"Can you believe those two? It's like they think that it's their job to disrupt the very fabric of the Universe." Setsuna laughed as she pulled off the last of her clothes and reached for the shift she wore to bed. "I think they enjoy it." "Don't you?" Ailan chuckled at the look on her lover's face. "I know what you mean. But maybe Destiny needs their daughter. After all, their son is the only reason Earth survived this long." "Maybe." Setsuna slipped her shift over her head, looking up when Ailan's hand stopped her. "You do not need that," she whispered, voice low and soft. She slipped the last of her clothes off and pressed her bare body against Setsuna's as she wrapped her arms around the taller woman. "Ready for bed?" "You know I can't think when you do that," Setsuna murmured, her entire body quivering. "You don't need to think." Ailan leaned up and kissed her beloved Setsuna, and the Senshi of Time surrendered herself to the siren in her arms. *~*~*~*~*~*~* "A what? We haven't had one of those in a long time." "I'm sure of it, Haruka-san. Can you bring the Outers?" "Yeah, sure. We'll be there in a minute, Venus." Haruka turned off her communicator and she looked up at the women she shared a house with. Her eyes met Michiru's, and she shook her head, all of her buried protective instincts rising to the surface. "No. You have to stay here." Michiru sighed tolerantly as her henshin stick appeared in her hand. "I'm at three months; she won't hamper my movements. I might be pregnant, but I'm still a senshi and I will protect my princess." Setsuna smiled at the younger woman's answer, glancing at Hotaru. The purple-haired senshi shrugged, having known already how her mother would respond to Haruka's surge of overprotectiveness. Haruka was smart enough to know that she could not win this battle, and she sighed as she raised her henshin stick into the air. "Fine. But as soon as that fuku shows your pregnancy, you're staying home." Ailan watched the four senshi leave, and she decided that she was tired of being left behind. She knew that her daughter would be fighting, and she wanted to protect the people she loved. In the Silver Millennium, her senshi never let her fight, and she was tired of being protected and left behind when her beloved went into battle. Ailan followed the senshi, determined that her lover and daughter would come home safely. *~*~*~*~*~*~* "Mars Flame Sniper!" "Venus Love and Beauty Shock!" Three more shadow-like black wraiths vanished in a puff of black smoke. The two senshi fell back for a moment to catch their breath as Jupiter and Mercury moved to attack. "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" "Jupiter Oak Evolution!" "World Shaking!" "Deep Submerge!" "Dead Scream!" For the moment, the Senshi were free of enemies. As the Outers joined the Inner Senshi, Sailor Moon greeted her protectors, Saturn standing to one side, ready to create a wall. Tuxedo Kamen, who had been battling wraiths with his cane, paused to catch his breath. "Neptune, are you sure you should be here?" "I'm pregnant, not porcelain. I wish you guys would quit trying to protect me. This little girl will be fine." The wraiths, having regrouped, spun toward the senshi once again. They seemed to be endless, attacking so fast and so aggressively that the senshi had no chance to get on top of the wave. Pluto stepped back from the constant attack, her breathing heavy. She was old; she couldn't keep this up much longer. She realized later how incredibly tired she must have been to miss the attack coming straight at her. "Pluto!" She raised her staff just in time to block the energy ball heading for her, and a quick ‘Dead Scream' finished off its owner. Pluto spun to face the woman who had warned her, red eyes narrowing. "Ailan! Why are you here? You should have stayed at the mansion." "I can't just sit back and let everyone else fight anymore. It isn't fair." Ailan stepped out from behind her tree, lavender eyes sad. "I hate it when you're in danger and I can't protect you. None of you would ever let me fight. I never even transformed into Sailor Moon. It isn't fair." "It was to protect you," Pluto whispered. "We can't lose you, Ailan." "Look out!" Mars cried. Pluto spun around to face the attack, staff raised, but the cloud of shining black metal was too powerful. She would never be able to protect herself. All of the senshi moved to protect their oldest member, but none of them were close enough. Ailan was. She never hesitated, never considered the consequences, never even realized that her lover was a senshi and might survive while she, as a mortal, was doomed. The blast hit her full-force as she pushed Pluto out of the way, and the silver-haired woman screamed as she was thrown against the tree. Eternal Sailor Moon finished off the last of the wraiths as the senshi gathered around the fallen woman. Ailan coughed, blood spilling down her chin, as she tried to hold her hands over the wounds on her side. She knew she was dying; the senshi could see it in her eyes. Setsuna took her lover's hand, heedless of the blood on her white gloves. She glanced at her daughter, a plea in her eyes, and Usagi pulled out the ginzuishou. Before Ailan even had time to object, the crystal screamed in protest and darkened angrily. It refused to heal the woman. Usagi returned the crystal to its broach and shook her head. Setsuna looked at Ailan again, tears in her red eyes. "Ailan, why would you do that?" "For you," she whispered. "For once I had the power to protect the ones I love and I took it." "Serenity, please don't leave me," Setsuna cried, pulling Ailan into her lap. "I can make the crystal behave," Sailor Moon whispered, staring at the quiescent stone in her hands. "I'm sure I can save her." "Don't you dare," Ailan hissed. "Evolved or not, obedient or not, that crystal will kill you if you try. Just as Kazeko would not let me die to save her, I won't let you save me." "I don't want to lose you, Mother. I only just got you back." "I know," the woman whispered, coughing as she struggled for breath. "I've died before; this isn't so bad." "I won't let you!" Setsuna shifted Ailan into Usagi's lap as she stood and wrapped her hands around the Time Staff. She knew of only one being who could help if the crystal refused. "Hades, Lord of the Dead and the Underworld, I Summon you! Come to your servant!" Wind swirled around the woman, whipping her long hair, desperately trying to force her to give up, to surrender, but the Garnet Orb glowed fiercely in defiance. A dark portal opened with a scream in front of Pluto, a sound that caused the other Senshi to cover their ears in pain, but Pluto stood firm, eyes glowing. A tall man—too tall to be human—with dark hair and glowing eyes stepped onto the grass, a scythe-like staff in one hand. He looked at Pluto and ran his hand across his face in a very Human gesture. ~Pluto, you fool. You know better than to call me.~ "I didn't have a choice. You want a soul that I cannot let you take, and I want to make a bargain for that soul." Hades glanced at Ailan, her life's blood staining the grass and her daughter's fuku, and his eyes widened. ~How did she get out? I gave specific orders that she was not to be reborn.~ Pluto's staff was at his throat in an instant, her eyes almost too bright to look at. "What?! You did not want Serenity to be reborn? Why, Hades? You wrote the laws that demand that every sentient being deserves a second chance. You enforce the Law of Rebirth. Why would you deny Serenity that?" ~She broke so many laws, Pluto, as have you. But my orders came from a different source. I imagine she must have had a link in the mundane plane that allowed her to escape me and be born again.~ "Me," Pluto whispered, lowering her staff. "I defied another god. Hades, please don't punish her for what I did. Please don't let her die." ~I cannot prevent it, child. You know I love you, daughter, but I cannot grant this wish.~ "I'll do anything! Hades, Father, take my life for hers." Hades hung his head. ~I cannot. You are too close to the gods and she too far away. Your power would destroy her body and both of you would die. She's mortal, Se, and no longer under the protection of Selene, of Artemis, your cousin. What do you expect me to do?~ "She's mortal, yes, and she was not born with the ginzuishou in her body, in her soul, as our daughter was—" ~Your daughter?!~ Hades looked at Sailor Moon, so small and fragile-looking, and he laughed. ~Of course! No wonder she could perform such wondrous feats. She's the granddaughter of gods. But the only reason she has such power is because she was born with the life crystal of the Moon.~ "No," Pluto corrected; "she was born with the guardian crystal of the Moon. The life crystal of the Moon was lost long ago." Her red eyes challenged her father, and he shook his head. ~There are some things I cannot say.~ "But I can," a younger voice piped up in a voice that was far more human-sounding than the lord of the dead's booming baritone. Persephone, Hades's beautiful wife, entered the mundane realm, a smile on her lips. "Hello, my beautiful Se. I missed you so. Ever since Hades called you to be his Avatar." She glared at her husband, smiling when she stepped up to Pluto and placed her hands on the shorter woman's shoulders. "Se, the ginzuishou is not the life crystal of the Moon because the ginzuishou was formed from a drop of Artemis or Selene's blood, and she is just the guardian of the Moon, not the essence of the Moon." "Eurynome," Setsuna whispered. "The light that rose from the wastelands of Chaos and twined with the Universal Serpent, Ophion, composed of the four Winds, to create the Moon and the Earth and the Stars. She was the first God worshipped on Earth, and she was long associated with the Moon long before Leda birthed Artemis. Are you saying Eurynome created a crystal?" Persephone nodded. "Chaos was all-powerful back then, before the younger gods, us, created a Guardian of the Balance and gave her the power to control Chaos. Eurynome needed to create a force to counter Chaos, what you mundanes call Order, so she used most of her life-force to make a single crystal. She sleeps on the Moon now, since she gave so much. But the crystal's powers of healing, light, protection, and love always killed its owner. So Artemis created a less powerful stone with healing powers directly linked to the Moon Royal Family, the descendants of Selene she named Serenity, and gave it the power to cleanse evil. The first stone had the power to cleanse chaos, which is more dangerous and less predictable. The original stone was given to your father." Setsuna looked at Hades, eyes wide. "Father, why can I not have that stone? If its power of healing is as great as you say . . ." ~Se, it may not respond to her. She's not Lunarian anymore.~ "But her soul is still the soul of the Queen of the Moon! Father, I have never asked you for a favor, and I want this with all of my heart and soul. She's fading fast and the ginzuishou will no longer recognize her. This is her only hope. I love her, Father, and I cannot lose her again." Hades sighed and handed his staff to Persephone. ~Daughter, the goddess we granted the power of Balance to will not be happy, and the stone may refuse to heal your lover. But since your souls are linked so closely, I will grant you this one wish. However, the stone was entrusted to me long ago and I was told that it will always choose. Its power cannot be forced.~ "I understand." Hades nodded and held out his cupped hands, concentrating as a silver light glowed from between his palms. An unearthly silvery song filled the air as a tiny silver crystal appeared in the god's hands. He relaxed as it floated for a moment, seeming to take stock of its surroundings, and its silvery siren call filled the air. Suddenly it stopped, the erratic, uncontrolled pulsing slowing and settling into a lazy but defined rhythm as its spinning stopped. Hades opened his hands, stepping back, and the silver, pearlescent crystal flew away from the god and toward the group of senshi. Pluto stepped back, wincing from the ancient, sentient power pulsing off the tiny stone in waves, her blood and soul screaming at her to stay away from it. The stone landed on Ailan's breast, its silver glow steady and strong. It paused a minute, thinking, as Hades took his staff. ~Se, when it asks to be returned, you must send it back to us. When it is done, it will ask. It is called the Moonlight Crystal, or the Mother Pearl, and it will not be controlled. What it wants, it gets. Do not call me again, daughter, unless it is for a family reunion.~ The two vanished, not needing to wait for the outcome, returning to their brethren. Hades's last words filled the park. ~She is going to be so angry.~ The blood on Ailan's body slowly faded as her wounds closed up, the silver power of the tiny crystal healing the fallen human. The unconscious woman began to moan, falling out of Usagi's lap as the silver glow spread farther, enveloping her, too bright for even the senshi to look at. Pluto held up a hand to shield her eyes as her lover glowed more brightly than a newborn star and the silver star song climaxed. When the light and music faded, the senshi looked back to find Ailan standing, the crystal floating above her hands. Pluto fell to her knees, eyes wide, as the other senshi gasped. Ailan looked down and swayed faintly when she realized that she was no longer wearing the clothes she had dashed out the door in. She was dressed in a white form-fitting fuku with a silver double skirt, white boots with silver filigree pattern snaking up the length, a gold band around the top of each, and a crescent moon in the center. Her long white gloves ended in silver, a thin gold band around each wrist, a crescent moon on each. The bow above her skirt in the back was gold with two long ribbons hanging to her knees, while the one in front was silver with a paler silver star in the center. Setsuna stood and walked forward, one slim finger touching the moon glowing from the center of her lover's forehead. "Silver," she whispered. All of the moons on Ailan's Sailor fuku were silver. "What happened?" Setsuna smiled as the other senshi gathered around their newest member. "You're a senshi," Setsuna whispered, pointing at the quiescent crystal in Ailan's hands. It glowed as the star locket with a tiny crescent moon on the front opened, admitting the pearl, and the Moonlight Crystal entered the indention inside the broach. "And it looks like the Moonlight Crystal is staying with you for a while." "Moonlight . . . Crystal?" Ailan looked at her fuku again as a brilliant smile lit her face. "I'm a senshi? One of you? Sailor . . . Moonlight?" She looked at Eternal Sailor Moon, and a soft song in the back of her mind whispered a secret. Closing her eyes, she concentrated, and two silver wings appeared from her back. "I know you," she whispered, her eyes glowing silver. "A child of the line of Selene. A child of the line of Hades. But not blessed by Eurynome. No, she has been gone . . . she blessed one child to carry on her work, to fight Chaos and save this small galaxy." Ailan shook her head, breaking free of the crystal's control. "What does it mean, blessed?" She looked at her lover, sensing that Setsuna knew more than she would tell, and shook her head. "I can't believe I'm actually a senshi. I've never been one before." "Never?" "No, Sailor Moon. Does this mean . . . does this mean that I'll live as long as you?" Setsuna felt tears fill her eyes as the full implications of Ailan's rebirth as a Senshi hit her. "We can be together now," she whispered, pulling Ailan into her arms. "You're not mortal anymore, though I have no idea why the crystal did this to you. I remember legends of an ancient senshi of the Moon, Sailor Moonlight, whose ancestors were part of an older Royal Line, the children of Eurynome, but the last Sailor Moonlight vanished before the Sailor Wars." "We'll figure it out," Ailan whispered, laying her head on Setsuna's breast, feeling safe and content for the first time since she said goodbye to her Moon King so many centuries earlier. "Now we have all the time in the world." As the other Senshi gathered closer to greet and welcome their new member, Pluto whispered a brief thanks to whichever god released her beloved's soul from her father's realm. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Aphrodite watched the scene unfold in the viewer, smiling when she sensed her son join her. "Good job, Eros. How did you convince the stone to choose Ailan?" The winged man shrugged. "Actually, Mother, I didn't. The stone was waiting for a child of Eurynome to claim it for the upcoming battle, but only she can name her child. She chose the former Queen of the Moon, and I can't find her to ask why." "Balance is going to be really upset." Eros nodded as he joined his mother. "By the way, where is my great-grandson?" "I haven't seen Kiyoshi's boy in ages. He might have had something to do with this." Aphrodite snorted. "Even after he ascended to join us, he still insists on bringing Soulmates together. I hope he didn't have a hand in this, though; Balance will be really angry at him."
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