Fractured Loyalties, Chapter 1, Part 2
The first part of this chapter can be found here.
Fractured Loyalties
Chapter 1: A Darker Turn, Part 2
By Contrail
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, not me, and I'm using the characters and setting without her permission. I'm not making any money off of this.
After Usagi was sure that Tuxedo Mask hadn't followed her, she slowed down and found a place where she could contact Ami over their new watches. Usagi and Luna explained what had happened with the Phantom Bus to Ami. They decided that, because of the method of transportation the Dark Kingdom was using, the only way for them to find out where the kidnapped girls were being taken and rescue them was to have Ami and Usagi ride the Phantom Bus and have Luna track them. Wanting to rescue the kidnapped girls as soon as possible, they agreed to meet in front of the Hikawa Shrine the next evening shortly before the Phantom Bus would be making its rounds again.
School felt even longer and more boring than usual to Usagi the next day, and she had trouble concentrating on playing the video games at the Crown Arcade Parlor while she was killing time before heading over to the Shrine with Luna. Worries about what could be happening to Rei kept on intruding. Usagi eventually just gave up and made her way to the Shrine, arriving there early. She sat down at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Shrine to wait for Ami, petting Luna idly.
Usagi didn't have to wait too long for Ami to arrive. Luna set up a computer and put on a headset; Usagi had to stifle giggles at the odd sight of a cat wearing a headset. "Okay, with this equipment I'll be able to keep track of you and contact you on your communicator watches," Luna said. "Please be careful, girls. We don't know where the portal will lead to or if the enemy will have laid a trap for you. Be ready to transform at a moment's notice."
Ami nodded, and Usagi said, "We'll be careful." Then they turned and walked over to the bus stop to wait for the Phantom Bus to show up. Usagi fidgeted as they stood there waiting, nervousness about what they might have to face creeping up on her. When the bus pulled up, its sign saying 'Red 66: Via Sendai Hill', Usagi took a deep breath and got on the bus, Ami following behind her. After paying their fares under the watchful eye of the woman driving the bus, they took seats towards the middle of the bus.
As the bus pulled away from the curb and down the street, Ami and Usagi felt sleepiness start to creep up on them. Knowing that the sudden urge to fall asleep had to be some trick of the enemy, they resisted the feeling, shifting around in their sleep and even pinching themselves to keep themselves awake. The feelings of sleepiness faded soon after they started resisting it, but by that time the bus had reached the dark portal and was passing into it. They entered into a dark tunnel lit only by small pinpoints of light, the bus continuing to move forward even though there no longer seemed to be anything solid under the wheels.
Several minutes passed as they moved through the darkness, before stone walls and arches appeared around them and they could hear the sound of the bus's wheels driving over stone tiles. The bus came to a halt, and Ami and Usagi had just stood up when the bus just disintegrated around them. They landed on their feet with some difficulty, and the noise caused the bus driver to turn around and face them. "You didn't fall asleep?" she asked rhetorically. "Odd, but I guess I'll just have to drain you into unconsciousness instead." She smiled cruelly as her features became inhuman and her fingers sharpened into claws.
Since they had seen this kind of strange transformation before, the girls wasted no time calling out their transformation phrases.
"Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!"
"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"
In a swirl of lights and ribbons, the pair of girls became Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon posed and shouted, "I can't allow you to lock up innocent people in a place like this!! I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Placing one hand on her tiara, Sailor Moon pulled it off her forehead, causing it to transform into a flat ring that was ideal for being thrown. "Moon Tiara Boomerang!" The tiara sliced through the air after she threw it, carving its way through the youma, which started to dissolve into dust, before returning to Sailor Moon's hand and being returned to her forehead.
"Yay!" Sailor Moon cheered. "I think we're getting better at this, that was a lot easier than the previous ones."
"Maybe," Mercury replied. "Or maybe that one wasn't intended to be difficult to defeat and there is stronger opposition lurking here."
"Oh." Sailor Moon's face fell, but only for a few moments before her usual smile reasserted itself. "Let's hurry up and find the kidnapped girls and have Luna get us all out of here, then."
They both started looking around for the kidnapped girls, quickly spotting where their sleeping forms were all huddled together. Sailor Moon didn't see Rei in among them, though, and continued to look around until she noticed another form sprawled on the stone floor a short distance from the rest of the girls, dark hair fanning out around her like a pool of silk. "Rei-chan!" Sailor Moon cried out and starting rushing towards her.
"Wait, Sailor Moon! Something doesn't seem right about what she's wearing...!" Sailor Mercury's cautionary words flowed past Sailor Moon without them registering. Sailor Moon reached where Rei was lying and bent down to gently shake her shoulder in an attempt to wake her.
The instant Sailor Moon's gloved hand touches her, Rei's violet eyes snap open and she raises one hand towards Sailor Moon, then cries out, "Dark Flames!" A torrent of purple-black fire shoots out of her hand, scorching through the space that Sailor Moon had occupied just moments before. Rei's sudden motion had caused Sailor Moon to step back in surprise, tripping in the process and landing on her butt, causing Rei's attack to miss.
Sailor Mercury quickly called out, "Mercury Aqua Mist!!" Fog spread from her hands to cloak the area in mist, blocking Rei's view of Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon scrambled to her feet and backed away from Rei, heading roughly in the direction that she remembered Sailor Mercury to be in. The temperature in the area began rising, and the fog evaporated to reveal Rei standing with her hands on her hips, a nimbus of dark flame surrounding her.
The flames around her dissipated and Rei smirked maliciously, making a shiver run down Sailor Moon's spine. "Cute trick, but nothing I couldn't handle. Care to try again?" A sinking feeling in her stomach joined the shiver when she finally noticed Rei's different - and altogether more sinister looking - outfit.
"Why are you acting like this, Rei-chan? What did they do to you?!" Sailor Moon felt her eyes begin to burn with tears. If only she hadn't lost her grip on the bus yesterday...!
Rei's eyes narrowed. "The name Hino Rei no longer holds any meaning for me. I am the Dark Senshi of Mars, and I will destroy you!" She flung another jet of dark flames from her hand toward Sailor Moon, forcing Sailor Moon to dodge out of its way.
The enemy... They must have brainwashed Rei-chan into following them! "I can't fight Rei-chan like this, Luna! Oh, this is all my fault!" Sailor Moon sniffled, trying to keep the tears welling in eyes from spilling over and running down her cheeks.
Luna's voice crackled from the watch communicator Sailor Moon wore. "Don't cry! If you cry and emit your supersonic waves, the world you're in will destabilize! You won't be able to rescue everyone!"
Sailor Moon pushed back her tears with effort. "What should I do, Luna?"
"Attack with your tiara, Usagi-chan!"
"Moon Tiara Boomerang!" Pulling off her tiara once more, she threw it at Dark Mars, but her reluctance to hurt Rei must have affected her aim, causing it to miss Dark Mars by inches. One of Dark Mars's hands shot out as the tiara went by and grabbed it.
"Such a weak little toy," Dark Mars sneered.
"She fell into the trap!" Luna's voice came through the communicator once more as the tiara slipped out of Dark Mars's hand and wrapped itself around Dark Mars's torso, thicken to trap her arms at her sides.
"Quickly, Usagi-chan!" Luna ordered through the communicator. "Assemble everyone in one place! The tiara won't hold her forever and the longer you fight, the more likely the dimension is to collapse!"
"Gotcha, Luna!" Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury ran over to where all the unconscious girls were, while Dark Mars maneuvered her hands so she could touch the tiara and generated flames around them to melt her way through the metal. Sailor Moon double-checked to make sure they had everyone, then said to Luna over the communicator, "We've got everyone, so get us out of here!"
The sound of metal fragments announced Dark Mars's escape from Sailor Moon's tiara, but before Dark Mars could do more than raise a hand towards them, the Sailor Senshi and the unconscious girls disappeared in a flash of light. Dark Mars snarled in frustration at their escape, before dashing away from the slowly collapsing dimension tunnel and into the Dark Kingdom proper. Queen Beryl would be most upset with her, and Jadeite-sama would be disappointed in her. She wasn't sure which bothered her more.
A while later, Luna, Ami, and Usagi were gathered together in the living room of Ami's house to discuss what had happened. After Luna had safely brought them all back to the Sendai Hill bus stop, the unconscious girls started waking up with no memories of what had happened after they got on the Phantom Bus. They had explained to the girls who had been kidnapped what had happened, then quickly left before awkward questions could be asked or the cops could show up. Luna had insisted on holding a planning session immediately, so after the girls had transformed back into their normal selves they'd gone to Ami's house because Ami's mother was working an evening shift at the hospital and wouldn't be home until late that night.
The living room of Ami's house was decorated in a modern and elegant minimalist style. It was kept quite spotless as well, and Usagi briefly wondered how Ami's mom could keep it so clean when she appeared to work so much, before it occurred to her that Ami's mom made enough money that she could hire someone to keep things clean. Usagi was curled up in one corner of the couch, hugging a pillow to her chest, while Ami sat towards the other end and described what she'd seen after they passed through the portal.
Once Ami was finished with her tale, Luna asked, "Do either of you remember seeing any sort of symbol on Dark Mars's forehead."
Usagi shook her head; She'd been too busy trying to dodge the attacks to have noticed if there was anything on Dark Mars's forehead. But Ami nodded. "She had the symbol of Mars on her forehead. It was black, but it didn't really look like a tattoo, it was more like some sort of strange birthmark."
Luna nodded. "That corresponds with the reading I was getting on her attacks. Her attacks drew on the energy of the planet Mars, which only the Sailor Senshi of Mars would be able to do, but there was something else... something tainting that power. She must be the true Sailor Mars, and the enemy must have taken advantage of her power not having been awakened yet to twist her into... into that dark mockery of a Sailor Senshi." Luna managed to look both disgusted and furious at the same time, quite a feat for a cat.
"Luna?" Ami asked in a quiet voice. "Could... Could they do that to one of us?" Usagi turned to look at Luna with her breath caught in her throat, waiting for Luna to answer, a sudden fear gripping her heart.
Luna shook her head. "It is nigh impossible to corrupt a Sailor Senshi who's awakened their powers against their will. The enemy would have to practically kill you to accomplish it. It would be much simpler for them to simply kill you."
Ami nodded and Usagi started breathing again, her fear easing somewhat knowing that neither she nor Ami would be mind-controlled into hurting people, not that the enemy trying to kill her instead was a particularly reassuring prospect.
"It does make it more imperative for us to locate and awaken the rest of the Sailor Senshi, however," Luna continued. "That will primarily be my responsibility, however, since there isn't much you two can do to help until I've narrowed down the potential candidates."
Ami looked thoughtful. "Luna, do you know of any way we could fix what the enemy did to Rei-chan?"
Luna frowned. "This isn't something I'd encountered in the past, so I can't say for certain what would be able to undo the brainwashing. The Phantom Silver Crystal would undoubtedly have enough power to undo it, and its power is well-suited to purifying evil influences. However, it can only be wielded to its full potential by the Princess."
"Then we'll just have to find the Princess and the crystal and have her fix Rei-chan with it," Usagi stated with a surprising amount of determination.
Luna blinked at Usagi, puzzled by her unusual demeanor, but before Luna could say anything, Ami asked, "Is there anything you can tell us about the Princess that might help our search, such as where she comes from?"
"I can't tell you very much about the Princess yet, unfortunately," Luna replied. "I think some sort of seal has been placed on her so she won't be recognized, however."
"A seal?" Ami asked. "Why would something like that be necessary?"
"There's a high probability that the Princess has the Phantom Silver Crystal. It's certain that everyone has their eyes on the holy stone, the Phantom Silver Crystal, and the unlimited power it carries. But if it's used for evil, we'll be in a terrible situation.
"When the time is right, the seal on the Princess's identity should break, but the enemy will know who she is then, as well. So we need to try to find her before that time if possible.
"Now, it's getting late and I think we've covered everything we can at this time. Usagi-chan needs to go home before her family gets too worried," Luna finished.
Usagi rolled her eyes. "You just have to boss me around all the time, don't you Luna?" she sighed, but picked up the cat and said her goodbyes to Ami, put her shoes back on, and started walking to the closest bus stop.
Several moments passed in silence save for the noises of the city around them and the sound of Usagi's shoes on the pavement. Finally, Luna asked softly, "Are you feeling alright, Usagi-chan? You've been quieter and more serious than usual this evening."
Usagi sighed, looking down at her feet sadly. "It's just... I feel like what's happened to Rei-chan's my fault, because my fingers slipped and I wasn't able to rescue her before the enemy had a chance to do whatever they did to her."
Luna butted her head against Usagi's chin in an affectionate gesture. "We don't know what would have happened if you'd followed them right away. It's obvious the enemy set up the whole thing as a way to try to trap you in their own territory. You might have been able to defeat who ever would have been waiting there and rescued the kidnapped girls, but you might have gotten yourself into more trouble than you could handle and I'm not sure I would have been able to contact Ami and get her there in time to help you. Things might have ended up working out better this way."
Usagi gave Luna a small smile, but her eyes were still sad. "Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Luna." The girl and the cat continued on their way home.
Jadeite found himself kneeling before Queen Beryl again, this time with Dark Mars also kneeling, a little bit to his right and behind him, her long purple-black hair trailing over the floor.
"Your plan to get rid of the Sailor Senshi failed, Jadeite. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Please forgive me, my Queen. They had not shown any ability to travel dimensionally before, so their means of escape was unanticipated. Prior to that, Dark Mars was faring quite well against them and the youma was never intended to be a serious threat, of course."
Queen Beryl considered his words for several long moments as sweat trickled down Jadeite's face. "I will not punish you for your failure this time, Jadeite, because you have helped me find another warrior for our cause." Her gaze flicked to where Dark Mars was kneeling for a moment before returning to Jadeite. "Although I hope she is more successful in the future. But I will give you a considerable amount of time to think about how you could have succeeded instead of failed before entrusting you with any further missions. Nephrite!"
Nephrite stepped forward from where he had been lounging against a wall again and saluted Queen Beryl with a fist over his heart. "Yes, my Queen?"
"I will grant your desire to take over the collecting of energy and the search for the Phantom Silver Crystal. But you had best be more successful than Jadeite has been." Jadeite grimaced, but didn't say anything.
"Of course, my Queen," Nephrite replied and turned to leave.
"One last thing, Nephrite." Nephrite turned back towards her. "I want to see what your young apprentice can do as well."
"As you say, my Queen."
Late that night, in a secret basement below the Crown Arcade Parlor only accessible through the Sailor V game, Luna was using the computer systems there to consult with another about the latest developments. The video screen showed a white cat with a crescent moon on his forehead just like Luna's. Luna had just finished her account of the new information they'd found out and the conclusions they'd come to.
"What the enemy did to Mars worries me, Artemis," Luna said to the other cat she was talking to. "It's too reminiscent of what happened to the people of the Earth before the end of the Silver Millennium. What if the evil that destroyed the Silver Millennium has been revived? Even with the Phantom Silver Crystal, Queen Serenity wasn't able to do anything but seal it inside the Earth."
"Don't go borrowing trouble, Luna," Artemis replied in a softer tone than his words would suggest. "We don't know for certain that that is what has happened. As well, the Queen was despairing when that happened, the Princess will have a better chance against it."
Luna sighed. "I know. But whoever the enemy is, they've already turned one of the Sailor Senshi to their side. We don't know where Jupiter is or who she is, they could already have her working for them. We're not having any luck finding the Princess or the Phantom Silver Crystal, and we can't afford to have the enemy find them first. So pardon me for being a little pessimistic at the moment."
"We may just stumble across Jupiter like you did with Mercury and Mars. And the magic preventing us from locating the Princess easily will stymie the enemy just as much. We should prepare for what might go wrong, but we shouldn't give up hope yet. Not until the fat lady sings."
Luna shook her head and said, "You use the strangest Earth expressions, Artemis." But she had a slight smile on her face.
"I try my best, milady." Sobering, Artemis continued, "If things do continue to get worse, I can have the Sailor Senshi I've been training join yours to help them. I know you wanted to have them gain more experience first, but her help may be necessary if they end up facing two corrupted Sailor Senshi along with whatever other forces the enemy has."
Luna nodded. "Thank you for the offer, even though I hope taking you up on it won't be necessary."
"I hope so, too."
Author's Notes
Manga dialogue is taken from Alex Glover's newer translations from the Japanese manga, but I've tweaked it slightly in a place or two. If some of the attack names used seem slightly odd, it's probably because of 1) the manga using different names for some attacks than the anime did, and 2) Alex Glover using the rereleased versions of the Japanese manga, which altered the name of Sailor Moon's tiara attack from 'Moon Frisbee' to 'Moon Tiara Boomerang' and gave names to attacks that had previously been nameless in the manga, like Mercury's mist-creating attack. Apparently the changes were made to correspond with the attack names used in the live-action version.
The mysterious third commander in this chapter isn't Zoisite or Kunzite, nor is he any kind of clone or duplicate of them. (Which isn't to say that he has absolutely no relation to either of those characters.) He's an original character, with a background in his Silver Millennium era past life that makes his current role as a commander of the Dark Kingdom quite appropriate.
Nephrite's apprentice, on the other hand, is a well-known character from the series, and who she is probably isn't that difficult to guess. She'll be showing up next chapter, in any case.
As for why Zoisite and Kunzite aren't part of the Dark Kingdom, you'll just have to keep reading to find out. ;^)
Fractured Loyalties
Chapter 1: A Darker Turn, Part 2
By Contrail
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi, not me, and I'm using the characters and setting without her permission. I'm not making any money off of this.
After Usagi was sure that Tuxedo Mask hadn't followed her, she slowed down and found a place where she could contact Ami over their new watches. Usagi and Luna explained what had happened with the Phantom Bus to Ami. They decided that, because of the method of transportation the Dark Kingdom was using, the only way for them to find out where the kidnapped girls were being taken and rescue them was to have Ami and Usagi ride the Phantom Bus and have Luna track them. Wanting to rescue the kidnapped girls as soon as possible, they agreed to meet in front of the Hikawa Shrine the next evening shortly before the Phantom Bus would be making its rounds again.
School felt even longer and more boring than usual to Usagi the next day, and she had trouble concentrating on playing the video games at the Crown Arcade Parlor while she was killing time before heading over to the Shrine with Luna. Worries about what could be happening to Rei kept on intruding. Usagi eventually just gave up and made her way to the Shrine, arriving there early. She sat down at the bottom of the steps leading up to the Shrine to wait for Ami, petting Luna idly.
Usagi didn't have to wait too long for Ami to arrive. Luna set up a computer and put on a headset; Usagi had to stifle giggles at the odd sight of a cat wearing a headset. "Okay, with this equipment I'll be able to keep track of you and contact you on your communicator watches," Luna said. "Please be careful, girls. We don't know where the portal will lead to or if the enemy will have laid a trap for you. Be ready to transform at a moment's notice."
Ami nodded, and Usagi said, "We'll be careful." Then they turned and walked over to the bus stop to wait for the Phantom Bus to show up. Usagi fidgeted as they stood there waiting, nervousness about what they might have to face creeping up on her. When the bus pulled up, its sign saying 'Red 66: Via Sendai Hill', Usagi took a deep breath and got on the bus, Ami following behind her. After paying their fares under the watchful eye of the woman driving the bus, they took seats towards the middle of the bus.
As the bus pulled away from the curb and down the street, Ami and Usagi felt sleepiness start to creep up on them. Knowing that the sudden urge to fall asleep had to be some trick of the enemy, they resisted the feeling, shifting around in their sleep and even pinching themselves to keep themselves awake. The feelings of sleepiness faded soon after they started resisting it, but by that time the bus had reached the dark portal and was passing into it. They entered into a dark tunnel lit only by small pinpoints of light, the bus continuing to move forward even though there no longer seemed to be anything solid under the wheels.
Several minutes passed as they moved through the darkness, before stone walls and arches appeared around them and they could hear the sound of the bus's wheels driving over stone tiles. The bus came to a halt, and Ami and Usagi had just stood up when the bus just disintegrated around them. They landed on their feet with some difficulty, and the noise caused the bus driver to turn around and face them. "You didn't fall asleep?" she asked rhetorically. "Odd, but I guess I'll just have to drain you into unconsciousness instead." She smiled cruelly as her features became inhuman and her fingers sharpened into claws.
Since they had seen this kind of strange transformation before, the girls wasted no time calling out their transformation phrases.
"Moon Prism Power, Make-Up!"
"Mercury Power, Make-Up!"
In a swirl of lights and ribbons, the pair of girls became Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury. Sailor Moon posed and shouted, "I can't allow you to lock up innocent people in a place like this!! I am Sailor Moon, and in the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"
Placing one hand on her tiara, Sailor Moon pulled it off her forehead, causing it to transform into a flat ring that was ideal for being thrown. "Moon Tiara Boomerang!" The tiara sliced through the air after she threw it, carving its way through the youma, which started to dissolve into dust, before returning to Sailor Moon's hand and being returned to her forehead.
"Yay!" Sailor Moon cheered. "I think we're getting better at this, that was a lot easier than the previous ones."
"Maybe," Mercury replied. "Or maybe that one wasn't intended to be difficult to defeat and there is stronger opposition lurking here."
"Oh." Sailor Moon's face fell, but only for a few moments before her usual smile reasserted itself. "Let's hurry up and find the kidnapped girls and have Luna get us all out of here, then."
They both started looking around for the kidnapped girls, quickly spotting where their sleeping forms were all huddled together. Sailor Moon didn't see Rei in among them, though, and continued to look around until she noticed another form sprawled on the stone floor a short distance from the rest of the girls, dark hair fanning out around her like a pool of silk. "Rei-chan!" Sailor Moon cried out and starting rushing towards her.
"Wait, Sailor Moon! Something doesn't seem right about what she's wearing...!" Sailor Mercury's cautionary words flowed past Sailor Moon without them registering. Sailor Moon reached where Rei was lying and bent down to gently shake her shoulder in an attempt to wake her.
The instant Sailor Moon's gloved hand touches her, Rei's violet eyes snap open and she raises one hand towards Sailor Moon, then cries out, "Dark Flames!" A torrent of purple-black fire shoots out of her hand, scorching through the space that Sailor Moon had occupied just moments before. Rei's sudden motion had caused Sailor Moon to step back in surprise, tripping in the process and landing on her butt, causing Rei's attack to miss.
Sailor Mercury quickly called out, "Mercury Aqua Mist!!" Fog spread from her hands to cloak the area in mist, blocking Rei's view of Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon scrambled to her feet and backed away from Rei, heading roughly in the direction that she remembered Sailor Mercury to be in. The temperature in the area began rising, and the fog evaporated to reveal Rei standing with her hands on her hips, a nimbus of dark flame surrounding her.
The flames around her dissipated and Rei smirked maliciously, making a shiver run down Sailor Moon's spine. "Cute trick, but nothing I couldn't handle. Care to try again?" A sinking feeling in her stomach joined the shiver when she finally noticed Rei's different - and altogether more sinister looking - outfit.
"Why are you acting like this, Rei-chan? What did they do to you?!" Sailor Moon felt her eyes begin to burn with tears. If only she hadn't lost her grip on the bus yesterday...!
Rei's eyes narrowed. "The name Hino Rei no longer holds any meaning for me. I am the Dark Senshi of Mars, and I will destroy you!" She flung another jet of dark flames from her hand toward Sailor Moon, forcing Sailor Moon to dodge out of its way.
The enemy... They must have brainwashed Rei-chan into following them! "I can't fight Rei-chan like this, Luna! Oh, this is all my fault!" Sailor Moon sniffled, trying to keep the tears welling in eyes from spilling over and running down her cheeks.
Luna's voice crackled from the watch communicator Sailor Moon wore. "Don't cry! If you cry and emit your supersonic waves, the world you're in will destabilize! You won't be able to rescue everyone!"
Sailor Moon pushed back her tears with effort. "What should I do, Luna?"
"Attack with your tiara, Usagi-chan!"
"Moon Tiara Boomerang!" Pulling off her tiara once more, she threw it at Dark Mars, but her reluctance to hurt Rei must have affected her aim, causing it to miss Dark Mars by inches. One of Dark Mars's hands shot out as the tiara went by and grabbed it.
"Such a weak little toy," Dark Mars sneered.
"She fell into the trap!" Luna's voice came through the communicator once more as the tiara slipped out of Dark Mars's hand and wrapped itself around Dark Mars's torso, thicken to trap her arms at her sides.
"Quickly, Usagi-chan!" Luna ordered through the communicator. "Assemble everyone in one place! The tiara won't hold her forever and the longer you fight, the more likely the dimension is to collapse!"
"Gotcha, Luna!" Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury ran over to where all the unconscious girls were, while Dark Mars maneuvered her hands so she could touch the tiara and generated flames around them to melt her way through the metal. Sailor Moon double-checked to make sure they had everyone, then said to Luna over the communicator, "We've got everyone, so get us out of here!"
The sound of metal fragments announced Dark Mars's escape from Sailor Moon's tiara, but before Dark Mars could do more than raise a hand towards them, the Sailor Senshi and the unconscious girls disappeared in a flash of light. Dark Mars snarled in frustration at their escape, before dashing away from the slowly collapsing dimension tunnel and into the Dark Kingdom proper. Queen Beryl would be most upset with her, and Jadeite-sama would be disappointed in her. She wasn't sure which bothered her more.
A while later, Luna, Ami, and Usagi were gathered together in the living room of Ami's house to discuss what had happened. After Luna had safely brought them all back to the Sendai Hill bus stop, the unconscious girls started waking up with no memories of what had happened after they got on the Phantom Bus. They had explained to the girls who had been kidnapped what had happened, then quickly left before awkward questions could be asked or the cops could show up. Luna had insisted on holding a planning session immediately, so after the girls had transformed back into their normal selves they'd gone to Ami's house because Ami's mother was working an evening shift at the hospital and wouldn't be home until late that night.
The living room of Ami's house was decorated in a modern and elegant minimalist style. It was kept quite spotless as well, and Usagi briefly wondered how Ami's mom could keep it so clean when she appeared to work so much, before it occurred to her that Ami's mom made enough money that she could hire someone to keep things clean. Usagi was curled up in one corner of the couch, hugging a pillow to her chest, while Ami sat towards the other end and described what she'd seen after they passed through the portal.
Once Ami was finished with her tale, Luna asked, "Do either of you remember seeing any sort of symbol on Dark Mars's forehead."
Usagi shook her head; She'd been too busy trying to dodge the attacks to have noticed if there was anything on Dark Mars's forehead. But Ami nodded. "She had the symbol of Mars on her forehead. It was black, but it didn't really look like a tattoo, it was more like some sort of strange birthmark."
Luna nodded. "That corresponds with the reading I was getting on her attacks. Her attacks drew on the energy of the planet Mars, which only the Sailor Senshi of Mars would be able to do, but there was something else... something tainting that power. She must be the true Sailor Mars, and the enemy must have taken advantage of her power not having been awakened yet to twist her into... into that dark mockery of a Sailor Senshi." Luna managed to look both disgusted and furious at the same time, quite a feat for a cat.
"Luna?" Ami asked in a quiet voice. "Could... Could they do that to one of us?" Usagi turned to look at Luna with her breath caught in her throat, waiting for Luna to answer, a sudden fear gripping her heart.
Luna shook her head. "It is nigh impossible to corrupt a Sailor Senshi who's awakened their powers against their will. The enemy would have to practically kill you to accomplish it. It would be much simpler for them to simply kill you."
Ami nodded and Usagi started breathing again, her fear easing somewhat knowing that neither she nor Ami would be mind-controlled into hurting people, not that the enemy trying to kill her instead was a particularly reassuring prospect.
"It does make it more imperative for us to locate and awaken the rest of the Sailor Senshi, however," Luna continued. "That will primarily be my responsibility, however, since there isn't much you two can do to help until I've narrowed down the potential candidates."
Ami looked thoughtful. "Luna, do you know of any way we could fix what the enemy did to Rei-chan?"
Luna frowned. "This isn't something I'd encountered in the past, so I can't say for certain what would be able to undo the brainwashing. The Phantom Silver Crystal would undoubtedly have enough power to undo it, and its power is well-suited to purifying evil influences. However, it can only be wielded to its full potential by the Princess."
"Then we'll just have to find the Princess and the crystal and have her fix Rei-chan with it," Usagi stated with a surprising amount of determination.
Luna blinked at Usagi, puzzled by her unusual demeanor, but before Luna could say anything, Ami asked, "Is there anything you can tell us about the Princess that might help our search, such as where she comes from?"
"I can't tell you very much about the Princess yet, unfortunately," Luna replied. "I think some sort of seal has been placed on her so she won't be recognized, however."
"A seal?" Ami asked. "Why would something like that be necessary?"
"There's a high probability that the Princess has the Phantom Silver Crystal. It's certain that everyone has their eyes on the holy stone, the Phantom Silver Crystal, and the unlimited power it carries. But if it's used for evil, we'll be in a terrible situation.
"When the time is right, the seal on the Princess's identity should break, but the enemy will know who she is then, as well. So we need to try to find her before that time if possible.
"Now, it's getting late and I think we've covered everything we can at this time. Usagi-chan needs to go home before her family gets too worried," Luna finished.
Usagi rolled her eyes. "You just have to boss me around all the time, don't you Luna?" she sighed, but picked up the cat and said her goodbyes to Ami, put her shoes back on, and started walking to the closest bus stop.
Several moments passed in silence save for the noises of the city around them and the sound of Usagi's shoes on the pavement. Finally, Luna asked softly, "Are you feeling alright, Usagi-chan? You've been quieter and more serious than usual this evening."
Usagi sighed, looking down at her feet sadly. "It's just... I feel like what's happened to Rei-chan's my fault, because my fingers slipped and I wasn't able to rescue her before the enemy had a chance to do whatever they did to her."
Luna butted her head against Usagi's chin in an affectionate gesture. "We don't know what would have happened if you'd followed them right away. It's obvious the enemy set up the whole thing as a way to try to trap you in their own territory. You might have been able to defeat who ever would have been waiting there and rescued the kidnapped girls, but you might have gotten yourself into more trouble than you could handle and I'm not sure I would have been able to contact Ami and get her there in time to help you. Things might have ended up working out better this way."
Usagi gave Luna a small smile, but her eyes were still sad. "Thank you for trying to cheer me up, Luna." The girl and the cat continued on their way home.
Jadeite found himself kneeling before Queen Beryl again, this time with Dark Mars also kneeling, a little bit to his right and behind him, her long purple-black hair trailing over the floor.
"Your plan to get rid of the Sailor Senshi failed, Jadeite. What do you have to say for yourself?"
"Please forgive me, my Queen. They had not shown any ability to travel dimensionally before, so their means of escape was unanticipated. Prior to that, Dark Mars was faring quite well against them and the youma was never intended to be a serious threat, of course."
Queen Beryl considered his words for several long moments as sweat trickled down Jadeite's face. "I will not punish you for your failure this time, Jadeite, because you have helped me find another warrior for our cause." Her gaze flicked to where Dark Mars was kneeling for a moment before returning to Jadeite. "Although I hope she is more successful in the future. But I will give you a considerable amount of time to think about how you could have succeeded instead of failed before entrusting you with any further missions. Nephrite!"
Nephrite stepped forward from where he had been lounging against a wall again and saluted Queen Beryl with a fist over his heart. "Yes, my Queen?"
"I will grant your desire to take over the collecting of energy and the search for the Phantom Silver Crystal. But you had best be more successful than Jadeite has been." Jadeite grimaced, but didn't say anything.
"Of course, my Queen," Nephrite replied and turned to leave.
"One last thing, Nephrite." Nephrite turned back towards her. "I want to see what your young apprentice can do as well."
"As you say, my Queen."
Late that night, in a secret basement below the Crown Arcade Parlor only accessible through the Sailor V game, Luna was using the computer systems there to consult with another about the latest developments. The video screen showed a white cat with a crescent moon on his forehead just like Luna's. Luna had just finished her account of the new information they'd found out and the conclusions they'd come to.
"What the enemy did to Mars worries me, Artemis," Luna said to the other cat she was talking to. "It's too reminiscent of what happened to the people of the Earth before the end of the Silver Millennium. What if the evil that destroyed the Silver Millennium has been revived? Even with the Phantom Silver Crystal, Queen Serenity wasn't able to do anything but seal it inside the Earth."
"Don't go borrowing trouble, Luna," Artemis replied in a softer tone than his words would suggest. "We don't know for certain that that is what has happened. As well, the Queen was despairing when that happened, the Princess will have a better chance against it."
Luna sighed. "I know. But whoever the enemy is, they've already turned one of the Sailor Senshi to their side. We don't know where Jupiter is or who she is, they could already have her working for them. We're not having any luck finding the Princess or the Phantom Silver Crystal, and we can't afford to have the enemy find them first. So pardon me for being a little pessimistic at the moment."
"We may just stumble across Jupiter like you did with Mercury and Mars. And the magic preventing us from locating the Princess easily will stymie the enemy just as much. We should prepare for what might go wrong, but we shouldn't give up hope yet. Not until the fat lady sings."
Luna shook her head and said, "You use the strangest Earth expressions, Artemis." But she had a slight smile on her face.
"I try my best, milady." Sobering, Artemis continued, "If things do continue to get worse, I can have the Sailor Senshi I've been training join yours to help them. I know you wanted to have them gain more experience first, but her help may be necessary if they end up facing two corrupted Sailor Senshi along with whatever other forces the enemy has."
Luna nodded. "Thank you for the offer, even though I hope taking you up on it won't be necessary."
"I hope so, too."
Author's Notes
Manga dialogue is taken from Alex Glover's newer translations from the Japanese manga, but I've tweaked it slightly in a place or two. If some of the attack names used seem slightly odd, it's probably because of 1) the manga using different names for some attacks than the anime did, and 2) Alex Glover using the rereleased versions of the Japanese manga, which altered the name of Sailor Moon's tiara attack from 'Moon Frisbee' to 'Moon Tiara Boomerang' and gave names to attacks that had previously been nameless in the manga, like Mercury's mist-creating attack. Apparently the changes were made to correspond with the attack names used in the live-action version.
The mysterious third commander in this chapter isn't Zoisite or Kunzite, nor is he any kind of clone or duplicate of them. (Which isn't to say that he has absolutely no relation to either of those characters.) He's an original character, with a background in his Silver Millennium era past life that makes his current role as a commander of the Dark Kingdom quite appropriate.
Nephrite's apprentice, on the other hand, is a well-known character from the series, and who she is probably isn't that difficult to guess. She'll be showing up next chapter, in any case.
As for why Zoisite and Kunzite aren't part of the Dark Kingdom, you'll just have to keep reading to find out. ;^)