---------------------
A Rei of Hope:
The Clarity of Truth
by Soumitra Choudhury
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Millenia jumbled down to hours, centuries to minute, years to seconds. The fog 
that coated the life of Sailor Mars lifted, revealing with painful, agonizing 
sharpness all that had been, all that will be, expected of her. She felt swept 
away in the current of memories that bombarded her, showing her people, places, 
events, all completely foreign one moment, completely familiar the next. 
For what seemed as days, her memories diffused themselves back into her brain, 
pouring in like a torrent, until her distant past had resituated itself once 
again, and her recent past had become sense. 
Yet the very recent past was deadly slow in coming... 
*****
There's a cliche floating in the annals of human history: "Time heals all 
wounds." 
I'd like to ask someone how long it takes, because, so far, five years hasn't 
done it. 
It's pretty much pissing me off. 
Five years I've spent, trying to reconcile myself to the life I've been given. 
Five years in a foreign country, seeing the sights, soaking in the culture. 
It hasn't helped. 
Looking out a window of my penthouse apartment, I wonder for the infinite time 
what I hope to find here, but wondering takes me nowhere. I didn't find it in 
Los Angeles, Chicago, or Miami. I don't know what I was thinking coming to New 
York City. I'm still as lost as I ever was. 
I sigh softly, my breath condensing on the wintry cold glass. Not more than a 
foot in front of me, snow falls thirty stories to blanket the city. If I wasn't 
in such a brooding mood, I might have enjoyed the Christmas season. 
I'm kind of lonely, too. 
Actually, I'm really lonely. 
I miss the girls a lot. 
That reminds me. I have to finish wrapping up their presents so I can mail them 
off. I have this feeling that they'd come looking for me if I didn't make sure 
my presence was known. That's mainly what the presents are for, even though they 
don't have my address to return gifts of their own. 
The knowledge that they are thinking of me... even that fool-headed princess... 
is all I need. 
Smiling to myself, I wander back through my home, heading for my bedroom. It's 
almost dark outside, and I'd rather not miss my nightly ritual. 
As I ruffle through my closet (okay, so it's more of a room than a closet) for 
some warm clothes to wear, I think back to the first time I attempted this. It 
was pretty much an accident... 
*****
Rei strolled along the sidewalk, lost in deep thought, absently humming her new 
song. Ever since she had rocked the house on amateur night at a local club, the 
manager had begged her to come back a couple nights a week to perform. He had 
even offered to pay a nominal sum, but Rei had turned the money down. 
Money was one thing she would never have to worry about again. 
Surprisingly, all of her performances were sold out. People from all walks of 
the town would congregate as her popularity grew, until several agents had 
approached her about a singing career. She turned these down also, though. She 
wasn't ready for something like that. She promised to keep them in mind later 
on. 
Songs aren't easy to come by, and it helped her tremendously to take a long walk 
through the city at night, wandering for hours on end. 
She thoroughly forgot how dangerous the city night could be. 
Somewhere around 11:42pm, Rei passed by an alley. 
Muffled cries and a gunshot, followed by a grunt. 
There was no doubt in Rei's mind that she needed to investigate, but she wasn't 
stupid. If this was a serious crime, she wouldn't be able to handle it normally 
without relying on her magic, and she had made a vow to use it as little as 
possible before she left on her sabbatical. 
Jumping in as Sailor Mars would be a relatively bad idea also. She didn't want 
it known throughout the world that she was located in Los Angeles right now. 
She fingered something in her pocket, a slow grin encompassing her face. With a 
single thought, her skin was covered in a molding liquid metal armor, her facial 
features smoothing out like a ninja's mask, and her eyes glowing like pools of 
molten gold. 
"Damn, he ain't got much cash, but I see some plastic." 
"Ooo! Lemme see! Maybe I can forge his name!" 
"Fuckin' Aye! You see that ring? I'm sure that's worth a shitload!" 
The fourth guy caught a gleam of something out of the corner of his eye. 
Swinging around, the guy raised his gun, but hesitated. 
A shadowy female figure strode calmly towards him, unconcerned of the gun 
pointing at her. The golden light from her eyes cut through the darkness like 
twin beacons. 
The guy blinked, breathing hard. The other three behind him turned their 
attention towards the approaching woman. "What the fuck is that?" whispered one 
of them. 
A particularly brave punk fired off three shots at nearly point blank range. 
PTING!! 
PTING!! PTING!! 
The guy nearest the woman went down, screaming and clutching at his face as one 
of the bullets ricocheted off her armor and caught him in the left cheek. A 
fountain of blood gushed from his face as he dropped to the ground, his shrill 
cries of agony echoing through the alley. 
All of a sudden, the remaining three were firing their pistols. The alley 
sounded like a battlefield as the noise bounced back and forth between the 
narrow lane. 
After the initial relief that her armor WOULD block bullets, she leaped forward, 
grabbed the first guys firing arm, and punched him square in the jaw. She didn't 
feel a thing. 
It felt like a steel beam to the guy, who promptly lost consciousness. 
The other two, realizing that their guns were having no effect, stepped back, 
suddenly fearing for their lives. "Who the fuck are you?" one of the vile men 
asked, fear leaking into his macho tone. 
She fixed him with a luminous glare. "A champion of love and justice," she 
replied coldly before twirling around and landing a circle kick on the man's 
temple. He flew with the impact, and landed in a heap against the alley wall. 
The last guy turned tail and ran, screaming insanely. Rei concentrated for a 
moment. 
SMACK! 
The murderer ran full speed into a solid, but invisible wall. Darkness 
mercifully swallowed him whole. 
She favored the victim with a pitying glance, knowing full well that he was 
dead. Gunshots to the head tend to do that. There really wasn't anything she 
could do. 
On her way out, Rei kicked the screaming gunman in the cheek for good measure. 
His cries jumped ten or fifteen octaves. 
*****
Ever since then, I've gone out as many night as possible, more often than not 
delving into my own thoughts. Occasionally I go out for the express purpose of 
beating the snot out of some gang. I don't suppose Usagi and the others would 
condone such an action, but I don't really care. They're not here. 
I've even set the armor marble (which I have dubbed Liquid Armor) into a gold 
chain necklace so that I could wear it as a pendant. It's actually quite pretty. 

Occasionally I take that bow I pilfered from The Dragon One's hoard, but that's 
when I expect trouble. Walking about in the middle of the city with a bow, while 
doesn't bother me in the least, tends to unnerve any passersby. Anonymity is 
something I'd like to keep a hold off. 
I don't opt for my bow tonight. If I, by any chance, need to shoot flaming 
arrows into the night... well, I'll manage. 
Pulling out a white turtleneck, black jeans, and red blazer, I quickly get 
dressed. The sun has already slipped below the horizon (not that you can see a 
horizon with all the skyscrapers and such), and I need to grab something to eat. 
I don't really feel like cooking, and who could blame me? I've been to several 
countries now, but Mako-chan's cooking still beats all. I know how to cook, but 
it makes me sad mostly. It's not nearly as good as my brunette friend's talent. 
I try to avoid cooking as much as possible. 
Of course, that leaves me with numerous trips out to eat, which actually becomes 
quite an irritant. To avoid several trips up and down the elevator a day, I 
teleport to a place that I have been to before (in an out of sight spot, 
naturally). 
My powers aren't all that bad. 
Throwing on a pair of black flats, I grab my overcoat. Grasping my liquid armor 
pendant to make sure it's there (that action has, sadly enough, become something 
of a paranoid ritual before I go anywhere), I summon and manipulate the latent 
energies surrounding me. 
BWAMF!! 
*****
"Hey there, Ice Queen. How's it going? The usual, correct?" 
"Hi Jim. Not bad. Correct." 
The bartender, chuckling heartily to himself, turns to the task of mixing me a 
Gin and Tonic, perhaps one of the most refreshing drinks known to man. It's not 
quite as satisfying as a nice hot glass of sake, but it comes damn close. 
There's some business at this hour in 'Green Shields'. Most of it is a 
restaurant, and its about time for people to be eating dinner. A nice bar fills 
the front of the eating establishment: quaint, cozy, and nearly deserted... 
except for Crack-head Jim. 
He doesn't get his nickname from doing drugs or any such nonsense. Apparently, 
the story is he actually did crack some guy's head open when some punk tried to 
hold up a convenient store. He didn't mean to kill the punk (or so he told me 
once). "But wrong is wrong, and he ought to've known that," he said, grinning 
magnanimously. 
I'd like to tell that dead punk he was an idiot to try in the first place. 
Crack-head Jim is big. REAL big. If a master sculptor chiseled stone into a man 
6'10'' and 275 lbs., the sculptor would have a Crack-Head Jim. Not an ounce of 
flab on him, he makes some of the youma I've fought in the past seem like 
pansies. 
It's all a scam, though. Jim wouldn't hurt a fly unless provoked. He's quite 
gentle, kind, humorous. A really big teddy bear would be an apt description. A 
big, stone teddy bear. 
"Isn't it a little early, Ice Queen?" he smirks, smoothly sliding me my drink. 
"You usually don't come in until well after dark, when this place is really 
swinging. Is my American hospitality finally making some headway on that cold 
shell of yours?" 
I smile sweetly back at him. "How in the world you make any tips is beyond me, 
Jim." I take a sip of the Gin and Tonic, sighing contentedly at its crisp taste. 
"If you couldn't make passably good drinks, you'd never make any money." He 
grins, knowing I've just paid him a rather obtuse compliment. 
He's been calling me the Ice Queen ever since I found this establishment. The 
first I came in, my attitude was a bit... reserved. I had only been in New York 
City for two days, and sitting in the penthouse all day had gotten seriously 
dull. 
He tried every trick in the book to lighten my mood that day, and the next day, 
and the next day. He tried for a solid week. Jim's very bright, too. He knew he 
was working, even if I didn't. For one thing, I kept coming back, quite pleased 
with the attention he was giving me, a total stranger. I guess that's a 
bartender's job, but I think he went a little further than the call of duty. 
Anyway, he coined the name 'Ice Queen' on me, and while it may have been 
unflattering from anyone else's mouth, it always makes me smile when it comes 
from Jim. 
No, I am not attracted to him. Period. 
I order my food and talk a lot of small talk. A couple of guys, NYU students 
mainly, try to strike up a conversation with me, but my cold shoulder and Jim's 
hard glare handle them easily. Jim and I both know I'm not interested in flings, 
dates, and relationships. I've never told him about any of my deep problems, but 
I think he can sense them, and he respects them. He's remarkably perceptive. 
Up in one corner of the bar is a television, some ditzy woman with too much 
make-up trying to make fashion news sound interesting. 
As I raise a forkful of green beans to my mouth, my ears prick at the 
newscaster's last words: 
"... the likes of Adele, Minako Aino, and Kirsten-" 
"Whoa! Hey! Are you okay, Rei?" Jim quickly poured a glass of water and handed 
it to me as I choked and coughed on my dinner. The TV didn't much care what I 
thought, however, and continued on. 
Sure enough, there is Minako, strutting her thing down the modeling runway, 
wearing some ridiculous number that hurt my eyes to look at, smiling a cryptic 
smile that would have been alluring if I had been a male. 
I stared in shock as the camera focused on another model working for her money. 
A short interview ensued with Minako after that on the screen, and I nearly 
choke again, but this time it's more longing than shock. Seeing her face hurts. 
Bad. 
"Rei, are you-?" 
I wave Jim to silence, fixed on the TV. 
"What does it feel like being in the United States, Minako?" asks the fashion 
reporter. "We know you are the rage in Asia and Europe, but this is your first 
trip to the US." 
Sure enough, the gorgeous blonde dazzles the camera, and I'm pretty sure I hear 
a number of patrons around me sigh lustily. 
"Well, it's very exciting. I never dreamed I'd be able to come here to model. 
It's very difficult, you know." I feel like I want to strangle her, so cheesy 
her response and continuing interview, but it's the kind of strangling we would 
both laugh at. 
Gods, I feel like crying. 
Jim tries again. "Um, Rei, are you-?" 
I cut him off again. "Yeah, yeah. I'm fine." 
"Actually, there's something I'd like to say," Minako pipes in at the end of her 
interview. "If anyone knows where a Miss Rei Hino is, or if you're watching, 
Rei, I'm at the Waldorf Hotel. I'll be here a week. We all miss you." 
The fool girl even had the audacity to hold up two fingers in a 'V' for Victory. 

Wincing, I turned my eyes slowly to Jim, and found him staring at me with the 
widest eyes I'd ever seen on him. "Rei," he half-whispered, half-choked, "did I 
just here the supermodel Minako Aino ask for you?" 
"Um, well, we, sort of, went to school together." Not quite a lie. We did spend 
a lot of time together learning the tricks to being the Sailor Senshi. 
Jim continued to gawk. 
Laying down a twenty dollar bill, I leave as quickly as possible. It's unnerving 
when people stare, and right now, quite a number are. 
By the time I rounded the corner, I was variating between growling in rage and 
laughing in delight. Picking a happy median, I ended up in wry humor, with my 
feet directing me towards the Waldorf. Hell, I deserved a little companionship, 
and who better than a veritable sister? 
*****
Three hours later, I trudge under the grand, pleated awnings of one of New 
York's finest hotels. 
Thankfully, I didn't run into any trouble along the way, as strolling through 
the city after dark is nothing but suicidal. Any skirmish would have disrupted 
the delicate balance of emotions I had manage to maintain the whole way: delight 
at seeing Mina-chan after so long, fear that she (and the others) may resent me 
for leaving unannounced, frustration that blind luck had actually brought her to 
the same city as myself, and a number of other, more nebulous feelings. 
Of course, the crowd in front of the entrance didn't help matters. 
Apparently, Minako had quite a crowd of fanatical fans, and some had decided 
that a little deception might get them in to see their goddess. What better way 
than to pretend you are Rei Hino? 
"Oh, for the love of..." I muttered irritably, covering my face with one hand in 
exasperation. Squaring my shoulders, I started shoving my way forward. 
"Hey!" 
"What the!-" 
"Watch it!" 
One guy had the gall to place a hand on my shoulder, disturbing my progress. 
"Wait your turn!" he yelled over the general din of the crowd. 
A quick catch of his wrist, a subtle twist, and suddenly the guy was on his 
knees, face white with pain as I held his little finger bent back towards his 
wrist. Suddenly I wasn't feeling all that personable today. 
I noticed some of the people around us back away, giving me a small clearing, 
and an opening to the doorman, who was watching rather intently. He didn't look 
at all happy. 
Releasing the man (he might have been cute in any other scenario), I marched up 
to the uniformed man and said, "I'm Rei Hino. I'm here to see Miss Minako Aino." 
I was pretty positive that, if this man was doing his job properly, this would 
be difficult. 
It was. 
A flicker of surprise crossed his features, and he scanned me up and down, 
before saying, "How do I know that? Everyone here has been claiming to be this 
Rei individual." 
I have found that raising an eyebrow in, what I consider mild irritation, tends 
to throw people off just enough for me to gain some advantage in any 
negotiations. Feeling this to be an appropriate occasion, I raised an eyebrow in 
mild irritation. "Didn't she leave a description for you to check out?" 
The doorman blinked. "No." 
"It figures," I mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Minako tends to be a little 
absent-minded every now and then. Why don't you call her down and let her know 
I'm here?" 
"If I did that for every person who came here, she'd never get any piece and 
quiet." His tone was flat, and I didn't much care for it. 
I'll give the doorman one thing: he had courage. I probably spent one full 
minute staring at him, before I simply turned heels and walked away. I did get 
the minor pleasure of catching him shuffle his feet uncomfortably. 
Now, here it was, nearly 9pm, and I was standing in front of one of the most 
premier hotels in the nation, freezing my butt off. I had three choices left to 
me: 1) change into Sailor Mars and use my fine agility to sneak into the 
building, 2) scan the hotel magically for Minako and teleport to her, or 3) make 
such a fuss that Minako would have to come down and address my problem herself 
(and probably the local police). The first option didn't feel right to me, and 
the last choice felt more like an Usagi plan, or even Makoto, so that left me 
with the second. 
Leave it to me to figure out how to use the one thing I really want to shy away 
from. 
Sighing wearily, I leaned up against the wall of the hotel, looking, I hoped, 
like a tired passerby. Closing my eyes, I felt for the surrounding Weave, and 
pulled just enough of it away for my purposes. 
With a floating psyche, it took a few moments to find another individual on the 
premises with a tie to magic herself, and even less time to whisk myself into 
her room... after making sure no one was paying attention. 
*****
Artemis, who had been curled languidly on the mass, king-sized bed, jumped five 
feet in the air with marked surprise when I popped into the room. Something 
between a yell and a catish hiss escaped his throat before he recognized me. 
From the door that I assumed led into the bathroom, a caterwaul screeched out, 
Minako's hideous attempt at singing. The shower was humming in the background. 
"Rei!" Artemis squeaked after landing on the bed again. 
Smiling warmly, I picked him up and squeezed him in a cuddling hug. "It's good 
to see you, Artemis," I whispered, rubbing my cheek against his fur. His purrs 
rumbled from him in waves. 
"Where have you been? We've been looking all over for you. Do you know how much 
I hate flying? It's awful! They stuff you in this little box with holes in it 
and-" 
"Artemis? Who are you talking to?" I heard Minako ask from inside the bathroom. 
I shook my head slightly to the furrball, smiling cryptically. This was my 
chance to surprise her. 
"Uh, no one, Mina-chan," the cat replied loudly, taking my hint. "I must have 
been asleep." 
An indelicate snort echoed in the bathroom, followed by, "It wasn't Luna again, 
was it?" 
If a cat could blush, Artemis would be deep red right about now. 
"Do me a favor and bring me my robe. I think I left it on the chair next to the 
nightstand." 
It took all of my willpower not to burst into laughter as Artemis gave me the 
most scandalized look of horror on his face. "M... mm... me?" he screeched, eyes 
wide with aghast. I could just picture his imagination running wild. 
"Oh, come one, Artemis! It's not like you haven't seen me naked before. I've 
caught you peeking plenty of times." 
The furrball keeled over in a faint. 
"Besides," she continued, "I'm wearing a towel, Mr. Ecchi Cat." 
Chuckling to myself, I grabbed her robe, tiptoed to the bathroom door, and 
opened it softly. 
Sure enough, Minako was standing in front of the mirror in a cotton towel, 
drying her hair with another. 
"Just leave it on the sink, Fuzzy," she called out from underneath the towel. 
"And close the door! You're letting the heat out!" 
How she could tell the heat was leaving was beyond me. The heat lamp in the 
bathroom made it nearly a sauna in their. 
She must have sensed something then, for I hadn't moved to close the door or 
anything. In fact, I hadn't moved because it hurt too much to tear my eyes from 
her after being alone for so long. 
Minako lifted the towel from her head, glanced in my direction, leaped back, and 
screamed in fright. "GGAAAAAHHHHH!!" 
"Wha-? Who? What?" I heard Artemis call, coming to in the other room. 
I wasn't too sure what to say, so I smiled my widest grin and held out her robe 
in one hand. 
Now, I'm sure some people would consider me arrogant and full of myself, and 
frankly, I don't discourage such sentiments. In that spirit, I imagined Minako 
would run into my arms, we'd be all teary eyed and girly, and everything would 
be alright. Maybe she'd even convince me to go back to Japan with her at the end 
of the week. 
In reality, Minako's face altered from fright to cold, hard ice. "You have a lot 
of nerve, Coward." She stomped over, reached out, and ripped her robe from my 
suddenly numb hand. 
Even the heat lamp couldn't melt the sudden frosty chill that covered my heart, 
pumping frigid water through my veins. 
"Minako!" Artemis gasped, padding into the bathroom. "How could you?" 
"How could I? She's worse than Usagi's ever been," the blonde sneered. "At least 
Usagi-chan never ran from her duty. I ought to court martial you here and now." 
Artemis gasped even louder. 
I couldn't feel any worse if I tried. It was like someone had reached into my 
chest and was squeezing my heart of any hope that I had, any joy that I had 
felt. Rather, it was Minako reaching into my chest, one of my closest, dearest 
friends. 
I whimpered. 
"Hurts, doesn't it?" the blonde asked haughtily, cinching her robe about her. 
"Five years you wander about, never once telling us where you are, never coming 
to see us. Do you even know what's been going on in our lives?" 
"Stop this at once, Minako!" Artemis demanded. She ignored him. 
"Do you know Ami's in medical school now?-" 
"Aino Minako, stop!" 
"Do you know Mako-chan has her own restaurant?-" 
"STOP!" 
"Do you know Usagi and Mamoru are planning their wedding? Do you know?! DO 
YOU?!" 
Her fury backed me away, tripped me on the bathroom threshold, and dropped me on 
my back, but I couldn't break away from her sapphiric eyes, wide with fury. I 
was shedding tears unabashedly now. 
She leaned over me, throwing her shadow upon me. "Have you ever,-" Suddenly, her 
voice cracked, and her eyes misted, "have you ever had to reassure Usagi-chan 
that her dream about Rei was not actually Rei's spirit coming to say good-bye?" 
My heart flattened under THAT hammerblow. 
Minako was now crying, and the more she cried, the more her anger fell away. "I 
had to hold her, Rei. I had to tell her that you were fine, that it was only a 
dream, and all the while, I couldn't let her know that I was scared. I didn't 
want her to think that I believed... " 
"Oh, Mina-chan." I wrapped her in my arms and held her, shaking in our sobs. 
"I'm so sorry. So so sorry." And at that moment, comforting her as best as I 
could, strangling my selfishness, my cowardice, I decided that it was high time 
I returned home. My foolishness would end now. 
*****
"I'm so sorry," Minako apologized for perhaps the hundredth time. 
"There's no need to apologize," I answered for the hundredth tome. "You had 
every right to be angry. I HAVE forsaken my duties for the last five years." 
She didn't seem comfortable yet, so I reached across the coffee table and 
squeezed her hand gently. When she looked at me, I smiled as warmly as possible. 
She returned it weakly, her misgivings growing smaller with every apology. 
There were few people in the coffee shop at 11pm. In fact, the waitress, alone 
it seems, frowned when we walked in, took our orders tersely, and left us with, 
at best, passable hot chocolate. Apparently she didn't recognize Minako, for 
which I was thankful, and for which I didn't complain about the service. Today, 
for once, I'd keep my temper in check. 
"So, after five years, your dreams have come true, Mina-chan." 
Minako grinned loftily, already falling into her pose. "You mean the modeling? 
This is just to pass the time. Frankly, it's starting to be a bore. You know, 
there isn't a brain in any of them all over the world! It's like a sorority or 
something..." 
I let her prattle on for a good while, sipping slowly on my drink. Before her 
self-absorption could suck me into a suffocating death, though, Minako turned to 
me and asked, "So you didn't send her that dream?" 
"What? Of course not. I can't do that." I frowned over the lip of my cup. "At 
least, I don't think I can." 
She shrugged. "That's too bad. It was a rather pretty dream, now that I know it 
wasn't about you dying. Seemed really vivid, to Usagi I mean. You'd have been 
proud." 
"Proud?" 
"Oh yes. You guys didn't fight once during the whole thing." She gazed at me 
meaningfully. 
I stared back for a moment before my mouth quirked in humor in spite of my 
efforts otherwise. "You're waiting for me to ask about it?" 
"Not in the least," Minako replied in mock indifference, eyes twinkling in 
mischief. 
Settling back into my seat, I made myself as cozy as possible in the wooden 
chair, smoothing my jeans out and picking a few imaginary pieces of lint from my 
turtleneck blouse. When I had pushed her patience to its fullest, I let loss a 
magnanimous sigh, announcing my readiness. My grin was a sweet as pure sugar.. 
"If you're quite through," she muttered, taking a sip herself, "she dreamed her 
dream about two months ago. The way she told it, you came to her window that 
night, kind of ghost-like and transparent. You were all smiles and kindness, 
which really threw her for a wrench to begin with-" 
"You know, Minako-chan, I'm not ALWAYS mean to her." 
"Who's telling this story, you or me?" she rebuked slightly, then continued on. 
"Anyway, you came to her through the window and told her you would take her 
flying. Well, you know how Usagi-chan is. She was out of bed and outside with 
you in a snap." 
"I think you took her all over Tokyo, laughing and playing like the two of you 
were schoolgirls." Minako chuckled softly. "She told me she felt like a kid 
again, flying the city over. She hadn't been that happy since you left." 
I'm pretty sure I blushed at that. 
"You guys ended up in the park, and this is where the dream really takes an 
interesting turn. You began teaching her to use the Silver Crystal with your 
magic." 
"My, Usagi has developed quite an overactive imagination, hasn't she?" I made an 
effort to keep my tone calm and measured, but it belied my amazement. 
"You're not kidding. Apparently, you taught her how to use the Crystal in a 
variety of ways: fireworks, manipulation of reality, even turning back time." 
"I bet Setsuna liked that part," I piped in. Minako giggled at that. 
"At the end of the dream," she concluded, sobering suddenly, "you asked her to 
let you touch the Silver Crystal one last time. Those were her exact words, not 
mine, Rei. 'The Crystal pulsed with light like a heartbeat, and then grew 
still.' That's when you gave it back to her, and she woke up." 
Neither of us said anything for a minute or so. 
"Well, that didn't seem typical Usagi-chan, but I suppose a dream is a dream." I 
sounded like I was trying to convince myself. "As you can see, she not a prophet 
or anything. I'm perfectly hale and healthy." 
Minako gave me a gentle, almost pitying look. "She misses you a lot, Rei. We all 
do." 
"Thanks, Minako, but I already told you that I would come back- Ow." 
The blonde blinked once, confused. "What?" 
I ignored her, focused on the sudden onset of a mammoth headache that was 
growing at an exponential rate. Ringing filled my ears, and my stomach didn't 
seem to be agreeing with anything inside of it. 
"Rei? What's wrong?" 
Every one of her words felt like a two-ton hammer slamming into my brain. My 
innards spasmed painfully, throwing me off my chair. I curled into a fetal 
position, hoping that would ease something, anything, into a more comfortable 
position, but nothing helped. The pain grew worse. 
When the nausea peaked for a moment, I gagged, unheeding of Minako's presence, 
nor that of the waitress who, I suppose, had come to help. Stumbling blindly, 
with bright sparks of light exploding in my vision, I think I managed to make it 
to a restroom, where I collapsed next to the toilet. 
The nausea and my migraine backed down for only a moment, and then burst over me 
again, and I threw up, and I felt the world move. 
When the heaving ended, and the agony died down, I noticed that the world was 
still moving. In fact, bits of the ceiling were falling on me, and the floor was 
having a hard time staying under me. 
Weakly, I picked myself up, and stumbled back, listening to the screams that 
seemed to be coming from the serving room, but also echoing through my head. 
Something was definitely wrong here, and it was getting more and more familiar, 
just out of the reach of my senses. 
With the floor bucking sporadically, all I could really do was anchor myself in 
the hallway outside the restroom, panic trying to gain a hold of me. "Minako! 
Where are you?!?" 
"In here!" I heard the reply over the roar of everything. I just caught an image 
of her against the far wall, huddling over a very frightened waitress. 
The earthquake went on for nearly five minutes after that, enough time for me to 
best my fear and analyze the situation. The only problem was, this wasn't the 
kind of situation I could analyze. Who ever heard of an earthquake in New York 
City, not to mention one of such a caliber? 
The rumbling quieted down finally, allowing me to stumble into the coffee shop 
main. The waitress instantly fled, along with a cook in the back who I hadn't 
noticed before. 
Minako looked very pale as she stood up, clutching her communicator. "They 
called when you..." 
"What? Usagi?" 
She nodded, swallowing. "She didn't get a chance to finish. I think the 
earthquake interfered with it somehow." She clicked the call button, but 
received static. 
"Did it sound urgent?" 
She nodded, still focused on pressing the button again, and again, and again. 
"Come on, dammit! Answer!" 
I touched her arm. "Minako, leave it. We have to find out what happened." 
"I know, but what if they're in trouble? There's only two of them." 
"Two? I thought-" 
"Ami's at medical school in Germany. She's not in Tokyo." 
I gazed out the window for a moment, taking in the chaos that had taken over the 
streets. Cars had crashed into each other, though nothing serious that I could 
tell. People were running about aimlessly, some helping others, some not. Why 
did the earthquake feel so familiar? 
The sky was unnaturally lit. 
"There's something wrong here," Minako said, voicing my thoughts as she, too, 
gazed out the window. Together, we strode outside. 
Sure enough, the sky was lit with a lunar phosphorescence, though the source 
seemed to be coming from far off to the west, a source we couldn't see through 
the skyscrapers. 
"Hold my hand," I told her, and she complied. With a thought, we were atop the 
tallest building I could see from the coffee shop, facing west. 
Somewhere farther than could normally be seen, perhaps hundreds, maybe a 
thousand miles away, a brilliant argent geyser was exploded into the atmosphere 
from the earth, showering down a rain of shooting stars throughout the land. 
"My God!" Minako exclaimed, but I don't think He was listening. Wherever the 
falling stars fell, a massive sphere of destruction ruined the land, or so I 
thought. It was too far and dark to see what was actually happening, but I 
recognized the overpowering vibrancy of the Weave as each fell, each a 
resonating tone to my attuned senses. 
This was why I suddenly became ill only moments ago. Even this far from the 
impact, the waves of eldritch energy hit me with a psychic force I had not been 
prepared for. 
As we stood atop the tower, gazing in awed horror at the spectacle erupting 
before us, I trembled, gathering what little wits I could, for this was 
something vastly beyond anything I could do. 
Or rather, vastly beyond anything I would be willing to do. 
"This is all wrong," my voice whispered to the winds, high above the ground. 
"Someone... something is harnessing the Weave and devastating the land." 
Minako turned to me, a ghost-like appearance in the afterglow of the latest 
explosion. "You don't suppose Usagi-" 
That's all I needed. Grabbing her arm, I whisked us back to her hotel room. 
"Artemis!" I cried ignoring the mess created, presumably, by the earthquake. 
"Well, it's about time you showed up," the cat replied, crawling out from under 
the bed, his voice strained with exaggerated calm. Minako rushed over and 
scooped him up. 
"Forget your stuff. We'll worry about it later." With the possibility that Usagi 
was in danger from... whatever, I wanted to get back to Japan as soon as 
possible. "Take my hand." I ignored another mild headache, this one from the 
excessive teleportations after having used my magic so little in the last few 
years. 
*****
"My God!" Minako gasped for the second time tonight, or rather, today, as it was 
supposed to be fairly early in the morning. With the heavy overcast billowing 
angrily in the sky, though, you'd hardly know it. 
A cascading series of silver lightning crashed among the heavens, deafening the 
world. Wind, crisp and bold, sought to take us off our feet, so strong they 
were. The most disturbing part, though, was the majestic geyser of the same 
liquid cosmic light pouring up into the atmosphere. Parts of the display broke 
off from the pillar and shot off in various directions, lighting the clouds and 
horizon as they streaked away. 
Artemis made the most chilling observation at that moment. "It looks like the 
Silver Crystal gone mad." 
Both of us looked at the cat in surprised horror, then at each other. We were 
way beyond panic now. 
"Venus Crystal Power!" 
"Mars Crystal Power!" 
The ecstasy of the transformation never felt so good, after not having used my 
alter self in roughly five years. I sank into the raging warmth of the flames, 
momentarily forgetting the phenomenal danger that seemed to have taken hold the 
planet. 
For the first time in those years of self-imposed exile, I felt the blessedness 
of being a part of mankind's greatest heroes. 
*****
The Tokyo Olympic stadium. 
That's where the geyser led us. 
"Love and Beauty Shock!" 
"Mars Flame Sniper!" 
Two more of the frighteningly demonic creatures fell before us, but more sought 
us out with their rending claws. In fact, I dodged one just in time, as it took 
out the old vending booth behind me, splintering it into so much wooden debris. 
Back to back once again, Venus and I tried to catch our breath. I shuddered at 
the appearance of these beasts, before releasing another blast of flames. That 
incinerated three more, backing them away in haste. Actually, all of them backed 
away, leaving a clear circle with us in the center, hissing and growling at us. 
"Artemis, are you alright?" 
"Sure, Minako, if you consider being surrounded by a gaggle of youma alright." 
I wanted to whisper a quick plan to my compatriots, but the world vanished in a 
brilliant flash for the span of an eternally painful second. 
*****
I dropped to the ground unceremoniously, gasping deeply for my breath. Nearby, 
Venus did the same, while Artemis looked like the most miserable furrball to 
grace Creation. 
The first thing to touch my senses after the intruding teleport was the rather 
large number 10 painted into the turf upon which we had been dumped. 
The second thing was the celestial hum that was ringing an unearthly choir in my 
ears. 
The third was the geyser erupting from a being in the endzone, not more than ten 
yards away. The energy was dissipating, falling back into the individual. 
Part of me wanted to deny desperately what I was seeing, so horribly beautiful 
it played out, so deliciously, agonizingly ironic. The rest of me bubbled with 
rage, hellish and unrequited, searing through me. I never noticed the 
anger-boiled tears flowing from my eyes. 
"Why?!?" I cried hoarsely. Venus screamed in denial. 
The final wisps of the cosmic light faded away, revealing the prone and limp 
bodies of Sailors Jupiter and Mercury, suspended in air just above the ground. 
Neither of them had the slightest bit of color in their flesh. Both had features 
of peaceful sadness. 
"Because I can," replied my soul twin, the sound of her voice increasing the 
twinkling hum in my ears. 
Robed fully in a voluminously flowing robe of pristine white, half of my soul 
stood calmly, staring at me with an almost delicate hint of amusement on her 
terribly familiar face. For a brief instance of time, I took in all of her 
features, distantly acknowledging that her skin glowed with the same argent 
light released in all of the Weave geysers. She had not aged a day in the 
Spiritwrack, it seemed, but somehow she had gained a limitless amount of power, 
her eyes of pure darkness radiating a wisdom and intellect far beyond her years. 

If I wasn't mistaken, I could have sworn she looked minutely sorrowful. 
To my left, the width of the football field away, Prince Endymion picked himself 
up, uncovering that which he was protecting from the geyser blast. 
Sailor Moon. 
I blinked almost three times before I could put my finger on what was wrong with 
her, because she sure didn't look like the same Eternal Sailor Moon I had left 
five years ago. 
"Deep Submerge!" 
What was wrong with Sailor Moon? 
"World Shaking!" 
Why use such an early version of her transformation? 
"Love and Beauty Shock!" 
Why was the Silver Crystal so dirty? 
...And then the entity before us, the one who wore my face, who harbored my 
memories, who felt all that I do, began to systematically murder all that I held 
dear. 
The three strikes of Sailor power crashed into a scintillating globe 
encompassing Jupiter, Mercury, and my twin. With a frown, she sprang up into the 
air, a pair of billowing angelic wings bursting from her back, flapping grandly 
to lift her into the air. 
Sailor Neptune and Uranus leapt out of the stands, splitting to gain better 
cover, but the quickness of the sorceress's counterattack took us all by shock. 
As each reached the apex of their leap, hundreds of cosmic streaks slit their 
positions, materializing around them. The pencil-thin beams pierced them 
repeatedly, holding them in midair while they twitched and gasped as caught fish 
on a hook. 
My breath caught in throat at the hideous sight of my friends in such agony, 
evaporating the thought of any spell. 
The sorceress then turned slowly, focusing her attention on Venus. Before I 
could even twist around in time to claim witness, the Sailor of Love and Beauty 
was lashed from behind by wriggling tentacles of silver light, firmly grasping 
her wrists and ankles. 
"No!" cried Artemis, and he made an attempt to break the grip of the tentacles, 
but the moment he touched them, every hair on his body stood up erect, his eyes 
rolled into the back of his head, and he fell, limp and smoking, to Venus's 
feet. 
All this was happening to fast for me to react. I had never felt so helpless in 
my life. 
The blonde tried to writhe towards the cat, but the entangling factors wrenched 
her back, flipped her backwards, and slammed her with crushing force into the 
ground. She squealed once, moaned, then collapsed. 
"PLEASE, REI!! NO MORE!" 
My knees had suddenly turned to cold water, dropping me, stunned, to the ground. 
It took me a moment to realize Sailor Moon had spoken, and not to me. 
The seraph twisted angrily towards Usagi, a fury in her that seemed all too 
familiar. "Why? Why should I stop?" 
"Please, for Mercy's sake, don't do this." Sailor Moon was visibly sobbing with 
all of her being. "You've hurt them enough." Prince Endymion drew his sword, a 
blade glowing with holy light. 
"Mercy? Where was your mercy? You left me broken and decrepit in the 
Spiritwrack!" 
"WHERE!-" 
... the rays about Sailor Neptune brightened, and a soulwrenching scream ripped 
from her throat... 
"-WAS!-" 
... Sailor Uranus's screams... 
"-YOUR!-" 
... Sailor Venus's screams... 
"-MERCY!-" 
... Sailor Jupiter... 
"-THEN?!?" 
... Sailor Mercury. 
I truly believed Sailor Moon died five times over when the cries of agony began. 
She clapped her hands to her ears, adding her own cries to the scene. 
I don't know if it was coincidence or what, but at that exact moment, as my full 
power ripped itself into the front of my mind and coalesced into an elemental 
storm of crimson fury, Sailor Pluto added her considerable attack, blindsiding 
the seraph, from directly above, appearing from nowhere. 
The sorceress was expecting my attack, for she shattered my control with a wave 
of her hand, but the temporal energy caught her straight in the back, driving 
her down into the ground. 
Sailor Pluto landed nimbly beside me, her eyes of magenta brimming with furious 
tears. She raised her staff to level a killing blow on my twin. I was lying on 
the ground, dazed by the countereffect against my spell, but I caught the look 
of rage she threw my way. 
The wings spread out, blazing with silver fire. They elongated to twice their 
former length, and reached to engulf Pluto, who had to dive away to avoid them. 
In the process, she lost her balance, tripping slightly. 
As the sorceress picked herself up, the ground rumbled violently, ripping and 
tearing. Ten gouts of the same silver fire blasted through across the turf, and 
it was all Sailor Pluto could do to raise her staff to ward them. 
It didn't help. 
Merging into one flaming column, the conflagration punched through her defenses, 
slammed into her abdomen, and carried her nearly a hundred feet, breaking her 
against the concrete siding of the stadium. Even from this distance, I heard the 
snap of bone, and a fountain of blood erupted from her mouth. 
"Come on, stop her! Do something! Please!" Sailor Moon seemed to be pleading 
with the Silver Crystal, shaking it desperately, all to no avail. 
Anything that came to my mind, I flung at my counterpart, hoping beyond hope 
that something would stop her, but nothing worked. Balls of flame, earthen 
geysers, storms of lightning, gales of wind, all for naught. She simply stared 
at me, dispelling all of my attempts with so much ease. "You as yet do not 
understand, my sister," she said at one point. 
"Don't call me that! I'm not like you!" 
She ignored my outburst. "Why do you not ask Usagi what the problem is? She 
knows." 
As yet, Endymion had not attacked, which was probably the smartest thing he 
could do. Rather, he was paying attention to the sudden appearance of countless 
youma into the stadium, filing in for some grand spectacle that only they knew 
of. 
The captured Senshi had gone silent, and I had run out of most of my power, even 
as Sailor Mars. "Sailor Moon, do something," I growled out, my throat hoarse 
from exhaustion. 
"I... can't," she sobbed, crying terribly. 
"Dammit, stop being a baby and DO SOMETHING!" 
"I CAN'T REI! SHE HAS THE CRYSTAL!" 
Everything stopped. Endymion turned around to gaze at Sailor Moon in shock. I, 
in my infinite clarity of the moment, went stock still, staring at her like she 
was the most ignorant imbecile in the known world. Rather, I was staring at the 
Crystal in her hand. Very, very slowly, I turned my eyes to the sorceress. 
"Actually," my twin retorted mildly, floating above us, "she's partially 
correct. I don't HAVE the Crystal. I AM the Crystal." 
Dear God. 
Shaking my head in denial didn't help. Staring about at the lying bodies of my 
fellow Senshi was plenty testiment to her sudden power. It explained her 
shrugging off all of my attacks. It explained her precision and speed. It even 
explained the worldwide explosions. 
But how? 
Before my next thought could register, before I could gather the remains of my 
energy into a devastating spell, she shook her head once. "I do not recommend 
it, Rei-san. The Crystal is the power of the universe, the cosmic energy. I can 
more than stop you." 
"How?" It was all I could think of, fumbling dumbly. 
"How? You, the only one with the probable capability to stop any of my plans, 
are gallivanting half way around the world for the last five years, and you have 
the gall to ask how? Sailor Moon is the most naive individual on the whole rock. 
How easy it was to convince her that you had returned from your sabbatical." 
"And now," she continued, her countenance hardening, "there is no place you can 
run." 
"I won't let you hurt the Princess," Endymion growled, positioned in front of 
Sailor Moon protectively. His sword gleamed with his presence. 
On que, Moon began to blubber about not leaving anyone, and some other crap, but 
it still made a lump form in my throat. Realistically speaking, there wasn't 
going to be any way to stop my darker soul from destroying all of us. With the 
apparent power of the Silver Crystal backing her up, she'd be able to tear us 
all a new rectum if he wished. 
Not without a final blaze of glory. 
The fires of the aether answered so instantly, I think they may have been 
awaiting eagerly for my to release them. The very air about us spontaneously 
combusted at my whim, blossoming in radiance far grander than anything I had 
attempted before. Vortices spun wildly, bending and sprouting, engulfing youma 
and stadium alike. Everything I wished that felt my inferno burst into ash. 
Everything, that is, except for my twin. 
The glowing luminance from her seemed to drink in any of the flames touching 
her. A scornful grin remained, gazing at me darkly, reminding me of a decision I 
would now, and forever, regret. 
Mercy would not save my goddess as it had the taint of my soul. 
Slowly, she raised up higher on the hands of her magic, shining as a star within 
my fury. She pulsed once, twice, and then a third time, ripping through the 
conflagration with a celestial radiance that seared away my arcane hold. Wave 
after wave of cosmic force bombarded us, pounding the last of Serenity's young 
court to our knees. The suffering I witnessed then was not so much pain as it 
was a total sense of despairing hopelessness, of a sheer lack of will. From 
where I kneeled, I could see the couple, even to the end, trying desperately to 
protect each other. 
"Please... please. You're killing them," I moaned, weeping despite myself. 
"Leave them. Take me. Please." 
"No, Rei-san," intoned the buzzing-ringing of her voice, sounding again at once 
holy and terrible. "Yours is the only suffering I seek. Your agony is the only 
wish I have left in me, the only one which has allowed me to live this long. To 
that end, everything that you hold dear will be obliterated: your friends, your 
home, your world. Only you will be allowed the sanctuary of life, so that you 
will be consumed by endless, eternal guilt." 
Aghast, I tried to erect some sort of barrier, but my exhaustion was complete. 
Nothing was left within me to fight back with. Usagi and Mamoru would die, like 
the others. 
In those final moments, I gazed about my world, tears streaming, sobs shaking 
me. All I saw was white, pure and simple. 
Then, the white disappeared abruptly, replaced with inky blackness everywhere, 
masking out everything but me... and Sailor Moon. She still lay in the curled, 
kneeling pose as before, with eyes closed. 
In her hand, the Silver Crystal glimmered a sooty grey, and in those last 
miraculous moments, her voice, the most wondrous to exist, graced my 
degenerating mind gently. "Protect her from the awful fate laid before her, 
please, so that her guilt, her terrible burden she will undoubtedly place upon 
herself, will not destroy her. Help my best and dearest friend, for this is my 
final desire, Silver Imperium Crystal." 
"I wish for Hino Rei, Super Sailor Mars... member of my eternal court... to... 
forget..." 
Those were her final words.