a large round table with a computer terminal 
and a holoprojector.

       Serenity sighed.  "Is it going to be as pointless as the last one 
was?"

       Ryu nodded.  "The only point in fighting the Khunds is that 
they'll kill you if you don't defend yourself.  It'll tie down our spare 
forces for a few years, and then finally enough of them will die that 
they'll give up for a while and pick on other people, until they 
decide they want a real fight again." He sighed.  "I think Great-
Grandfather Azusa abdicated because he didn't want to have to 
deal with the Khunds anymore."

       "If you need our help, we will certainly aid you.  We owe Jurai 
many favors,"  Serenity said.  

       Nene finished fiddling with the terminal.  A map of the galaxy 
appeared.  "We should be fine, but we won't be much help if 
something should happen to you."

      "Well, we finally settled the disputes with the Kzinti,"  
Endymion said.  "So that shouldn't be a problem."

      "The Black Moon Cult is supplying them with droids and 
magical assistance,"  Nene said.  "We haven't learned what route 
they're using, or why."

       "Neither have we, yet, but we have agents working on it,"  
Serenity said.

*****************

Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)

       "So what happened to all of the kingdoms that attacked 
Serenity during the Purification?"  Arcadia asked.  

       They went over to a diorama, which showed a battle along a 
major highway in a forested zone.  It was labelled, 'Belkin Ridge'.  
The army of Albernia held a ridge that crossed the road.  A red 
haired, dark skinned man riding an elephant caught Arcadia's eye.  
He was leading a charge by Serenity's forces that was breaking 
through the right wing of the Albernian army.  The small map key 
identified him as 'Guardian Indra'.  

       "Even with the Senshi and the Zodiac busy with the 
Purification, they never really had a chance.  There were a dozen or 
so battles like Belkin Ridge where their invasions got crushed, and 
then the armies fled back to their homelands.  Some of them made 
peace, but most of them made a deal with the Wiseman and fled 
into another dimension.  They're still there as far as I know."

       "Peace on what terms?"

       "They released any prisoners of war, went home, and stayed 
there.  All of their kingdoms were fixed at whatever boundaries 
they had held on the day of Awakening.  Pretty much, they were 
left to stew in their own juices.  They weren't any real threat.  
Some of them still exist, but a fair number had revolutions and 
joined us, or everyone fled who hadn't turned into a monster.  
Sealan finally had to be destroyed because nothing was left but the 
monsters, and they kept wandering out and rampaging."

      "And the exiles became the Black Moon Cult?"

      Ryo nodded.  "We don't know much about them.  The Wiseman 
took them to Nemesis and hid it in another dimension.  Someday, 
they'll be back for revenge, but we don't know when."

      Arcadia cocked an eyebrow.  "And Pluto claims she doesn't 
know?"

      "Pluto rarely tells the future.  Still, I suspect it will be centuries 
before they're ready to challenge us."

************

       Uriel slipped down the hallway, frowning.  Wiseman didn't 
mention I'd have to enter Mercury's quarters to plant this thing.  
The thought of encountering one of the Senshi turned his bones to 
jelly.  Uriel had an acute awareness of his own limits.  I'll just 
pretend to be a REAL fanatic if I get caught.  How I'll explain this 
pass-key the Wiseman gave me...well, I'll think of something.  He 
slid open the door to the room he wanted and dropped the droid 
gem, then kicked it under the bed.  

       As he turned to go, a little girl's voice said, "Hi!"

       He froze for a moment, then turned very slowly, putting on his 
best smile.  "Hi, little girl."

       She looked to be around eight years old, and had short blue 
hair.  She was carrying a book and running from what looked like 
some kind of midget collie to Uriel.  Ducking behind him, she stuck 
out her tongue at the collie.  "Nyaaah!  You can't get me now!  This 
is my safe base!"

        Uriel laughed nervously.  "Playing tag with your pet dog?"

       She stared at his robes.  "Hey, are you one of those people who 
worships my mommy?"

       Uriel put one hand behind his head and laughed even more 
nervously.  "Uh, yeah.  Will you give me a blessing?"

       She reached up with her arms.  "Pick me up!"

       He bent down and lifted her and she put a hand on his 
forehead.  "Be healed!"  She giggled.  "Now, obey my divine 
command and get me some ice cream."

      Somehow, Uriel found himself not just getting her ice cream, 
but also reading her a story and helping Hermes teach her 
arithmetic.  This was not part of the plan.

***************

      Michael looked at the small statuette standing on a little table 
by the window.  You could see the north side of the city from here, 
but there seemed to be no good reason why Wiseman wanted the 
droid planted here.  He placed it in the statuette's hands and it 
flowed into the statuette, which he found to be a little bit creepy.  
       
       Well, I haven't been toasted yet, he thought.  The screaming 
had died out downstairs.  Time for me to get back to the group, I 
guess, he thought.

*********************

       Gabrielle frowned.  All of the Serenity cultists had followed her 
when she fled, and now they were all babbling at once and 
shadowing her every movement.  I'll never get to the...ahah.  
Perfect.  "We shall go to the chapel and pray that Serenity aid our 
fellow tourists."

       "It shall be as you command, wise one," said a young boy, 
around age ten, with light brown hair.  

       Let's just hope no one is holding services, she thought, and that 
these people close their eyes while they pray.

******************

        After lunch, Arcadia came back to the Palace to meet with 
Usagi as she had planned.  Her head was spinning with crammed in 
historical information.  Enough school, she thought.  Now it's time 
for some fun.

      Faint piano music drifted through the halls, which 
seemed common enough that Arcadia wouldn't have noticed 
it, except for the fact that she recognized the song.  The 
reason she recognized it was that she had written it.  

       She began to stride quickly through the hallway, 
frowning, her rendevous with Usagi forgotten.  Arcadia had 
an inquisitive mind, and this was too strange to ignore.  She 
soon found herself in a small parlour, with a few plush 
green couches and a large piano.  Haruka was playing the 
piano while a beautiful green-haired woman stood next to 
him holding a cute little blonde munchkin, who was 
sufficiently young that Arcadia wasn't sure if the child was a 
girl or a boy, although clearly related to Haruka.  

       His wife, Arcadia thought, and his child.  There was a 
violin sitting on the piano, and Arcadia was sure it was hers.  
She drew Arcadia's eyes to her repeatedly, and it made 
Arcadia rather uncomfortable.  Why do I keep staring at this 
woman? Arcadia asked herself, but got no answer.  

        She recognized the song that Haruka was playing as 'I 
miss you', a song she had written after her boyfriend had 
had to go away for three months during the summer.  The 
lyrics had never really satisfied her, but she was much better 
at creating songs than writing lyrics.  As it was, she had 
needed help from some of her father's impression 
transcription software to get the song out of her head and 
into a format that someone else could hear it.  While she 
could play the piano fairly well, she wasn't very good at 
turning music in her head into notes on paper.  

       Haruka finished the piece and said, "I have lyrics for it 
too, if you want to hear them, Michiru."

       The woman laughed and the child started clumsily 
clapping her hands.  Arcadia could see the child was a girl 
now.  "Of course I do,"  Michiru said.  

       Probably better than mine, Arcadia thought.  She stepped 
into the room and applauded when Haruka finished.  "That was 
really great.  So you wrote that?"  It was surreal to think 
about how she and someone else had created the same song.  
At least, she thought it was the same song.  Well, the same 
music.

       Haruka blinked, turned, and smiled.  "Oh, hi, Arcadia.  
This is my wife, Michiru, and my daughter, Titania.  
Michiru, this is Arcadia N'goya."  Pause.  "Yes, I did write 
it."

       Arcadia bowed slightly.  "Nice to meet you."  She 
walked over.  "So what did you have to run off for, 
yesterday?"

        "I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you,"  Haruka 
said, laughing.  "Seriously, it was classified business.  
Nothing I couldn't handle."

        "So, you're like a spy?"  Arcadia asked.

        "I taught James Bond everything,"  Haruka said.

        "Who?"

       Michiru laughed regally.  "I think she's a bit young to 
remember James Bond."

        The little girl started reaching out towards Arcadia as if 
she was trying to grab her.  Michiru laughed again and said, 
"I think she wants you to hold her."

        Arcadia did so, smiling.  "She's a cute little girl.  How 
old is she?"

        The little girl snuggled up to Arcadia and smiled.  Her 
mother said, "She's a little over a year old.  She really loves 
to be held."

        Arcadia smiled at the child, then started the usual happy 
babbling at a baby routine that seems to instinctively happen 
whenever a human holds an infant they like.  Then she 
remembered where she HAD been going.  "Ack!  I'm 
supposed to meet Usagi!  I'm going to be late!"

       Michiru blinked.  "You have a meeting with Usagi?"

       Haruka threw back his head and laughed.  "You'll 
probably still beat her, actually."

       The sound of Hotaru running preceded her arrival.  She 
stuck her head in.  "There you are, Arcadia!  Usagi asked me 
to tell you to meet her at the corner of the Great Plaza around 
the palace by Mars Highway.  She had to run into town, and 
of course, she's running late."

        Arcadia handed Titania back to Michiru.  "It's nice to 
meet you.  I guess I'll see you around."  Since the junior 
Pluto seems to have decided to just take her time on coming 
back.

*****************

The region of space near the burnt out cinder formerly 
known as Nemesis, SY 1532 (4524 AD, 5276 Years after 
the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 24688, Federal Year 
538)

       The junior Pluto floated in space, pretending to be 
unconscious.  She could see Sailor Saturn examining her 
time staff, clearly trying to figure out the best way to use it.  
Too bad I can't command it to explode or electrocute people 
or anything, Pluto thought.  

       "I see you're awake,"  Saturn said.  "Would you like to 
tell me how to use this, or shall I beat it out of you?"

       "I suppose the first beating was only the warmup?"

        Saturn nodded. 

         This wasn't good news.  "All you have to do is 
become Sailor Pluto.  It won't work for someone else, 
except maybe Serenity or someone of her line.  Given that 
her line died out..."

       "You really don't recognize this body?"

        "If you tell me that you're Hibino Hikaru, I'm going to 
try to strangle myself."  Pluto was close to being serious.

        "They thought they had prevented Serenity XIX from 
having any children, but they didn't realize about this one.  
Her desire to avenge her family made her easy to control.  
There is nothing left of her now, only a shell," Sailor Saturn 
said.  "So, tell me how to use this, if you wish to live."

        "You'll need the Silver Crystal."

         "If I had that, I wouldn't need your staff.  Try again."

       "Then you'll need to forge your own master gem.  The 
first step is to..."  Pluto started drawing on the fantasy 
novels she had read many years ago to try to create the most 
elaborate, yet vaguely plausible lie that she could.  She did a 
better job this time.

************

Earth, Crystal Tokyo, SY 68 (3060 AD, 3811 Years after the 
founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 23224, Federal Year -926)


     Arcadia looked around the intersection Usagi had told her to be at and
sighed.  Her new friend was already 15 minutes late.  Maybe she wasn't
coming.

     No, she thought to herself.  Usagi wasn't that sort of person.  She'd
have a reason for being late... it'd probably be a silly reason, but there
would be a reason.

     Even as she thought it, she saw a blonde whirlwind come running down
the street and slam into a man in a suit.  The small briefcase he was
holding popped open and out fell dozens of data-crystals, datapads, and
other accouterments of business... far more than it seemed that the
briefcase could hold, Arcadia thought.

     "G-gomen nasai!" Usagi wailed, trying to help the man pick up his
stuff.  Her attempts to fill the briefcase seemed to be just causing more
stuff to spill out, however.  The man's annoyance at the interruption
quickly turned to panic as Usagi's well-meaning efforts created a huge
scene.

     "That's okay, really, I can handle it!" he said, shooing the girl off.

     "Come on, Usagi," Arcadia said to the crying blonde.  "Let's go."

     Usagi looked at her and her attitude did a complete 180 in a split
second.  "Arcadia-chan!" she beamed.  "I'm sorry I'm late, but I... got
held up by... er... Luna, that's it."

     Arcadia recognized the evasion immediately.  She had used it herself
on her friends.  "You overslept, you mean."

     Usagi put her hand behind her head and laughed nervously.

     "Well, you're my tour guide, so where are we going?"

     "First," Usagi said, all smiles again, "we're going to pick up a
REALLY good friend of mine, then... SHOPPING!"

     Usagi went into a spin of pure joy and Arcadia had to quickly stop her
before the blonde's outflung fists smacked a passerby in the nose.  The two
headed off.

     Behind them, the man Usagi had bumped into breathed a sigh of relief
as he got the last of his data crystals.  That clumsy girl had almost
ruined everything.  He was just putting it away when he became aware of
a man standing before him dressed in a Troubleshooter uniform.  He froze.

     The Troubleshooter plucked the data crystal from the man's hand and
examined it.  "If I'm not mistaken, citizen, the ID on this crystal matches
one of over a dozen classified crystals that went missing this morning from
the Ministry of Security.  I don't suppose you have an explanation for how
it came into your possession?"

     The man turned to flee, but found himself face-to-face with two more
Troubleshooters.  It was the beginning of a VERY bad day for him.

                                   *****

     Arcadia smiled as Usagi pulled her along in her pell-mell rush through
the crowds of Crystal Tokyo.  If running wasn't one of my specialties, the
Sirian thought, I'd have a hard time keeping up with her.

     "Hey, Usagi, do you do any magic?" she asked.

     "Doesn't everyone?" Usagi asked, looking puzzled.

     "Not where I come from."

     "Oh, right... well, I have some magic... but I'm not very good at it."
She pressed her two index fingers together in a back-and-forth motion.

     "What specialty?  I'm good with earth."

     "Oh, mostly air.  You should see me with a frisbee!  But, um, I'm a
bit clumsy with it otherwise."

     Arcadia tried to imagine the chaos this girl could cause with Air
Magic and mock shuddered.  "Oh, I could see some problems with that."

     "My friend is REALLY good with fire magic, though!  You'll like her."

     "What's her name?"

     "Rei.  You know, like the Archbishop?"

     "Is that a common name nowadays?  It is in my time, but that's because
of Saint Rei's popularity."

     "SAINT Rei?  Ooh, you better not let the Archbishop hear that.  She's
mad enough about the Cult of Serenity worshipping her.  But yeah, the name
was pretty common when she, my friend Rei, that is, not the Archbishop, was
born, though it was common then, too, I think."  She laughed.  "It's a lot
closer to the Archbishop being named after her, uh, well..."

     "Whoa, whoa.  I get the picture."

     The two of them came to the bottom of a hill.  Stone steps led up one
side of it, flanked by arches.  Arcadia recognized them from her studies in
the Great Library but couldn't remember what they were called.  They had
something to do with a shrine associated with Saint Rei, as she recalled.
A sign nearby proclaimed this to be the Hikawa Shrine (Restored).  A
smaller sign beneath it said, "All faiths welcome."  Beneath that, on an
even smaller sign, someone had tacked a note that read, "Cute female
acolytes apply within."

     "THIS is a shrine?" Arcadia asked.

     "Oh, yeah.  It's Shinto... but you wouldn't know what that is, would
you?  Anyhow, it's a recreation of a shrine that Sailor Mars lived in, I
hear.  She oversaw its construction herself.  And the fire in the shrine
has been burning for thousands of years!"

     "Even through the Great Ice?" Arcadia asked, skeptically.

     "Oh, well, there was a little cheat then, I think.  Sailor Mars took
the fire and through it in Mana... er, Mona... that volcano in Hawaii.
There was a BIG explosion and it kept the Winter Queen away from the
islands for the whole Ice.  When she woke back up, Sailor Mars went to
Hawaii, lit a torch at the volcano, and carried the flame back here
personally!  Pretty cool, huh?"

     "Usagi, are you telling that story again?" snapped someone up the
stairs.

     Arcadia looked up and saw a young girl with long, raven-black hair
pointing an accusing finger at her friend.  The girl was wearing some sort
of red and white ceremonial robe and held a broom in one hand.  Despite
that, Arcadia still felt rather frumpy and plain before this girl.

     "Oh, hi, Rei-oneesan!" Usagi called, waving.

     Rei glowered down at her friend.  "You're late, meatball head," she
muttered darkly.  "What'd you do, oversleep again?"

     "Waaaah!" Usagi waaah'd.  "Rei, why are you so mean to me!?"

     Arcadia looked between the two of them in confusion as their argument
deteriorated into a tongue-war, each blowing raspberries like there was no
tomorrow... and then the two of them burst out laughing and hugged each
other tight.

     "I think we've confused your friend enough, ne, Usagi-chan?" Rei
asked, giving the blonde a noogie.

     "Ow!" Usagi said, sniffling slightly.

     Rei turned to Arcadia and bowed formally.  "Hajimemashite," she said.
"I'm Rei.  It's my job to keep meatball head over there out of trouble,
impossible task that it is."

     Usagi made faces at Rei from behind her back, making it very difficult
for Arcadia to keep a straight face.

     "Pleased to meet you, Rei-san," Arcadia said, also bowing.  "I'm
Arcadia N'goya."

     "I know, "Rei said.  "Usagi talked about you for HOURS this morning."
Behind her, Usagi blushed beet red and stuck her tongue out at the dark-
haired girl.  Without even looking, Rei snapped her hand back and took hold
of Usagi's tongue.  "Don't tell her anything you want to keep secret, she
blabs."

     "Aiiii duuuu nnowt!" Usagi protested, trying unsuccessfully to wrestle
her tongue free.  Rei smiled and let go.  Arcadia couldn't help but giggle
a bit.

     "Are you a priestess of some sort, Rei-san?" Arcadia asked, once she
had composed herself.

     Some unidentifiable emotion flitted across Rei's face, but she merely
smiled sadly and shook her head.  "I was raised as a Shrine Maiden, but I
haven't been one for years.  My mother wanted me to be raised in the
Catholic Church and she got her way in the end."  Rei laughed faintly.
"The real irony was that mother was more like my grandfather than my
father was.  She'd have made a good shrine maiden herself.  I try to come
out here once a month or so, though, and help out... sweeping, cleaning,
tending the fire, that sort of thing.  A part of me is always here, even 
though I spend most of my time elsewhere.  More importantly, God is here 
as much as He is where I normally do my worship.  He's not in a place,
but rather He's found whereever He is sought, and you often find Him 
in unexpected ways.  I...I'm sorry, I'm starting to give a sermon."

     Arcadia shuddered.

     "What's wrong?" Rei asked.

     "Sorry, it's not you... I've just had a lot of bad things happen to me
in the name of religion."

     Rei nodded sympathetically.  "Usagi told me a bit about that.  Believe
me, I find the sort of religion you find in the Cult of Serenity and your
'Black Moon Cult' extremely distasteful.  But sadly, it's part of human
nature.  It's hard to worship an impersonal Creator, so we anthropomorphize
him, we look to other mortals whose example we admire.  And some people
lose sight of Whom they really should worship and worship their role models
instead.  Still, even the idiots in the Cult of Serenity might find God one
day."

     "Don't hold your breath," Usagi muttered.  "The Queen tells them every
year she isn't divine and they refuse to believe her."

     Arcadia shook off her gloom, not wanting to continue this conversation
and ruin her (and her new friends) day.  "You're very wise, Rei-san, but I
think we should get going.  Usagi mentioned something about shopping, I
think?"

     Rei looked into Arcadia's eyes and smiled slightly.  "I understand.
If you ever do want to talk about it some more, I'll be around.  Now, let
me just get changed and then we can go."

     "Let me help you, Rei-chan!"

     "Absolutely not, meatball head!  Last time you nearly ruined the--HEY!
Watch it--!"

     RIP!

     Usagi picked herself up off the ground where she had tripped and held
up the sleeve of Rei's robes sheepishly.  "Uh... heh... heh."

     "U-SA-GI!"

                                   *****

     Arcadia could only shake her head in amazement as her two new friends
escorted her to the Crystal Tokyo shopping district.  They bickered, they
argued, they insulted each other, and they teased.  But no matter how bad
it sounded, it didn't feel bad.  Instead, they seemed to consider it a
game.  She remembered the pranks she and her brother had played on each
other and smiled... until she remembered what had happened to him.

     Her friends, however, refused to let her get depressed.  She began to
think that her emotions were writ large on her face, for she would no
sooner have a depressing thought than one of them would try to cheer her
up.  The other would immediately offer her own advice on the problem and
that would set the two of them off on another argument.  Arcadia even
joined in the game once or twice.

     Rei had changed into a red dress with a short hem line that made her
look even more gorgeous than she had at the Shrine.  Arcadia couldn't help
but stare at her once or twice, though she didn't envy Rei the care her
long hair needed.

     "Oh, wow!" Usagi breathed as they passed under the gates of the
Crystal Tokyo Ginza.  The Ginza was almost a world unto itself, a vast
crystal dome covered a vast, open air market.  Semi-permanent stalls and
tents filled the center of the dome while more permanent structures lined
the rim.  Working your way in from the outside, you went from order to
chaos very rapidly, for the stalls and tents were not arranged in any
coherent order, but rather lined labyrinthine paths that snaked through the
mess and were filled with throngs of shoppers.  Salesman called out to
passersby, hawking their wares, customers haggled with them, and the whole
place was nearly deafening.

     Arcadia loved it.  It was a far cry from the staid and orderly utopia
she found outside.  "This place is GREAT," she exclaimed.

     "Isn't it?" Usagi beamed.  "The Queen set it up when Crystal Tokyo was
built.  The stalls in the center have to leave at the end of the day and
come back each morning, so they're never in the same place twice, so you
HAVE to shop around!"  Her eyes went all starry at the thought and Arcadia
giggled.

     "What about shoplifters or thieves?" Arcadia asked.  "It seems that
this place would be filled with them."

     "Oh, you just pick something up if you want to buy it," Rei said,
examining a gold necklace at a nearby jeweler's stall.  "When you leave,
the Ginza gate senses the item and deducts its cost from your account.  Or,
if you buy something big, you go over there," she pointed to a large
crystal pylon, one of many, towering over the throng, "and have your stuff
teleported home.  So, you see, if anyone steals anything, they'd just wind
up paying for it when they left."

     "Whoa," Arcadia said.  "What about food?"  She could already smell the
aroma of hundreds of different dishes and foodstuffs.

     "That's FREE!"  Usagi's eyes got even bigger.  "All you can eat!"

     "The Queen also decreed that everyone in Crystal Tokyo has the right
to be free from hunger," Rei said.  "Only imported and special dishes can
be bought and sold in Crystal Tokyo."

     "Look, I don't mean to be rude," Arcadia said, "but can we go ten
bloody minutes without talking about the Queen?"

     A hush fell over the immediate crowd and several people shot Arcadia
dark looks.  Rei looked nervously from side to side.  Usagi looked over a
fried squid stand.

     "Come on, Arcadia... let's go get something to eat," Rei said,
dragging her and Usagi away.  Once they were out of sight of that
particular group of people, Rei turned to Arcadia.  "You have to be careful
what you say about the Queen, Arcadia," she whispered.

     "What, she doesn't like people speaking against her?"

     "No, she doesn't mind... but remember what I said about people
worshipping their role models?  A lot of people love Serenity and they
might take it on themselves to... chastise someone who speaks ill of her."

     Usagi looked very sad, as if she might burst into tears.  "Several
times a year, the Queen has to visit people who have suffered for speaking
against her.  She goes to their hospital beds... or funerals."

     "I'm sorry," Arcadia said, "but everywhere I go, I hear so much good
stuff about the Queen... and I can't believe anyone can be SO good, so un-
selfish.  I mean, when I read about the Queens who followed her..."
Arcadia shuddered.

     "It's probably best not to talk too much about the future," Rei said.
"It hasn't happened yet to us.  Who knows?  It might never happen.  If
there wasn't a chance of the future changing, would we need a Sailor
Pluto?"

     Arcadia grimaced.  "There's another sore point I have.  Pluto Junior
or whatever is supposed to take me home but she seems to be taking her time
about it."  She shook her head.  "Sorry, we're here to have fun, and I
REALLY need some new clothes.  I just hope I have money for it."

     "We can check at the Crystal Pylons.  People who like to watch their
budgets can check their accounts there," Rei said.

     The threesome made their way over to the nearest Pylon.  It was very
thick at the base and had several dozen stations set into it.  Each
station had a screen and a slot.  On one side there was a door.  There was
a buzzer next to it and a sign that said "Please ring for service."  Rei
told Arcadia that was for people with REALLY big packages.

     They went up to one station.  "Now, just put your hand on the screen,"
Usagi told Arcadia.

     Arcadia did.  The screen lit up and a bright line scanned up and down
and side to side over it.  Then there was a beep.

     "You can remove your hand," Rei said.

     Arcadia looked at the screen.  It read:

     N'GOYA, ARCADIA
     WARD OF THE STATE
     UNLIMITED CREDIT
     BY ORDER OF THE QUEEN

     Rei whistled.  "Looks like you've got friends in high places."

     "WOW!  We can buy a LOT of stuff!" Usagi said.

     "But I never... I didn't ask... I haven't even MET the Queen!"

     Usagi and Rei looked at each other and burst into giggles.  "Girl, you
have a LOT to learn about how Crystal Tokyo works," Rei said.

                                   *****

     It was now after lunch and Arcadia was thoroughly enjoying herself.
The Ginza had given them hours of fun.  She now had several sets of clothes
that she felt she could live with, though Rei and Usagi had outdone her in
those departments.

     Still, she had been the one who had dared them to enter a store (one
of the permanent ones on the rim of the dome) that sold lingerie.  The
three of them had spent over an hour daring each other to try on certain...
unmentionables.  She still didn't believe Rei had bought that fishnet body
stocking!  Judging by how the girl blushed when teased about it, it wasn't
something she did often.

     Now her stomach was making its preferences known.  "Hey, guys!  Time
for some serious food!"

     Rei and Usagi looked over at her and nodded in agreement.  Usagi's
stomach began to growl, as well, making her blush and Rei smile.

     "I know just the place," Usagi said.  She then led them over to a
small stall which had "Tsu-chan's" written over it.  There was no one
present, but the grill was hot and the door to a small storage area in the
back was open.

     "Hey, Tsu-chan!" Usagi yelled.

     There was a clanging sound from the back room.

     "TSU-CHAN!" Usagi screamed, causing almost everyone in the whole dome
to wonder who was being murdered.

     A handsome young... person with long brown hair held in place by a
bandanna appeared in the doorway to the storage area.  Arcadia guessed he
was a man (or an extremely flat-chested woman) but his looks were so
androgynous it was hard to tell.

     "Hello?" he asked.  There was an unfocused look to him, as if he was
uncertain what he was doing there.

     "Hiya, Tsu-chan, it's me, Usagi?"

     "Who?" he asked.

     Rei reached over the stall's counter and grabbed the man by the neck.
"IT'S REI AND USAGI, DUMMY!" she screamed.

     "Oh... have we met?"

     The two girls sighed.  "Arcadia, meet Kuonji Tsubasa.  He makes the
world's BEST okonomiyaki... and has a memory with more holes in it than
Pluto's memoirs."

     "Pleased to meet you... I think," Arcadia said.

     "Meet who?" Tsubasa asked.

     "Never mind.  Three Specials, please," Usagi said.

     The unfocused look in Tsubasa's eyes faded at that.  As if by magic,
two spatulas appeared in his hands and he seemed to almost glow with
energy.  Then, in a dance of cooking steel and batter, he began to prepare
their meals.

     Arcadia was impressed.  She had never seen anyone cook with such grace
and attention to detail.  Tsubasa made an artform out of cooking.  She even
caught herself wondering if he moved that gracefully in other things, and
if he ever cooked with his shirt off.  Then, the okonomiyaki was before her
and Tsubasa once again had a dull, unfocused look on his face.
Tentatively, she took a bite.

     It was the best food she had ever tasted.  "Oh, wow," she said.  "This
made the whole trip worthwhile."

     "I said he was good, didn't I, didn't I?" Usagi said.  "The only
problem is he's not much good at conversation, since he forgets things so
much.  Apparently both the memory problems and the okonomiyaki run in his
family."

     "Can I get you girls anything?" Tsubasa asked suddenly.  "You can't
stand there if you're not going to order."

     Arcadia looked at him in surprise, but Rei and Usagi ate on, totally
unconcerned.  "Don't worry," Usagi said between mouthfuls.  "He'll forget
us in a few minutes anyway."

     After another special (more to watch Tsubasa work than anything) the
three moved on.  "What's next?" Arcadia asked.

     "Weeeeeellllll," Usagi said, "I think it's time for Rei to show you
what else she's good at, besides being bossy."

     "I am not bossy, Usagi!  Take that back!"

     "You are too bossy!  Bossy bossy bossy!"

     The tongue war had started again.

                                   *****

     "I still don't understand what karaoke is," Arcadia protested.

     "I am NOT getting up there, Usagi.  It's been ages since I've sung!"

     They were in what Usagi called a Karaoke bar where, as far as Arcadia
could see, the whole purpose of the establishment was to get its patrons
drunk enough to make asses of themselves.

     Rei had argued with Usagi the entire way to the bar, but Arcadia
already knew that Usagi would talk her raven-haired friend into it.  And it
turned out she was right.


     "Some say love, it is a river, that drowns the tender reed.
      Some say love, it is a razor, that leaves your heart to bleed. 
      Some say love, it is a hunger, an endless aching need.
      I say love, it is a flower and you its only seed.

      It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance.
      It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance.
      It's the one who won't be taken who can not seem to give.
      And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live.

      When the night has been too lonely and the road has been too long.
      And you think that love is only for the lucky and the strong.
      Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows 
      lies the seed that with the sun's love, 
      in the spring becomes the ROSE."


     Arcadia listened in awe, along with the rest of the bar.  Rei was
really, really good.  But beyond her purely technical expertise, there was
such a depth of emotion in her singing, as if she had suffered and loved
both more than most people could imagine.  Underlying it all was a
poignancy... not regret, but nostalgia, a wish for a return to simpler days
that she never expected to be answered in full.  There were tears in the
eyes of the audience when she was done.

     Then Usagi joined her on stage.


    "I never believed in things that I couldn't see 
    I said if I can't feel it, then how can it be 
    No, no magic could happen to me 
    And then I saw you 

    I couldn't believe it, you took my heart 
    I couldn't retrieve it, said to myself 
    What's it all about 
    Now I know there can be no doubt 

    You can do magic 
    You can have anything that you desire 
    Magic, and you know 
    You're the one who can put out the fire 

    You know darn well 
    When you cast your spell you will get your way 
    When you hypnotize with your eyes 
    A heart of stone can turn to clay 
    Doo, doo, doo ... 

    And when the rain is beatin' upon the window pane 
    And when the night it gets so cold, when I can't sleep 
    Again you come to me 
    I hold you tight, the rain disappears 
    Who would believe it 
    With a word you dry my tears 

    You can do magic 
    You can have anything that you desire 
    Magic, and you know 
    You're the one who can put out the fire 

    You know darn well 
    When you cast your spell you will get your way 
    When you hypnotize with your eyes 
    A heart of stone can turn to clay 
    Doo, doo, doo ... 

    And If I wanted to 
    I could never be free 
    I never believed it was true 
    But now it's so clear to me 

    You can do magic 
    You can have anything that you desire 
    Magic, and you know 
    You're the one who can put out the fire 

    You know darn well 
    When you cast your spell you will get your way 
    When you hypnotize with your eyes 
    A heart of stone can turn to clay 
    Doo, doo, doo ... 

    You're the one who can put out the fire 
    You're the one who can put out the fire 
    You're the one who can put out the fire ..." 


     The two of them were singing for each other, Arcadia realized.  Theirs
was a friendship so strong it denied explanation.  But for all the love
between them, something was missing.  An emptiness, a missing element that
left them incomplete.

     Then a strong baritone entered the equation.  Arcadia looked over her
shoulder and saw a young man, perhaps four years older than her and wearing
a simple black pullover, gray pants, and a green blazer.  He joined the
song, and the missing element clicked into place.



     "So many nights I'd sit by my window
      Waiting for someone to sing me a song
      So many dreams I kept deep inside me
      Alone in the dark, but now you've come along

      And you light up my life
      You give me hope
      To carry on
      You Light up my Days
      And fill my nights with song

      Rollin'at sea, adrift on the waters
      Could it be fin'lly I'm turning for home
      Finally a chance to say, "Hey I love you"
      Never again to be all alone

      'Cause you light up my life
      You give me hope
      To carry on
      You light up my days
      And fill my nights with song

      'Cause you, you light up my life
      You give me hope
      To carry on
      You light up my days
      And fill my nights with song

      It can't be wrong when it feels so right
      'cause you
      You light up my life"

     People were now crying into their drinks and lovers where embracing,
but the three on stage had eyes only for each other... then Rei took a step
back, and watched as Usagi and the strange man embraced.  Usagi looked over
at her friend and mouthed something that Arcadia couldn't make out.

     Then they left the stage and the bar broke out into applause.

     "Arcadia-chan, this is Mamo-chan, my boyfriend!" Usagi said, not
letting go of her hunk for a moment.

     "Chiba Mamoru, nice to meet you," the man said, bowing slightly.  "I
wish we had time to talk further, but actually I have to take Usagi away
for a bit."

     "Is something wrong?" Arcadia asked, looking between them.

     "No, but meatball head is running late, AGAIN," Rei said with a snort.
"Mamoru's always having to pop out of nowhere and remind her what to do."

     Usagi blew another raspberry at Rei while Mamoru just reddened
slightly with embarrassment.

     "Well, it's probably just as well," Arcadia said, looking at the clock
on the wall.  "I'm supposed to meet the queen for dinner.  I think that
was tonight.  I'd better go put on something nice."  She stood up and
bowed.  "I had a lot of fun today.  I hope we'll be able to get together
again before I leave."

     "You bet!" Usagi said.

     You know, Arcadia thought as she ran off to find the museum, maybe
Crystal Tokyo isn't such a bad place after all, with people like Rei and
Usagi in it.

     Behind her, Rei, Mamoru, and Usagi exchanged glances and ducked into
an alley once Arcadia was out of sight.  There was a flash of light and
they were gone.

************

Nemesis,  Royal Palace, DY (Demand Year 305)
      
     The messenger tried to speak, but he was too tired from 
running, and the words were incoherent at best.  Demand held up a 
hand.  "Rest, child, then tell me your message."

     The boy plopped down on the floor.  He wasn't much more than 
thirteen at best, Demand guessed.  Still serving his apprenticeship.  
He waited patiently, mainly because he was almost certain he 
already knew the news the boy was bringing.  

      Finally, the boy was able to speak clearly.  "Sire, I was 
instructed to tell you that the phoenix has spread its wings, 
whatever that means."  He panted a bit, then said, "The news of its 
awakening has taken flight as well."  For a moment, he stared off to 
the right side of Demand's head, causing Demand to turn and look, 
but Demand saw nothing over there but one of his guards trying to 
scratch his back with his spear.  "The Wiseman also said that 'Sarah 
Conner' had arrived in Mega-Tokyo, whatever THAT is supposed to 
mean.  Finally, our honored guest is ready to make his grand 
entry."  He paused.  "I suppose I'm not going to find out what any 
of this means, am I?"

      Demand tossed the boy a gold coin.  "You have served well.  Yes, 
you're right, you're not going to find out.  But you have brought me 
good news."

      The boy stared at the coin.  This was the equal of three years 
wages for an average craftsman, like his father.  "This...is for me?"

      "Don't spend it all in one place, lad."  Demand smiled.  This is 
going to work, he thought.  I can hardly believe it.  Finally, I shall 
be rid of that wretch Endymion and I shall take my rightful place.  
The prophecy will be fulfilled.
       

*****************

Earth,  Angelica's Needle, 2971 AD (Serenity Year -21, 
3722 Years after the founding of Rome, Juraiian Year 
23135, Federal Year -1015)

        Charity screamed.  Childbirth sucks, and she was far 
too aware of this.  The fact that it was her tenth child didn't 
make it any easier, especially given that she had lost half of 
the first nine within the first year.  What was the point of all 
this pain if your child was going to drop dead within a year?  
Before he or she could even say goodbye?  Four sons and 
one daughter dead and buried before their first birthday.  
Another son froze to death during a blizzard at age five.  
However, her oldest boy was thirteen now, growing strong 
and tall.  Charity was proud of Magni, who had been named 
after his father.  He and his father were out in the fields.  
Lori, the midwife had chased all the men off.  It was badluck 
for a man to see a birthing.  They tended to faint at the sight 
of blood, anyway.  Her daughters were nearby, in the next 
room.  They were too young to watch.  Hope was five, and 
Faith was three.  

       She let forth another scream, her blonde hair flailing 
about.  At least her bed was nice and soft, which helped a 
tiny bit.  The first three, she had to do while lying on a stone 
shelf, which was bitterly cold and utterly horrible.  This one 
was coming out a lot faster than Faith, who had taken 
sixteen hours.  They had all thought she'd never give birth 
again, and she had prayed that would be the case.

      The great goddess Albernia must not have heard, 
because she had gotten pregnant again.  She shouted, 
"DAMN YOU MAGNI!  THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

      Lori laughed faintly, then suddenly her laughter shut off 
like a torch going out in a bucket of water.  "What the..."

      Charity's heart sank.  A stillborn baby.  If I've gone 
through all this only to have my child already dead.  A burst 
of intense rage ran through her.  DAMNATION!  She tried 
to look at Lori, who looked strange.  The reason she looked 
strange was that an intense light was shining on the front of 
her body, although Charity couldn't tell where it was coming 
from.  An instant later, all of her pain ceased.  She could still 
feel her muscles contorting in a vague sort of way, but there 
was no more pain than you might feel while chewing on 
something.  "What the..."

        Lori had large eyes.  She tried to say something, but 
failed.  Charity saw her tugging gently on what she guessed 
was her baby, just out of sight, and she felt the baby come 
out.  Lori reached into a bucket of warm water and gently 
cleaned the baby boy.  He and she were shining.  

       Charity's vision fogged over.  She felt strange, as if her 
nerves had gone dead.  Her stomach was rumbling and her 
limbs were twitching a bit.  She tried to sit up, but her body 
wasn't taking orders from her.  

       A jolt ran through her body.  She sat up so fast that she 
kept going and nearly smacked her face into her knees.  Her 
whole body was suffused with energy.  Her stomach, still 
bloated, folded in various uncomfortable ways, then 
suddenly retracted an inch.  More energy ran through her 
and she felt ready to run a marathon.  Lori said, "I...I have 
good news, I think."  

       She turned the baby boy around.  Unlike most 
newborns, he wasn't howling, rather he looked confused 
and kept patting his right cheek.  He had clear blue eyes like 
his father, but he also had something his father didn't 
possess.  There was a brightly shining silver crescent moon 
upon his forehead.

        Charity stared.  "It...it's not possible."  She reached 
out and pulled her boy to her.  "Could he be the..."

       In the distance, there was a scream, followed by 
shouting and signs of battle.  The door opened, and a man 
spoke.  "It is.  Dress yourself and prepare to flee, woman, 
for the Winter Queen is coming for your child, and the fate 
of the world rests on his shoulders."

        Lori turned around, her hands on her hips.  "I don't 
care who you are!  Men are...not...allowed..."  Her voice 
trailed off.  

        It was the Wiseman.  "Do not bother me with your 
pathetic superstitions.  If half the things you believed about 
childbirth were correct, everyone in the century I was born 
in would have been horribly cursed, doomed to suffer for 
eternity.  You must flee with the child to a safe haven.  You 
must go to Shamballa.  The Sorceror Supreme will protect 
you."

       "Shamballa?"  Charity said.

        Lori laughed.  "Shamballa is a story for little children, a 
fantasy world where no one starves, no one suffers, where 
everything is sweetness and light.  What a crock of shit.  
What are you REALLY up to?"  She trembled through her 
rage.  Shamballa might be a myth, but the Wiseman was not.  
Ten years ago, the king of Guiness had tried to steal the 
Wiseman's orb.  All that was left of Guiness was a smoking 
crater, except for a single child who had somehow made it 
hundreds of miles across the wilderness to stagger into 
Albernia and tell the tale.

        Without moving, the Wiseman was suddenly only three 
inches away from Lori.  "Trying to insure that humanity is 
not exterminated like it so richly deserves."  For a moment, 
his hands flared with a black light, then he visibly 
shuddered.  "I have waited nine hundred years for this child 
to be born, and I will not see him die because an infant 
thinks she knows something when she doesn't know 
ANYTHING!"  His voice boomed and Lori's hair blew back 
from the force of the word.  Charity clutched her child closer 
and twitched.  It was taking all of her energy not to get up 
and run.  

        Lori paled.  "I just...I mean...noone's ever seen 
Shamballa.  How is she supposed to find it?"

       The Wiseman ignored her and stepped over to the bed.  
"The energy you feel within you is your body converting 
years of fat built up from your pregnancies into energy, the 
feeling of your own capabilities awakening.  You must 
dress, and then you must run."  He touched her forehead 
with a cold finger that felt like a bone rather than flesh.  
"This will show you the path.  You must go as soon as you 
can.  I can stop this army, but the Winter Queen will send 
more, or come herself, and that would destroy this entire 
land.  You don't want to see your land destroyed do you?"

       "Will my boy...really marry the Queen of Summer and 
end the winter?"  Charity choked out.

       "He is the one of whom I prophesied, but his fate is in 
your hands.  I know you won't fail your child."

                             *******
 
       "And Charity rose from her birthing-bed, and she did 
clothe herself and her child, and then she began the great 
run.  Across the ice she travelled, and her child and she fed 
upon food from heaven.  The Winter Queen sent great 
beasts, but her faith protected her, and they could not touch 
her.  

        And she did come upon the gates of Shamballa, and 
they were shut.  She hammered upon the gates, and they 
fell.  The army of Shamballa could not stop her, for her 
power was that of the sacred child she bore.  And she stood 
before the Lord of Shamballa, the Sorceror Surpreme, and 
she cried out to the Sorceror for justice, for safe haven.  

         And the Sorceror rose from her throne, and she smiled 
upon Charity and welcomed her, for she too had born 
children once, and her heart was merciful and just.  Yet, she 
was sorely troubled, for the gates of Shamballa had been 
destroyed, and no longer could it hide from the darkness that 
shrouded the world.  She saw the shadow of her death 
approaching, and she was sore afraid.  

        But that time was not yet come, and for a short time, 
Charity and her son, the King of the Nations, did rest and 
prepare for the battles to come.  For five years, they stayed 
in the land of Peace, until war finally came to Shamballa..."

--Excerpted from the holy writings of the Black Moon Cult