The End of the Millennium A Xian Shade Production Author's Note: Ok, I'm sorry this took so long to get out there. I really didn't know how the last chapter was gonna end. When you write a story using 2AM concepts (the best kind around) you generally tend to lose focus on how to end it. In my stupidity, I also submitted it, and I've already gotten a review... Anyhow, my point is that while talking with Noba Tooku, author of 'Copelia's Tale', 'Shadows Are But Shadows', 'Dragoon Spirits', and 'Hensou No Yume' (The Masquerade of Dreams), I realized the goof of my story, and how best to fix it, because I was discussing spoilers, and it hit me on what to do for this chapter. Even though you're not directly responsible for this, this chapter is commemerated to you, Noba! I kindly ask anyone who bothers to read my rants to read her stories and review them, since she's in a kind of slump, and was kind enough to review out of nowhere, unlike the rest of you, who I forced into reading and reviewing! I mean... err... um... In regards to any questions people may have about chapter five, yes. The Kyra I refer to is Kyra Tierney, from the fourth installment of Phantasy Star. She had very little appearance in the game, and yet she bore a striking resemblence to our favorite ice-scout (esp. with the short blue hairstyle, and the tiara). If anyone else happened to pick up something similar, YES! I know that Sari from Phantasy Star 3 looks a lot like Jupiter, and has her same ass-kicker attitude. Again, a character that had very little game-time appearance. (You fight her, she joins your party, and you have the chance to marry her. Heh, talk about bangin' someone before you know them!) Despite this similarity, I will not mention it in the story, but only here, in this rant, because I can. I'M THE AUTHOR, DAMN IT!! Az usual, Disclaimer, then you get your story fix. Yes, Noba. I purposely made Haruka more similar to her personality from the Manga. Her personality fits much better there. The 'cousin' thing was somewhat disturbing, since they're lovers. I only put the two together to show that they work well together. Disclaimer: I don't own any aspects of Sailor Moon or Phantasy Star. If I did, this would be animated or a manga or both and you wouldn't be reading it right now. Thanatos and all other characters are © Xian Shade, and may not be used without my permission. People failing to follow this rule have broken Xian's Law #849, paragraph 3, line 2: Don't fuck with my shit. Guardian's Return, Chapter 7: "Rei-chan, didn't you sense him coming? You said he has a pretty wierd vibe, right?" Minako whispered to her so that those outside the door wouldn't hear her. "I couldn't... I was too busy focusing on Ami-chan's dream!" she hissed back, trying to hold back anger. Nobody's perfect, and one person can't do everything. "Rei-chan, you don't have to do that anymore. None of the dreams have been nightmares, really, and none of them repeat themselves anymore." Ami assured her, dressing in something more proper than her sleepwear. After a short time, and some clean dressing on all their parts, Rei poked her head out the doorway. Samuru was nowhere to be seen, but Yuuichiro sat in front of the doorway to the meditation room with the sacred fire, as though guarding it. "So, where is he?" Rei demanded of him, when they all made it out her door. "Your Grandpa insisted on giving him the tour, since he's apparently never been to one of the temples before. After they went in here, Grandpa came out, but the other guys didn't. I guess he's looking around in there or something." Yuuichiro explained. That room only had one exit. If you didn't count the one Venus made when she attacked Zio. Luckily Rei had covered it up the night before, but what he said bothered her. "Guys? There's more than one?" "Yeah, he had somebody with him. He was dressed a little funny, though." Yuuichiro explained, trying to maneuver some of his hair into a more manageable state. Rei sighed. The mess was going to take some explaining, both to their guests and to her grandfather. "Ok, Yuuichiro-san. I'm sure Grandpa's waiting for you to start training with him again. We need to take care of our guest." Rei tried to shoo him off, and he did so reluctantly. Her grandfather didn't have the best eyes, but she wasn't sure if he'd miss a gaping hole in the wall that was poorly patched up overnight. Something hit her: How was it that neither Yuuichiro nor her grandfather came out to the battle the previous night, and why had neither of them noticed the damage done to the temple in various areas? They opened the door and stepped into the warm room, the light of the sacred fire still flickering as brightly as it used to. The silent form of their guest knelt before the fire with closed eyes. The light appeared to make him move slightly, yellow and orange flickers stretching over his face. Another man stood nearby, with a similar hairstyle, but his hair was a bright blue color. He bore clothing that was disturbingly similar to those worn in Elysion, but with a more modern style, and different coloration wearing green beneath his mantle. Midnight eyes gazed over the girls as they entered, and after smiling a moment, returned to watching over Samuru. The room was wrong, however: the patchwork done on the wall was nowhere to be seen. There was no evidence of a hole ever being made. They gathered around, and his eyes opened, spotting the others, revealing a calm smile. "So, what can we do for you, Samuru-san?" Ami asked, being the only one that really caught his name. "I wanted to apologize for yesterday. I am very self-conscious about my health, and I was still disoriented from the fight. I did not mean to leave you all behind like that. It was quite rude of me." His speech seemed to have improved overnight. "Well, there was no need for you to come all the way up here to apologize... that's what the phone's for." Rei pointed out, knowing he didn't know her number, but getting to that point: "How did you know we were here, anyhow?" He smiled. "After careful thought, I decided to go to the hospital as Ami-san requested. Her mother, Mizuno-san wasn't difficult to find, since they don't appear all that different." he stood from the fire, pushing himself up on his cane. "After being taken care of, I told her how I came across her daughter, and was hoping to apologize for running off like I did. She was kind enough to tell me that you were staying at this place, along with some friends." The man behind him cleared his throat, and Sam looked back, slapping his head in realization. "I am so sorry. This is my friend Rune-san. He is travelling with me, but I'm afraid he does not know the language." the young man bowed in greeting, hearing his name. "He believes that experience serves better than raw knowledge in this matter..." "What matter is that?" Minako interrupted, poking her head around the others. "The gossip has not spread yet?" he looked mildly shocked. "I will have to write that down... rumor mills are slow at the beginning of the school year." he said, writing in his notepad again. "I have been here a week, and I have already been in a fight. You would think someone would have mentioned that I am here studying education styles in different countries. We are investigating foreign schools and student behavior, how they are related, and the discipline used in the event of a lack of good behavior." he explained. It seemed logical enough. "I also came here today because I wished to interview you, Ami-san." "Me?" she pointed to herself, eyes widened a little. "Yes. You seem to be one of the most intelligent students I have come across. I would just like to ask you a few questions, if that is all right. You do not mind, do you?" Ami mentally shrugged. It was common knowledge that her intellect was renowned in school. She thought back fondly to when she was offered to study abroad in Germany, back before she was even in high school, when she almost lost her friends, and her teammates as senshi. Who knows what would have happened to her friends, or the world, if she'd gone before now. "Of course I don't mind. But I'm not so sure this is the right time to be doing it." she explained. It was still before noon, and weekend or not, it was still early enough to keep one groggy, and it was plain to see that she was not ready for any sort of interview. "That is fine." He moved from the fire, his companion in step behind him as they moved toward the door. "Perhaps at lunch then?" "Sure. We could meet at the cafe by the arcade. That's where most of us hang around anyhow. Do you know where that is?" "I have seen it. That will be good. I will see you then." he waved. Rei escorted the duo out while the girls got dressed properly. "I'm sorry about the conditions of the temple. We've been meaning to reset some of the stonework outside..." Rei tried to cover for the damage that they may have seen. "Looked all right to me..." Sam said with a puzzled look on his face, which he turned to Rune. Rune gave the same expression back to Sam and they turned back, walking through the halls toward the exit, when she saw the courtyard herself. Not a crack in the cement. 'This is impossible...' Rei thought, recalling the battle from the night before. 'Mina's blast tore a hole in the wall in the room of the sacred fire, and now there's none. The monster had shattered the ground, but here it seems as good as the day before. It was a wonder the shrine still stood after the earthquake it caused...' It boggled the mind as to how none of it seemed to happen, when another key factor seemed to make itself known: Where were Haruka and Michiru? Shouldn't they have been outside as well, and wouldn't they have noticed the change? And Hotaru! She was supposed to be guarding them that night! Where had she gone? "See you later then!" Samuru called as he headed down the steps of the shrine, along with Rune. Rei snapped to, and waved, and when they were out of sight, she ran back inside to tell the others. Something was VERY wrong. Elsewhere: Samuru and Rune stepped into the spherical room they called home, and two others sat in the now-lit room. The center of the room held nothing more than four simple throne-like chairs, two of which were occupied, and the other two filled by Sam and Rune. They sat in silence for a moment, before Sam spoke. ~"That proves it then."- Sam steepled his fingers in thought. -"Noah... you made sure that everything was fixed so that nobody existing outside the battle remembered what happened other than the ones we encountered, right?"- Noah, the one he had named 'Rune', nodded. -"While I'm quite thorough with my work, something strange happened. Their lines are odd... a few years ago they were severed... but then reattached to the tapestry... and then severed again last year, but again reattached. It's like they died, but didn't..."- he held out his hands, holding a small black ball. Inside were thousands of lines intertwined, and the image was zoomed in on five, which stood out brightly. -"But that's not the strangest thing... look at this..."- he zoomed in on the lines showing the two knots where the lines were severed and reattached. The picture moved back to where the threads began, but they did not connect to the overall starting point, or directly from where they should have. They simply dangled there, waving back and forth, until the view moved far enough back to show why. There was a gap between the lines, from an earlier thread that was severed, and the earlier threads waved in synchronization with each other, as though connected, but separate. -"I've found many strange occurances in the threads like this, but these five are the only ones that seem to have separated many times and come back together to interact. This gap is over a thousand year period..."- -"...Around the time of the war of the Silver Millennium."- The voice of a third, unknown man interrupted. Short black hair peeked out from beneath a white hood. -"These are the survivors of the war, and they've continued to fight off the darkness that plagues this system... even at the cost of their lives. They've been reincarnated several times, but not through normal means..."- he continued, staring at the orb that Rune had made. -"Chronos, glad you could join us. So these five are the ones we're looking for?"- a fourth voice spoke, looking over the top of his throne. Red flames of hair shot up from his head at most points, while the rest hung heavily in tightly-wrapped dreadlocks, with tanned skin that appeared to make him of Indian or even Arabic descent. -"They're the same ones we bailed out, right?"- -"Yes... it would appear they can't stop their enemies anymore... not by usual means, anyhow."- Sam scratched his chin in thought, then realized the time. 'I'd better get over to the cafe... no sense in being late.' he thought. -"I need to move, guys. See if you can locate any new leads on where the darkness is coming from. I'll keep an eye on the streets, and contact you if I need help."- he stood, when the flame-haired, dark-skinned man jabbed him in the ribs with his elbow. -"Yeah, like what happened in the school courtyard? Give us a break, and give us a lead."- he said, before Samuru made his way out. Outside the Cafe: 11:50 "So you're sure you can trust this guy, Ami-chan? Sure you don't want at least one of us to go along?" Makoto asked, slapping her fist into her other hand. "I'll be fine, Mako-chan. Samuru-san seems like a nice guy, despite his strength, and Rei's 'wierd vibes'. He might have just done a lot of physical training. As for how he feels, I recall one time Rei-chan slapped one of her charms on Usagi-chan, thinking she was evil. I'm not saying your predictions aren't trustworthy, Rei-chan... I'm just saying that I won't base how I treat a person by how you read them." Ami waved them off, assuring the others that she'd be fine. "If anything happens, I'll be sure to contact you. You're still carrying your communicators, right?" The others nodded, some even looking at their wrists to make sure they were still there. After their scuffle with Zio the previous night, they knew that the enemy meant business, and they'd need all their help to stop their enemy. "While we're here, we'll check the arcade for Luna and Artemis. I'm worried. They haven't been home ever since Ami had her dream, so maybe they've been checking up on our enemy. They might also know what happened to Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru." Usagi pointed out. The others stared at her in disbelief. "What?!" They sighed and parted ways, seeming to take Usagi's maturity in stride. Ami headed inside the cafe, while the others went in the arcade. Samuru already sat in a booth, sipping at a cup of tea, and seeing Ami, waved her over to sit with him. "I am glad you could make it Ami-san. I am sorry if this seemed a little awkward, just coming out for this sort of thing, but I am very grateful that you agreed. This will help my study greatly." Samuru smiled, pulling up his notepad she saw in class a few times. "I might imagine that it would. How did you improve so much in our language?" He smiled and lifted the small book she saw him reading the other day. "I am a quick study." "So it would seem. How can I help you then?" She smiled, noting he hadn't quite picked up contractions yet. She was curious and still a little flattered that she could be the basis of his paper. Was there something else? Did he like her? Leaving the green piercing gaze she was locked upon, her eyes settled upon his ungloved hand. Those thoughts of anything beyond friendship quickly vanished when she saw a ring. Married? Perhaps engaged? His voice lifted her eyes back to attention. "Well, I have not seen everything I might need to know, so I'll want to ask you a few things other than your own techniques and accomplishments in classes..." The Arcade: 11:52 "I still think that guy's a little creepy, but if Ami-chan thinks she can trust him..." Rei mumbled. "Rei-chan, you have a problem with almost any guy." Mina ribbed. "Ami-chan's a big girl, and she's smart enough to learn from a mistake she makes." But Rei was hardly listening, focused on her thoughts instead. 'Hotaru, Haruka, and Michiru were missing, and none of the outers, not even Setsuna, are answering their communicators. Maybe Luna and Artemis might have a clue...' The arcade was surprisingly empty for noon on a weekend. In fact, though the doors were open, nobody was even working there. Only the sounds of the games that ran automatically could be heard. They looked around, at the ready for an attack, but there was nobody else... no bodies on the floor, no traps waiting to go off... not even an enemy. Minako wandered over to the Sailor V game, and the others joined as well, staring at the console. The screen showed the view of a third person format instead of a side scroller, and the screen held the monster they'd fought the previous night, continually trading fire with each other, when a blast connected and destroyed Sailor V, and the game got caught in a continuous feedback loop, showing the same scene of the scout getting blasted, the laughing of the monster, and 'GAME OVER' flashing in red on the screen. They were used to the game continually updating itself to aid their training, but this was beyond strange. The machine suddenly made a loud pop and the screen went black, smoke pouring out the top. Minako popped open the game console, and inside, to their dismay, was nothing but the command station they used to use, deactivated, and still smoking. No Luna or Artemis. "What the hell is going on?" Makoto asked no one in particular. The Cafe: 11:56 "...you must be kidding! I had thought teachers kept better discipline over themselves! So she actually gave them detentions, made them stay, and left to go on a date instead of watching them?" Samuru scribbled in his notepad furiously, threatening to rip a hole in the page from pressing too hard. Ami laughed at how silly it seemed. She had no intent of telling him about the twin aliens of the Doom Tree, but it was probably necessary to help him in his report. Besides, she didn't need to tell him 'everything'. "Needless to say they finished their papers and went home afterwards, but I don't know if either of them spoke up about it, because Haruna-sensei never got a reprimand." "Teenagers do not usually like to do that sort of thing, especially at their age, trying to go against their superiors. So what about you? Did you ever live on the dangerous side and accidentally fall asleep in class, or perhaps..." he whispered quietly. "Get a 'B'?" Now she knew he wasn't being serious. They both laughed heartily, and as the laughter died, Ami decided to soothe her curiosity. "Samuru-san... I hope I'm not being rude in asking, but you're married and still in school?" He blinked at the question and looked down at his hand, realizing why she'd asked. His gloved hand reached for the ring and rubbed the surface of the ring gently. "I was engaged a while ago, but she passed away. I wear it as a reminder." Ami held a sorrowful look and lowered her gaze. "I'm sorry, it wasn't right of me to ask. I should have just..." He put down his writing tools and took her hands in his own. She looked up suddenly, a blush creeping into her cheeks. "Do not worry about it. I wear it to remind myself. I promised I would never forget her. It is nothing to feel bad about." Ami hardly heard his words, though. Why couldn't she feel warmth from his gloved hand? And where was that high-pitched whine coming from? The sound filled the room slowly, growing louder with each passing moment. Samuru seemed to notice it as well, and after searching for a moment, they looked out in the street to see a blackened portal-shaped hole of mist swirl and form. Without warning, a massive blur flew through the portal and crashed through the glass of the cafe. Never stopping in its swift onslaught, a large, black hand grabbed Sam's face and mashed his head through the wall of the booth, and through the snack bar. Screams echoed as people rushed to get away from the scene, too terrified to be fascinated, the distinct sound of dozens of feet crushing broken glass accompanying the fading echo of screams. Ami had only managed to stand, staring at the monster that now pressed Sam's head into the wall. A heavily muscled, scaley, deep blue creature with tubes protruding from its back floated there, as it seemed to have no lower half of its body below the hip. It let Sam go before turning itself around to see Ami still watching. She went to press her communicator, when two small eye-beams blasted the wristband, causing it to fall to the ground. Her wrist burned slightly, and she dared not pick up the communicator from what she saw of the creature's face. It held the face of the demon from her dream, an emotionless mask of blackened eyes and toothy maw. It's fists clenched as it approached her, its mouth opening. "DON'T TOUCH HER!" Samuru screamed as he jumped over to the creature's side and kicked off the ground, his heel connecting with its jaw, turning its head toward the wall of the arcade when a blast erupted from its open mouth. The Arcade: 11:59 "Guys, something is definitely wrong. Luna and Artemis are missing, as well as all the outers, and even the command center is wrecked. We need to start sticking closer together than before, because I have a feeling we're being picked off one at a time..." Rei explained to them. "...Tuxedo Mask is gone too, so maybe our friend in black knows something about the others..." the muffled sound of shattering glass and screams stopped Rei's words, and when moving toward the front of the arcade to see, the wall that separated the cafe and the arcade disintigrated in an explosion, the blast continuing on a devastating course, hitting the next wall and destroying that as well. The girls ducked for cover, and came back up to see the monster, Ami, and a very messed-up looking Samuru. Blood was streaked down his face and neck, and a look of horror was plastered there too. His kick had hardly made the monster flinch. ----------------------------------------------------------------- TBC.