"Isn't this a little dangerous, Haruko?" Akiko asked, looking warily over her shoulder as Haruko turned on the giant computer and fidgeted with its myriad switches. "I mean, what if the King and Queen come back early?"

"That's a chance we're going to take," Haruko responded, accessing the record files and moving toward the keyboard in The control room. The tiny pad of arranged letters was almost laughable next to the assortment of huge switches that surrounded it. Haruko's hands moved across the keyboard swiftly as it typed "Councilor Han'i" into the search bar; then she lightly pressed a huge button and the computer began searching its records for matches.

The other three girls paused for a moment; but curiosity overcame nervousness, and they found themselves huddling around Haruko for the best view of the screen, even though it was perfectly visible from anywhere in the room. Seconds later, a list of matches popped up; video files, audio files and text records of the daily events in the castle.

"Alright!" Fuyuko grinned in excitement. "Whazzit say, whazzit say?"

"Well," Haruko replied, "let's try the first match."

Though I hold a mysterious destiny,
I'm still wondering to where I will struggle on, being led by the moon

Listening to a gentle lullaby, I think just a little of the past
It’s full of mistakes and sorrow, but since
You are here, I won't regret it

Though I’m under the pink moon,
I need an even stronger comfort
Even if I make only mistakes,
Say, "I love you," okay?

Shinpi-teki na unmei motsu noni
Tsuki ni michibikarete doko ni tadoritsuku to mada kangaete iru

Yasashige na lullaby kiite kako wo sukoshi dake omou
Machigai mo hiai mo ippai dakedo anata ga iru kara
Koukai-shinai

Pink-iro no tsuki no shita ni iru kedo
Motto tsuyoi nagusame ga iru no
Tatoe ayamachi dake shitemo
I love you tte itte ne

Moon Senshi: Unmei no Kodomo

Episode Six:

"The Honorable Betrayal"

Haruko nonchalantly pulled down another huge switch as the record--this one was a video--fired up. An image quickly appeared in a small window; a tall, attractive man stood before a crowd. The video appeared to have been taken by a civilian, since the quality was a little sub-par, and the view was far from perfect.

"Zoom it in!" Akiko complained. "Can't you zoom it in?"

"Cool it!" Haruko snapped. "I'm not really that familiar with this thing. We usually can't go in here, remember? I only know because the King let me in a couple of times to look at some historical records."

"Why?" Fuyuko asked.

"I don't remember! School project, or something like that," she explained in annoyance.

By the time Haruko had finished her explanation, the figure situated behind the wooden podium had begun to speak. His tone was serious and grave; the crowd looked on in surprise.

"We have lived under the rule of Neo Queen Serenity for over a thousand years," he began. "Our Queen is loved and respected as the savior of us all. But why?"

He paused for a moment; for dramatic effect, Haruko decided.

"The King and Queen constantly evade their responsibilities. They avoid meetings and councils; then, when the Queen finds out that a decision has not gone as she wishes, she whines like a child deprived of a toy until the decision is revoked. Although the Queen pretends to be concious of the wishes of foreign ambassadors, she seldom takes them seriously or listens to their desire to preserve the currency, government, or the structures of their old cities, favoring unecessary changes that she feels are improvements. The countries of the world watch as their cultures fade away, but the Queen sees old culture as something that has merely gone out of fashion. The queen has no interesting in solving the world's problems; she merely nurses public love through superficial kindness, covering a sluggard attitude toward world events with parades, holidays and parties."

The Asteroids looked at each other in annoyance. True, the Queen did favor rebuilding some parts of the cities that were worn out; some of the cities had buildings that were thousands of years old and in danger of falling apart--others were merely out of repair. And the change to the uni-yen, the universal currency, was only natural considering that the world economy was united; and it should be united, now that the rightful heir to Earth was reborn.

"These, however, are merely small faults in the Queen's regime; and though I do not expect perfect rulership, I will not tolerate the unchecked presence of these faults. But these are not the only reasons to question her rule. What about the Death Phantom and Nemesis? We have always thought that the Queen saved us by dispelling these invaders; but in reality, she may have been attracting them as well. After all, isn't Chaos drawn to the power of the Queen's crystal? We like to see the young men and women of Black Moon Family as villains who were easily swayed by the promise of power. But perhaps they were hoping for a change for the better. Perhaps they believed that with the destruction of the Queen, the Earth would be a peaceful planet once again, free of invaders. True, before her time, there were wars and disease; but there was seldom destruction of the horrible magnitude that Chaos has brought to this land not once, but twice! We ought not to stand for the cruelty and suffering she has brought upon us, however unintentionally!"

With this, he swept his right arm outward, attempting to rally the support of the people around him.

"The Queen stands before us as a hero in television, print and even religion, always depicted as a savior. But what kind of savior attracts evil to our lives? The presence of Chaos is practically a convenience to the queen, a way to turn her questionable place as the Queen of Earth into a holy throne that cannot be questioned. That is why--"

The end of his sentence could not be discerned. One man had begun to shout cries of anger against Han'i; soon, the rest of the crowd joined him, raising their fists and chanting for his exit. Han'i paused a moment, his face strained; a dark look of disappointment and hopelessness crossed his face. He backed reluctantly away from the podium, realizing his cause was lost; The crowd seemed satisfied with his exit, and they began to part their separate ways. The video clip abruptly zapped out and the computer returned to the Search screen.

"Who cares about him?" Akiko said in annoyance, arching her read eyebrows in disapproval. "Just some nut with extremist ideas."

"He did have some valid points," Natsuko dissented. "After all, we do know that the Silver Crystal attracts Chaos--and Chaos has brought great destruction to Crystal Tokyo. I can understand why he might mistakenly see the queen as being Queen responsible."

"Still," Haruko objected, "even when it did bring destruction, it was always mended by the Queen's power. If Chaos had attacked and the Queen wasn't there, the consequences would have been much worse. The people of Earth would have been powerless to stop it."

"But if what Natsuko said is true, Chaos wouldn't have attacked earth. If he wanted the crystal, and the crystal wasn't there, then there would have been no point in attacking." Akiko said.

"We can't be so sure," Haruko replied, brushing a stray strand of pink hair aside. "Chaos is a being of pure evil. For all we know, it could have stopped in the area and just decided to blow up Earth for the fun of it."

The four girls paused, weighing this possibility over in their minds.

"In any case," Haruko continued, "I can't believe this is all there was to it. Sure, the speech would be enough to upset the royal family. Even enough to punish Han'i. But it doesn't approach the kind of fuss they were making about it when Seisui came over."

"Well, keep looking, then!" Akiko snapped, shoving aside Haruko and browsing through the documents and video clips relating to Councilor Han'i.

"Lessee..." Akiko began, looking through the titles of the search matches. "Court hearings... booring. Oh, hey, what's this?" she asked, highlighting a document entitled 'Diary Entry: Reflection on the Speech of Han'i.'

"It looks like a page in an electronic diary," Fuyuko observed.

"Obviously!" Akiko sighed in exasperation. "But whose is it? And why is it here?"

"It must be the King's," Haruko theorized. "The Queen would probably use a paper one, and nobody else comes in here enough to write a diary except the King."

"Why would he write a diary?" Natsuko asked.

"Probably for his own records," Haruko explained. "There's probably a lot of things that happen around here that it would be useful to take down, especially in an electronic diary, which isn't as liable to get damaged or stolen."

"Think it's password protected?" Akiko mused.

"Maybe," Haruko replied, "but I suspect not. Not many people go in here; for that matter, not many people can come in here, and the King usually doesn't let other people paw through his records. Even if he did, he'd probably be right there watching them."

"In any case," Akiko said, "There're more diary entries than anything else. There must be almost fifty here!"

"Well, don't waste time going through all of them," Haruko instructed her. "Most of them will just be mentioning some boring meeting before anything having to do with this scandal came up. Look for titles that sound interesting."

"Well, this one looked pretty interesting," Akiko replied.

"Maybe, but I wouldn't bother. This is just about the speech we just saw. There's probably not going to be much that we haven't already heard in here, and I can pretty much guess what the reaction of the royal family was to that. We're looking for something we don't know."

"Jeez, fine." Akiko consented, exasperation evident in her voice. She skipped over about twenty more entries, most of them having do with--as Haruko had said--meetings from before the incident. She was beginning to debate the possibility of telling Haruko that it didn't really matter and that they should just go get something to eat when her cursor highlighted an entry that caught her interest.

"Diary Entry: A Frightening Incident," Akiko read aloud. "What did you think that means, Haruko?"

Haruko roughly pushed Akiko aside as she examined the title.

"I'm not sure," she responded. "The title is vague. Most of the titles were needlessly specific, but this one is just kind of...open ended."

"Well, let's open it and find out what it says!" Fuyuko suggested excitedly.

"Sounds good," Akiko said with a smirk, shoving Haruko aside as she clicked on the highlighted entry. "Lessee here... right... January 25th, 3007."

"Get to the point, already!" Akiko snapped, interrupting the recital.

"Shut up and keep reading!" Natsuko retorted.

"Jeez. Fine..."

There was a long period of silence; none of them could think of anything appropriate to say.

"Well..." Haruko began, breaking the silence. "It certainly explains why the royal family dislikes Han'i so much."

"I'm surprised he got such a mild punishment..." Natsuko observed. "He tried to kill her... how awful. Was that the only way he thought he could win? He was obviously the only one that was unhappy with the Queen. How could he feel justified in killing her when everything he thought was against everyone else's wishes?"

"He probably just thought people were too stupid to understand," Akiko said indignantly. "Most criminals like that do. They justify their actions by believing that everyone else isn't smart enough to understand that they're doing the right thing."

"A lot of people think that way," Haruko responded. "Most people think that they are the only ones who really know what's right and wrong."

"It's impossible to believe that what you believe is wrong," Natsuko agreed with a sigh.

"But what about all those mopey people?" Akiko objected. "People who think that everything about themselves is wrong."

"I suppose there are people like that," Haruko admitted. "People who live in continual self-doubt."

"Or maybe they're just lying." Fuyuko suggested.

"What? You mean, they only pretend to hate themselves?" Akiko asked skeptically.

Fuyuko shook her head animatedly.

"Nope. They don't really believe that everything about themselves is wrong. But everyone else believes that...so they try to convince themselves that what everyone else thinks must be true. But you can't banish a lifetime of beliefs. Everything you think is built on what you were taught before, and many of those lessons aren't forgotten that easily. So you can be honest to your own beliefs, and live with the hatred of other people...or you can live pretending you have their beliefs, killing yourself because it goes against what you have learned to believe is moral and just."

"That was... really confusing." Akiko replied.

"I think I kind of get it," Natsuko said. "If I think about it long enough."

"I think that would just make me even more confused..." Akiko disagreed.

"I don't think even Fuyuko understood what she just said," Haruko told them. "So there's no point in us thinking about it, either."

"That's not true!" Fuyuko stubbornly replied, "I knew exactly what I was saying. I'll even--"

"Wait!" Haruko interrupted her.

"Huh?"

"Shut up!" she repeated.

"But what are you--" Fuyuko began.

"I thought I heard something!" Haruko interrupted her. "Shut up, the lot of you."

Haruko ran up to the door, pressing her ear against the smooth, cool surface. She tried to concentrate on the noise outside; and sure enough, faint voices and footsteps could just barely be discerned through the door. And, Haruko thought anxiously, they were coming this way.

"Crap."

"Are we gonna get caught?" Fuyuko asked fearfully. "Who is it?!"

"I don't know," she responded. "I can't hear who it is, only that they're there. I don't even know if they're coming in here, but with our luck, they probably will."

"We should hide somewhere, shouldn't we?" Natsuko suggested.

"Where are we going to hide? If we leave, they'll definitely notice us. And there's certainly nowhere to hide in here."

"Well, shut up, anyway!" Akiko retorted. "We don't want them hearing us, at the very least."

The rest of them evidently agreed with her motion, and stopped talking.

"Absolutely not!" Endymion shouted, pushing the huge double doors to the control room wide open. A short, well-dressed man accompanied him. He had dirty blond hair, neatly trimmed but greasy.

"But Your Highness--"

"You know how Serenity and I feel about this. I don't care how horrible the criminal is. My conscience absolutely forbids a death sentence for anyone, no matter how severe the crime!"

They paused for a moment; Endymion surveyed the room and looked very disapprovingly toward the Quartet.

"What is this?" he asked. "What are you four doing here...? Whatever happened to being sick with a headache?"

They all turned guiltily toward Haruko.

"Haruko? Was this all your plan...?" he asked, dismayed at her blatant disobedience.

"Well... sir..." she began nervously.

Endymion, ignoring her reply, glanced at the screen. "These look like my journal files. Why were you going through my diary entries?"

"We wanted to know... about Han'i. We thought we could help Usako..."

"If you want to help Chibi-Usa," Endymion lectured them, "you'd best stay by her side and protect her, as is your duty. Rifling through the past is hardly going to help anything that's going on now. If anything, I would see this as neglecting your responsibility as her Sailor Guardians. Chibi-Usa is in a lot of danger right now. She can't do all of the work herself, and Helios is hardly fit for combat."

"We don't have any opportunities to help her," Haruko explained in frustration. "She doesn't give us any. She thinks that she can make the Moon Senshi see things her way. Even worse, she thinks that Seisui is her friend. We tried to tell her how dangerous it was, but our warnings only angered her, and made her unwilling to accept our help."

"And how did you think going through my private documents was going to help you?" Endymion asked in annoyance.

"I've always thought that everyone was a little too worked up over Seisui and her father. So I thought there must have been something important that we didn't know about; something that would merit that kind of response. Now that I know what kind of criminal Councilor Han'i really was--"

"Just what entries have you been reading, that you know about that?" he asked her in anger.

Haruko didn't say anything; she didn't have to, because Endymion knew soon enough. He walked briskly toward the computer screen; this time, he made a point of reading the text on the monitor. After that, he could tell well enough what Haruko had been looking at. He quickly pushed a button and the screen blipped off. Then he turned around and looked upon them in grave judgment.

Akiko clenched a fist and looked bravely back at him. "It was wrong of you to keep Usako--Lady Serenity--in the dark like this. Because of it, Seisui may end up killing her! None of us had any clue how dangerous Councilor Han'i was. Whatever we already knew about him, none of us thought that he would--"

"I'd prefer you didn't speak of that," he said firmly.

"It's the truth, isn't it...?" Akiko replied in annoyance.

"Whether it's the truth or not is none of your concern. It's not your place to make judgments on whether any of my decisions are right or wrong, especially not when you've decided to make some questionable decisions of your own."

How could he criticize them for rummaging through his files, Akiko thought, when he persisted on keeping them in the dark? Especially on an important issue like this. No, this was definitely one thing she was not going to let go.

"How about this?" Akiko proposed, her voice teeming with scorn. "How about you tell us why the hell you didn't tell Usako about Councilor Han'i--especially when you found out about Seisui. If you do, we'll go back to school, be nice little guardians, and never mention it again."

"What are you doing, Akiko?" Natsuko asked in fearful shock. "This is our King!"

Endymion paused for a moment; his resentment subsided a bit, though he still had a look of dissatisfaction on his face.

He sighed. "If you already know I've been hiding this from Chibi-Usa, I suppose it's better that you understand why. Therefore, I shall explain myself; but you will not be returning here again--and I expect you to attend properly to your duties guarding Chibi-Usa from now on."

The four girls nodded, anxious to hear his explanation.

"As you know, Chibi-Usa was still in the past when all of this happened, so hiding the truth from her wasn't difficult. I probably should have told her, you're right; but as well as the anger that I felt toward Han'i, I also felt...I felt a little ashamed. Neo Queen Serenity has beaten Chaos many times, even in his most powerful forms. But Han'i wasn't Chaos; he wasn't even a Senshi. He was mortal. And while I have respect for my citizens, no mere human should have been able to come that close to killing the Queen. The wound that ran down her shoulder, even with rapid healing times, wasn't gone for months. She lost a huge amount of blood; it was difficult to find the supply we needed, and we didn't want to ask the public for fear the incident would be revealed. The royal family was shocked that something this extreme could have happened; and it wasn't only because he had come so close to killing the queen. He questioned her power without being brainwashed or corrupted; true, Serenity sometimes suffers from criticism, but it was shocking that someone hated her enough to murder her. I know her, and I know how much she loves her people. If people realized the mortality of the Queen, I thought they would lose faith in her. It was hard enough that what he was saying about Chaos and the Death Phantom was partially true; but it was even worse that he came so close to showing the world that her power and strength were within mortal reach. I would like to believe that people would stay loyal to the Queen because of their love for her, but..." he trailed off; his eyes became tired and resigned.

"But what?" Natsuko encouraged him to continue.

"The public is not what we thought it was," Endymion explained. "When we first began to rule Crystal Tokyo, we believed that the people were steadfast in their beliefs and strong in their morals. But people are fickle. Their respect for the queen and her power remains strong, but their faith in her beliefs is waning over the generations. Eternal peace and happiness eventually become hard for people to accept. Especially when that happiness becomes increasingly hard to maintain."

There was an awkward silence; even Haruko felt a little sorry for having looked through the files.

"But what about Lady Serenity?" Haruko finally asked, breaking the silence. "Queen Serenity is her mother. Surely you didn't think she would lose love and respect for her own mother...?"

Endymion paused for a moment; he gripped his scepter tightly. The light of the control room shone dimly on his golden crystal, causing small reflections to travel through its hazy golden center.

"....Chibi-Usa and Usagi have nearly identical power. They manifest themselves somewhat differently, but their source and their strength are the same. If Queen Serenity's power were to fail so easily, how would Chibi-Usa feel about her own?"

"Is that really it, though?" Fuyuko questioned. "After all, the Queen didn't even have time to retaliate. I'm sure Chibi-Usa would have understood that. Maybe there's another reason that you're thinking of...?"

"What do you mean?" Endymion inquired, his voice defensive.

"Maybe you were afraid Chibi-Usa would lose faith in Neo Queen Serenity and you," Fuyuko clarified.

"Why would I think that?"

"Chibi-Usa continues to grow away from your influence. I'm sure that both Helios and her training in the past have given her new confidence in her abilities. Even now, you see her questioning you, disagreeing with your decisions or becoming reluctant to accept them. Maybe you were uncomfortable with how she would react if she knew the power of the Kingdom had temporarily faltered? Maybe you were afraid she would lose respect for you, especially once she had reached an age where she was old enough to begin questioning you," Fuyuko continued.

"Questioning is only natural for her," Endymion responded. "Teenagers are always questioning their parents and their motives. Moreover, I hardly think something as serious as an attempt on Usako's life would encourage Lady Serenity to question parental authority--her first concern would be for her mother's safety. In any case, Chibi-Usa loves us; I know that beyond all doubt. Knowing about Han'i couldn't change that. "

"But that bond is breaking," Fuyuko said slyly. "Just look at Black Lady--then Helios, who she confides in before she would ever think of talking to you. And now, with Seisui--"

"That's enough, Fuyuko," Endymion told her. "Your past sometimes has disturbing ways of resurfacing."

Fuyuko lost her slyness; her face paled a bit and a grave expression crawled across her face. The memories of Neherenia, though distant, were still uncomfortable; and while the circumstances of the four girls had changed, their personalities had remained largely the same.

"I think I've explained myself far more than any of you needed to know. If I ever find you in here again, you can be sure the outcome will be very different. Now go back to school; Chibi-Usa needs you to protect her."

The Sailor Quartet nodded and left the control room without protest. Haruko was merely feeling thankful that things had gone as well as they had; and now she could convince Chibi-Usa to stay away from Seisui.

Endymion watched the Quartet gravely as they shut the door behind them.

"Was that really wise of you, sir?" the man asked, stepping forward.

"Yes, it was..." He told his councilor. "There was little I could have done in that situation that was wise. I think I choose the best outcome available to me."

"Perhaps you should lock the room, your Highness."

"That is exactly what I intend to do, Councilor vonDarkmoor. I also plan on locking everything else, including the windows to the Palace and the records on this computer. We've come to a dangerous time, I'm afraid. I may not be able to keep the Moon Senshi out, but I can at least keep out anyone else who they might give ideas. As for the Moon Senshi themselves, I've done as much as I can. Everyone is on their highest guard, and the Sailor Quartet should be especially watchful of Usako now that they know the truth about Han'i."

Endymion walked over to the computer; he punched in several commands, activating the locks and passwords in the Crystal Palace.

"You're a man who is very protective of his family, your highness," Councilor vonDarkmoor reflected.

"Yes," Endymion replied, "as is my duty."

"I never realized it," Sailor Phoebe said angrily, her voice calling across the yard. "Not until now. It was you."

She paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. "You killed me."

"What are you doing, Sailor Phoebe?" the Crimson Eagle cried, walking toward her and pulling out his sword. "We're trying to create peace between the senshi, not further the conflicts between them!"

"She killed me!" Sailor Phoebe shouted. "I remember it now. Sailor Saturn drowned me. She could have killed me quickly, too, could have just run me through--but she drowned me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sailor Saturn interjected, "I've never seen you before today. I've never drowned anyone."

"I imagine you don't remember," Sailor Phoebe bitterly retorted. "After all, what was another life to you at that time? You killed many, many more Moon Senshi than you keep track of, I'm sure."

"I didn't even know the Moon Senshi existed before Sailor Pinkmoon told me about them," she replied calmly.

"Sailor Saturn wasn't alive during your time." Sailor Pinkmoon explained. "None of us were! Whoever did that to you, it wasn't us."

"How would you know? You certainly weren't alive back then," Sailor Phoebe nervously replied.

"If you tell me more, I might be able to find out the truth behind who really killed you," Sailor Saturn informed her. "If you blindly attack me, nothing will come of it."

"Shadow dragon!" Phoebe shouted, backing up somewhat nervously as a dark, smoky dragon hurtled toward Saturn.

"Silence wall!" Sailor Saturn cried in reply, the dome-like shield dispersing the shadow like a stray cloud.

"What do you think you're going to accomplish?" the Crimson Eagle asked her. "You aren't going to solve anything through this fighting! No matter how many times you attack her, it isn't going to change what happened in to you the past. You could be stopping this conflict, and instead, you're perpetuating it!"

"You have no right to ask me to stop," Sailor Phoebe angrily replied. "Nothing will come of your blind pacifism. You pretend to be stopping the conflicts between the two sides, but you never do. You just want to gratify your sense of justice by pretending that you can."

"I simply have no desire to harm where it is unnecessary. But whatever you think of my ability to resolve this struggle, It would be in your best interest to stop fighting. I doubt that you could hope to win against Sailor Saturn--or any of the other planetary senshi, for that matter."

Sailor Phoebe paused. Sailor Saturn was undaunted and unscathed; her glaive was still poised firmly in one hand, as though it were mocking Phoebe where she stood.

"I have as much power as she does!" Phoebe nervously replied.

"But do you have the strength to wield it properly?" he asked her.

"I do...I could."

"Even if you could, your energy could be better spent. Killing people helps no one. As I've told you, killing her won't change--"

"That's easy for you to say!" Sailor Phoebe snapped. "You weren't drowned. Your mother wasn't poisoned by--by her!"

The Crimson Eagle gripped his sword tightly. "And what do you know of my struggles? Were you there to witness them? How can you be so egotistical as to assume your problems are worse than mine?"

"How can you be so idealistic as to think that everyone will get along if you stand between them?" Sailor Phoebe asked.

"Even if I can't force people to get along, I can protect them from each other as long as I stand between them," he explained. "But you're only trying to divert the problem away from yourself. Why do you insist on using other people's faults to justify the presence of your own?"

"She may feel helpless to correct her own faults," Sailor Saturn answered him. "Finding more severe defects in other people may be a way of consoling herself."

Sailor Phoebe paused; anger and annoyance welled up within her. "Why do you think you know who I am and why I feel the way I do? Why should I place blame on myself when the problems are not my own? Why do people question me, when Seisui, who is cheating, fake, deceptive and cruel--is loved, pitied, given understanding?" she shouted angrily.

Usako had heard this before somewhere. Where? Whom?

"Don't talk to me about self-hatred! I know more about that than you'd ever dare. And it's none of your business, anyway. Seisui gets everyone's sympathy because of what happened to her; not that it was even that bad."

"Yamiko!" Usako exclaimed.

Sailor Phoebe paused, a frightened expression on her face. "Shadow dragon!" she shouted, the creature spiraling toward Sailor Saturn.

"Silence wall!" she shouted in reply, the creature dispersing once more. This time, she moved forward, her glaive held out. Sailor Phoebe thought about running away; but the cold, glaring thing before her, a nightmare from her past, paralyzed her with fear. Soon, it was poised in front of her throat; the glinting blade filled her with nauseating terror. Sailor Phoebe could feel shadows around her melting away, and the humble presence of her school uniform folding against her once more.

"It is Yamiko!" Sailor Pinkmoon said, surprised that she had been correct.

"Do you know this girl?" Sailor Saturn asked her.

"Yes. She, along with Tokimo, used Seisui. Seisui has a weak will because of the torment she suffered in her past; Yamiko and Tokimo took advantage of that. Or at least, that was the way I had understood it. Yesterday, Yamiko told me that wasn't true."

"Because it isn't true," Yamiko snapped. Her fear of the blade was crushing her; but Sailor Saturn seemed to have no real intention of killing her, so long as she didn't move.

"Then perhaps you could enlighten them," the Crimson Eagle suggested.

"I told you!" she replied in annoyance. "Seisui is Sailor Titan. Not only is she Sailor Titan; Tokimo is Sailor Charon. Are you so blind that you couldn't see them working against you all this time? Didn't you notice it? Just think. Something bad happens to Seisui. She breaks out in tears and asks you to help her. Sailor Charon attacks; then Seisui dashes away in shock...oooh, the poor little thing. Then Sailor Titan mysteriously appears moments later, both of them ready to laugh over your bloody body."

"Don't talk about Seisui that way!" Sailor Pinkmoon shouted in anger.

"But it's true, isn't it?" Yamiko challenged. "It's so easy to say 'Poor Seisui, her dad got demoted.' It's so easy to look at her and sympathize. But think about what she really wants! Sailor Titan wants to kill you, Sailor Pinkmoon. Not overthrow you. Not imprison you. Kill you. She doesn't think about you, doesn't care about you; in her mind, you're just a mindless pit of evil, the same way you think about Chaos. Tokimo is even worse. She doesn't even care if you're evil or good, right or wrong; she just heard that fighting and transforming were involved, and she was won over from that moment on. The Crimson Eagle goes on about how he wants to keep the two sides from fighting--but in my mind, it isn't worth keeping them from fighting. Sailor Titan and Sailor Charon--or Seisui and Tokimo--just want to murder you. They do not care, and never will care, who you are or why you believe what you do. They only care about themselves, and Seisui's father."

"And what about you?" Sailor Saturn asked. "You want to kill me, too, evidently. Why are you any more justified than they are?"

"You murdered me!" she shouted. "Not only that, you all but admitted to poisoning my mother. Do you expect me to just decide 'It's all in the past now'? How would you feel if I killed the people that are dear to you? Wouldn't you want revenge?"

"Don't be so quick to elevate yourself over Seisui!" Sailor Pinkmoon interjected.

"Are you really going to argue that a punishment as mild as demotion is bad as killing someone?"

"Yes, I am!" Sailor Pinkmoon retorted. "And not because he was demoted. Because he was purified!"

Sailor Saturn paused anxiously. Could this have something to do with Seisui? She had mentioned purification before; she seemed to have an unfavorable reaction to it. Could this extreme opinion have rubbed off on Chibi-Usa somehow?

"What do you mean?" Yamiko asked. "What's purification?"

"It's...It's when someone is washed over with the Silver Crystal," she hesitantly replied.

"Washed over?" the Crimson Eagle responded, perplexed. "What do you mean?"

"When someone is purified, we take the Silver Crystal and eliminate the hatred they feel toward others."

"How can something positive like purification be considered a parallel to death?" Yamiko replied disdainfully

"Because it isn't something positive!" Sailor Pinkmoon rejoined. "At least... I don't think it is. Purification...it may be wrong!"

"Chibi-Usa!" Sailor Saturn cried. "How did you, of all people, come to this conclusion?"

"Because of Seisui. I'm not sure yet, but...Seisui asked me something once. 'What would have happened to you, all through your life, if you had no hatred? What would you be like today?'"

"And...?" the Crimson Eagle prompted.

"So I thought about it. For a long time. I thought about everything Seisui had told me about her father, and what had happened to her; I even thought a little bit about Sailor Titan. And I think I've finally figured out what would have happened to me if I had never felt hatred."

"What did you decide, Chibi-Usa?" Sailor Saturn asked somewhat anxiously.

"Nothing," she replied, looking down disgracefully.

"Nothing? What do you mean, nothing?" Yamiko asked.

"I mean--Nothing! Nothing would have happened to me. I hate to admit it, but it's because I felt hatred that I was motivated to go forward. It shames me, but that's what motivates me! Even, what motivates everyone! In a way...it's what moves our lives. I felt horrible for thinking that. I thought I must have been wrong. Even now, I think I might be wrong."

"You're right," Yamiko replied.

Sailor Pinkmoon looked upward in surprise. "What?"

"You're right. Hatred is what motivates people. Just look at Seisui and Tokimo. Look at me; hatred almost always motivates people to move forward. If you took away people's hatred, there wouldn't be anything left," she paused, sounding almost disappointed. "Because that's most of what people have."

"That's not true," the Crimson Eagle replied. "People are often motivated by their desire to do good."

"Like you, you mean?" Yamiko asked cynically.

"Are you suggesting that I am motivated by something else?" he replied.

"Yes. I think you're motivated by an misplaced sense of duty. By your ingrained need to follow a 4,000-year-old code. You wouldn't let yourself speak to one senshi five minutes more than another, just because of your stupid code of chivalry."

"I chose to follow this code. I simply desire to help thesenshi; I have no other motives."

"Did you choose to follow it? Knights are forced from their birth to follow the code, or so I've been told. It doesn't sound to me like you had a choice at all; more like everyone else decided for you, and you didn't have the courage to stand up to them."

"Cease this," Sailor Saturn commanded. Yamiko, suddenly awake to the presence of the glaive, became subdued.

"Why is it that Tokimo can fight on equal ground with you, and I'm cowering on the ground?" she mumbled.

"Because I let her," Sailor Saturn answered her, though she suspected the comment was rhetorical. "I had no intention of hurting her, and I was able to move around quite freely as long as she was occupied.

Figures as much with Tokimo, Yamiko thought. She had probably been too interested in killing Sailor Saturn to notice anything else that was going on.

"In any case," Sailor Saturn continued, "it might be wise for you to choose your battles more carefully. Whatever your natural powers are, you're too inexperienced to use them effectively."

Yamiko gritted her teeth and resisted the urge to insult Saturn. If it was only a matter of experience, she could have her revenge soon enough.

Sailor Saturn pulled away the glaive and turned toward Sailor Pinkmoon.

"You'd best finish the rest of school; Helios will be worried about you," she suggested. "Sorry I interfered, Chibi-Usa. I know you wanted to fight alone."

"It's all right," Sailor Pinkmoon half-heartedly replied.

After that, Sailor Saturn walked back inside of the school; probably to de-transform, Yamiko surmised. Sailor Pinkmoon followed after her.

"To be truthful, I'm disappointed in you," the Crimson Eagle told her. "You criticize my steadfastness; perhaps understandably, given your own tendency to switch sides. You seem to have made an enemy of everyone."

"Don't be so sure."

"Oh?"

"Purification..." she mumbled thoughtfully. "I wonder...just what does it do to a person?"

"I suppose there's only one way for you to find that out."

Yamiko raised her eyebrows; the Crimson Eagle walked away toward the school, leaving muddy footprints behind in the soggy lunch yard green. Before she contemplated Purification, Yamiko decided, she would need to find out what happened to Seisui.

Prodosia.

"Who's Prodosia?" Seisui asked, her voice echoing meaninglessly into the darkness. "Who keeps saying that name to me?"

A moment passed; Seisui's eyes were overwhelmed with red. Everything, for a moment, became blurry; and then, a red sky, a red earth, and a frighteningly huge planet in the sky. Around the planet's mass, great rings of stone stretched around either side; the graveyard of a thousand meteors.

"Where is this?"

"This is nowhere," a voice replied. Seisui turned; a craggy cliff with a single iron chair lay to her left. Seisui walked toward it, in the direction of the voice. She had been here before in a dream; but the place was far more familiar than that.

"Who are you?" she asked, looking over the cliff and into a mass of dark, cloudy water.

"I am your guardian."

Seisui paused. "My guardian...?"

"But my mother is my guardian...and she..."

"It's you!" Seisui exclaimed. "The sea, and the cliff...from my dream."

"Yes. And the one from your hands."

"My hands?" Seisui asked in confusion, looking downwards. The strange, familiar black liquid began to seep out of them; Seisui backed away in fear as it spiraled into a strange and terrifying man, completely black. A strange robe merged with his skin and swept away from him, back into the cliff; in his hand, he held an inky black halberd that melded into his body like an extension from his hand.

"Who are you?" Seisui asked fearfully. "What are you?"

"I am your guardian," he repeated. "Black Water, the element of Titan."

"An element that speaks, and looks like a man?" Seisui asked.

"Yes. I am everywhere inside of you, in your past, present and future. You spoke to me in your youth, as Prodosia."

"In my youth? Why wasn't I afraid of you?" Black Water, whatever his intentions might be, had both a eerie appearance and a frightening air; Seisui was scared of him now, and she was sure the look of him alone would be enough to upset most children.

"Look at the ocean," he motioned, indicating the sea of darkness behind him. "It was everywhere back then. You came here as a child, seeking refuge from your mother."

"Why?"

"Because of the way she treated you," he told her. "Though after I learned of it, her cruelty quickly ended."

"What?" Seisui asked in confused fear. "Did you--"

"I kill those who are cruel to you," he replied darkly. "It doesn't matter who. I will kill them all."

Seisui was afraid. Was this the power she harnessed? Was this the spirit she called upon to aid her...?

"We are alike," he told her. "We cannot stand to let the ones we love be hurt."

Seisui felt this world melting around her; she backed away fearfully from a new, strange set of surroundings.

"This is...my old house." Seisui could barely remember it, but she recognized the granite floors and large double doors that marked the entrance to her home. Seisui couldn't imagine living somewhere like this now; this house was a house for rich people, and Seisui had lost all of that long ago.

"Is daddy gonna be home soon?"

Seisui turned around; it was her, when she was six. She was standing next to her sister; her sister was thirteen at this time. The same age as she was now, she thought sadly.

"Daddy will be home any minute, Sei," her sister told her, looking down gravely. "So don't get so excited."

"Where did he go, Ana?" she asked. "Everyone's so nervous, but he's just at work, right?"

"No, Sei," her sister replied. "Daddy's gone to court."

Seisui paused. "Hey, Ana," she queried, "Court is where people go when they're in trouble, isn't?" she paused, frowning in fear. "What will happen to him when he goes to court?"

"the Queen will decide his punishment."

"He doesn't deserve punishment!" Seisui protested. "Daddy's nice..."

"Yes, you're right."

"What is the Queen gonna do to Daddy?" Seisui asked her fearfully. "If she does something really mean, I'll never forgive her!"

"Well..." Ana paused uneasily; she was spared the trouble of explaining, however, by the creaking of the hinges on the elaborate double doors. Her father and mother stepped through; her mother, Seisui noticed, looked tired and upset. Her complexion was reddish and irritated; a few stray strands of long, curly hair stuck to her cheeks, the final proof to tell the tale of her tears. She hadn't thought about it when she was little; there were a lot of things she hadn't thought about then. But seeing her mother now, Seisui realized how much she cared about her father. For most of her life, Seisui's mother had tried to convince Seisui that her father was foolish and reckless; really, the reason she said that was probably to keep her from suffering his fate.

"How's Dad?" Ana asked uneasily.

Her mother shook her head.

"Daddy!" Seisui cried, running toward her father and grabbing him happily around the legs.

"Oh, hello, Seisui."

"Seisui?" Seisui repeated, her voice cross. "You're supposed to call me 'Sei.'"

"It would be unfair, wouldn't it?" he replied. "I'm sure all the other little girls in the world would like special nicknames, too, but I can't come up with one for everyone. So it's nicer to them if I just use your full name."

Seisui stopped hugging her father. She backed away and looked up at him; his eyes were glazed over, his expression dazed.

"You're not my daddy!" she said in fear. "Where's Daddy?!"

"I'm your father," he replied. "Don't be silly."

"Where's Daddy?" she screamed, tugging desperately on his pant legs. "Where's Daddy? Where's Daddy!"

"Stop it!" Seisui sobbed, watching her younger form kneel on the floor and sob in fear and sorrow. "I don't want to see this! I don't want to relive this!"

"You tore apart my father!"

"I'll kill you, Serenity...or die trying."

"Vengeance!" "Vengeance!" "Vengeance!"

"What are you doing to me?" Seisui screamed. "Stop it! Stop it!!"

"We are alike. There is nothing wrong with the path you have chosen. Believe that what you've done is right." His voice echoed as Seisui's world turned into darkness. "It hurts to remember, Seisui, but it hurts even more to forget."

To Part B