The Celestial Warrior

Part Three: Secrets Revealed. Danger Strikes.

\"Let\'s see. I\'ve ordered the cake, so that\'s set. We\'ve got chips,
cookies, fruit punch. Um . . . what else do we need?\"

\"Don\'t let Usagi see all this food, she\'ll want to eat it all,\" Mamoru
joked.

\"She can wait till tonight. Oh, we got to get the decorations up,\"
Raven remembered as she dug through her bag of groceries. She pulled
out streamers and a roll of tape. \"Think you can help me out with
these?\"

\"Sure.\" He took them from her hands and walked over into the main
room. \"Where do you want them?\"

\"Just twist them and hahem hem hang down, you know? Like this.\" She
made a motion with her hand, making low hanging loops in the air. He
nodded his head and started to take the wrappers off the decorations.
\"Now, let\'s see,\" she said to herself as she turned back to her list.
\"Ah, gotta order the subs and pizza. Better do that now.\"

Usagi came out of Raven\'s room after changing out of her pajamas and
into her skirt and blouse. She looked around and saw Mamoru trying to
pull the streamers together. \"Mamo-chan, can I help?\" she asked with
that little twinkle in her eyes.

He was a little skeptical about it, but gave in. \"All right. Hold
these ends for me.\"

\"That\'s all?\"

He nodded. She held them, but it started to get boring just standing
there. She tried making the act of watching his hands twirl the
flimsy paper in the air interesting, but yet there was just so long
she could be fascinated with that. So she let her mind drift,
thinking about how he drew those complicated pictures that were
suppose to be the inner workings of a computer. Or when he tried his
luck in sketching the Tokyo Tower that they always passed when going
to their favorite park. She wondered if there was anything she did
that fascinated him and he could watch for hours. She made a mental
note to ask him sometime.

\"Okay, now I need you to walk over there and hold up that piece your
holding. You can use that chair to reach if you want.\" She nodded
and carefully climbed up on the chair. He walked over with the tape
and broke a piece off. He took her wrist and guided her to where he
wanted to tape it. He reached over, brushing into her in the process,
and taped the paper in place. She swore she could smellognlogne on
him, though she never noticed him wearing it before. But she loved
the scent, and she started to get dreamy eyed again from it. Luckily
she snapped out of it before he saw her drifting off again.

He merely smiled at her, looked over her shoulder to make sure Raven
was still on the phone, and kissed her on the lips. She nearly fell
off the chair, but he caught her. As she recovered, he whispered, \"I
haven\'t done that in a while. It was a little overdue.\" He smiled
again and picked up the tape again. \"Okay, let\'s get the rest of this
stuff up,\" Mamoru said out loud as he helped her off the chair.

Usags sts still blushing furiously. \"Okay,\" was all she could say.

There was a slam from Raven hanging up the phone. \"Idiots! Like I\'m
talking Latin to this morons. You\'d think they\'d get a simple order
right.\" She walked out of the kitchen and walked over to the others.
\"How\'s it going in here?\"

ne, ne, I don\'t think this will take long,\" Mamoru answered as he taped
up another section. \"This isn\'t going to ruin your windows, is it?\"

\"No, I\'ve done it before. A good cleaning and they\'re fine. I\'ve got
to run to the store for a moment to pick up some last minute stuff.
You guys will be okay?\"

\"Sure,\" Usagi answered. Raven went to get her shoes and left the
apartment. \"Mamo-chan,\" she whispered, making sure she didn\'t hear,
\"did you hear anything from Motoki-san yet?\"

He nodded, \"He said he found a last-minute replacement so he\'ll arrive
this afternoon.\" She laughed in delight over that. He watcher
wr
wander off to the kitchen, there was something stiff in the way she
moved this morning. She didn\'t sleep very well either. He walked
over to her, placed his hands on her shoulders and gently turned her
around. There were dark circles under her eyes, and they weren\'t as
bright as they usually were. \"Usako, are you bothered after what you
saw last night?\" She nodded as her eyes darted around, looking for a
bottle opener. \"I don\'t blame you. I was rather spooked myself.\"

\"But who is she? And why is she here? She\'s not evil, because she
can take care of bad guys on her own. But she\'s not completely good
either. We\'re not suppose to kill humans, but protect them. She
killed someone last night, and then made ... whatever that was ... do
what she bided. I\'m scared, and I don\'t like this new senshi.\"

\"I know, I don\'t trust her much myself.\" He sighed, then pulled her
into a hug, ignoring the very cold bottle of pop now pressed into his
stomach. \"But I never expected to find more senshi in the States,
that\'s for sure.\"

************************************************************

\"Will that fit in the trunk?\" she asked as the stockboy dropped the
case of pop into her trunk. She made a mental note to warn everyone
about the over-fizzed bottles when they open it. Sighing, she slammed
the trunk door shut.

\"Are you going to need help carrying that up to your place?\" a voice
said over her shoulder.

Raven whipped around, and was doubly startled. Motoki stood in front
of her, like he never left that rainy day. With a cry she threw her
arms around him, and he wrapped her up in his. \"I can\'t believe
you\'re here! It\'s so good to see you again!\"

\"I was never angry with you,\" he whispered. \"Depressed, but never
angry enough to stay away.\" He pulled away gently. \"How come you cut
your hair?\"

\"Since it turned into this color and it got in my way too many times.
And how come you never changed?\"

\"I don\'t know, just one of those things, I guess.\" He smiled, and
then added, \"We better get this stuff back to your apartment before
anything spoils.\"

\"At this point, I\'m not that restrested in the groceries. But we
better, we\'ve got lots to talk about.\"

**************************************************

After all the decorations were in place, they decided to make some
lunch. Usagi offered to help out in the kitchen, but he\'s seen some
of her culinary disasters. So instead of her blowing up the stove, he
said he would make it. Resigning to that, she went off in search for
some comic books.

Now, Usagi would be the first to admit that she was as curious as the
next kitten, but not unless she was pressured into it. But, every now
and then, she would be overcome and have to see what was about her.
As explexplored the bookshelves, she found a row of scrapbooks. Some
had a few newspaper clippings sticking out, others looked like the
pages were warped. She quietly took the one out with the clippings
and opened it. They were ads of revues she was in, dancing on stage
with some other nameless faces. Another article about her making a
debut on stage, her standing in fishnet stockings and a dancers\' cut
tuxedo, which she found absolutely adorable. Most of these were her
stage articles, which was only half full. She tucked that away and
pulled out another.

This one had photographs in it. It looked like they were taken at
their college. Raven was harder to spot out, because she wasn\'t
wearing her glasses and her hair was longer. There were some taken at
parties, Raven grabbing Mamoru by the face and giving him a playful
kiss on the cheek, and some with the quiet moments with her and
Motoki. She didn\'t look too far into this one, because she knew she\'d
see this one soon enough.

Mamoru was almost done, so she grabbed one more. She opened this one
carefully, hearing the pages crunch from glue. They were magazine
ads. Some were clearly Raven, with the longer hair and contacts, but
wearing makeup that made her eyes stand out. A rather familiar eye
design at that. Egyptian almost. She decided to continue on. The
next page had her and Mamoru, dressed like they were going out for a
night on the town. For a moment, Usagi felt a little jealousy,
because they looked more like a romantic couple than sometimes she did
with him now. But she pushed that away and thought it was a rather
glamorous shot. The next page was with them again, only more casually
dressed. She took a look at the kitchen and then flipped onward. She
found a spot where they were just of Mamoru, dressed in an array of
clothes and studios. Some she really loved, others she wondered why
they dressed him that way. She flipped on, and came to a sight she
thought she would never see, at least accidentally. Some of these
shots were of him lounging in just his underwear. She turned beet red
and slammed the book shut.

He heard the slam and went over to see what was the commotion.
\"Usagi? You okay?\"

\"Uh . . . no, no, nothing at all, really!\" she stammered as she tried
to put the book back on the shelf.

\"You\'re all red, something\'s wrong.\" He the the scrapbook and pointed
at it. \"May I see that?\"

\"Really, there\'s nothing to see,\" she kept saying, but the book was
taken and he flipped through it. She cringed as he suddenly stopped
and started to blush himself. \"I didn\'t mean to see that. I really
didn\'t want to see you like that.\" Oops, correct that, she thought.
\"Not that I wouldn\'t mind to, just not on a page.\" He seemed to blush
further, which made her redder. \"Oooh, you know what I mean, I mean .
. . .\"

He closed the book and held up a hand. Kneeling down, he sat down on
the floor next to her. \"Usako, remember when I told you I did some
modeling to get me money for college?\" She nodded as she twirled a
\'tail in her hand. \"Don\'t worry about this. Many people have seen
this, and I\'m still embarrassed over this. But don\'t worry about it.
I\'m used to having you look around things where you\'re not suppose
to,\" he teased her and made her smile, \"but you probably would have
seen that anyway.\"

\"How come?\" she asked.

\"Well, Raven\'s a joker sometimes, and she might have shown that to you
sometime soon. She sometimes likes to see me shift in my seat.\" He
blushed as he put the book on the shelf again, but not before he tried
to arrange it so that it was harder to find the next time around.

\"Can I say something?\" He nodded, almost afraid of what she was going
to say next. \"Youn\'tn\'t look all that bad in there, I mean the ones
where you were in the suits and that.\"

He smiled and held out a hand to her that she gratefully latched onto.
\"Come on, lunch is ready.\" He stood up and helped her to her feet.
As they walked over to the table, the elevator stopped at their level.
Raven opened the gate while Motoki stumbled in with the case of pop in
his arms.

\"Motoki-san!\" Usagi cried as she saw him.

\"Konichiwa, Usagi-chan,\" he grunted as he shuffled to the kitchen. As
he disappeared around the corner, there was a bang of bottle clanging
against each other.

Raven sighed, \"that\'s the second time those things got rattled.\" Then
shook her hair out. \"Hi, guys. That smells really good.\"

Mamoru just stared at her. \"Raven, I\'m surprised. You got him back
and you\'re acting like business as usual.\"

\"We talked in the car. Not everything, but enough that it\'s like we
picked up where we left off. Great, isn\'t it?\" She gave him a swift
peck on the cheek. \"Thanks for this, Mamoru.\" She grabbed some more
bags out of the car, closed the gate, and carried them over to the
kitchen.

Mamoru just turned his surprised look over to Usagi, who had half of
her sandwich already eaten. \"Do you believe that?\"

She swallowed before she answered, \"No, but eventually that should be
true.\" Then she started on the bowl of chicken-rice soup. \"Sit and
eat, Mamo-chan. This is really good.\" She continued to slurp her
soup down.

As soon as he sat down and started to eat, he swore he could hear
Raven giggling in the kitchen with what almost sounded like kissing
sounds. That\'s not going to last long, I can feel it, he thought.

**************************************************

The evening came quickly, too quickly for Raven\'s taste. She was
starting to lay out some of the food on the tables when the first of
her guests arrived. Mamoru and Motoki were shaking hands with old
friends and their girlfriends, and Usagi was shown off in her pink and
white lace dress she bought in the States. She shyly said hello, and
the girls hustled her off to talk women stuff while the men talked
about their thing.

Raven was adjusting her microphone and guitar when Ricky and Joe
showed up. They used to have a garage band that got together to sing
and play their stress away. Tonight, they would provide some of the
entertainment. At least as long as my voice holds out, she thought
ruefully to herself.

As more people came in, the noise rose over the radio she had set up.
Waves of laughing and murmurs drifted over everything. Even though
the pizza and sandwiches were late, everyone dove for the food right
away. She could even see Usagi trying to snap up as much as she could
before anyone else got their hands on it.

But totally unknown to her, Raven was in the midst of danger.

************************************************

\"Charles, great to see you again,\" Motoki greeted him.

\"Hey, haven\'t see you in a while.\"

\"I live in Japan, remember?\" he said with a laugh.

Charles nodded. \"And . . . Mamoru, right?\"

\"Correct. How are you doing?\" he said after shaking his hand.

\"Doing well. Knees are great after all that football, but the
software shop I own is starting to look good.\"

Ricky joined their conversation. \"Man, I can\'t remember a time where
I didn\'t have to speak really slow English to the two of you. You
picked it up pretty well.\"

\"It\'s called studying, which is something completely foreign to you,\"
Mamoru hit back.

\"Can\'t help it if I\'m good at slacking off.\"

\"Everyone\'s got a talent,\" Charles said with a chuckle and a punch to
his arm.

\"Hey,\" he faked yelling, \"watch the guitar arm there, bud.\"

\"So, what have you been doing all this time?\"

Motoki shrugged, \"I\'m helping my father run the video arcade he runs,
until I get my doctorate, at least.\"

\"Good luck, hope you make it. What about you, Mamoru?\"

\"I\'m still studying too. Engineering mostly. And I\'ve been very
active in lot of stuff.\"

\"Like what?\" Charles asked as he took a sip of pop.

\"Oh . . . things.\" Trying to avoid that answer was like avoiding a
cold after you\'ve sneezed.

\"I\'ve seen your girlfriend over there,\" Ricky jumped in. \"She\'s cute,
but I just can\'t get into that hairstyle. Ponytails, sure, but the
pompoms?\"

\"Actually, it\'s popular in Japan,\" Motoki added. \"It\'s used to just
ball all of the hair up, but she just does it to the tops of her
tails.\"

Charles started to scratch the back of his head. He saw the girl, and
felt there was something he should know about her. He excused himself
and went to the bathroom. As soon as he closed the door, he saw
something sparkling under a washcloth. He picked it up, and
underneath that was a broach. Actually, not a broach, but the broach,
with the seal of the Holy Royal Family of The Moon.

He scooped up the broach, then immediately dropped it as a current of
electricity hit through his arm. The lid popped open, revealing the
precious treasure inside. The Empyrean Silver Crystal. He stared in
wonder at the rock inside, then tried to close the lid with the
washcloth. He didn\'t get shocked that way, so he picked it up with
the cloth and dropped it into his pocket.

As soon as he got out of the bathroom, he excused himself from the
party and left for a special rendezvous.

**********************************************

\"What have you brought me, my darling?\" the goddess said in a whisper.

\"My Queen, I have brought you this.\" With a handkerchief, he withdrew
the broach from his pocket.

With a motion of her hand she made the broach float to her. She let
it float in front of her as she gazed at it with awe. With another
motion, the lid opened and she was nearly blinded by the Crystal
inside. She couldn\'t believe it was in her possession.

The Silver Crystal, the Heart Crystal of Serenity. The very thing her
\"mother\" wanted so dearly that she paid it with her life. She could
use this to her advantage. Either use it against the very line of
goddesses, or crush it and render the line of Serenity useless and
easy to kill.

\"I am honored with this gift,\" she breathed. \"I can do great things
with this one. You have done well. Rest now, while I devise a plan
for tonight.\" He bowed and left the circle of light.

\"Now, my dear Serenity,\" she muttered to herself. \"Are you going to
leave the Paradise and help your little weakling daughter, or are you
going to sit there in comfort and watch your legacy die slowly?\"

A voice came from nowhere, one she didn\'t expect to hear.

\"So has my Daughter killed the evil that was your Mother, so will she
do to you.\"

The goddess nearly shot out of her twisted throne, ready for the kill.
\"Where are you? Show yourself!\"

In a beam of silver moonlight, the pixie-like form of Serenity
appeared and grew into a human sized woman. Standing with her hands
folded over her heart, she lifted her silver colored eyes to the
darkness. \"The Ultimate Plan does not include greed and ambition.
You will not succeed.\"

The goddess threw the broach into a pocket dimension and descended the
few steps under her throne. \"My Mother should have destroyed you,
instead of the flimsy form you carried around.\"

Serenity smiled. \"She did not kill my mortal form. I drained myself
too rapidly before finishing the job. It was my Crystal, yes, but I
never used it for death, as it should be. But it is the goddesses and
gods like you that make us use them improperly.\"

\"I don\'t care about your righteousness and your paths. I do care in
paying the world for my pain.\"

\"You created the pain, yet you make others suffer for it. My Daughter
will not allow that. And neither will my Sister, who has joined
forces with her.\"

\"Sister,\" she hissed. \"You never had a sister.\"

\"My compatriot who had became a sister to me. You know that, do you
not.\" Serenity cocked her head to the side, \"Celestia has awakened.
She has a pain that only your Mother created. Someone will pay, and
you are the next in line.\" The goddess looked panic stricken. \"Irony
is a fickle thing. You want revenge on me through my Daughter, yet
Celestia seeks revenge on your Mother, and you are the next in line.
A web, do you not think?\"

\"Only this time I see myself as the victor, and I will destroy her
completely.\"

\"Your Mother thought the same thing, but she is the one that is in
Oblivion.\" Serenity raised her arms and the beam of moonlight grew
brighter. \"Now to call back what is rightfully mine.\" A clear note
was chanted, and the Crystal broke through the pocket dimension.

The goddess revived from the light. \"Not in my domain.\" With black
lightning, she shot the beams of energy at Serenity and knocked her
over. \"You are in the Dark here, Light has no power here.\"

Serenity tried to shake off the energy drain, and tried to float back
to her feet again. \"I detest violence, which you can imagine my
thoughts of you.\" The crescent moon blazed on her forehead, then she
shot a beam of silver straight into the chest of the other goddess.
She crashed into the steps and laid there for a moment.

The Silver Goddess tried to beckon the Crystal yet again, until
lightning wrapped her wrists up. The goddess recovered enough to call
out more of her reserved power, and with it she threw her into the
wall where she became immediately bound to it.

Snickering, The Dark One stood up slowly and gloated over her capture.
\"This day is turning out better for me than ever. I\'ve got the Heart
Crystal of my Mother\'s killers, and one of them in my prison.\" She
walked up to Serenity. \"I have plans for you. You and those other
fools. And I think I\'ll have that fun now.\"

**************************************************

As the night dragged on, thowd owd started to thin out. Eventually,
it was time to call it a night. Raven was tired and flopped into the
couch, kicking her shoes off. \"This was the best party I\'ve ever
organized.\"

\"Yeah, nothing went wrong,\" Motoki teased as he sat down next to her.

\"Excuse me while I wash up,\" Usagi said as she went to the bathroom.
She closed the door and was about to use the facilities, until she
noticed something missing. \"Broach, where\'s the broach?\" she
whispered to herself as she looked around the sink. It was nowhere to
be seen. \"Maybe it fell in the basket,\" she said as she reached for
it. It was completely empty. She fell into a panic.

Usagi tried to walk out calmly and went to Mamoru, who was picking up
some of the garbage. When he entered the kitchen with his arms full,
she approached him. \"Mamo-chan, my broach is gone.\"

He nearly dropped the stuff he was holding onto the floor. \"Gone?
Are you sure?\"

\"I\'m sure, I checked everywhere, but . . . .\" she was about to cry,
but trying to valiantly hold the tears in. He dumped the stuff into
the can and hugged her.

\"I don\'t think anyone would steal that. It\'s suppose to have a guard
on it.\" He lifted her face up. \"Let\'s try looking for it again.
Okay?\" She nodded sullenly and they walked back to the bathroom.

Raven noticed the look on Usagi\'s face. \"Usagi, what\'s wrong?\"

\"There was something she left in the bathroom that she can\'t find now.
We\'re going to look for it,\" Mamoru answered.

Her eyebrows crossed. \"You don\'t think someone took it, do you?\"

He bit his lip as he tried to figure out how to dance around this
question. \"It\'s . . . it\'s not all that sal, al, but her mother gave
it to her.\" There, he thought, that\'s not too much of a lie.

\"Let me know if you do,\" Raven said.

He nodded as he took Usagi\'s hand and walked to the bathroom. He
closed the door so Motoki and Raven wouldn\'t hear their conversation.
\"Where did you last put it?\"

\"Here,\" she pointed. \"There was a washcloth over it, but it\'s been
moved over here.\"

He rummaged through bottles and cabinets and came up with nothing. He
knelt down and looked all over the floor and still nothing. Usagi was
still sniffling as he stood up again. \"It\'s not here, isn\'t it?\" she
whimpered. He hung his head and shook it. \"What am I going to do?\"

He thought for a moment. \"Is there any way to contact your mother.
Serenity, I mean. Maybe she can help you?\"

\"I don\'t know. Usually she came to me when I was in trouble. And I
really need the Crystal in order to contact her.\"

Mamoru opened the door and guided her to Raven\'s room for some
privacy. He closed the door and locked it as quietly as he could.
\"Maybe she\'s be able to contact you now. It\'s secluded and you should
be able to focus your power.\"

\"I\'ll try.\" She pulled the curtains open and opened the window. Scoulcould see the moon on the clear night, a half moon. She wouldn\'t have
all of her powers yet, not until the moon was full. But this was
urgent, and the call needed to be heard.

Usagi kneeled in front of the window, hands folded like she saw her
distant mother do so long ago. In her mind, she called her mother\'s
name, and waited for the answer.

Mamoru sat on the bed, his chin resting on his folded hands, and
praying in his own way.

****************************************************

Raven saw them enter her room and heard the door locked. \"Something\'s
definitely wrong here.\"

Motoki nodded, \"Especially with Usagi. She\'s really depressed.\" He
looked at his watch, \"But I\'ve got to get going myself. I\'m going to
head for my hotel room.\"

They stood up and walked over to the elevator. \"Do you need a ride?\"

\"No, I can take a taxi. Besides, I think you\'re going to be needed
here.\"

\"Yeah, I guess so.\" Then Raven started to rock back and forth on her
toes, and sign of her being unsure of her next action. \"Want to do
something tomorrow?\"

\"Of course.\" As the car reached her level, he opened the gate. \"So
I\'ll see you tomorrow. One in the afternoon?\"

She nodded. Before he entered the car, Motoki wrapped his arms around
her in a hug. They pulled away a bit, then drew her closer for a
kiss. She willingly went into his embrace, and when it was over she
was sorry the moment was gone. He entered the car as she closed the
gate.

As she walked back into the main area of her apartment, a chill flowed
through her. She looked around, wondering if a window was left open.
But everything was shut. Evil. That\'s what the feeling was.
Something was coming, but if it was for her, she wasn\'t sure. Braced
with a wide foot stance, she prepared for the worse.

***************************************************

Usagi kept calling, but there was no answer. She could feel the
crescent moon burning through her forehead, almost trying to touch the
faraway moon. It was a sure sign that she was doing this right, but
there was no response. \"Nothing,\" she gasped in a stifled tear.
\"She\'s not there.\"

Mamoru could feel the hair on the back of his neck nearly standing on
end. There was something terribly wrong with all of this, and it was
starting to approach them. \"Usagi, something\'s coming, but it\'s not
your answer.\"

She spun around on her knees, the tears starting to glisten on her
face. \"What, what is it?\"

\"I don\'t know, but it\'s coming.\" He stood up and went for the door.
\"We better warn Raven.\"

She got up and stood before him. \"We can\'t tell her about our
identities. We just can\'t! She might not even believe us.\"

He placed his hand on her shoulders. \"I know. But we can\'t allow her
to be jeopardized over us either. Let\'s go.\"

***************************************************

Raven could feel electricity in the room. Wind from nowhere whipped
her hair about as she scanned the area. \"Whatever you are, you have
lots of nerve coming into my abode.\"

Dark laughter boomed from the ceiling. She looked up and saw a woman
form and fell to the floor. The intruder stood a bit of a distance
from Raven, and everything about her was arrogance. She had long
black hair with a white stripe running down the center and coloring
the tips. Her skin was practically translucent, with pupil-less red
eyes, sharp black eyebrows, a sharp thin nose, and pale lips. She
wore a black bodysuit with red trim and a cape that had the corners
attached to her wrists. She smiled wickedly, revealing the sharp
vampire-like teeth.

\"And what are you?\" Raven asked, unimpressed.

She laughed again, and Raven was actually surprised that she had a
real forked tongue. \"I am the one you seek, Celestia. Hurt so many
centuries ago by Metallia, seeking revenge on her death. Well, you
have a chance, but you\'ll not win.\"

Raven puzzled over this, \"I don\'t understand.\"

\"You spent too much time in that shell. I am the Daughter of
Metallia. I am Dwersis.\"

It seemed to hit her after a moment. \"Dwersis . . . I have heard of
you. But why are you here?\"

\"I have come seeking the Daughter of my enemy, Serenity. She killed
my mother, and she must pay.\"

\"She\'s not here.\"

\"Yes, I am.\" Usagi said as she joined Raven.

Raven looked around, \"What the hell are you talking about? Did you
eat too much.\" Then she saw the crescent moon still sparkling on her
forehead. \"The hell . . . .\"

\"Why is she here for you, Raven?\" Usagi asked.

\"Go and tell her,\" Dwersis hissed.

\"Stand back,\" Raven commanded Usagi. She did so, bumping into Mamoru.
\"By the powers of the universe, I call upon you to give me form. Let
the power come forth!\"

Lightning crashed outside as the red spiral galaxy appeared on her
forehead. Clothes melted away and reformed into the senshi uniform,
the galaxy appearing as the center of her bow. Her hair lengthening
and changing into the color of lava. Her eyes turning blood red and
gaining the markings of one of her previous lives to rim them.

Usagi felt Mamoru\'s arms tighten around her. He was just as shocked
as she was. Raven was a goddess too. And not just any goddess. She
was Celestia, the one they saw kill people and command their souls.
Both of them could\'ve been knocked over with a feather at this time.
\"Raven-chan,\" she whispered.

Celestia turned to her, red eyes burning. \"I guess we both held
secrets all this time.\" She looked down at her hands, like they were
something alien to her. \"I didn’t know until all this started to
happen, and the transformations became more frequent. But I never
thought that a girl as gentle as you would be caught up in this.\" She
turned back to The Dark One. \"Why are you here threatening us\"

\"I have come to exact revenge on those who killed my Mother. That
one,\" pointing to Usagi, \"is the one I want. And you seem to be
protecting her, so you must go also. Light will not prevail in my
coming.\"

\"And I won’t allow that to happen.\" She called forth her sword of
fire, the handle dropping into her hand as if it belonged there. The
flame burst out of the hilt, forming the blade.But But I think there’s
something else that you’re here about.\"

\"No one could ever accuse you of never thinking. Yes, there is
something else. I believe you’re looking for something, little
princess. Could it be something like this?\" Dwersis opened her
pocket dimension and pulled out the broach. Usagi gasped and nearly
bolted for it until Mamoru held her back. \"Right that you should hold
her back, because without this, she’s powerless.\" She turned her
attention back to the goddess before her. \"You think you’re good
enough to beat me? Then take it from me.\"

Mamoru walked to Celestia’s side, still holding his love. \"This is a
trap. I’m sure you can see that.\"

\"Of course I can,\" she hissed back at him, \"but the Crystal cannot
remain in her power. You know that well, Endymion.\"

Again she used that name, he thought. It’s still hard to think that
this is my normal everyday friend still standing before me. \"I can’t
help you. The Crystal is the only thing that can bring me back to
myself. I have no power now.\"

\"I do not ask of you to fight my battles. I’ll get it back and we can
be rid of her.\" She pushed him away so that she can continue.
\"Dwersis, you know that I am skilled in warfare. That concept is not
foreign to me. You fight sav savagery, and that never wins.\"

\"Righteous people, that makes me sick.\" Dwersis launched herself at
Celestia, who stepped aside at the last minute and let her crash to
the floor. She lifted her red boot and slammed it down on her prone
back. The Dark One flipped over, grabbed her ankle and tossed her to
the floor, making her lose her grip on her sword.

While the two goddesses were brawling, Usagi slipped away and tried to
grab her broach that was floating above her reach. He spotted her
walking off and joined her. It was too far away even for him to reach
it. So he leaned over and grabbed her tightly around the knees and
hoisted her up. After fumbling a few times, she caught it and he
lowered her back to the floor. Feeling much relieved, she called upon
her powers and became Sailor Moon. And with the change, she then
converted into Serenity, and Mamoru was turned into Endymion along
with her.

The two goddesses were rolling on the floor, each one trying to gain
the advantage over the other, their hands wrapped around each other’s
throats. Dwersis gained the upper hand and smacked Celestia’s head
into the floor. Then she looked up and saw the smaller form of
Serenity standing there, the Crystal in her hands. Endymion, standing
by her shoulder, had his hand resting on the hilt of his blade, ready
for any sudden moves.

Dwersis merely smiled and flicked her tongue out like a snake sniffing
the air. \"You’ve come out of hiding, Serenity. Now I can have the
both of you.\"

\"What do you mean?\" she said, her voice almost completely altered by
the release of power.

\"Your Mother is serving time in my domain. She was foolish enough to
wander in and try to take what I gained. Her powers being so weakened
by the present conditions, she was easy to capture. And now she won’t
be lonely because you’ll be joining her.\"

With that, Endymion pulled out his sword and tried to lop off Dwersis’
head. She stopped the blade with a bare hand, and didn’t leave a
mark. \"You think this sword will stop me? It’s only made by humans.
No affect to someone like me.\" She wrenched it out of his hand and
threw the sword into a wall. \"Now what will you do, human?\" Standing
up, she grabbed ahold of his armor and lifted him off the floor.

Celestia recovered and swung her legs up to hit her in the back again.
She dropped Endymion and fell herself. As Serenity ran over to him,
Celestia picked up her rival, opened a window, and hurled her outside.
She leaned out and saw Dwersis falling, but then she disappeared. She
must have opened a rift to her world, she thought. Closing the
window, she walked back to her friends.

Serenity and Endymion were reverting back to their old selves when she
sat down next to them. \"Are you two all right?\" she asked.

\"e fie fine, except for all the surprises,\" Mamoru whispered. \"I
never would have thought that you and she are the same person.\"

\"I woueverever think of that either,\" she sighed.

\"We must go and save Serenity,\" Usagi said, a tear rolling down her
face.

\"We can’t. Not now.\"

Usagi snapped her head up. \"How can you say that? I can call the
other senshi, we can storm the place like we did with Queen Beryl.\"

\"They won’t be ready for this, just as much as we aren’t prepared
now.\"

\"It’s easy for you to say. They don’t have your first mother trapped
down there.\"

Celestia frowned, \"Don’t judge too quickly. Serenity is my
compatriot, and my Sister in arms. She means everything to me, and I
don’t want her harmed. Be lucky that I was able to distract the evil
so that you could retrieve your Heart Crystal.\"

\"Sister?\" she repeated. \"What do you mean by all of this. Who are
you?\"

Celestia sighed. \"My dear, that’s a long story. And that starts many
years ago.\"


To be continued . . .