Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The cloaked figure descended upon the remains of what used to be known as Planet Nemesis. The planet, and the Malefic Black Crystal which it housed had both been destroyed in Death Phantom’s bout with Sailor Moon, along with the Death Phantom himself. Most had assumed there was nothing left to fear from this planet, that any threat it posed had been neutralized by the combined power of two Legendary Silver Crystals… they were wrong.

The figure sifted through the rubble of the shattered world for some time, before they finally found what they were looking for: a shard of the Malefic Black Crystal, roughly the size of Sailor Moon’s Silver Crystal, which contained the last of its power. The figure picked the Crystal up and held it in their gauntlet, feeling its dark energy surge through them. They cracked a smile underneath their cold metal mask.

“Oh… this will do nicely.”

…

“What do you mean you liked the ending?!” Rei shouted indignantly at Minako, who had come to the Hikawa Shrine to return some manga she had borrowed from her raven-haired friend.

“Um… that I liked the ending?” The blonde said while watching Rei place her manga back on her shelf.

“But they completely botched it! Her best friend stood by her through everything, was her rock for the entire series, and then at the end they decide that she should end up with some boring guy who she has, like, no chemistry with instead of her?”

“I thought it was sweet. I really liked the wedding scene at the end.”

“Oh that was the worst!” Rei complained.

“You just don’t like it because your ship didn’t happen.” Minako shot back with a smirk.

“No, that’s not it at all!” Rei refuted, a light blush crossing her face, “I’m just saying there was clear romantic tension between her and her best friend, and then at the end they decide to just throw alllll of that away to have her end up with a dude who’s about as interesting as a piece of cardboard!” The miko finished with a huff, earning a giggle from Minako. “What’s so funny?”

“You’re cute when you get all riled up about this stuff.” Minako replied with a smile.

The compliment caused Rei to turn a shade of red comparable to the skirt she wore as a Sailor Guardian, “Oh… um… thanks?”

“Anyways, I’ve gotta get going, are we still on for Friday night?” Minako asked as she began to make her way towards the exit.

“Uh, yeah, definitely.” 

“Alright, awesome, catch ya later!” The blonde-haired girl said before taking her leave.

After her friend had left Rei sat on her bed in contemplation. She and Minako had been spending a lot more time together as of late. The two of them had figured, with their other friends running off together so often it made sense for them to keep each other company. Since they started, however, Rei noticed something was different about Minako. While mulling over the events of the past few weeks, she was drawn into a memory of the aftermath of the first of her and Minako’s escapades…

…

“Uh, hey Rei, what’s up?” Usagi asked over the phone, clearly confused as to why Rei had decided to call her out of nowhere so late at night.

“Uh, well…” Rei began, nervously twirling her hair while sitting atop her bed, “... I have a… hypothetical, for you.” 

“You called me because you have a hypothetical for me?” Usagi questioned.

“Uh… yeah.”

“Oh pipe down, the movie will still be here when we’re done.” Usagi said out of nowhere from the other end of the line.

“What?” 

“Oh, Mamo and I were watching a movie when you called.” Usagi explained, “Anyway, what’s your hypothetical?”

“Well… let’s say, again, hypothetically, that one of your best friends… I dunno, kissed you on the cheek out of nowhere, what would you think about that situation?”

“Well… it’s definitely not something I’ve ever experienced personally.” Usagi began, “I guess it would depend on the context?”

“Yeah, I uh… I guess that would make sense.” Rei replied.

“How about you, babe, you and Motoki ever kiss?” Usagi asked before Rei heard a voice talking in the background, which presumably belonged to Mamoru.

“What do you mean you can’t talk about it?”

“What do you mean you were sworn to secrecy?”

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WAS ALCOHOL INVOLVED?!” 

“Usagi!” Rei chided, “Can we focus please?”

“Right, sorry.” Usagi apologized, “Anyway, it’s obvious this isn’t just a hypothetical so how about you tell me who kissed you so I can actually help you out?”

“Okay, okay, fine!” Rei conceded, “It was Mina.” The raven-haired girl said in a whispered tone.

“Oh, why didn’t you lead with that?” Usagi scolded, “Mina flirts with everyone, she probably just thought it’d be fun.”

“Right, right, obviously.” Rei said in agreement, “I just figured I’d get a second opinion to make sure that there wasn’t… y’know… more to it than that.”

“I mean… do you want there to be?” 

“WHAT?! No, of course not!” Rei dismissed, blushing profusely, “Anyway, thanks for your help, gotta go, bye!” She finished before quickly hanging up the phone, Usagi’s words still echoing in her mind.

“... do you want there to be?”

“... Do I?”

…

The question had hung in the miko’s head ever since. Especially any time Mina would flirt with her which was… fairly frequently. Rei tried to heed Usagi’s words and just write it off as Mina being Mina but something about it just felt off.

In general she had been acting weirder as of late, especially around Rei. And she had all but confirmed that she had feelings for someone (who was almost certainly a girl)... was it possible that those feelings were for Rei?

What further confused the situation were Rei’s own feelings on the matter. She had never even thought about Minako in that way before, but now? She couldn’t stop thinking about it. And as far as Minako’s flirting, Rei would certainly be lying if she said she disliked it. Not to mention she had suddenly been noticing things about her friend that she had never paid much mind to before. Her long, flowing hair, her beautiful blue eyes, her lips…

Rei shook her head aggressively to get herself off of that train of thought, “Maybe I need to talk to someone about this.” She thought. As she began to mull over her potential advisors, she quickly realized there was only one person best suited to give advice on this front.

Chapter Text

An found herself standing in front of the Makai tree once again. She wasn’t sure how long it had been since she and Ail had departed from Earth. They had found themselves a nice, quiet planet to rest and plant the Makai tree sapling on. The world itself was very similar to Earth, but without the presence of any civilizations, merely plants and animals. The Makai tree had thrived in this environment, growing nearly to its full size during their time there. Life was good… so why could she not shake this bad feeling she had?

“Hey, everything alright?” She heard from behind her, turning to see her partner, Ail, approaching.

“I… I don’t know.” She answered honestly, “These last couple of days something has just felt wrong.”

“I’m sure everything’s fine.” Ail replied, dismissively.

“Y’know, it might be a good idea to listen to your psychic girlfriend every once in a while.” She shot back with a smirk.

“Alright, alright.” Ail said, putting his hands up defensively, “I’ll keep on the lookout. Even though I guess I’m not sure what exactly I should be looking out for.”

Almost immediately after Ail finished speaking, the sky above himself and An went dark, and a swirling black vortex landed on the planet’s surface roughly a dozen meters away from the Makai tree.

“Well, does that clear things up for you?”

“Yeah, a little bit!” Ail responded as they both got into fighting stances. 

The vortex dissipated to reveal a cloaked figure, who began making their way towards them.

The flowing black cloak was open to reveal blue-ish black armor underneath, similar to that of a knight’s. Their head was covered by their cloak’s hood, but An could see a metal mask covering the figure’s face, the same color as the rest of their armor, with a red visor where their eyes presumably were. They also carried a staff, atop of which was a small, glowing black crystal which An didn’t recognize.

“Who are you?” An asked defensively to the figure who was now standing directly in front of them, “What do you want?”

“Want?” The cloaked person asked in a dark, distorted voice, “All I want is to help you two. To aid you in getting revenge against those who bested you in battle.”

“You mean the Sailor Guardians?” Ail asked, confused.

“There’s no bad blood between us and them.” An explained.

 “Oh, don’t worry…” The figure said, raising their staff into the air, “... there will be.”

Before An or Ail could react, dark energy exploded out of the crystal on the visitor’s staff, enveloping both of them, as well as the Makai tree entirely.

…

“A song?” Minako asked her friend as they made their way through the school hallways.

“Yeah!” Ami replied, “Me and Mako have been together for a while now and I wanna do something really special for her and I thought writing her a song would be nice.”

“Didn’t you already write a love song about Mako though?” The blonde asked.

“Well… yeah, but that’s different. That one was written for me to help me come to terms with my feelings, but I want to write a song for her that tells her how much she means to me.” The blue-haired girl explained with a light blush.

“Aw, that’s sweet.” Mina said with a smile.

“I’m glad you think so because I… kind of need your help.” Ami said timidly, “I can write lyrics but writing actual music is a little beyond me, so I was hoping we could maybe work together on this?”

Minako thought for a moment about Ami’s idea. While it was true she had some experience with writing music, she was by no means an expert at it. However, the more she thought about it, the more she realized that this could open an opportunity for herself as well… 

“Alright, I’ll do it.” Mina replied, “I’ll start writing out ideas tonight, and tomorrow I’ll meet you in the library so we can really start hashing it out, so make sure you bring everything you have so far.” She instructed.

“Really? Oh, thank you so much!” The bluenette replied in gratitude, making Mina feel almost a little guilty for her ulterior motive… almost .

…

“Thanks for meeting with me.” Rei said to Mako as she sat down across from her at the brunette’s kitchen table.

“Don’t mention it.” Mako replied, taking a sip of her tea, “So what’s up, you said you wanted to ask me about something?”

“Yeah, so… I guess I’m just wondering… when did you figure out that Ami was in love with you?” Rei asked, before being met with a long pause.

“Uh… when she told me?” The auburn-haired girl answered, confused, “Isn’t the fact that I was super oblivious, like, a joke amongst our friend group?”

“I more so meant, like… when did you begin to realize something was off?” The miko clarified.

“Hmm… well it was only a little bit after the whole… Galaxia thing.” Makoto said solemnly.

“I see. Well, what would you say was different?” 

“Well, she was a lot more distant. And any time I would talk to her I could just tell that there was something… off . And from there I think I finally started noticing stuff she’d been doing all along, like staring at me when she thought I wasn’t looking, or getting flustered super easily around me.” The brunette said before taking another sip of tea.

“And when you eventually found out about how she felt, how did you realize that you felt the same way?”

“Am I being interrogated?” Mako asked jokingly.

“No, I just… please?” Rei asked sincerely.

“Well… it’s kinda hard to explain. I think the feelings had always been there, but just buried. And when Ami confessed to me they all just kinda rushed to the surface. And I finally saw… her. Everything about her I took for granted, I realized just how wonderful it all was. How wonderful she was. And all the stuff I did that, at the time I couldn’t tell you exactly why I was doing it, finally made sense.” Makoto said with a smile.

“You mean like baking lemon cookies for every single one of our study sessions even though literally no one except Ami, including yourself, liked them?” Rei questioned with a smirk.

“Look, I never claimed to be super in touch with my feelings, okay?” The taller girl said, embarrassed, “ANYWAY, now it’s your turn. Why do you wanna know all this stuff?”

“Oh, well…” Rei began, while nervously playing with her hair, “... because I think I might be in the same boat as you.”

“Huh?”

“I think Mina might have feelings for me.” Rei said, before once again being met with a period of silence.

“Oh wow. I’m gonna be honest, I did not see that coming. What makes you think that?” Makoto questioned.

“Well, she’s acted differently around me ever since… Galaxia.” Rei began, “At first it was almost like she was trying to avoid me but now, since we’ve been hanging out more over the last few weeks, everything just feels… weird .”

“‘Weird’ how?”

“Well, I asked her if she had feelings for anyone, and you know Mina, she’s never shy to talk about that stuff, but she got really flustered out of nowhere. And when I asked if it was a girl she basically shut down completely.”

“Well, that’s a pretty personal subject, Rei. She might’ve just not felt comfortable telling you about it.” Makoto reasoned.

“That’s what I thought too. But then… well… she kinda… kissed me…”

“She WHAT?! And you think she ‘might’ have feelings for you?” The brunette asked incredulously.

“Wait, no, not on the lips! On the cheek! And I asked Usagi about it but she said it was probably just Mina messing around.”

“You went to Usagi for advice?”

“You and Ami were having dinner with her mom!” Rei explained, “But since then she’s been flirting with me a lot, and… I don’t know! It doesn’t feel like she’s just ‘messing around’! And I don’t know what to do!”

“Well, I guess an important question would be… do you even like girls?” Makoto questioned, prompting a blush from Rei.

“Um… a little bit…” The miko replied, turning even redder.

“Wow, four for five, huh?” Makoto said jokingly, “Well, do you have feelings for her? ”

“I didn’t!” Rei replied, “Or at least I don’t think I did! But now I keep noticing how pretty she looks, and how pretty she smells, and how pretty her lips… are…” Rei finished, blushing profusely, earning herself another long silence from Makoto.

“… So yes, then.”

“... yeah…”

“So, if she has feelings for you, and you have feelings for her then… What exactly is the problem?” Makoto asked.

“Well what if I’m wrong? What if I just end up embarrassing myself because I misread her signals?”

“Y’know, I seem to remember a certain girl, telling a certain other girl that it was bad to hold in her feelings out of fear.” Makoto said with a smirk.

“That was a completely different situation. Also that was for Ami’s ears only!”

“Ami and I tell each other everything.”

“Look, I’ll tell her, I just… I need more time, okay?” 

“Alright, alright, but I’m gonna hold you to that.”

“I would expect nothing less.”  

Chapter Text

“Hey, kiddo, you almost ready?” Haruka said as she opened the door to her adopted daughter’s room. Looking in she found Hotaru sitting on her bed scribbling something into a notebook.

“Haruka-Papa! I told you to knock before you come in!” The black-haired girl said with a huff, quickly shutting the notebook.

“Sorry, sorry. Hey, what’ve you got there?” She asked, gesturing towards the notebook in her daughter’s hands.

“It’s nothing!” Hotaru replied quickly, a light blush crossing her face.

“Uh huh…” Haruka said, clearly not believing her, but deciding to respect the girl’s privacy, “Well, anyway, we’re leaving for the zoo in ten minutes so make sure you have everything you need.” She finished while turning to leave.

“Um… Haruka-Papa… I have a question…” The young girl said timidly, stopping Haruka in her tracks.

“Yeah, what’s up kiddo?” Haruka asked, entering her daughter’s room and sitting next to her on the bed.

“Well… when do you think Chibiusa’s gonna come back and visit?”

It was amazing how Haruka knew that this question was coming, and yet still completely failed to prepare herself for it. To be fair, however, Haruka couldn’t even begin to figure out what the right answer would be. Not only was Chibiusa Hotaru’s best friend (and basically only friend that was her own age), but Haruka could tell from a mile away that she was also Hotaru’s first crush, which just made the situation… so much worse. How could she possibly tell her that it was entirely possible, and maybe even likely that the next time she would see Chibiusa… was when she was born? Especially when she was still dealing with the loss of her father. 

“I… I don’t know, kiddo.” Haruka finally answered.

“Yeah, I figured.” Hotaru said, looking down at the ground in disappointment, “I asked Setsuna-Mama if she could let me visit the future, just for a little bit, and she said no.”

From what Haruka heard, it was less ‘asked’ and more ‘begged’.

“Sweetheart, you’ve gotta understand that it’s not that simple. Setsuna is very tight-lipped about the future, even with me and Michiru, but if she could I know she would-”

“She can and she isn’t! ” Hotaru blurted out in frustration, gripping the bedding underneath her. Almost immediately, her eyes widened and she covered her mouth in regret. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I just… I just really miss her… miss both of them.” She said, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.

“I know, kiddo.” Haruka said, putting her arm around Hotaru and pulling her in close, “I know.” She repeated, gently stroking her daughter’s hair. “Hey, y’know what though?”

“What?” The young girl asked between sniffles.

“You, and me, and your mamas are gonna have a wonderful day together today, okay?” She reassured while rubbing her daughter’s shoulder, “And on our way home we can stop by the video store, and you can pick out whatever movie you want for us all to watch tonight. How’s that sound?”

“That… that sounds nice.”

“Alright.” Haruka said, giving Hotaru one last reassuring rub on the shoulder before standing up, “Well, we’re all downstairs so whenever you’re ready we can go.”

“Okay. And… thank you.” Hotaru said with a small smile.

“Of course.” The Guardian of Wind responded before taking her leave from her daughter’s room.

“Alright Haruka… that wasn’t terrible.” The leader of the Outer Guardians thought to herself as she made her way down the hall, “Just gotta keep it together.”

While she tried not to show it, Haruka felt exhausted. Raising Hotaru on its own was already so much, especially with how terrified Haruka was of screwing something up. Sure, Sailor Saturn was a powerful warrior, but Hotaru Tomoe was just a little girl. A girl who needed a loving family. Not to mention that, even though she had taken a break from racing, there was still work to be done on that front. On top of all that was the fact that she felt like she could not truly settle into this new family life, for fear that a new threat could arise at literally any moment and disrupt it.

Michiru was faring a bit better than her, but not by much. Between the two of them they were getting just a few hours of sleep every night. The couple had essentially become a walking example of ‘burning the candle at both ends’.

When she reached the downstairs and met up with the two women who were waiting for her, Michiru immediately picked up that something was amiss with her partner.

“Where’s Hotaru? Is everything okay?” The Guardian of the Seas questioned.

“Oh, yeah.” Haruka responded, rubbing her eyes in exhaustion, “She’s still missing Chibiusa. But we talked it out. Personally I think it was a really strong parenting moment for me.” She finished with a smirk.

“I’m sure you did great, honey.” Michiru said with a smile.

The aqua-haired woman moved to give her partner a kiss, before hearing a scream come from upstairs.

“HOTARU!” All three women said in unison while dashing up the stairs. They each pulled out their transformation wands as they ran full speed towards Hotaru’s bedroom. Before they could make it, however, a black shadow erupted out of the little girl’s room and enveloped the entire hallway, swallowing up the three guardians.

…

Usagi had gotten much better lately when it came to sleeping in. While in the past it was almost a daily occurrence for the girl to do her morning routine in a frenzy and still get to school late, this was no longer the case. Now it was only a weekly occurrence.

The bun-headed girl donned her school uniform and checked herself in the mirror, adjusting her outfit and hair where necessary. That is, until her eyes drifted to a photo which sat on one of her shelves. Right next to a picture of herself and Mamoru sat a picture of her with her middle-school best friend, Naru.

How long had it been since she had exchanged words with the red-haired girl? While she was already spending less time with her during the end of her middle school days due to her Sailor Guardian duties, that divide only grew when the two girls got accepted into different high schools. Not helped by the events which transpired shortly into Usagi’s high school career.

But even after the Galaxia incident had been dealt with, and peace had been restored to the world, the guardian of love and justice simply had not made the time to reconnect with her friend.

With that thought, Usagi looked over at her phone, “Well, no time like the present.” She thought to herself, reaching for the phone “I’ll just give her a ring, see how she’s doing, and see if she’s free to do something this weekend! Easy…”

Usagi’s hand slowed to a halt before it reached the phone, however, “But I mean… it is pretty early. If she hasn’t already left for school she’ll probably just be mad at me for choosing now to call. And I wouldn’t wanna make her late or anything.” She mentally justified to herself, “I’ll just call her later… yeah, later…” The blonde thought as she gathered her things and exited her bedroom, closing the door behind her.

“Later…”

…

Ami met Minako in the school library during their free period to continue working on the song. She couldn’t help but chuckle to herself. In years past she would have been appalled at the mere thought of spending good study time on such a frivolous task.

“What is she doing to me?” Ami thought, a big, goofy grin spreading across her face.

“Uh, hey, Earth to Ami.” Minako said, waving her hand in front of Ami’s face. Ami sat straight up, her face turning red.

“Sorry! Sorry, I was just… um…”

“Off in Mako land again?” Minako said with a devilish smirk, causing Ami to turn even redder.

“Anyway!” Ami said, trying to get back on track, “I’ve got some rough ideas for lyrics I was hoping you could look at. How’s the melody coming along?”

“Alright. I don’t have a ton of practice but I’m working with what I’ve got.” Minako replied.

“Well, I was thinking, what if we asked Rei for help?” Ami questioned, causing Minako to immediately stiffen up, “After all, she’s got experience writing music, she could probably be a big help.”

“Um… well I uh… I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” Minako said, avoiding eye contact.

“Why?”

“Well… um… ya see… I was hoping you could help me write a song like the one we’re writing for Mako for her as well.” Minako finally managed to say, blushing profusely.

“Oh. Well, I guess we could do that. I don’t know how we’ll be able to make it work though, since the song we’re writing for Mako is a love song.” Ami said, before taking a second to think about what Minako said, until the realization hit her like a ton of bricks, “Wait…” Ami muttered, just under her breath, “YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH R-?'' was the last thing the blue haired girl was able to say before Minako quickly silenced her by covering her mouth with her hand.

“Shhhh! Keep your voice down!” Minako hissed through gritted teeth. She eventually removed her hand from her friend's mouth, revealing it to still be hanging agape.

“Wow, I… what?! For how long?” Ami finally questioned.

“Oh, y’know… awhile…” Minako said nervously, fiddling with her hair.

“How 'awhile’ are we talking here?” Ami asked.

“Well, I…” was all Minako could say before letting out a massive sigh, “I’ve thought she was beautiful since the moment I first saw her. And her fiery personality (no pun intended) was just… wow.” Minako said with big, dreamy eyes, “But you know me, I have a crush on a new person every week! So I figured that this very… inconvenient one, would just go away when I got on to the next one. And it did! Well… kind of…” Minako continued, lowering her gaze down to the table and her notes, “Every time I thought I had moved on, thought I found someone new to obsess over, I always came back to her. Not like she was my rebound or anything! More like… like I was delaying the inevitable. But I kept telling myself that that was the only choice I had.”

“Because you didn’t wanna mess up the team?” Ami questioned, pulling from personal experience.

“I mean, there were a lot of things. Obviously the big question mark was whether or not she would even be willing to date another girl. But seeing how hopelessly in love she was with Usagi I figured-”

“Wait WHAT?!”

Minako simply rolled her eyes, “Geez, Ami, for a genius you sure can be dense when it comes to this stuff.” She said, “Anyway, even after that I told myself I couldn’t do it. First of all, I’m supposed to be your leader. If I were to date one of you it would just… complicate things. But even more than that, to be completely honest…”

“You would rather hold it in and have hope than risk having that hope taken away by telling her?” Ami finished for her.

“Yeah. But then we… y’know… we died.” Minako said with a faint, forced chuckle. “And that kind of… shook me a bit, y’know? Made me… reevaluate some things.”

“Trust me, if anyone knows how that feels, it’s me.”

“And after hearing your idea for Mako I thought maybe a song would be the best way to just… get it all out there. If it works out? Great! And if it doesn’t… well…”

“At least you won’t have to worry about losing your chance.” Ami once again finished for her friend, to which Minako simply nodded in response, “Alright, well, I guess we’d better get to work if we’re trying to double our output now.”

“Right. Well, what have you got so far?” Minako asked.

“Not as much as I’d like, to be honest. I want this song to capture how I feel about Mako but… well… easier said than done. I was trying to describe how I felt when I first met her but I’m completely drawing a blank.”

“Oh I get it, I’m in the same boat.” Minako replied to her friend.

“I mean, it was something so new but also…”

“So familiar.”

“It was… exciting but also…”

“Comforting.”

“Terrifying but…”

“Calming.”

“It almost felt like…”

“Deja Vu.” The girls both said in unison. The pair simply stared at each other for a moment afterwards, before Minako finally spoke up.

“Ami.”

“Yeah?”

“Write that down! Write that down!”

Chapter Text

Usagi and her friends had decided to stop by the Bob-Floy Ice Cream Shoppe on their way home from school, with Rei, Luna and Artemis joining them along the way. The cats found their usual spots on Usagi and Minako’s shoulders before the girls went up to order. With ice cream in hand the girls started to make their way to the Hikawa Shrine for another study session.

“You’d better have that finished before we get there, Usagi.” Rei said, “I don’t need a repeat of what happened the last time you brought ice cream into my room.”

“Hey, that’s not fair!” The bun-headed girl said in response, “Mina made a mess too!”

“Yeah, but I’m Rei’s favorite, so I get a pass.” Minako said, slinging her arm around her raven-haired friend’s shoulders.

“You wish.” Rei responded with a light blush, but without making an effort to remove her friend’s arm.

Ami and Makoto walked behind them, holding their ice cream in one hand and their partner’s hand in the other. Even after they had been together for almost three months, every time Usagi saw the two of them do normal couple things it filled her with joy. She had watched Ami pine after Mako for as long as she could remember, and had begun to worry that Ami would never tell her how she felt. Especially when she thought she lost them during the Galaxia incident. After they came back Usagi strongly considered just locking them in a room together until it was resolved, but ultimately decided against it. She figured it would be best to give them some time to process what had happened to them before forcing something like that. But she swore that if it went on much longer she would’ve been forced to take action.

Although now there seemed to be something going on between Rei and Mina, which was a whole other thing. Originally Usagi just assumed that Mina flirting with Rei was no different than her flirting with… well, everyone . But now she could see why Rei had felt the need to ask her about it. There was definitely something different with how the two of them were acting. 

“Oh, by the way, how did your audition go?” Rei asked, referring to the audition Minako had attended to perform at a local club.

“About as well as I expected.” The Guardian of Beauty said, shrugging her shoulders, “They said they’d call me but… I dunno, I really don’t wanna get my hopes up.”

“Aw, c’mon, give yourself some credit. I’m sure you’ll get it.” Rei said with a smile.

“Rei’s right! In fact, I bet we could already celebrate you getting it by going to see a movie before we go to the shrine!” Usagi said, clearly attempting to get out of work.

“No way, Usagi!” Ami rebuked, “We’ve been taking it way too easy lately. I only got a ninety-one on my last English test!”

“Babe, you know that’s not bad right?” Makoto said before taking another bite of her ice cream.

“I mean… It's not great .” Ami replied.

“Ami, do you have any idea what I would give to get a ninety-one on a test?” Usagi shot back.

“You wouldn’t have to give anything if you would just study.” Luna said snarkily.

“Exactly!” Ami agreed, “Which is why we can see a movie later!”

“Ugh, fine!” Usagi finally caved.

Suddenly, the Guardians felt a shift in the atmosphere, and watched as the sky above them went dark, covered in an inky, black shadow.

“What the-” Usagi began to ask before she was cut off by a large object falling from the sky and impacting down the street from the girls. 

When the dust settled the team was shocked by what they saw. It was seemingly the Makai tree but… wrong. It was roughly the same size as they remembered, but its bark was jet black, with red leaves coming out of its branches. Branches that were currently flailing around and destroying the city, as it moved around on its roots, which seemed to function almost like tentacles.

Floating in front of the Makai Tree were two figures who Usagi immediately recognized: Ail and An. The team quickly ducked into a nearby alley to transform unseen.

“Well, it’s been a minute, ready girls?” Minako asked, to which the others simply nodded in reply.

“Venus Crystal Power!”

“Jupiter Crystal Power!”

“Mars Crystal Power!”

“Mercury Crystal Power!”

“Moon Eternal!”

“MAKE UP!” The five girls shouted in unison, the alley filling with light and energy as they transformed. When it died down, however, it was clear that there was a problem.

Usagi hadn’t transformed.

“What?!” She asked, looking down at herself, “I said, Moon Eternal MAKE UP!”

Nothing.

“I don’t understand.” Usagi said, ripping the Eternal Moon Article off of her uniform and looking down at it. Nothing seemed wrong with it. So why wasn’t it working?

“You hang back with Luna and Artemis and try to figure that out.” Venus instructed, “The rest of you, let’s move!”

Usagi watched helplessly as her friends ran off to fight. She decided it would be best to get to higher ground, so she began quickly making her way up the fire escape in the alley.

“Usagi, what are you doing?” Artemis asked.

“I don’t know!” Usagi blurted out.

She made it to the roof and looked out to see her friends fighting. They were holding their own, but it was clear they were outclassed. She looked down again at the Article.

“C’mon, I need you to work!”

…

“Jupiter Oak Evolution!” Jupiter shouted as she attempted to attack the raging Makai Tree. Unfortunately, her attack failed to leave so much as a mark on the tree’s body, “Damn, this thing’s tough.”

Meanwhile Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus had engaged Ail and An, but were struggling to get close to them due to their telekinetic powers.

“So what gives? I thought you guys turned good?” Venus questioned while dodging an attack from Ail.

“Good, bad, does it really matter?” An said, launching an energy attack at Mars, which the Guardian of Fire barely managed to avoid.

“Uh, yeah, I would say it does!” Mars said, “Fire Soul Bird!” She shouted as a large bird made of fire erupted from her body and towards An, who effortlessly repelled it with a psychic shield.

Mercury had hung back and was using her computer to analyze their opponents, “This doesn’t make any sense! They’re significantly stronger than last time! And this energy they’re giving off… it couldn’t be…”

“Mercury look out!” She heard Jupiter cry from across the battlefield, prompting her to just barely avoid being crushed by one of the tree’s roots. 

“Uh, guys, not to be a spoil sport but I don’t think we’re winning here!” Jupiter said sarcastically while launching another bolt of lightning towards the Makai Tree, which once again had no effect.

“Yeah thanks Jupiter I got that!” Venus said as another of her attacks bounced off of Ail’s psychic shield. 

…

“C’mon, work dammit!” Usagi shouted as she shook the Article in her hands, “This is a really bad time for… whatever this is!”

Suddenly, cracks started to form in the Article, and it all but exploded in Usagi’s hands before the newly freed Silver Crystal floated up in front of her face.

“What…?” Was all she could manage to say.

The crystal started flashing different colors in front of her.

Blue.

Red.

Green.

Orange.

Navy.

Sea Green.

Garnet.

Purple.

Pink.

The color sequence repeated, faster and faster each time.

Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Navy, Sea Green, Garnet, Purple, Pink.

Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Navy, Sea Green, Garnet, Purple, Pink.

Blue, Red, Green, Orange, Navy, Sea Green, Garnet, Purple, Pink.

Until finally, a new object formed around the crystal. Floating in the air in front of Usagi was a silver compact, with a large pink crystal in the center, with eight smaller, different colored crystals surrounding it.

“Usagi, that-”

“I know, Luna.” She said, grabbing the compact out of the air in front of her and affixing it to the bow on her school uniform, “Alright, let’s do this.” She said with a small smirk before raising her hand into the air.

“Moon Spectrum Power! MAKE UP!”

With that, Usagi exploded into a series of multicolored lights, before ultimately emerging as another new incarnation of Sailor Moon.

Her skirt was white with a pattern on the front which included nine different colored lines. Both her gloves and boots were now white, the shoulder frills which she had on her fuku as Super Sailor Moon had returned, along with her tiara. The tiara was no longer gold, however, but instead silver.

From her transformation four beams of light shot out and impacted her friends, altering their appearances as well. Their skirts were now multi-layered, as hers had been when she was Eternal Sailor Moon, each layer having a different shade of their respective color. They also gained bubbles on their shoulders, as well as knee-high, white boots.

The Sailor team looked up to see Usagi floating above them, utilizing a pair of butterfly wings which appeared to be made of some kind of rainbow energy.

“Sailor Guardians! You guys take Ail and An!” She instructed from above, “Leave this overgrown weed to me.” She finished, tightening her gloves.

Chapter Text

The Makai Tree shot out one of its branches at Sailor Moon, which she caught effortlessly between her two hands, stopping it dead. She then rolled out of the way, deciding to attempt to reason with the tree.

“Listen! I can feel you’re in pain! I know you don’t want to do this! Just stop!” She said, placing her hands up in front of herself.

To her surprise, however, a flame shot out of one of her hands and onto the Makai Tree’s surface, causing it to recoil.

“What?” Usagi said, before being forced to dodge another of the tree’s attacks. She then looked down at her hand, confused, “That’s… new.”

…

“I don’t understand, why did Usagi change again?” Artemis asked as he and Luna watched the battle from a nearby rooftop.

“I can’t say for sure, but if I had to guess, I would say Eternal may have been an incomplete transformation.” 

“Incomplete?”

“Yes. When the eight Sailor Guardians entrusted Sailor Moon with their power, she needed time for herself and the Silver Crystal to properly adjust to it.” Luna explained.

“Oh, I get it! And since she hasn’t transformed for the last few months…”

“Exactly, she has been able to evolve and unlock her ultimate transformation, one that allows her to utilize the powers entrusted to her by her friends.”

… 

Sailor Moon wasn’t the only one whose power had increased, however. The other Inner Guardians felt their strength increase several fold with their new transformations. 

“Changing your outfits won’t save you!” An said as she launched an energy attack at Mars, which the red-suited guardian effortlessly dodged.

“You sure about that?” She said with a smirk, before utilizing her new power, “Mars Raging Inferno!”

A wall of flame exploded from the Guardian of Fire and towards An, shattering her psychic shield and forcing her to the ground.

“My turn!” Venus shouted, rushing towards An, “Venus Love-Struck Dynamo!” 

A large heart made of yellow energy shot out and struck An, rendering her unconscious.

“An!” Ail shouted at his partner, taking his attention away from his two assailants. A mistake that would be his undoing.

“Mercury Hydro Burst!” The Guardian of Water shouted, engulfing her adversary in water.

“Just like old times. Jupiter Lightning Barrage!” The Guardian of Thunder said, launching thousands of bolts out of her body and electrocuting the water which Ail resided in, knocking him out.

The four Guardians then turned their attention back to Sailor Moon, who was currently dodging between the Makai Tree’s branches.

“Sailor Moon! There’s a strange energy permeating from all of them! I think that’s what’s causing them to act this way! Can you help them?” Mercury called up to her.

“I don’t know! These powers are all new to me! Apparently I shoot fire now?! I still need to figure out how to goodify people in this form!”

Suddenly, as if to answer her question, Usagi saw a familiar object materialize into her hand.

“The Moon Stick?” She asked. While it looked close to the Moon Stick she had lost years ago, there were some differences. The biggest being that the crescent atop the stick was now silver instead of gold, “Wait, I know what to do!”

Sailor Moon raised the Moon Stick high above her head, and channeled the power from the Silver Crystal in her compact into it.

“MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” She shouted, causing the street to fill with light. When the light died down, they saw Ail and An had returned to normal, while the Makai tree was once again reduced to a sapling. 

“What… What were we doing?” An asked, sitting up and rubbing her head.

“We were hoping you could explain that to us.” Venus replied.

Sailor Moon descended down to her friends, her wings dissipating as she landed, she opened her mouth to speak before being cut off by a voice from above.

“Excellent! I expected nothing less! Glad to see you all haven’t lost your touch.”

The Guardians immediately directed their attention upward, where they saw an armor-clad, cloaked figure floating above them. The figure held a staff in their hand, atop of which was a crystal that the five guardians immediately recognized.

“The Malefic Black Crystal! I knew that the energy surrounding them was too similar to be a coincidence!” Mercury shouted.

“But I thought we destroyed it!” Jupiter said, confused.

“Oh, you did.” The figure said, descending to ground level, “Well, most of it, anyway.” 

“You! You… did something to us. Twisted our thoughts…” Ail said, clenching his head in pain.

“Yes, yes, you played your parts like good little pawns. However, I no longer have any need for you.” They said dismissively. Then, with a wave of their hand Ail, An, and the Makai Tree sapling simply vanished.

“What did you do to them?!” Mars asked angrily.

“Oh, fret not, I’ve simply sent them back to the primitive little world I got them from. After all, I may need to make use of them someday in the future.”

“Who are you? What do you want?” Sailor Moon asked, shakily.

“You may call me… Reign . As for what I want… don’t worry…” They said, opening a dark portal behind them, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Quick, don’t let them escape!” Venus ordered, but it was too late. A mere moment later Reign was gone.

Chapter Text

The Inner Guardians gathered at the Hikawa Shrine for a much different meeting than they originally intended, with Usagi calling in Mamoru.

“Alright, so, here’s what we know.” Mina said, gesturing to some writing on a chalkboard which she got from… somewhere. “Their name is Reign, they have a piece of the Malefic Black Crystal, and based on their comments, they seem to have some history with us… that’s… about all I’ve got.”

“I thought the Malefic Black Crystal was destroyed?” Mamoru questioned.

“Join the club.” Makoto said, “But what’s the issue here? We beat Death Phantom when we were in middle school. We’re way stronger now! Whoever this is, they don’t stand a chance.”

“Don’t be so sure, Mako.” Ami responded, “Something was off with the crystal’s energy. It wasn’t exactly the same as last time. Not to mention, the readings I got suggested they possessed considerable power outside of the crystal.”

“More importantly, they knew us.” Rei interjected into the conversation, “And they didn’t seem the least bit upset that we’d beaten Ail and An. I think that was meant to be some kind of test, seeing if we’d lost our edge.”

“Who could it be though?” Makoto questioned, “Pretty much all of our enemies are either dead or turned over a new leaf.”

“And what’s the deal with my new powers? Why did I shoot fire?!” Usagi asked, confused.

“I explained it to you already, Usagi.” Luna said with a sigh, “Your new transformation allows you to use the powers of the other Sailor Guardians.”

“Yeah, because that’s fair.” Rei said, pouting a bit.

“Alright everyone!” Minako said, bringing the conversation to a halt, “We’ve all had a long day, and it’s unlikely that we’re gonna figure this all out tonight. So how about we all go home and get some rest?” The Guardian of Beauty said in a much more serious tone than her team often heard from her, “We’ll need it for what’s ahead.”

…

It had been so long since she last fought a monster that Makoto almost forgot how dirty she would get. Constantly rolling around to dodge attacks, or getting hit by clouds of dirt that get kicked up, not to mention that fighting a monster worked up quite a sweat. However, this allowed her to return to her favorite post-battle ritual, which was taking a nice, long shower to clean off all the grime.

Stepping out and drying herself off, her thoughts wandered to their new adversary. It was true that they spoke like they had met her and her friends in the past, but Makoto couldn’t even begin to place who it might be. Their voice was distorted by their mask, and their armor made it hard to make out their build. As well as this, she couldn’t think of anyone who would know about both Ail and An as well as the Black Crystal. Another time traveler, maybe? But if that were the case, surely Chibiusa would’ve shown up by now to help, right? Or was that not how that worked?

Suddenly, Makoto heard a knock from outside her bathroom. She threw on her green robe and made her way to the front door of her apartment, confused about who would be showing up on her doorstep at this hour. Upon unlocking and opening the door, she was shocked to see none other than her girlfriend standing there, an anxious look across her face.

“Ami?” Makoto questioned, “What are you doing here? Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Can I come in?” The bluenette asked timidly.

“Of course.” The auburn-haired girl responded, gesturing for her to come in.

“Thanks, I… um… y’know, you look really pretty with your hair down.” Ami said, a light blush crossing her face.

“Thank you. But don’t change the subject, why are you here?” Makoto asked, concerned.

“Well, I… I just… my mom’s working over tonight and with everything that’s happened I… I didn’t wanna be alone.” Ami finally said, “I don’t wanna be intrusive but I just-”

“Ami, don’t you dare call yourself intrusive.” Makoto said firmly, “You are always welcome here, okay?”

Ami simply nodded her head in response.

“Good. I’m gonna go throw on some PJs, and I’ll make us some tea after that. Did you bring anything to sleep in?” Mako asked, noticing Ami did not appear to have anything with her other than the clothes on her back.

“No I… wasn’t really thinking when I-”

“It’s fine, I wear a few sizes bigger than you so you can just use one of my shirts.” The taller girl said, prompting a blush from her girlfriend.

“Um… okay.”

Before long Makoto had thrown on a tank top and some sweatpants, laid out a sleep shirt for Ami, and made some tea which the couple were currently enjoying in her living room.

“Are you sure it’s okay for me to-?” Ami began.

“Ami, I don’t know if you noticed, but I kind of love you more than anything.” Makoto said with a smile, “I will never be upset about getting to spend more time with you.”

“A-alright.” The smaller girl said, sprouting another blush.

After the two of them finished their tea, Makoto instructed Ami to get ready for bed while she tidied up. Once she reached the bedroom she was rendered speechless by the sight of Ami in nothing but her underwear and one of Mako’s shirts, sitting on the edge of the bed.

“God, she is so hot.” Makoto thought to herself, before Ami looked up at her and tilted her head.

“You’re ogling.” She said with a smirk, causing Mako to turn red.

“I’m your girlfriend, I’m allowed to ogle!” Mako said defensively before switching off the light and going to join her in bed.

Once the two settled in, with Mako holding Ami in her arms, she asked a question that had been on her mind since Ami showed up.

“Why are you so worried about this? We’ve dealt with bad guys before, and we always make it through. This isn’t any different.”

“I know, I know, it’s just… never mind.”

“What is it?”

“Nothing. I’m being ridiculous.”

“Ami… please tell me what’s wrong.” Makoto pleaded.

“Well I just… I thought it was over.” Ami finally said, “I thought we could finally just live normal, peaceful lives. I thought we could just go on dates and go to school and… and that we were finally done risking everything over and over and over again. And I… I feel like I finally have everything I have ever wanted. I have friends, a good partner, I… I’m happy. And now I have to face the fact that I could lose all of that and… and…” Ami continued, her voice growing shakier and shakier, until she threw herself into Mako’s chest and started sobbing, “I don’t wanna do this anymore!”

“Oh sweetheart.” Makoto said gently, stroking her lover’s hair.

“W-what’s wrong with me?” Ami finally choked out, “This is my job. It’s what I was born to do, I’m supposed to be a soldier but I just… I…” The blue-haired girl said before once again devolving into sobs, “God I’m so pathetic.”

“Hey hey hey.” Makoto said, holding Ami close, “No you are not. You are one of the strongest people I know. None of us asked for this. There’s nothing wrong with being scared or… or overwhelmed by all of this.” 

“But… but…” 

“No buts.” Makoto said.

The Guardian of Thunder looked down at Ami, whose face was still buried in her chest, “Ami can you look at me?” She asked, getting no response from the smaller girl, “Please?”

At that, Ami looked up at Mako, revealing her tear-stained face, “There’s my girl.” Mako said, caressing Ami’s cheek, “Now listen. I know this is scary, and I know it sucks, but I promise you I will be by your side every step of the way. And I won’t let anything happen to you. To any of us. Okay?”

“O-okay.” Ami said shakily before laying her head back down, “Um… Mako?”

“Yeah?” 

“Do you… um… do you think you could stroke my hair just a little bit more? It um… felt nice…” Ami said, clearly embarrassed.

“Of course.” Makoto said with a smile.

As Makoto lay there, holding the girl who mattered to her more than anything in the world, only one thought occupied her mind:

“I won’t let anything happen to you.”

Chapter Text

Ami awoke to the sound of her communicator going off. She reached over to the side of the bed where she had set it the night prior and flipped it open to answer the call.

“Hmzwha?” The bluenette answered groggily.

“Ami? Ami are you there?” Minako asked over the communicator.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here.” Ami said, rubbing her eyes.

“Hmmm… What is it?” Makoto asked, waking up next to Ami.

“Wait a second… Are you in bed with Mako?!” Minako asked, surprised, causing both girls to turn bright red, “Ami, you sly dog.”

“Wait, no! I mean, I am, but it’s not… ANYWAY WHY ARE YOU CALLING?” Ami asked, clearly flustered.

“Oh, right, right, well I can’t get a hold of any of the Outers so we’re all gonna head over to their place to see what’s up. Think you lovebirds can get yourselves out of bed and meet us at their front gate in an hour?”

“Uh, yeah, we’ll be there soon.” Ami said, still blushing profusely.

“Awesome. Venus out.” The blonde-haired girl said before Ami closed her communicator and laid her head back down on the pillow.

“We’re gonna be hearing about this for a while, aren’t we?” Ami asked.

“Oh, definitely.”

…

Before long, the five had gathered by the front gate of the house which the Outers shared. Usagi couldn’t help but be amazed by just how big and nice it was, despite having seen it many times in the past. As they approached the front door, Usagi couldn’t help but feel a pit form in her stomach. It was already suspicious that the Outer Guardians hadn’t made an effort to contact them after the scene in the city yesterday had been widely reported on, but now they weren’t answering their communicators?

“They’re probably just busy, that’s all.” Usagi tried to convince herself as she went to ring the doorbell, “Yeah… yeah, I’m sure everything’s-”

“Usagi look out!” She heard Rei cry from behind her before ripping her away from the door.

A mere split second afterward, the front of the house exploded, flinging the five guardians back onto the front lawn.

“What… What was that?” Mina asked between coughing fits, no doubt caused by all the smoke. 

From that smoke, the girls saw four figures walking towards them. They were unable to make out any features at first, but as the figures moved closer they could see more and more.

The first detail which the Guardians could see was that the figures were wearing uniforms nearly identical to those worn by the Four Kings of Heaven. Enemies the Sailor Guardians had defeated years prior.

Above them, they saw Reign suddenly appear in a flash of dark energy, their cloak billowing in the newly created wind, “Why hello there, Sailor Guardians. Sorry I’m a bit late to the party, but I believe you’re all already acquainted?” They said, gesturing towards the figures. As they did so the last of the smoke cleared, and the girls could finally make out their faces, horrified by what they were seeing.

It was their friends. 

Haruka. 

Michiru. 

Setsuna. 

Hotaru.

“Allow me to introduce… my FOUR QUEENS OF HEAVEN!”

“What have you done to them?!” Usagi asked angrily, pulling out her compact.

“How about you come up here and find out?” Reign taunted.

“Don’t do it Usagi, they’re baiting-” Mina advised her friend, to no avail.

“Moon Spectrum Power! MAKE UP!” Usagi shouted, transforming and launching herself at Reign and tackling them through the air.

“Dammit, alright everyone, transform!”

“Mercury Crystal Power!”

“Mars Crystal Power!

“Jupiter Crystal Power!”

“Venus Crystal Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

The Inners ran towards their friends, hoping to be able to reason with them, but the Queens of Heaven split off and each focused on one of the Inners. Haruka began to attack Jupiter at close range, Michiru launched her water attacks towards Mercury, Setsuna swatted at Mars with her rod and Hotaru launched energy attacks towards Venus. 

“Haruka, stop, don’t do this!” Jupiter pleaded while dodging the older girl’s attacks.

“Heh, that’s just like you.” Haruka said, “The little weakling is afraid to fight back! World Shaking!” She cried out, launching her attack at Jupiter which sent her flying across the battlefield.

“Jupiter!” Mercury cried, taking her attention away from Michiru, leaving her open to being struck by a beam from Michiru’s mirror, “Gah!”

“That was always your problem, wasn’t it? So scatterbrained. Never able to focus on what needed to be done!” Michiru said, conjuring a ball of water and energy in her hands, “Deep Submerge!”

Mercury was struck by several tons of water, which knocked her back onto the lawn.

“Setsuna, please, this isn’t you!” Mars shouted as she attempted to dodge the Guardian of Time’s attacks.

“Oh please, don’t act like you know the first thing about me.” Setsuna replied bitterly, “Dead Scream.” She said, launching her attack towards Mars, knocking her into a tree in the front yard.

“Hotaru, please! Don’t make me hurt you!” Venus cried, standing off against the younger girl.

“Hurt me?” Hotaru said before slamming down the butt of her Silence Glaive with a smirk, “That’s cute. Silence Wall!” She shouted, sending a large wall of energy hurtling toward Venus and knocking her all the way back to the gate on the outskirts of the premises. 

“Venus!” Mars cried, while still struggling against Setsuna.

Sailor Moon finally managed to force Reign to the ground, as the two tumbled into the ruins of what used to be the Outers’ home.

“You…” Usagi said, standing up and beginning to make her way toward her cloaked adversary, who was still kneeled down onto the ground.

“I don’t know what sick spell you have my friends under, but you’d better let them go right now before I-” Was all the Guardian could manage to say before she saw a gray and crimson figure dash towards her out of the corner of her eye and blast her into one of the still standing walls of the house.

“Oh, that’s right.” Reign said, standing up and dusting themselves off, “There was one more I forgot to introduce. Sailor Moon, meet… SAILOR CHAOS!”

They wore an outfit similar to the first iteration of Usagi’s own. However rather than white, the majority of the outfit was an ashy gray, with dark crimson on the skirt and boots. The outfit, however, was the least of Usagi’s concerns. A wave of horror washed over her as she looked up at the face of her new assailant.

“Naru?!”

Chapter Text

“Naru… what have they done to you?” Usagi asked, horrified at what she was seeing.

“You like her? I’m personally quite proud, myself.” Reign said, making their way towards Usagi, with Sailor Chaos standing in place behind them, “Originally I was torn between Chaos and Nemesis, considering that’s the tenth planet after all. Or, more accurately, was. But something about Sailor Chaos just felt… right.”

“You think this is funny?!” Usagi shouted, grabbing Reign by the collar and reeling back to strike them.

“A little bit. Sailor Chaos?” Reign said, and with a snap of their fingers, Chaos dashed toward Usagi and grabbed her by the throat, pinning her against a wall.

“Naru, please…” Usagi pleaded, trying to claw the girl’s hand off of her throat, “... don’t do this.”

“That’s not my name anymore.” She said, her voice full of malice.

Usagi conjured her wings out of her back and flew upward, finally escaping Chaos’s grip, “Don’t worry Naru, I’ll make this right!” She said, conjuring the Moon Stick into her hand, “MOON HEALING ESCALATION!” She cried as energy from the Silver Crystal washed over Naru.

“Hnngh… NO!” Naru shouted as crimson lightning exploded from her body, dissipating the energy around her.

“What? But it should’ve-” Was all Usagi had time to say before being struck by a flying kick from Naru, which sent her tumbling onto the front lawn.

“Ah ah ah.” Reign said, descending down next to Chaos, “You should know by now it’s never that easy.”

Sailor Chaos launched toward Sailor Moon with a flurry of blows, most of which she was able to dodge until one finally connected to her gut, forcing her back and knocking the wind out of her. It wasn’t until she looked up that she realized she had been forced into a cluster with her friends, with their assailants closing in from all ends.

“This is bad.” Mars said breathlessly.

“But we can’t… hurt them…” Usagi choked out.

Sailor Chaos was the first to charge, her eyes dead set on Sailor Moon. That is until she was distracted and stopped dead in her tracks by an object which had been thrown from above and was sticking out of the ground in front of her: a rose.

Wasting no time, Tuxedo Mask did a midair somersault over Naru’s head and landed next to Sailor Moon.

“You.” Reign sneered with their voice full of contempt.

“Tuxedo Mask…” Usagi said weakly.

“Save the pleasantries for later! We’re getting out of here!” Tuxedo Mask shouted, throwing down a smoke bomb. When it cleared, the heroes were nowhere in sight.

“Dammit.” Sailor Chaos muttered.

“Don’t worry.” Reign said, placing their hand on Naru’s shoulder, “You’ll have plenty more opportunities.”

…

The Inners regrouped at the Hikawa Shrine, gathered in Rei’s room, the heroes each mulled over the events of the last battle in their minds.

“I can’t believe this…” Usagi said, with Mamoru attempting to comfort her.

“Alright, well, let’s go over what happened.” Minako said, standing up while holding an ice pack on her head.

“We got our asses kicked, that’s what happened.” Makoto said as Ami applied a bandage to her arm, “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, turning to her blue-haired girlfriend.

“Sweetie, I’m fine.” Ami said with a reassuring, but tired smile, “Well, as fine as any of us can be, I suppose.”

“I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming.” Rei said, leaning forward while sitting on the edge of her bed, “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t stopped practicing maybe I would’ve-”

“Hey, no. Absolutely not.” Minako said, sitting next to Rei and placing her hand on her shoulder, “This is not your fault.” The Guardian of Beauty turned to her friends, all of whom wore similar faces to Rei, “It’s not any of your faults, okay?” She asked, earning some nods and grumbles from her friends.

“Alright, good. Now let’s get down to business.” The leader of the Inner Guardians continued, “We’re dealing with an enemy who knows our identities and isn’t afraid to invade our personal spaces. So from now on we’re using the buddy system. No one, at any point, is to be without another team member with them. Is that clear?” 

Once again, Minako received noises and gestures of affirmation from the others in the room. 

“Mako, you can stay at my place.” Ami said to her green-eyed lover.

“Alright.” Makoto replied affirmatively.

“Usako… do you-?”

“I’ll just tell my mom I’m staying over at Ami’s to study. She’ll be so happy to hear that she won’t pry too much.” Usagi answered before her boyfriend could even finish the question.

“And I guess… you can stay here…” Rei said softly to Minako, prompting a light blush from the leader of the Inner Guardians.

“Uh… yeah… sounds good.”  

“Well, if we’re gonna do that I need to run home and grab some things.” Makoto said, standing up.

“Yeah, I guess that makes three of us.” Minako said, “But remember to have your communicators ready in case something happens.”

…

“Are you sure your mom will even be okay with me staying over?” Makoto asked as she and Ami made their way up the stairs of Makoto’s apartment building.

“She’s working nights through next week, so we’re good.” Ami responded, “Although even if she wasn’t, it’s not like she has to worry about you getting me pregnant or anything.” Ami said with a smirk.

“Ami!” Makoto exclaimed, shocked, “I never thought I’d hear something so crass out of you!”

“What can I say, you all have been rubbing off on me.” Ami said as she watched Makoto unlock her door.

“Sure, but-” Was the last thing the Guardian of Thunder said before she opened her apartment door and turned white as a ghost.

“Mako?” Ami asked, walking over to see what was the matter. She then looked into Mako’s apartment and realized what had invoked this reaction in her other half.

Naru Osaka was sitting on Mako’s couch. She was in her civilian form, wearing simply a tank top and shorts, but she was twirling a dark crimson object in her hand which was unmistakably a transformation pen.

“Well, it’s about time you two showed up.” Naru said, standing up from the couch and facing the couple, who finally stepped in from the hallway and closed the door behind them, both making sure not to take their eyes off of the red-haired girl.

“Oh, I heard you two finally got together, congratulations. Not sure how it didn’t happen sooner, with how obvious Ami’s crush was.”

“Get to the point.” Mako said, positioning herself in front of Ami, “Why are you here?”

“Ah, you see, that’s the thing.” Naru said, holding up her transformation pen, “I’ve kinda gotta bring you both in.”

“Yeah right.” Makoto said, pulling out her Crystal Change Rod, with Ami doing the same.

“Y’know, I would say I hoped it wouldn’t come to this, but…” Naru said, raising her pen over her head with a smirk, “... I’d be lying. Chaos Power!”

“Jupiter Crystal Power!”

“Mercury Crystal Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

While Ami and Makoto were surrounded by water and electricity respectively during their transformations, Naru became enveloped with inky black shadows and crimson lightning, before the three finally emerged, transformed into their sailor forms. 

Makoto acted fast, dashing towards Naru and tackling her, sending them both crashing through the adjacent window and onto the street.

“Ooh, feisty, I like that!” Chaos said as the two impacted the pavement, sending civilians scattering in fear of their own safety. Meanwhile, Ami pulled up her communicator to call her friends to aid them in battle.

…

“Did you really need to bring that much?” Rei asked, looking at the full bag that Minako had slung over her shoulder.

“I like to be prepared, okay?” 

“Tell me that the next time you bring home one of your tests.” Artemis said as he walked beside them.

“Oh, shut it you.” Minako said, before both her and Rei’s communicators went off. Opening it quickly, Minako was met with the sight of Ami’s worried face, “Ami, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Naru! She’s here! She ambushed us in Mako’s apartment!”

“Alright, don’t worry, we’ll be right there!” Rei said as the two dashed towards Makoto’s apartment building.

“Venus Crystal Power!”

“Mars Crystal Power!”

“MAKE UP!”

…

“Oh, Usagi! It’s been a while!” Naru’s mother, Mayumi said as she opened the door to Usagi and Mamoru.

“Mrs. Osaka! I was wondering if you’ve seen Naru?” Usagi asked.

“Maybe if I can find her when she’s not… that, I can help her.” Usagi thought to herself.

“No! I’ve been so worried; she hasn’t come home in days!” Mayumi cried.

“Days?” Usagi said, feeling ice running through her core.

“How long has she…?”

“Do you know where she is?” Mayumi asked, looking at Usagi with pleading eyes.

“I… I…” Usagi began, unable to figure out what to say.

“No ma’am.” Mamoru stepped in, “She was just going to meet with her at Crown, but Naru never showed up.”

“Oh, I see…” Mayumi said, disappointed.

“Have you asked Umino? Maybe he-” Usagi began, before being cut off.

“Umino?” Mrs. Osaka said incredulously, “Can’t see why she’d be with him, considering he broke up with her just a few weeks ago.”

“He… what?” Usagi asked, stunned.

“You didn’t know?”

“No, I… I haven’t really…”

“We’ll keep on the lookout for her, and let you know if we find her.” Mamoru once again interjected.

“Alright… please do…”

Before long the couple had left the premises and were making their way toward Usagi’s home.

“Usako, are you alright?” Mamoru asked, noticing Usagi’s fallen facial features.

“Yeah… I guess I just-”

Suddenly, Usagi’s communicator went off. She flipped it open to reveal Ami’s panicked face.

“Ami, what’s-?”

“It’s Naru! She’s at Mako’s apartment building!”

“Don’t worry, we’ll be right there!” Usagi said, closing her communicator.

Usagi and Mamoru ran down the street, before attempting to cut through a nearby alleyway. As they reached the halfway point of the alley, however, a flash of dark energy knocked them onto their backs.

Looking up, Usagi was met by none other than the Four Queens of Heaven.

“Sorry princess,” Haruka said with a smirk, “we can’t let you interfere.”

…

Mercury and Jupiter each held one of Chaos’s arms, attempting to restrain her while causing the smallest amount of harm possible.

“Please, Naru, stop! We don’t want to hurt you!” Mercury pleaded.

“Oh, of course you don’t. After all…” Chaos said, forcing her arms together causing Mercury and Jupiter to slam into one another, “You’re far too good for that, aren’t you?”

Chaos looked down at her opponents, who were currently crumpled on the ground after having the wind knocked out of them. 

“Venus Love Me Chain!” The dark guardian heard, before being wrapped in a chain made of energy and forced onto her knees.

Venus and Mars landed next to their friends, the former still holding one end of the chain restraining Chaos.

“You guys okay?” Mars asked, helping both her friends to their feet.

“Yeah, I’m good.” Jupiter said, not letting down her guard.

“Good.” Venus said, before turning her attention back to their adversary, “As for you,” she continued, tugging lightly on the chain, “you’re not going anywhere.”

Chaos giggled in response, “Aww, you think you’re in control here.” She said, as her body began to emanate crimson electricity, “That’s adorable.” 

“Everybody get down!” Mars cried as the Sailor Guardians scattered in various different directions.

“Chaos Dark Extermination!” Chaos shouted, sending hundreds of crimson bolts from her body and toward the Sailor Guardians, who were able to just barely avoid them by dodging and ducking behind objects like cars and lampposts.

“Alright, I’ve had enough of this!” Jupiter said, “Supreme-”

“No, Jupiter, we can’t!” Venus said, getting between her and Chaos, “She’s not right! She’s- gah!” Venus cried as she received a blow to the head from Chaos.

“Not right? Quite the contrary…” Chaos said, weaving between the different Guardians’ various attempts to restrain her, “I’ve never been better! Chaos Solar Winds!”

The Guardians quickly found themselves swept away by a hurricane’s worth of wind coming from Chaos’s body. While it flung them back, the wind itself felt like glass shards across their skin.

“You always looked down on me. Thought you were better than me. Well guess what?” Chaos said with a deranged smile, looking down at her foes who were still picking themselves up from her last attack, “Now I’m the one with the power!”

“Naru… that’s not true.” Mercury said, holding her injured arm, “We-”

Chaos dashed forward and was immediately face to face with Mercury.

“That’s. Not. My. Name.” She said, blasting Mercury back into an adjacent building.

“Mercury!” Jupiter cried, before turning back to Chaos, enraged, “That’s it!” She shouted before charging at Chaos, “No more playing around!”

“Jupiter!” Venus and Mars cried simultaneously, running after their friend.

Chaos sprouted a small smirk, “Suckers.” She said, as her body once again erupted with crimson lightning, “Chaos Dark Extermination!”

The trio were each assaulted by the attack, and knocked onto the ground, all three sorely injured.

Chaos warped over to where Mercury lay, and picked her up, slinging her over her shoulder.

“Well, this was fun, but I’ve got what I need.” Chaos said, turning to the injured guardians.

“N-no!” Jupiter said, forcing herself to her feet, “Put her down!” She demanded, before charging at Chaos.

“See ya.” Chaos said, and in a flash both she and Ami were gone.

“NO!” Jupiter cried, collapsing onto her knees in the spot where Chaos had just stolen the love of her life, “AMI!”

Venus and Mars approached Jupiter solemnly, both trying to figure out how best to support their friend, before she started repeatedly slamming her fist into the ground below her, creating several large cracks in the road.

“NO! NO! NO!”

“Jupiter! Mako! Stop!” Venus said, dropping to her friend's level and grabbing her arm. It wasn’t until Jupiter stopped struggling against her that Venus released her grip.

“We’ll get her back… okay?” Venus said weakly.

After a long silence, Jupiter rose to her feet, “I know we will… and when we do…” She said, clenching her fists in anger, “... Sailor Chaos is mine.”

Chapter Text

“Everyone, please, stop!” Sailor Moon pleaded as she dodged a kick from Haruka, “You don’t want to do this!”

“Oh, but we do.” Haruka said, summoning her sword.

Suddenly, Setsuna put her Garnet Rod over Sailor Moon’s throat and pulled her in close from behind, choking the smaller girl.

“Do you have any idea what it was like?” She whispered in her ear, “Spending millennia in solitude? Having that responsibility thrust upon me by your family as a little girl? Do you have any idea?” She said, pulling Sailor Moon in tighter, “It was Hell .”

“Setsuna… please… I can’t…”

Suddenly, a rose scraped across Setsuna’s face, causing her to release her grip, allowing Usagi to roll out.

“All of you, please, come to your senses!” Tuxedo Mask pleaded.

“Oh, quiet, weak link.” Haruka said, backhanding Tuxedo Mask into a wall.

“MAMO!” Sailor Moon cried.

“You should be more worried about yourself!” Hotaru said as she slashed at Sailor Moon with her Silence Glaive, which the Guardian managed to just barely avoid.

Suddenly, Usagi heard Naru’s voice come from Haruka’s communicator, “I got the package, pull back for now.”

“Alright. Everyone! You heard the lady!”

And just as quickly as they arrived, they were gone.

“Package? What did she-” Usagi began to ask, before hearing a chime from her communicator. She flipped it open to see Venus, with dirt and several scrapes on her face, “Venus, what happened?!” Usagi asked, panicked.

“Naru, she… she took Ami…” The Guardian of Beauty said, defeated.

Usagi felt her stomach drop, “No… no no no no no. She… she’s…”

“Usagi, I know it’s a lot to take in, but we don’t have time to waste. Meet us at the arcade. Venus out.” 

With that, her friend’s image disappeared from the screen. Usagi turned back to normal and collapsed onto her knees, “She’s gone…”

…

Ami awoke slowly. Her entire body ached, her head was pounding. When she finally managed to open her eyes, her blurred vision kept her from fully processing everything around her. If she didn’t know any better it looked like she was in a… cave? As her vision cleared up, she was even more confused to find a small table with a cup of tea sitting in front of her.

“What the…?” She began before looking down at herself. She had been set down in a chair made of stone, which she probably would have noticed sooner if not for her already persistent body aches. What was more concerning, however, was that she was no longer transformed. She frantically began feeling around her pockets for her Crystal Change Rod, but quickly realized that it was no longer in her possession.

“Ah, you’re awake.” Ami heard from behind her, before seeing Reign walk into her field of vision, “Sorry, I wasn’t sure how you liked your tea.”

With a wave of their hand, Reign conjured a second stone chair and sat across from Ami.

“What did you do to it? Is it poisoned?”

“Miss Mizuno,” Reign began cordially, “why would I go through all the trouble to bring you here just to poison you? Oh, and also…” Reign continued, reaching into their cloak and pulling out Ami’s Crystal Change Rod, “I believe you dropped this on your way in.” They finished, placing the Change Rod onto the table.

Ami picked it up, and turned it over in her hands, inspecting it. Originally she suspected it to be a fake, or that it had been tampered with in some way. However, upon examining it, this did not appear to be the case.

“Why are you giving this to me?” Ami asked, confused.

“Call it a show of good faith. Because, Miss Mizuno, I have a proposition for you.”

“Proposition?”

“Yes, you see… I have a few components I need, and only a few short days to gather them.” Reign explained, “However, one of those components, arguably the most important one, is hidden beyond my reach.”

“And that would be…?”

“The Golden Crystal. Located in Elysion, the capital of the fallen Earth Kingdom.”

“Well, I hate to break it to you, but I have no idea how to get there.” The blue-haired girl said, crossing her arms.

“Oh, I know.” Reign said, reaching into their cloak and pulling out a familiar object: Ami’s handheld supercomputer, “But this does.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Every drop of information possessed by the Moon Kingdom resides within this computer.” Reign explained, gesturing towards the device, “Some information is buried deeper than others, but it’s all right here. However, there’s one problem. The computer cannot be accessed without your password.”

“So you want me to unlock it for you?”

“If you could be so kind.” The masked figure said in their icy cold voice.

“Release your control over my friends, then we’ll talk.” Ami bluffed.

Reign let out a maniacal laugh in response, “Oh, but that’s the best part. I’m not controlling them. I couldn’t even if I tried.”

Ami was stunned, she couldn’t believe what she had just heard, “W-what are you talking about? Ail and An-”

“The space elves were easy. Their connection to the tree made invading their minds child’s play. You Sailor Guardians, on the other hand, are much more unwieldy. So rather than attempt to control them, I instead opted to free them. I can influence them to an extent, but ultimately? Everything they’re doing and saying is courtesy of the darkest corners of their own minds.” Reign clarified with a sadistic glee in their voice.

“What about Naru?” Ami asked, still processing what she had just heard.

“Ah, the Osaka girl, she’s an interesting one. So much potential, I thought it was a shame that it was all wasted on a mere mortal. So, I opted to correct that.”

“You’re not making any sense.” Ami replied, frustrated.

“It doesn’t matter.” Reign said, dismissively, “The point is, I cannot undo something I’m not doing in the first place.”

“Then I guess I can’t unlock that computer.” Ami said, obstinate.

Reign let out a large sigh, before rising out of their chair and causing the table between them to disappear with a wave of their hand, “I just want you to know, Miss Mizuno,” They said as they placed their hand atop Ami’s head, “I truly didn’t want to do this.”

“Don’t- what’re you- stop! I- gaah!” Ami cried in pain as her body became flooded with dark energy. In an instant, everything went black.

Chapter Text

It had been an average day at the Game Center. Motoki stood at the counter, dying of boredom. Normally he tried to move around and help people who were stuck on some of the games, but he had been presented with very few opportunities to do that. So the most he could rely on to break up the monotony was waiting for some kid to redeem their tickets at the prize counter. 

That is, until he saw Mamoru enter through the doors. With any luck, maybe he could keep him company for a bit to help the time go by faster. It wasn’t until his friend got closer that he realized something was wrong. His fallen facial features were a dead give away. 

“Hey, Mamoru, what’s up? Everything okay?” Motoki asked his friend.

“Uh… no.” Mamoru said honestly, “Look, I need you to close the arcade early today.”

“Um… I could probably go on break a bit early if you need me for something, but I can’t exactly-”

“No, it’s not you, it’s… the building. I need it.”

“What on Earth are you talking about?” Motoki questioned.

“Look, I just need you to trust me, okay?” Mamoru pleaded.

“No, that’s not okay!” Motoki responded, “I put up with a lot of crap and secrets from you, but you can’t just walk in here and tell me to do something that could get me in trouble and expect me to just go with it.”

Mamoru paused for a moment, looking anxiously toward the entrance, “Alright, fine, you want the truth?” He asked, to which Motoki simply nodded in response, “Alright, here goes. I’m Tuxedo Mask.” Mamoru said in a hushed tone, “Usagi is Sailor Moon, her friends are the Sailor Guardians, and they have a supercomputer hidden in the Sailor V arcade game that they need to use to track down one of their friends. And you have about a minute and a half to get everyone out of here before Mako comes in and forces them all out.”

Motoki stood in stunned silence for a good while before he was able to finally speak again “You… you’re not joking…” He finally choked out.

“No. I’m not.” 

“It all makes sense now. You randomly disappearing for days on end and showing up with bruises and-”

“Listen, buddy, I promise I will explain everything later. But for right now…”

“Right! Right!” Motoki said, “Um, attention everyone!” He announced to the patrons of the Game Center, “I’m sorry, but we’re closing early due to an emergency! You will all have to come back tomorrow!”

Some customers were more respectful than others, but ultimately Motoki was able to get them all to clear out, before switching the sign to ‘closed’ on the front of the center.

“Alright, you’re good everyone.” Mamoru said into his communicator, and mere moments later, Usagi, Rei, Minako and Makoto along with their cats came walking through the front entrance.

“Uh… hey, everyone.” Motoki said awkwardly.

“Out of my way, Furuhata.” Makoto said darkly, pushing past Motoki and heading straight for the Sailor V arcade machine.

“Um… is she…?” Motoki began to ask Mamoru.

“Ami was taken by the enemy.” Mamoru explained, gloomily.

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Motoki asked, “Is there anything I can do to-?”

“You’ve done plenty already. Just go get some rest.” Mamoru said to his friend.

…

“How do you make this damn thing work!?” Makoto cried in frustration, pushing every button on the Sailor V arcade cabinet.

“Luna’s the only one of us other than Ami who can work that thing, Mako.” Rei explained calmly, “Just leave it to her.”

Makoto backed up and allowed Luna to jump onto the machine. The feline instantly got to work.

“With any luck, I’ll be able to triangulate her position from her computer.” Luna explained, “Only issue is that it needs to be activated for that to work.”

“Is there any other way you can track her?” Makoto asked, desperately.

“Maybe. Trust me, Mako, I’ll do everything I can to find her.”

“Alright, thank you.” The Guardian of Thunder said sincerely, before turning to her friends, “In the meantime, we need to talk about what we’re up against.” 

“What do you mean?” Artemis asked.

“We can’t go easy on them again. The next time we run into them we take them down , hard and fast. And Sailor Chaos? She’s mine .” Makoto said, definitively.

“You mean Naru?” Usagi said meekly.

“What?” Makoto asked indignantly.

“Her name is Naru.” 

“Well, to be honest with you, Usagi, I don’t really care what her name is right now.” Makoto shot back, “All I care about is stopping her from doing any more harm.”

“She needs our help!” 

“She doesn’t want our help!” Makoto rebutted, “You weren’t there. She was toying with us, enjoying herself.”

“That’s not really her! It’s not any of them! It’s-!”

“I don’t care! We treated them with kid gloves, and look where it got us!” Makoto shouted, “Ami could be dead for all we know!”

“She’s not. They wouldn’t go through the trouble of capturing her just to kill her.” Rei interjected.

“Until they get what they want from her!” Makoto replied angrily.

“Mako, we can’t just-” Usagi began, before being cut off.

“You’re in no position to tell me what I can and can’t do! You weren’t there!” Makoto all but screamed, pointing directly at Usagi.

“I told you! I tried! But Haruka and the others, they-”

“They stopped you? Let me ask you something, Usagi. Can you honestly tell me you did everything you could to get through them and get to us?” Makoto asked, “Or did you hold back? Because you would rather let us keep getting hurt than do what has to be done!?”

“I… I…” Usagi stuttered, her eyes welling up with tears.

“Alright, Mako, that’s enough!” Rei said, approaching the auburn-haired guardian.

Suddenly, Makoto felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned to see it belonged to Minako, who was looking at her with pleading eyes.

“Can you join me outside?” The Guardian of Beauty asked, “Please?”

… 

Ami didn’t know where she was. She felt like she had been wandering forever. But when she looked around, all she could see was darkness.

“Hello?” She asked, timidly.

“Can you believe her?” Ami heard from a distance, in a voice she could’ve sworn belonged to Usagi. She began to make her way towards the source. As she got closer she was able to make out what appeared to be the visages of her friends, shrouded in darkness.

“Guys? Guys! I’m here! I’m-!”

“How stuck up can you be?”

Ami stopped dead in her tracks.

“‘Oh, poor me, I got a ninety-one because I finally took my nose out of a book for once’, gimme a break.”

“She thinks she’s so much better than us, just because she gets good grades.”

“No… no I don’t, I-”

“Yeah, even though that’s literally the only thing she’s good at.”

“Oh I know! I mean, how many times have we had to bail her out during a fight? Talk about a weak link!”

“Honestly Mako, I don’t know why you decided to date her.”

“Yeah, well, I honestly just felt sorry for her.”

“What?”

“I mean, she’s just so pathetic, how could I not? But I’ve gotta be honest, I’m really reaching the end of my rope with her.”

“Mako… no… I…” Ami choked out, grasping at her chest and collapsing onto her knees as tears began to fall from her eyes, an icy cold feeling filling her entire being.

“That’s right. You are alone. You will always be alone.” She heard Reign’s voice say from the aether.

“No… no… it’s not…” 

“You know it’s true. They could never understand you.”

“They could never…”

“No one could ever love you.”

“... ever… love me…”

“However… that doesn’t have to be so.” Reign said, appearing in front of Ami and kneeling down to her eye-level, “Join with us… help us rewrite this world… show those who shunned you the error of their ways.”

“Yes… yes…” Ami said, looking up towards Reign. Wispy shadows began to protrude from the ground and wrap themselves around her. As they did so Ami’s thoughts would continue to twist and bend. The pain that came from years of isolation all coming to the surface at once. No friends to call her own, her mother constantly gone, even her own father wanted nothing to do with her. How could she have let herself believe Usagi and the others would be any different? How could she have been so stupid?

“And it all starts with the Golden Crystal.”

“The Golden… Crystal…”

“I need the code, Ami.”

“The code… right… the code is…”

“This is Ami, she’s the really smart one.” Usagi’s voice would chime from the darkness.

“What?” Reign asked, confused.

Suddenly, the black void around the two of them morphed into the Crown Game Center, visages of Ami’s friends appearing as well, replaying a scene from years ago. 

“ And the cat with the crescent bald spot is Luna!” 

“Aw, how cute!”  

“That… that’s right.” Ami said, slowly standing back up as the icy feeling in her chest would fade, “They do love me… they accept me for who I am…”

The blue-haired girl pulled out her Crystal Change Rod, “You can’t trick me Reign! I’ll stop- ah!” Ami screamed as she was electrocuted by black lightning from Reign’s hand.

“Yes, yes, that’s very cute. But let’s not forget who’s in control here.” Reign began to inspect the memory, “You recalled this upon being asked the code, so something here must be important.”

“No…” Ami cried as Reign analyzed her precious memory like they were watching a TV show, her still being stuck in place by the dark energy.

“Hmm… ah, I see.” Reign said, looking at a calendar behind the front desk, “The day when you first met her… that’s the code, isn’t it?”

“Stop it…” Ami pleaded.

“How sweet. I must thank you for your help, Miss Mizuno. Maybe when you wake up you’ll be more cooperative.” Reign remarked before blasting Ami with energy, rendering her unconscious.

…

“What do you want?” Makoto asked, having stepped out of the Crown Game Center with Minako.

“Seemed like you needed some air.” Minako replied.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re freaking out.”

“Of course I’m freaking out!” Makoto shouted.

“I get it. I do.” Minako said, “But you need to calm down before you do something you regret.”

“Oh, please, don’t you dare get on my case. We both know if this were Rei you would be the exact same way.”

Minako was stunned, “How… how do you…?”

“Does it matter?” Makoto asked, “You know I’m right.”

Minako pondered her friend's words for a moment. She was still confused as to how Makoto had come to learn about her feelings for Rei, but that was something she could deal with at another time.

“Y’know what? You’re right, Mako.” Mina said, “I would be a total wreck if something like that happened to Rei. Or any of you really. I would probably lash out the same way you are.” Mina stepped forward and locked eyes with Mako, “And I would trust you to be the one to stop me from doing something stupid.”

“You… you don’t understand… none of you could.” Makoto said, leaning back against the wall.

“Well… then help me understand.” Mina said, sincerely.

“I… I was supposed to protect her.” The taller girl began, her eyes welling up with tears, “I promised her I would protect her!”

“Mako, this is not your fault.” Mina said, reassuringly, “Risk comes with the job, Ami knows that, she-”

“She came to me last night, sobbing, because she was so scared of doing this again.” Makoto said bluntly, “And I told her that I wouldn’t let anything happen to her and I… I failed. I failed her.”

“Mako…”

“She must be so scared…” Mako said, tears rolling down her face, “... if she’s even…”

Suddenly, the green-eyed girl would find herself pulled into a hug by her friend, “Mako, listen to me. Ami’s strong… a lot stronger than I think even she realizes. She’s okay, I know she is. And I don’t think she’s scared at all. You wanna know why?”

“W-why?”

“Because she knows you would never break your promise. She knows you’re gonna save her.”

“You think?”

“I know.”

Mina would simply stand there, holding the taller girl, giving her a moment to recollect herself, before suddenly they heard the Game Center door open, and broke their hug to look at Rei, who had stepped out of the building.

“Guys, Luna’s got something!”

The three girls dashed back into the building and up to the arcade machine, “Did you find her?” Makoto asked, desperately.

“I think so.” Luna said, “I’m getting a signal from her computer, I’m triangulating the position now!” The computer pinged, indicating the final result had been delivered, “Got her! She’s… oh no…”

“Where?! Where is… oh my god.” Makoto said in shock. The group all looked at the location on the screen in stunned silence, with only some light gasps being thrown into the mix, until Usagi finally managed to choke out the name of the cursed location in question.

“D-Point.”