-----------------------------
Mars Fire Ignite
Epilogue
by Soumitra Choudhury
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Sailor Moon sat down, gently settling Rei upon the rocky ground as comfortably 
as possible. She stroked back the sorceress' hair from her face, gazing upon 
Rei's peaceful, if dirty, sleeping face. 
"That was extremely foolish of you, Sailor Moon," a voice spoke, startling the 
blonde girl out of her mild reverie. 
Standing before her was the unknown Scout who had battled Rei at the temple. For 
someone who had been devoured in a geyser of spellfire, the woman looked 
remarkably hale. Not a bit of her seemed injured, or even mildly scorched. She 
stood in front of them with her staff as if she belonged there all along. 
"Um..." Moon replied, not knowing exactly what to do. "Hi?" 
The woman of forest green hair frowned slightly. "Rei may have destroyed you, 
Sailor Moon. Where will the future be if you are gone?" 
Moon shook her head, trying to clear it and make sense of the woman's 
statements. "Excuse me. Can we start over again? I don't even know who you are." 

The woman ignored her. "With the Crystal, Rei could have conquered most of the 
Universe. What would have happened then?" 
"But she didn't conquer the Universe!" yelled back the Scout leader, a bubble of 
frustration bursting. "She didn't get the Crystal! Why are you rant and raving 
about things that haven't happened?! And who ARE you?!" The voice of the unknown 
Scout clicked in her mind as the one that had advocated blasting Rei back at the 
temple, and that knowledge angered her. 'Who is she to command me? ME?' 
Sailor Pluto considered the fiesty young teenager before her for a long, hard 
moment, a span that caused Moon to fidget under the stare of those cold magenta 
eyes. Finally, the older Scout smiled, a rare shining event that calmed Moon's 
worries. "You are correct. Rei did not get the Crystal." Another pause. "You did 
well, my Queen. Remain vigilant, for there are more dangers in this existence 
than the enemies that seem clear-cut and visibly evil." She pointedly looked at 
Rei's slumbering body. "She has claimed victory for today, but what about 
tomorrow? Or, if not tomorrow, the next day? Can you trust her for the rest of 
your days, knowing that she once coveted, and perhaps still covets, your power, 
your crown?" 
Sailor Moon's features hardened, and she stood up, raising a determined fist 
before her. "Rei is a Sailor Scout. She would never willingly hurt those she 
cares for the most, and I know she cares for me and the rest of the Scouts. We 
are a team, and she is part of it. We all love each other, and we take each 
others weaknesses with their strengths. It has always been this way, and it will 
always remain like this." She paused once more, and then added, "I will always 
trust Rei with my life because I know who she really is, now more than ever. She 
is my friend, and nothing will change that." 
The woman nodded, expecting such an answer. "Very well, Serenity. I will believe 
in your trust then." Concluding that, as if it were the perfectly natural thing 
to do, she turned around and started walking away. 
Moon stepped forward hesitantly. "Wait! You haven't told me your name! Are you a 
Sailor Scout?" 
The form of the woman became ethereal, transparent as she strode forward. "We 
will meet again," spoke her ghostly voice wafting through the air, fading away 
like the woman. Soon, the Scout was no more. 
A long time Sailor Moon watched the place she had disappeared, wondering if she 
had dreamed the whole thing. 'Maybe I'm more tired than I thought.' 
Gathering herself before she, too, fell asleep, the princess called forth the 
Crystal once again. 'Well, no need to sit around here forever. We're not getting 
any younger.' 
A flash of silver light, and the two humans vanished from the face of the Moon. 
*****
Shortly after the disappearance of Sailor Moon, the Scouts, Tuxedo Mask, and the 
cats REALLY got their panties in a wad. 
"Where's Sailor Moon?!" cried Luna, frantically scanning the temple grounds for 
the blonde. 
The arguing crashed to a complete halt as Mercury, Jupiter, Mask and Artemis 
glanced up from glaring and yelling at each other, only now realizing the 
missing princess. Venus remained unconscious upon the ground. 
"How long has she been gone?!" 
"Sailor Moon!" 
"Where the hell did she go?!" 
Sensible Mercury pulled out her communicator and punched up the correct display. 
"Sailor Moon! Where are you?!" 
A static-filled screen was her answer. 
Suddenly, the heavens flashed brilliantly, followed by a streaking glow of red, 
then a burst of green, a tumble of yellow, and a crash of blue. Turning their 
heads up, they began to witness the diffused fireworks that claimed the overcast 
sky, showers of color that illuminated the atmosphere from the lone natural 
satellite in the Earth's sky. 
"The Moon," whispered Artemis, whiskers twitching. 
Tuxedo Mask gawked for a moment, then sprung at Luna. "How do I get there, 
Luna?" 
"Where?" 
"The Moon, for God's sake! How do I get to the Moon?!" 
Luna fidgeted. "I don't know. I can't send you there." 
Mask twisted and grabbed Jupiter. "Use the Sailor Teleport! Get me there now!" 
Jupiter, miffed at being handled so, shoved his hands away. "Tuxedo Mask, I 
think you need to calm down," she hissed through clenched teeth. 
"Calm down?! Serena is on the Moon! Rei is going to slaughter her! Don't you 
care?!" 
Mercury, fed up with the apparent lunacy that had taken over Mask's usual cool 
demeanor, stood up from her work, strode over to the taller man, and slapped him 
squarely across the face, astounding him to silence. "I am up to HERE-" she 
raised her hand above her head, "-with your lack of faith and your fits of 
irrationality that seem to come over you more often of late. Out of all of us, 
Sailor Moon is the most powerful, and she has the Silver Imperium Crystal to 
protect her. None of us are in ANY condition to perform a Sailor Teleport, much 
less handle an environment wholly foreign to us as the Moon is. So, let me 
repeat what Jupiter said: CALM DOWN!" She glared menacingly at the flabbergasted 
Tuxedo Mask. 
Jupiter, considerably unnerved by the emergence of an angry Sailor Mercury, 
sidled over to the two cats, and whispered down, "You think maybe Mercury got 
hit a little too hard?" 
Luna snickered, and Artemis shrugged. "At least it's at Mask and not us." 
The dashing hero stared daggers back at the Scout of Ice, and it looked as if a 
fight would ensue between the two, but then he backed down with a heartfelt 
sigh. "You're right, Mercury. I'm acting like an idiot. It's just that I'm 
afraid for Serena." 
Mercury waved the comment away. "You don't need to apologize. I understand where 
you're coming from. I'm just as worried as you are, but you saw how Rei handled 
us. Sailor Moon is our only hope now. Even then, I think we'll need more than 
our fair share of luck too." She settled down next to Venus again and proceeded 
to type again. 
Luna padded over. "You know, Darien, Rei WAS making an effort to free herself. 
Maybe that will be enough." 
"I hope you're right Luna." 
With the situation reduced to a state of helpless waiting, Jupiter tried 
repeatedly to contact Sailor Moon or Rei while Mercury carefully nursed Venus. 
Mask quietly stood off to the side, watching the bursts of illumination in the 
sky surrounding the Moon, praying everything was going all right. 
The cats, having plenty of experience with waiting while Scout events took 
place, groomed themselves meticulously, a sight that drew a chuckle from 
Jupiter. 
And then, the pyrotechnics display stopped. 
Venus opened her eyes to the worried glances everyone was giving the sky. 
Groaning at the pounding headache that chipped at her brain, she attempted to 
move her trembling limbs. "Hey, guys. What's up?" 
Mercury laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, pressing her back to the ground. 
"Rest, Venus. You took quite a blast." She smiled encouragingly. 
"Why's everyone watching the sky?" 
The blue-haired scout ignored her, continuing to scan for trauma, and Venus was 
too confused to press the issue. Her head ached. "Fine, I guess I don't want to 
know just yet." 
Mercury smiled sadly. 
Ten minutes passed by, and the group of superheroes held a collective breath, 
their patience wearing thinner with each passing moment. Mask took to pacing, 
Jupiter to scratching the concerned cats. 
None of them wanted to voice their overwhelming thought: 'Did they survive?' 
It was a moot point, though, for only minutes thereafter, a tiny mote of 
starlight materialized in their midst, flashed into a sunburst, and vanished, 
leaving a desperately injured but slumbering Rei, and a haggard Sailor Moon, who 
promptly fell to her knees, drained. 
"Sailor Moon!" they all cried, rushing to her drawn form. 
Tuxedo Mask carefully cradled her to his chest, crying, all his worries washing 
away in those tears of joy. The cats smiled grins that only cats could smile 
safely. "See, I told you they'd be okay," Artemis spoke, puffing his chest out 
in masculine pride. Luna let it slide. 
Jupiter helped Venus over to the reunion as Mercury knelt beside Rei. "By the 
Moon! What happened to her?" She scanned over her friend repeatedly, bringing up 
Rei's condition. "Open fracture in her elbow, cauterized hole in her abdomen, 
severe exhaustion. It's no wonder she's fast asleep." 
Sailor Moon uncovered her head from Mask' chest. "Does she need to go to the 
hospital?" 
Mercury scanned a moment more. "Well, it wouldn't hurt, but I think she's 
handling most of her injuries herself. I'm getting small magic signatures that 
correspond to her powers. I'm not an expert on these things, but I think she 
might be healing herself, albeit slowly. I would think a fresh and comfortable 
place to sleep and plenty of rest will fix her up just as good as a trip to the 
hospital." 
"What about her arm?" asked Venus faintly. The sight of the exposed bone made 
her nauseous. 
"Well, that's the only problem. I can't set it without proper equipment. I can 
only think of taking her to the hospital for that." 
Moon nodded. "Then that's what we'll do. One more trip to the hospital isn't 
going to kill her, as much as she would like to think otherwise. Let's take her 
there." 
Jupiter, still supporting Venus, cleared her throat. "Why don't we split up 
here. Venus isn't going to make it back on her own, so I'll get her home while 
you guys take Rei. How about we meet you in the morning?" 
Venus shot Jupiter a withering glare. "I'll be just fine. Let go of me!" 
Mercury beamed at the Scout of Thunder. "Actually, I think that's a fantastic 
idea. Take her home. She'll just stumble around like a fish and end up in the 
hospital if she goes." 
The blonde's eyes widened. "Oh, well, in that case, take me home, Lita. I hate 
hospitals." 
Mask whispered to Moon, "You should go home too. You're exhausted." 
The leader shook her head. "No. I plan on being there for Rei. I'll sleep at the 
hospital." Quietly, she added, "Rei gave a lot of herself in that battle. I'm 
very proud of her." 
Mask hugged her. "And what about your parents?" 
She shrugged. "Rei's health is more important than me trying not to get in 
trouble with them. Besides, I'm sure they'll understand. I'll call them in the 
morning. Now, stop pampering me and help us get to the hospital." 
The Sailor Scouts and a Tuxedo Mask detransformed and headed to their respective 
destinations. 
*****
When Rei opened her eyes, she feared perhaps that she had died in the end, and 
that perhaps someone above had disapproved of her, sent her to Hell, and thrown 
her in a hospital. 'Not again,' she groaned to herself. The sterility of the 
room hurt her eyes, and she closed them again. For some reason, all that white 
reminded her of her titanic battle, something she didn't feel up to thinking 
about right now. 
"Wake up, Sleepy-Head." 
Rei groaned aloud this time. "Oh great. Not only do I end up in Hell Memorial 
Hospital, they send Ami to be my nurse." She peeked through her eyelid to watch 
the reaction. 
"Ha ha, very funny Rei," the doctor-in-training remarked, though a quiet smile 
slipped past her defenses. "How are you feeling?" 
Rei stretched cat-like in her bed, realizing for the first time that her arm was 
caught in a sling once again. Nothing else seemed to hurt, other than a dull 
tender spot on her lower abdomen. "Other than this infernal sling, I think I'll 
be okay. How long have I been asleep?" 
"Close to three days." 
Rei blinked. "Three days?" She covered her face with her good hand in mock 
despair. "I'm going to have so much homework to do." 
Ami pulled out a backpack filled with textbooks and schoolish whatnots. "Not to 
worry. We've been keeping up with that." 
"Gee, thanks," the patient muttered, blanching slightly. Ami giggled. 
Suddenly, Rei felt very uncomfortable. An image of Sailor Mercury being squished 
to death in the ground came slamming back to her with remarkable clarity. "Um, 
Ami?" 
"Hmm?" 
The patient twirled a lock of hair nervously. "I'm, um, really sorry, you know, 
for what happened that night." She didn't feel able to meet her friend's gaze. 
"Rei, look at me." 
Slowly, Rei raised her face. 
Ami gave her the most soothing, innocent grin that instantly set Rei's mind to 
rest. "It's alright, Rei. Serena explained most of what happened to us already. 
It wasn't your fault." 
Rei's face fell. "But it was my fault! I should have fought harder to get out! I 
was being weak! I was ashamed!" Tears shimmered in her eyes. "I was afraid you 
guys wouldn't want me around after what I did." 
The blue-haired girl took Rei's good hand in her own and squeezed it 
comfortingly. "Listen to me, Rei. Lots of thing happened that got out of 
control. We try to handle them, but sometimes we're just not quite strong enough 
at that moment. How many times has Serena balked at her duties? More than I can 
remember, but she still goes on in the end. She knows, deep down in her heart, 
that all is meant to be. The same goes for the rest of us. Every now and then, I 
feel like I just can't go on, that it's all too much for me, but I know that 
it's the right thing to do." 
"None of us blame you for what happened. These things occur for a reason. The 
important thing is that none of us are hurt, and that you're alright. We learn 
from our mistakes this way, and it makes us stronger." Ami slid her an impish 
look. "Still, with the amount of treasure you stole from the Grell, it wouldn't 
hurt for you to take us somewhere really nice for a vacation sometime." 
"Ami!" Rei exclaimed, laughing in relief. "I probably have to return most of it 
to the proper authorities." 
"True, but I've been looking over the lot, and it seems to me you're going to be 
filthy rich after that. There's enough money to finance the whole Moon Kingdom I 
would imagine. Not to mention the rewards and such for returning some of those 
things. The Silver Katana of the Nakimura Clan, for example?" 
The patient's eyes widened. "I have that?" 
Ami nodded. "There's been a reward out for that relic for the past ten years. $1 
million, I believe." 
"Stop Ami. This is too much. I can't think straight." Rei shook her head. 
'Wealth? What am I going to do with it? Split it with the others at the very 
least, I guess.' 
Ami patted her hand. "You should sleep some more. I think Mom's going to come by 
in a little while to check up on you. Frankly, I think you should go home and 
rest, so I'll try to convince her of that. It shouldn't be a problem. Your 
powers have helped you remarkably." 
Rei nodded absently, nestling down into the bed to get comfortable. As Ami rose 
to leave, Rei called out, "Ami?" 
"Yes?" 
"Thanks for understanding." 
"My pleasure. Just remember that vacation. I think we all deserve one." She 
quietly slipped out the door. 
*****
To baffle all the doctors of the hospital (even Ami's mother), Rei was 
pronounced fit to leave only one day later. 
She returned to her temple, surrounded by her friends (excluding Darien, who had 
stayed conspicuously absent for quite some time), assaulted by a longing to have 
life return to the normalcy of a Sailor Scout. The girls helped her settle back 
in, then left soon after, allowing Rei the moments of privacy she so desperately 
needed. 
With Grandpa out of the country for another couple of weeks, Rei had the whole 
temple to herself. She vowed to keep it closed for a while longer, at least 
until she could fix up the charred roofing from her conflagratory attack upon 
Sailor Pluto. She also had to figure out what to do with her newly acquired 
wealth. That was going to be the hard part. There was no way she could hide all 
that from Grandpa! 
She shrugged. With phenomenal magical powers, anything could be done. 
Rei plodded into her bedroom, frowning in thought. Something bothered her deeply 
about the past week or so, something that remained at the very edge of her 
psyche, just past her understanding. 
Something important. 
Plopping down upon her bed, she fell back, pulling her good hand behind her 
head. Already, the magical eddies swirled within her once more, having been 
replenished in full during her stay at the hospital. If she wanted to, she could 
speed up the mending of her arm. 
Yet, there was a sense of the mundane in having it mend itself, a soothing 
feeling of natural life that had eluded her for sometime. 
As she lay there, other concerns flurried over her, and two of these won out 
over the rest. 
One: Cole Gishumi. 
Two: Black Rei. 
For all her solidity after the dire events of the past week, she had no idea 
what to do about the former, so she pressed that aside. 
The latter problem, though, required her undivided attention, and she forced 
herself to consider the implications of her plan. 
'It's too soon.' 
'The longer I wait, the stronger she gets.' 
'You'll have to choose between two evils.' 
'I can handle the lesser of the two.' 
'What about Darien?' 
'He will have to suffer some, but it is for the best.' 
Silence. 
Rei closed her eyes, focusing on her mind. Carefully, she sent a bit of it out, 
watching with her inner eye as a trail of her psyche floated out, unseen by the 
naked eye. 
It twisted through the temple, out into the neighborhood, and sought through the 
city for one individual. Once she found him, absently gazing off his balcony, 
she telepathed to him that his presence was needed. 
Ten minutes later, Darien hesitantly entered Rei's room, wondering if he would 
ever get used to her new powers. 
She was dressed in a plain grey sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, a far cry from 
her recent fascination with kimonos. Darien liked her better this way. 
"Um, you called," he asked, running his hand through his hair. He was obviously 
nervous. 
She looked at him for a long while, silently taking in his stance. "Are you ever 
going to be able to trust me?" she questioned bluntly, her face impassive. 
Darien fidgeted, unable to answer. She took this calmly, and shrugged. "I'm 
sorry then. I know I can't change the way you see me, but I can tell you this: I 
never meant to hurt you or anyone. It wasn't entirely my fault." 
"I never said-" 
She raised her hand, halting him. "I know you didn't, but your eyes say it. 
You're afraid of me, and with good reason." Suddenly, a sob broke through her 
facade, and she placed her hand over her mouth. 
Thoroughly uncomfortable, Darien took a step forward. "Rei-" 
"No, don't say anything. I'll be alright." She took in a deep breath and calmed 
herself down again, though with great difficulty. "I didn't ask for my powers, 
even as I didn't ask to be a Sailor Scout, but here I am, stuck as both. Now, 
while I cannot change what I am, I can use it to our benefit, which I fully 
intend to do." 
She turned away from him then. "I called you here because I need to do something 
important, something that will probably anger you greatly. I've called you here 
to ask your permission." 
Darien, stunned and baffled, remarked, "Rei, you hardly need my permission to do 
anything." 
She whirled back at him with a pleading expression. "But I need you to 
understand! I'm hoping this will help you to begin trusting me again!" 
The prince considered her, trying to fight past his newly found fear. All that 
she had said was true. He didn't trust her at all. After what had happened, he 
didn't know if he ever could. 
The way she looked at him, though, gave him second thoughts. Serena still 
believed in her. The Scouts still believed in her. Why couldn't he? She looked 
so helpless, so small. Perhaps... "What do you need?" 
In a small voice, she said, "I need to release the Grell so that I can put my 
alter-ego in the Spirit Wrack." 
A deafening silence fell over the surroundings as the statement registered at 
molasses speed. "You want to release... the Grell?" he asked dumbly. 
Rei nodded. 
"The Grell...?" he repeated, shaking his head as if to clear it. The idea was 
incomprehensible. Free the Grell? Free the one creature that had been causing so 
much trouble over the past few weeks? Free the single most wanted assassin since 
the time of the Silver Millennium? The murderer of his mother?! 
It didn't even occur to him that the most dangerous being in existence at the 
moment was NOT, in fact, the Grell, but the dark half of Rei. 
"How can you even think of doing that?!" he screamed, forgetting himself. "The 
Grell screwed you up! He screwed all of us up! Don't you remember the hit on 
Cole?!" 
Rei took the heat as well as she could, her lower lip trembling. She felt small 
and pathetic in the face of his fury, a vastly different attitude from her 
normally hardened and solid stance as the Scouts' pillar of stone with nothing 
ever outwardly bothering her. This, however, hurt much more than she could 
handle, and a tear fell from each eye. 
"Please Darien, try to understand," she begged. "I can't do this without your 
consent, but I think my darker side is much more of a threat than the Grell. In 
fact, the Grell should be reduced to a weakling after his duration in the Spirit 
Wrack! We can easily take care of him, even turn him over to the police or 
whatever!" 
"But I can't deal with my double being anywhere that she can escape! She'll come 
looking for me, and then what happens? We'll battle again, and who's to say I 
win this time? In the process, we may hurt a number of innocent lives, perhaps 
even one of the Scouts, or Serena! I don't want to take that chance! We're too 
evenly matched at full strength, and I'm afraid the Earth may suffer for my 
blunder!" 
Darien listened, albeit thinly, to her impassioned argument. Deep down, he knew 
she was right, but it hurt so much not to be selfish, to finally be done with 
the once prominent nemesis who had managed to escape his grasp for over one 
thousand years. 
His heart softened, though, for the similar pain he witnessed upon Rei's 
shoulders. Here was a young girl with more responsibility than everyone on the 
planet, with the exception of Serena. With no normal life left to lead, 
constantly looking behind her to make sure her own nemesis would not strike at 
some future time. Did he really wish the same thing he had gone through to 
someone else, especially Rei? After all that she had encountered? It seemed a 
wonder that she functioned at all. 
"I still don't understand why you didn't go off and do this anyway," he mumbled, 
realizing he was losing his petty resolve. 
Sighing once again, knowing that the worst of her plea was nearly over, she 
said, "Because, the Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask could never really be a team 
if you and I are going to be less than civil to each other, and I think that 
would hurt Serena more than anyone, something I'm not willing to do if I can 
help it." She delicately wiped away her tears from her face. 
Darien pondered this a moment, clenching his fist several times. "Do you need me 
to come with you?" he asked, his mind made up. 
Smiling in relief, she nodded. 
*****
In the end, Rei insisted that Serena (or rather, Sailor Moon) come along as 
well, for Rei remembered what had happened the last time she opened the Spirit 
Wrack. The Crystal would probably be needed to bring them back from the Moon. 
Darien was less than pleased with that turn of events, but resigned to the plan, 
realizing that Serena would know when he transformed anyway. 
What they had not counted on were the other Scouts insisting on going as well. 
Rei had leveled a glare at Serena when the blonde had mentioned the little plan 
at their Scout meeting, and the three other instantly jumped at the opportunity, 
even reserved Ami. "I can scan him when he comes through so we can make sure 
he's manageable," she had replied when asked about her interest. Lita and Mina, 
who was once again her vivacious and restless self, tore into Rei for even 
considering leaving them behind. 
Rei was touched at their concern. 
Preparations took the better half of a week, with school and Serena's detentions 
(she had reverted back to the klutzy ditz they all knew and loved). Rei spent 
the time making sure the plan was pristine clear to everyone, as the danger 
would be great. 
"Once again, this is the way things go," she reported for perhaps the tenth time 
this meeting, the few hours before darkfall. "We'll Sailor Teleport to the Moon 
just after full night. Serena, you'll use the Crystal to create a bubble of air 
so that we can breathe and move properly." 
"Are you sure you shouldn't be doing that?" Darien questioned. 
Rei shook her head. "I want her to do it because I need to save all my strength 
for the Spirit Wrack. Remember, the last time I tried this, I was out for a long 
time. I barely had the strength left to make it back to the temple alive." 
Darien remained doubtful, but Serena shushed him. "Rei knows what she's doing." 
Rei hesitated momentarily at Serena's vote of confidence, then continued. 
"Anyway, when we get there, I'll need Lita and Mina to blast open the cave that 
I sealed shut." 
Lita grinned, cracking her knuckles. "Doesn't sound like a problem to me." 
"What about Black Rei inside? Won't she be hurt?" inquired Mina, not as 
enthusiastic about wanton destruction as her brunette friend. 
Rei waved the question aside. "If a full blast from the Silver Imperium Crystal 
didn't kill her in one hit, I know a few chunks of lunar debris are not going to 
make much of a difference." 
"Alright, after that, I'm going to begin opening the Spirit Wrack. As soon as 
the Grell pops out, I want you guys to take him and return to the temple. He 
shouldn't be any trouble at all. He won't have any powers left in him, and if 
Ami is correct, then all we have to do is remove the mask to rid ourselves of 
the Grell forever. Right Ami?" 
Ami shrugged. "At least according to my previous analysis. I'm pretty sure the 
mask is the source of the Grell's power. If it has been drained, even 
temporarily, in the Spirit Wrack, then removing it shouldn't be a problem." 
Here, Luna made her argument. "Rei, I know you need to save all of your energies 
to manipulate the Spirit Wrack, but is it wise to send ALL the Scouts back? What 
if something goes wrong?" 
"Luna, nothing will go wrong. Besides, you remember what happens when the Spirit 
Wrack is changed. The excess energy from the weave spills out and creates a 
massive explosion. I won't have anyone around when the detonation goes off." 
Luna opened her mouth to speak, but Rei raised her hand silencing her. "This 
time I will only be a bit tired when I get back to the temple, after I set up my 
contingency teleport. I'll be fine, and that's the end of it." 
Sighing, the black cat laid her head upon her paws, worry wrinkling her nose. 
Rei scratched behind Luna's ears fondly. 
"Any questions?" 
No one said a word. 
*****
Six humans appeared upon the surface of the Moon once again, more humans in two 
weeks than had been there in the past 40 years. Five Sailor Scouts and a Tuxedo 
Mask. 
With the directional image in Sailor Moon's mind, they had appeared outside the 
small cave, within the mammoth crater. Instantly, the Crystal glowed to life, 
enveloping them in a globe of Earth's atmospheric conditions. 
The three Scouts who had not been to the Moon before took a few moments to look 
around, feeling a strange sense of sadness at the barren condition of a once 
magnificent kingdom. 
Jupiter and Venus stepped forward, glancing at the sealed cave that Mars pointed 
to. 
"Jupiter Thunder Crash!" 
"Venus Crescent Beam Smash!" 
Twin blasts of electricity and light joined together, shooting into the center 
of the wall of stone. The wall brightened a bit, then exploded in a hale of rock 
splinters and dust. 
When the dust cleared, they all saw Black Rei's broken body lying within. 
Her condition hadn't changed in the week and a half that she had last seen 
light. Her limbs still remained shattered, her skin still scorched and charred 
in places. The only change was that the fractures in her head had closed up, 
leaving ugly scars. Her face was encrusted with dried cranial fluid and blood, 
gaunt and nearly skeletal. 
The eyes remained pitch black, probing, squinting in hatred. 
"Dear God," Rei heard someone whisper behind her. She thought it was Venus, but 
it may have well been her own voice. It truly saddened her that she faced her 
broken twin once again, especially in such a state. 
"I offer you another chance," she spoke, choking slightly on her emotion. "Join 
with me once again, and let it be as it always has been." 
Black Rei gave no indication she heard until they felt a voice tickle all of 
their minds: 'Never! Leave me to my misery!' 
Mercury stepped forward. "Are you sure she'll recover from this? She doesn't 
look well enough to support herself. How is she still alive?" she whispered to 
Mars. 
"She hasn't lost her tie to the weave. She's not strong enough to replenish all 
of her powers, so she has access to only a trickle. It's enough to keep her 
alive and support her in this environment. With whatever drops of magic she has 
left, she's attempting to mend herself, but it will be an excruciatingly long 
process. Still, in ten, maybe twenty years, she'll be a force to reckon with 
once again." 
Mercury nodded. "Then this should be done." 
Black Rei's eyes flickered in movement. 'What should be done? What are they 
doing here?' she demanded. 
Ignoring her, Mars turned her back to the invalid, raising her arms out for 
balance. Her eyes, having returned to normal after the battle with her twin, 
became stark white, faintly glowing. 
The Sailor Scouts and Tuxedo Mask readied themselves into defensive stances as 
the tiny motes of snowy light blinked into existence inside the bowl of the 
crater. Slowly at first, but with increasing speed, they converged in the 
center, gathering into a circle of swirling stars. As more motes converged, the 
larger the portal became, until the circle was twenty feet in diameter. 
The motes stopped materializing, leaving only the portal, spinning gently about 
the circumference. As it spun, it fell forward, rising at it fell, until it was 
flat, parallel to the ground. 
Unceremoniously, the Grell's body fell out of the bottom of the disc, 
motionless. 
"Quickly now, take the Grell and go!" yelled Sailor Mars above the din of 
swirling dust and breezy winds, aftermaths of actually opening the Spirit Wrack, 
definitely not as deadly as trying to change the prison's facets. 
'What are you doing?!' screamed Black Rei, a note of frantic panic in her 
telepathy.'You can't put me in the Spirit Wrack!' 
Rei ignored her as she maintained her concentration on the portal. The others 
ran forward, Mars trailing behind a bit as she followed, and gathered up the 
body. Sailor Moon turned once to Mars and gave her a hug. "See you at the temple 
Mars," she quipped, though concern marred her attempt at a smile. 
Mars returned the embrace. "You too." 
The Scouts, Tuxedo Mask with the Grell in tow, vanished from the Moon. 
Instantly, the bubble of atmosphere popped, forcing Mars to erect her own. 
'Please, Rei! You can't put me in there! I'll die in my present condition!' 
"No," replied the Scout of Fire. "As you once said to the Grell, I won't let you 
die. The Facets will be set so that just enough of the weave will get through to 
allow you to maintain your body, but that is all. You will be forever broken and 
imprisoned within the Spirit Wrack... unless-" 
'Unless what?!' 
"Unless you agree to bind yourself once again to my mind and return us to our 
prior existence." 
A hiss slithered through Mars' mind. 'I will never return to you!' 
Mars nodded. "As I thought. You are just as stubborn as I am," she mumbled 
grimly. She summoned the titanic forces, drowning out Black Rei's cries, and the 
world, again, erupted in a symphony of light. 
*****
On a night that was supposed to be clear with a sliver of the Moon showing, most 
people were surprised when the night sky lit up as a brilliant shine erupted 
from the lunar surface. 
'It reminds me of the Silver Imperium Crystal when it's on the Crescent Wand,' 
Sailor Moon thought, witnessing the Spirit Wrack's manifest from the temple 
grounds. She kneeled to the ground, whispering a prayer to the Moon for the safe 
return of her sorceress friend. 
No sooner had she finished then the streams of jade light gathered from the 
various corners of the courtyard, streaking for a point in the center where a 
sphere materialized. When the geometrical shape popped open, Mars landed nimbly, 
then staggered a bit as the backlash of fatigue swooped through her. Instantly, 
Venus was at her side. "Whoa there, girl. You okay?" 
Mars sucked in a deep breath to clear the dizziness that had overcome her. 
"Yeah, just give me a moment. I'll be alright." She gratefully wrapped an arm 
around Venus' shoulder. 
The rest of the Scouts were gathered around the body they had carried through, 
Mercury spending a lot of time clicking away at her computer. As Mars and Venus 
neared the cloakened figure, the dark-haired Scout noticed that the assassin 
didn't move. "Is he dead?" she whispered to no one in particular. 
The Scout of Ice heard, though. "No, he's unconscious. It's difficult to tell, 
but I think he's in shock." 
Mars nodded. Edging a bit closer she got a good look at the Grell's mask... or 
what was left of it. 
The once ceramically clean and porcelain beauty of the mask had given way to 
jagged cracks and splinters chipped away by the devastating forces of the 
prison. It seemed that the more cracks and fractures there existed in the mask, 
the more worn and weathered it looked. 
The purple gems within the eye sockets did not glitter as they once were prone 
to do. 
Mars stole a glance at Tuxedo Mask, and found him struggling to maintain his 
composure. She could tell he really wanted to reach down and kick the crap out 
of the assassin. 
Respecting the need for haste, she cleared her throat. "Will it be okay to 
remove that mask of his, Mercury?" 
"Um, I suppose so. It's barely registering on my readings." 
Taking that as a good sign, Mars bent over and carefully touched the cracked 
faceplate. Sailor Moon was about to protest, but Mars shot her a glare that 
plainly said 'Stay out of this!' The blonde shut her mouth. 
A minute tingle of energy sprinkled up her arm, but she ignored it. It wasn't 
nearly enough to harm her in any way. Satisfied that danger didn't threaten her, 
she reached with both hands and carefully pried off the mask. To her surprise, 
it came away easily. 
A hissing rush of air, like the opening of a long-sealed coffin, greeted them as 
the once powerfully-magical artifact withdrew from the Grell's face, revealing- 
-the skeletal remains of a human being, a ssoft mist flowing about the skull. 
Gasping, Venus and Sailor Moon stepped back in fright, the latter burying her 
face in Tuxedo Mask's chest. Jupiter and Mercury looked horrified, but only Mars 
nodded sadly. 
"I thought so. Even as I was used by that silken mask, so too was some 
individual of long ago used by this mask." 
"I don't understand," mumbled Mercury, getting over her initial reaction. "Who 
is that? It looks like it should have decomposed centuries ago. And how is it 
that the Grell is a dead body?" 
Mars shrugged. "Without researching the mask itself, I can't be sure, but my 
guess is that the Grell is actually the mask. It probably tricked some hapless 
individual into donning it, and that was the origin of the Grell we see here. 
The mask probably needed a body to actually exist." 
As she spoke, the ghoulish mist that flowed over the bones dispersed away, and 
the skeletal remains disintegrated to dust, evaporating in the night's cool 
breath. With uncanny gentleness, the black garb of the Grell collapsed to the 
ground, no body remaining to support it. 
The Scouts said not a word, watching the dust disappear. All of them shuddered, 
save Tuxedo Mask and Sailor Mars. 
The former smiled in relief, feeling a great burden evaporate with the dust. 
The latter sighed in sorrow, pity striking her heart for the second time this 
hour. 
*****
William peeked in on Cole for the third time this hour, and for the third time, 
he found the young man staring absently out the window of his study. 
The fatherly butler had brought Cole back the night he had implemented his plan 
to imprison Sailor Mars. Then, the boy had been an emotional wreck, variating 
between destructive guilt and manic depression. It had taken quite a number of 
sedatives to calm Cole down. 
As the days went by, however, he seemed to get worse. Cole wouldn't eat, 
wouldn't sleep, wouldn't workout. His health, once again, plummeted, and a nasty 
case of the flu had set in. William nursed him back to normal, but it proved 
very difficult. What can you do when a patient doesn't want to help himself. 
Eventually, Cole did recover from his bout with influenza, but he maintained his 
reclusiveness. He drew away from everyone, even William, spending considerable 
quantities of time staring out that window. As much as he had tried, William 
couldn't break the young man out of his self-imposed exile from life. 
Repeatedly, the butler had phoned Rei to inquire what had gone wrong, why Cole 
was so depressed and heartbroken, but she never returned the calls. 
Ami came by once to explain the current situation to him, which answered a great 
deal of questions. William, feeling horribly about the why of Cole's condition, 
tried to speak to him, but that, too, didn't help. 
Today, William was considering whether or not a psychiatrist would be in order. 
Closing the study door behind him, he mentally ran through the phone numbers he 
had memorized, pulling Ami's out from his mind. It was time he discussed therapy 
for Cole with the Scouts, even if it might endanger their anonymity. 
He nearly jumped out of his skin when he noticed Rei standing down the hall, 
smiling meekly at him. 
In a blouse and jeans, with an unbuttoned button-down shirt overlaying her 
blouse, she hardly seemed the evil sorceress that Ami had mentioned, but William 
dropped into a defensive stance anyway. "What do you want?" he asked harshly. 
Rei's smile faded quickly, replaced with a look of infinite sadness, a look that 
twisted the butler's heart achingly. "I suppose the word got around about what 
happened to me?" The question felt rhetorical, but William relaxed a tad. 
"Ami said-" 
The girl raised a hand, indicating him to stop. "I can imagine what Ami told 
you, and I'm afraid it's all true. The situation has been rectified." She said 
this with all the emotion of a piece of cardboard. Her eyes, though, shone with 
a pleading that no evil being (in William's mind) could possibly duplicate. 
Settling out of his stance, his reservations flushing out of him at the 
horrendous agony he detected within her, William walked forward to her. 
Rei, thinking perhaps that the butler would begin screaming at her or something, 
sighed softly and closed her eyes, ready to accept the blow. 
When he stopped before her and nothing happened, she peeked out one eye. 
William stood before her, arms out to embrace her, a gentle fatherly smile upon 
his face. 
Her eyes misted quite suddenly, and she leaped into the embrace, sobbing 
terribly into his fine clothing. He wrapped his large arms about her, and 
stroked her hair soothingly. "There, there, child. It is all over," he whispered 
comfortingly. 
A long time he held the weeping young woman, and for a long time she cried. She 
hadn't been able to let loose her feelings since the whole thing had started, 
and here she was, letting go to a person other than the Scouts. 
She missed her parents. 
When she finally tapered off, William led her to a nearby bedroom, sitting her 
down upon the bed. He then entered the adjacent bathroom, wet a hand towel, and 
brought it to her to clean up her face. "Better?" he asked when she finished. 
Rei nodded. "Thanks." She squirmed a bit, then asked "How's Cole?" 
William grimaced. "Not too good. He's been depressed ever since the incident. 
It's all I can do to get him to eat and sleep. He just sits around all day. I'm 
afraid for him." he said the last in a whisper. 
"Is it okay if I go talk to him?" 
William grinned. "I thought you'd never ask." 
He led her to the study, but before knocking, he turned to her and said, "Be 
careful with him. He still thinks it's all his fault about what happened." 
Rei opened her mouth to defend Cole, but shut it instead. Technically, this was 
much of his fault. 
Quietly, she opened the oaken doors, instantly spotting her love standing 
against the magnanimous window that stared out over Tokyo. Slipping in, she shut 
the door behind her and walked to the desk. She made no effort to keep quiet. 
She caught the slight twitch in Cole's shoulder just before he spoke. "What is 
it, William?" 
Rei wanted desperately to run to him and hug Cole, so despondent was his tone. 
His voice lacked the jubilance that normally beamed from him whenever they were 
together. 
"Uh, hi Cole." 
Had it not been for the thick glass window constructed between Cole and 50+ 
stories of air, Rei believed he would be falling to his death right about now, 
so high did he jump at her obviously unexpected voice. 
As it stood, he simply twirled around, banging his knee on the armchair. He 
didn't register the blow, though, for his attention was fixated on the one girl 
who had been on his mind for nearly every waking moment since the plant 
incident, and a good deal of sleeping moments as well. Shock, surprise, 
astonishment, none of these came close to expressing the look he had on his 
face. 
"R... Rei?" 
She nodded, not sure of what to make of his reaction. 
He slowly limped around the desk, eyes never straying from her face, until he 
stood just before her, gazing unbelievingly. Tentatively, he reached up his left 
hand, and brushed it against her cheek. When it met solid flesh, his eyes 
widened even more, stepping back in confusion. "You're really here..." 
"Yes, Cole. It's me. Rei Hino." She still had no idea what to think. The last 
time he had seen her, she had denounced him, blaming the young man for her evil 
condition. 
"But I... I... the plant... the prison... Why?" 
And her reply, a line that he had heard in his dreams and while awake, a curse 
that had gnawed at him for these weeks. A few simple word that, in the plant, 
horrified him because the reason given then had defiled her to an existence of 
evil. Those few words, once haunting, once damning, now washed away his grief, 
his pain, cleansing him of his depression. 
"Because, I love you." She reached up around his neck, clasped her hands 
together behind his head, and pulled him down to their first kiss in their 
turbulently emotional relationship. 
When she finally released him, Cole had the shining glow of being reborn. 
"You... forgive me for what I've done?" His tone indicated hope. 
Laying her head upon his chest, she murmured. "What you did, while not 
unexcuseable, is mildly flattering. You couldn't have known that I'm Sailor 
Mars." She lifted her head to look at him. "Still, you better believe that if I 
EVER catch you pulling a stunt like that again, my wrath will know NO bounds." 
Cole's mind raced for a witty reply, but a glance at Rei's piercing eyes gave 
him second thoughts. While she sounded joking, there was a definite glint of 
deadly seriousness within those orbs. He swallowed nervously. 
Resting her head upon his chest again, she continued. "Of course, I think you 
have a lot of making up to do, and I remember you once suggesting a vacation for 
my friends and me. You do realize Christmas vacation is quickly approaching." 
He kissed the top of her head. "Anywhere you want to go, Lady Rei. Anywhere at 
all." 
Explanations were left within their shadowy closets between the two: her 
identity as Sailor Mars, the others being the Sailor Scouts, what had happened 
after Rei had been switched to her darker side. Nothing else truly mattered to 
the young CEO of Gishumi Electronics. 
As for Rei, her burdens settled comfortably upon her shoulders, knowing that 
life, though more complicated, hadn't felt as good in many years. Her bout with 
her darker half, and the encounters with the Grell had aided a growth process 
that encouraged a maturity far beyond her years. 
She did wonder, though, about the merits of remaining the second most powerful 
being on Earth (as far as she knew). Using her powers to aid the Scouts could 
quickly alienate herself from the others, a predicament she wanted desperately 
to avoid. 
For now, lunch with her boyfriend was as far as she wanted to think about. 
*****
Deep within the mountain Fuji, within a hellish cave of boiling sulphur and 
magma pits, just where Rei had dropped it for no one to ever find again, lay the 
Mask of Grell, fractured, cracked, discarded garbage in the bowels of the Earth. 

With methodical purpose, yet another crack upon the mask healed shut. 
THE END
----------------------------------------------------------------------- 
Well, that's that for 'Mars Fire Ignite'. Hoped you enjoyed reading it as much 
as I enjoyed writing this mammoth work. Many thanks to all of you who emailed me 
comments and compliments, prodding me along to this conclusion. It's so much 
easier to find time to write when the story is in demand. 
Sailor Moon and Company were created by Naoko Takeuchi and so they are hers. The 
rest of the story is more or less mine. If you wish to use anything in there, 
please notify me first. I will be more than flattered. 
Send comments, criticisms or compliments to:
meech@mindspring.com