Hosted by www.Geocities.ws Ooookayyy.... Here comes all of that legal crap again....: As usual, all rights go to Naoko Takeuchi, the woman whose characters animate this story, and whose story line gave it form. Alrighty then. There's nothing really big in here that anybody who's seen this show needs explained in this chapter, I don't think. Sooooo, on with it! CHAPTER 1: THE VOID AND THE SAILOR SCOUT *********************** Neo-Queen Serenity stepped out of the doorway into that black void that served as the portal to the gap between dimensions. Immediately she felt the distortion as her body adjusted and moments later she was there. The place was not very well-known, to say the least. It was completely uncharted, and very little of it had ever been traversed by a living being other than the one Neo-Queen Serenity had come to see. The land itself was nothing more than flat, unchanging earth that she knew of. Constantly shrouded in a veil of fog that never lifted, nor lightened, as monotonous as time itself. Yet, though it was bleak and thick, the fog constantly changed, shaping and re-shaping it's pattern of holes and clouds to form pictures that you barely grasped before they slipped away to join some other image. The very air was heavy, and it caused her hair to droop, and her dress to weigh heavy on her body. Getting straight to business lest she be engilfed by the greyish-white blanket, the queen held the Imperium Silver Crystal close to her chest and began to walk, the sky above her black as the darkest heart of her worst enemies. On and on she walked, tireless and purposeful. After awhile, she stopped to realize that walking would get her nowhere, she would simply have to call the scout to her. Closing her eyes, she pictured the poor sailor whose job it was to guard the gates for all eternity. Unbelievably tall, topping even Lita, who was Sailor Jupitor, and the tallest by far of the tall sailor scouts. She had dark green hair that was almost black, save for the dark green highlights when light shone on it, that hung to the back of her calfs. She had huge, generous eyes that never had a real color of their own, but seemed to shift from hue to hue. She wore a dark green sailor's oufit, and always held the key of time. The key of time was a great, guilded, embossed silver key that held a jewel of pinkish-red. She pictured every detail, from her usual sad and wise statement to the way she held her dark green high heeled feet a attention, perfectly paralell. She then opened her eyes as she heard vague footsteps that echoed off the foggy blanket and saw a slightly darker spot in the fog that grew larger as Sailor Pluto approached. As was custom, as soon as she reached an unseen mark about a yard from the queen, she fisted her right hand, and crossed her arm over her chest, the fist touching her left shoulder. Holding onto the key with her left hand, she swept a low and reverent bow to her soveriegn. "My lady, I heard your summons, and wished to know what troubled you." Serenity saw as the other woman stood up that there was an uncharacteristic look of delight and mischief in her eyes, which was quite unusual, considering the fact that she was doomed to forever wander this bleak land alone, guarding the gates of time and space with her every ounce of strength and endurance. In all probability, it had been Trista herself who had sent the dreams, not daring to leave her post, but happy that she could make someone else happy. Wasting no time on games, Serenity said in a firm but kind tone, "You were the one who sent the dreams, were you not, Trista?" The sailor scout nodded with a faint smile and said politely, "Yes, my lady." "Then you are aware of the fact that sailor saturn lives, and of my obligations to my sister?" The scout just repeated her actions, not aware that her smile had grown wider. "Well then, as I am obligated to do, I must take the scouts to this place and recue her! I will take Sailor Venus, Sailor Mars, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Mercury, and of course, you." That was why the immortal had smiled. She knew that, to cross into the dimension that held Hohtaruu captive, she would be needed. But still, she refused to neglect her duty as the guardian of time. "But who will guard the gate, and the Crystal Palace, now that Prince Darien is gone, and so is the small lady?" Thankful for her faithful and considerate subject, the queen said, "I have thought that over already, though I did not know this myself, until now. Sailor Neptune will guard the palace, whilst Sailor Uranus will guard the gates of time." Fully relieved and ready to leave at the first given instant, she warned her queen. "You will be forced to return to your former self, and become sailor moon again, you do know that?" But Neo-Queen Serenity simply smiled her infectuous smile and said, "Let us wait no longer. The preparation starts at once!" And a few dizzy moments later, she found herself back in her room, still holding the Imperium Silver Crystal. Her voice resounding through out the halls, she called, "Sailor Scouts! Come to my room at once! We have much to speak of..." ************************************** I really hope you enjoyed that. Comments, Questios, Flames...? E-mail me at [email protected]. Stay tuned for more...! ^.^