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Chapter Five

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"Would you look at the size of this place?" Jupiter said in awe. "It's huge!"

Mercury scanned the walls of the enormous room, readouts flashing across her visor. "We're underground," she commented absently.

"What? You sure about that?" Jupiter asked.

Mercury nodded. Her computer beeped insistently, and she frowned. "That's odd," she mused. "It's asking if I want to initiate a download..."

"A download? From where?" Jupiter wondered. She didn't know much about computers, but she was pretty sure it took two of them to download things.

"That's what's strange. It seems to want to download something from the Palace."

"What!?" Jupiter exclaimed. She leaned over the shorter Senshi's shoulder, trying to get a better look. "Should you do it?"

Mercury shrugged. "I don't think there's any harm." She tapped a few buttons, and the screen of her computer flashed brilliantly. After a moment, she made a noise of pleasant surprise. "It's a map of the palace," she said.

"Really?" Jupiter asked. "That's great! We could definitely use that." She paused. "So, umm, where are we now?"

Mercury examined the map in her visor. "Sub-level one...class three training facility," she finished, brow furrowing.

"Class three? What's that mean?"

"Hang on, I'll ask the palace," Mercury said, working at her computer again. Another series of flashes and beeps, and she nodded absently in understanding. "There are three large underground training facilities in the Palace," she told Jupiter. "All placed one level below each other, in ascending class order."

"And what are the class orders?" Jupiter wondered.

"Class three is apparently meant for basic to advanced martial arts training," Mercury said. "In other words, it's a dojo. It appears to be for training bodyguards...or perhaps the palace guards," she added.

"Palace guards? What palace guards?"

Mercury favored Jupiter with the look of a teacher about to give a lecture. "Any palace is going to have a troop of guards trained to protect the nobility living or visiting within its walls," she said.

"But...we don't have anybody except Their Majesties, us Senshi, the—" she paused. Mercury smiled. "Ohhh," Jupiter said at length.

"Right," Mercury said. "There are at least four people out there suitable to become palace guards if they decide to stay."

"Okay, I get it. So what's class two?"

"Class two is for high-level soldiers with special abilities. A sort of elite force."

"That's us, right?"

"No," Mercury said. "We're class one." She smiled. "That's why our training room is at the bottom...we're likely to do the most damage."

Jupiter grinned. "Why don't we poke around these training rooms a bit?" she suggested.

"Good idea. I doubt I can find out everything just by asking the Palace," Mercury agreed. "Then we can go look at your favorite part of the palace."

Jupiter raised an eyebrow. "I have one?" she asked.

"The kitchens," Mercury said, winking. Jupiter grinned.

A fourteen-year-old girl was lost in her thoughts as she walked down a quiet street in Juuban. *I haven't seen him for...how long?* she wondered. *I wonder if he still remembers me...or if he has a girlfriend...what if he does have one...? I...* She blinked as she realized she'd just walked past the house she was headed for. Cursing under her breath, she backed up and headed up the walk, ringing the doorbell of the Tsukino residence. She waited a few minutes, then rang it again.

"That's strange," she muttered five minutes later. "Nobody's home." She then glanced off towards the center of town, where the enormous crystal spire which had appeared a few hours ago stood. "Of course, they're probably down there in that big crowd, looking at the crystal..." She giggled. "Yeah, that's exactly where Shingo would be."

Kayama Mika turned around...and screamed as a small cloud of shadowy fog rose up from the sidewalk and engulfed her.

Venus and Pluto had emerged from the throne room into a section of the vast, beautiful courtyard surrounding the rear half of the palace. A three-meter-high wall surrounded the courtyard on all sides, but both Senshi knew that the locals would try to get over that wall if they could. Still, nobody had come over yet, so they walked about leisurely.

"Reminds me of the temple gardens," Venus said. As she spoke, a sound from above startled her. She looked up, into the branches of a beautiful tree that seemed to have absorbed some of the Palace's power into itself, as its bark had turned a soft silver color and its leaves were rich and vibrant. Something rustled amid the leaves, and a single crow hopped down from its perch, peering curiously at them.

"That's because it is," Pluto said. "See? That's one of Rei's crows."

Venus blinked. "So the gardens stayed intact?"

"All of the temple stayed intact," Pluto said. "It's just that the Palace transformed it into crystal and grew around it."

"Oh, I see." She looked towards the rear of the garden, and noticed a beautiful building, which despite having turned to crystal, was still built in the traditional style. "Hey...isn't that...?"

Pluto nodded. "The shrine's living quarters. It seems the palace decided they would look better over there than in their original position," she quipped. Venus giggled.

The two Senshi walked over, and slid open the door. "Well, we don't have to wonder what happened to any of the furniture or stuff from Rei's place anymore," Venus smirked. The interior of the building had been 'redecorated'...or, to be more precise, all the interior walls had been removed, save for two walls in the back corner, enclosing a small space. The remaining large room was piled with the furniture, appliances, clothing, and personal effects Rei, her grandfather, and Yuuichirou had at the shrine. "I wonder what's back there?" Venus mused, stepping over to the enclosure.

When she opened the door, she was greeted by a roaring fire in a shallow pit. She blinked. Pluto walked up behind her, and chuckled. "Mars will be pleased to learn that her sacred fire is still burning."

Endymion had taken a cue from Serenity and had begun mingling with the civilians. Currently he was talking to Yuuichirou and a grinning Motoki.

"So...King Endymion," Motoki said, chuckling. "I always knew you would be good for something someday. I sure wasn't expecting it to be this, though..."

Endymion laughed. "I've learned to expect the unexpected. When you wake up one day and suddenly realize you're Tuxedo Kamen, reality sort of takes on an entirely different meaning for you."

Motoki smirked. "It must have been a lot of fun when you found out who Sailor Moon was..."

Endymion chuckled. "That, my friend, is a story for another time." He frowned. "You're not planning to stay here, are you? I mean, you've got family, and Reika..."

Motoki shrugged. "Honestly? I want to stay. I feel like this is the beginning of something truly wonderful. But I do need to contact them before I make any permanent decisions." He was silent for a moment.

"You're worried about what Reika will think," Endymion said.

Motoki shook his head. "I think I can probably convince her to come here too. I mean, something like this would be an archaeologist's dream come true, right?" He sighed. "But if she doesn't like the idea of living in the Crystal Palace, then I'll have to leave."

"So you really don't know what to do yet," Endymion concluded.

Motoki sighed. "I don't suppose there's any way a guy from the Crystal Palace can walk among the citizens of Tokyo normally?"

Endymion shrugged. "We won't really know that until somebody goes outside the palace," he said.

Motoki nodded thoughtfully. "Of course, the real question is: how to get out of here without getting mobbed...?"

"I'm sure we can think of something," Yuuichirou put in. "Maybe the Senshi will find some kind of teleport?"

Endymion shrugged. "It's possible. What about you, Yuuichirou?"

"You have to ask? I'm staying," the acolyte said. "I've been with Hino-jiisan and Rei-san for so long, I don't think I could be happy being someplace without them." He paused. "I don't know what it is I could do here, but I'll just have to roll with the punches."

"It's beautiful," Neptune commented as she and Uranus strolled through the gardens. They had emerged into the side of the courtyard opposite Pluto and Venus.

"That it is," Uranus agreed. "Hmmm...what's that over there?" she asked, pointing to a structure half-hidden behind the central tower of the palace.

"Let's find out," Neptune said, picking up the pace. In a few seconds, the two Senshi had rounded the bend...and gasped. "Incredible..."

"Sure looks familiar, doesn't it?" Uranus commented. Before them stood a small replica of the royal palace of the Moon Kingdom, from the Silver Millenium. The domed ceiling and columns, though crystalline instead of marble, and only about half again the size of a tool shed, were unmistakable. A soft glow illuminated the main entrance.

"Wonder what's in there?" Neptune asked.

"Only one way to find out," Uranus said, jogging down the walkway into the domed building.

When Neptune arrived at the doorway, she found Uranus standing there gaping. She took a look around, and her eyes widened in wonder.

The replica of the Moon Palace held a single room with a round floor. The glow they had noticed was radiating from a circle of slowly pulsing, colored lights in the floor around the edge of the room. In the center of the room stood a crystal sculpture of a crescent moon.

Neptune took a closer look at the lighted floor, and realized what she was seeing. Just beneath the surface of the floor, the sigil of each Sailor Senshi glowed softly, surrounding the moon sculpture. "Is this some kind of shrine?" Neptune wondered.

"I don't think so," Uranus said, walking around the edge of the floor until she came to her sigil. Curiously, she knelt down and touched it.

"Uranus! Be careful..." Neptune warned.

The sigil flared brightly, causing Uranus to step back warily.

There was a soft, barely noticable grinding sound, and a low pedestal rose out of the floor where the sigil had been. The sigil glowed brightly now, lighting up the entire pedestal from within. "What the—?" Uranus wondered.

Neptune walked over to her sigil, and repeated the process, getting the same result. She glanced over at Uranus, raising an eyebrow. The other Senshi raised one foot, preparing to step onto the pedestal.

"Uranus! Are you sure you want to do that? I mean, what if that's some kind of teleport? What if you end up floating around a dead planet?"

Uranus frowned. "If these are teleports, then..." She stepped over to the next sigil over, Pluto's sigil, and touched it. Nothing happened, and Uranus smirked. "Still think they're teleports?"

"I'm not sure they aren't," Neptune said, frowning.

"Ah well," Uranus said, "might as well find out for certain..." And with that, she stepped onto her pedestal.

The crescent moon sculpture began to glow, and a column of silver light rose around Uranus, disappearing into the ceiling. Neptune gasped, moving to intervene...inadvertently stepping onto the pedestal that, she thought wryly, literally had her name on it. A similar column of light engulfed her...

Serenity approached Naru and Umino. "Naru-chan," she said softly.

Naru bowed. "Your Majesty," she said somewhat stiffly, causing Serenity to wince. "Gomen," she added in a softer tone of voice. "It's just...you told me everything else, why not this too?"

Serenity sighed. "This was something I couldn't tell you. Enough people were bound to find out who the Senshi were sooner or later, but we didn't need for anyone to know about Serenity until..."

"Until it would be too late to do anything about it?" Naru said bluntly.

Serenity grimaced. "Yes, that's about right." She paused. "Are you still angry with me, Naru-chan?"

Naru sighed. "I'm just hurt that you've been keeping all these secrets from me."

"Are you...are you against me?" Serenity asked softly.

Naru shook her head. "No...never, Usa...Serenity," she said. "I'm sure the entire world will adore you," she added in a somewhat detached tone.

Serenity smiled. "I wish I was as sure as you are," she said. "To be honest, I'm scared. If the rest of the world thinks someone's trying to take total control..." she let the sentence hang ominously.

Naru shrugged. "I don't think you need to worry," she said. "After all, you've got this palace, you've got the Senshi..."

"And I've got good friends like you," Serenity added, hugging Naru.

"Yeah...I guess," Naru said.

"Naru-chan..." Serenity said, holding the other girl's hands. "I...I have a favor to ask."

"A favor?" Naru repeated.

"Hai...I was wondering...if you would be my first-born's godmother."

Naru was shocked speechless. "First-born..."

"Are you pregnant, Serenity-sama?" Umino piped in. Serenity nodded.

"Let me think about it," Naru said. "I...I'll give you my answer later. I haven't...I haven't even decided whether or not to stay yet."

Serenity nodded, and swept away from the couple.

"Naru-chan...you've got to let it go," Umino said.

Naru rounded on him. "How can you forgive her so easily for all the years she ignored us? All this stuff she was hiding?"

Umino sighed. "I'm not happy about it, but I understand." He looked up. "She only did what she had to do. Do you think it's been easy for her, living with all those secrets? I know I couldn't handle it..."

Naru blinked. "I hadn't thought about that..."

During the silence, the one woman who had remained most detached and aloof from everyone else walked over to the young couple. "Imagine," she said. "All those years we thought she was just a lazy, useless crybaby who'd never amount to anything..."

Naru smiled and laughed softly. "Yes, Haruna-sensei...there's certainly more to our old odango-atama than any of us ever knew."

"So," Umino said, "what about you, Haruna-san? Are you planning to stay or leave?"

Haruna shrugged. "What possible use could a teacher be in here?"

The girl's mind had been simple enough to destroy, her soul easy enough to blacken and take into itself.

The entity, that which had searched for energy, an identity, and a purpose across untold kilometers of land and a frigid ocean, now at last had something it desparately needed.

It had a body. A young, strong, human body, which accepted its energy eagerly, yearned to use it.

The shade was reborn into willing, succulent human flesh, and felt more alive and more powerful than ever.

Her senses had heightened considerably, she discovered. The auras of the things and people around her were visible if she concentrated.

She expanded her senses, and felt a pull, an attraction to something about half a kilometer away. It was of modest but noteworthy power, and felt as dark, as evil as her own essence.

This, she decided, was worth investigating.

Shingo had left his parents when they started going on about being too young to be grandparents. He was happy, and looking forward to being an uncle, but he didn't see any reason to go so nuts about it this soon.

He had briefly talked to his teacher, Haruna-sensei, who seemed a bit bitter about the "little baka that used to sleep in my class" turning out to be a powerful queen. He, unlike his sister, was one of Haruna's favorite students, and she seemed to take it under serious consideration when he asked her to stay at the palace. "After all, normal school is pretty much out of the question now," he had reasoned.

"And you want to keep going to school?" Haruna had asked him.

"Hey, it's still important," Shingo had replied. "Besides, there's things we're all going to need to learn about this place, about the past...this place has gotta have some kind of library."

Haruna had considered that, and appeared genuinely enthused with the possibility of learning about an ancient civilization that, up until now, she'd never known had existed. "Still though...Usagi in charge? I don't know..."

Shingo had chuckled. "I know. Then again, she was Sailor Moon. Just think about how many times she's saved people's lives..." He had then left Haruna to mull that over.

Now, Shingo looked around the room, and realized that he more or less knew everyone...except the four women sitting off to one corner. From what he could tell, nobody really knew what to make of them outside of the Senshi and his sister and brother-in-law. Deciding to find out about them, he walked over. "Hi," he said, bowing politely.

One of the women, rather young-looking with sky blue hair, smiled at him. "Hello," she said. "You're the queen's brother, right?"

He nodded. "Hai. Tsukino Shingo."

"We're the Ayakashi Sisters," she said. "My name is Berthier."

The one with the unusual hairstyle...it reminded him of the spore, he realized...smiled. "Cooan."

The third of the sisters to introduce herself had dark auburn hair which was pulled back tightly. "I'm Calaveras," she said.

"And I'm Petz, the oldest," the sister with the greenish-brown hair said.

"It's nice to meet all of you," Shingo said. "Can I ask something?"

Calaveras smiled. "You want to know how we know your sister, the Queen," she said.

Shingo nodded. "Hai."

"It's a long story," Cooan said. "Better sit down." As Shingo did so, Cooan continued, "We're not from around here, originally."

"Where are you from?"

"From the future, actually," Berthier said.

Shingo's eyes widened. "You're joking, right?"

Petz shook her head. "No, we're from about a thousand years in the future."

"So what are you doing here?" Shingo asked.

"Should we be telling him this?" Calaveras interrupted.

Cooan shrugged. "He's bound to hear about it sooner or later..."

"Go ahead, I can take it," Shingo said.

"Okay," Petz said. "You see, we...well, we were seduced into the service of a group of outcasts known as the Black Moon Family."

"They opposed Neo-Queen Serenity, Crystal Tokyo, and everything it stands for," Berthier added. "There was a war, and during the war, the Ginzuishou was lost, the Queen was sealed away in crystal, and Small Lady was sent back in time to retrieve the Ginzuishou of this era."

"Small Lady?" Shingo asked.

"The Crown Princess of Crystal Tokyo," Cooan explained. "I think everyone called her Chibiusa here."

Shingo's eyes widened. "Chibiusa!? The little spore!? She's..."

"She's from the same time we're from, and she's the heir to the throne," Calaveras said.

Shingo gaped. "So...that pest is Usa...Serenity's daughter?"

"That's right."

"Wow...that explains a lot. So what happened?"

"We were sent back here, under the command of this bastard called Rubius," Cooan said. "We were supposed to kill Small Lady and find the Ginzuishou and take it back to the future with us. But the Sailor Senshi interfered."

"And we've been grateful to them ever since," Petz said. "Sailor Moon healed us of the Black Moon influence, made us normal again."

"That's why we were invited to the wedding," Calaveras said, "and that's why we're going to stay here in the palace and serve Serenity-sama."

"I see," Shingo said. "Well, I'll say one thing...she definitely doesn't have any boring friends!" The Ayakashi Sisters giggled at that.

The Sailor Senshi began returning to the throne room, and the fourteen civilians gathered in the formation Pluto had put them in earlier.

"Where are Uranus and Neptune?" Mars wondered.

"Right here, Mars," said Uranus from the door to the courtyard. Everyone looked over in their direction, and blinked.

"What happened to you guys?" Jupiter wondered.

Neptune and Uranus sported dramatically altered sailor fuku. The bodysuit and gloves had changed from white to shimmering silver. Their skirts, collars, and bows were the same colors as before, but the fabric was now shiny and metallic. Their tiaras had become silver, and the stars on their chokers were replaced by their respective sigils, cast in silver.

"You won't believe what we found out back," Uranus said, grinning.

"There's a strange little outbuilding behind the palace," Neptune said. "When we were investigating it, this happened...I'm guessing this is the final increase in our Senshi powers, at least for a while."

"So that's what that is!" Mercury exclaimed. "I wonder why this map didn't tell me about that..."

"Anou...what map?" Venus asked.

"The palace uploaded a map into my computer while we were exploring," Mercury said.

"The palace did, you say?" Luna asked.

"That makes sense...it might explain what we ran into upstairs," Mars said, briefly describing their discoveries. Each team in turn briefed the others on what they'd found.

Finally, Serenity said, "Alright...now we know what's here, and what kind of things we'll be needing." She frowned. "Getting those things, though...that's going to be difficult."

"Not neccessarily," Pluto said. "Unfortunately, the outside world will find out this palace is occupied, but that can't be helped. We can only hope that they don't probe around too much."

"It's for the best that the rest of the world at least knows what we are, if not what our agenda is," Endymion said. "After all, some of us have family on the outside they need to contact." He glanced at Motoki briefly.

Serenity nodded. "That's true. And we don't have an agenda yet," she added, frowning slightly at her husband. "Speaking of which..." she said, switching tracks, "there's the matter of who wishes to stay and who wishes to leave. Have you all decided?" The group nodded in unison. "Alright...how should we do this..."

"Please separate into whatever groups you feel are appropriate," Pluto stepped in smoothly. "When Her Majesty acknowledges you, step forward and state whether you wish to remain. If you are remaining, you must kneel before Her Majesty and swear your loyalty to her." She paused. "Do not take such a promise lightly," she admonished. "Just because we haven't established treason laws yet doesn't mean we don't intend to." There was a distinctively unsettled murmuring at that proclamation.

"Pluto!" Serenity snapped. "Don't scare them so."

The group milled about for a moment. When everyone seemed to be where they belonged, Serenity gestured first at Shingo. Shingo stepped forward, and knelt before the throne, bowing his head. "I pledge my loyalty to Her Majesty, Neo-Queen Serenity," he said. Off to the side, Saturn felt her heart skip a beat. *Shingo-kun...I'm glad...*

Usagi's parents, then Naru and Umino, the Ayakashi sisters, Tomoe-sensei, Hino-san and Yuuichirou, and finally Haruna-sensei all stepped forward and pledged their loyalty to Serenity.

Motoki approached the throne last. "Your Majesties," he said. "I'm going to need more time to decide. I have...obligations out there," he said.

Serenity smiled. "I understand. You may have all the time you need, to talk to your family and to Reika-san."

Everyone seemed more relaxed now. Serenity stretched. "I'm so tired," she commented. Murmurs of agreement rippled through the crowd. "Mercury, could you please show these good people where they can sleep?" Standing, she reached down and took Endymion's hand. "Everyone is dismissed," she said. "If anyone needs anything or has questions, please take it up with one of the Senshi or one of the cats. I don't wish to be disturbed unless it's important," she added. "Endymion and I are retiring to our suite for a brief honeymoon." She winked at everyone before half-dragging her husband to the doorway leading to the tower.

Shingo stood in the west gardens of the palace courtyard, watching the red-orange sun dip into the horizon, already mostly hidden by the outer wall. The fading sunlight colored the crystal barrier a warm orange, fronted by a soft silver wash from the temple behind him. The Sailor Senshi had all gone into the building minutes earlier, and it soon began emitting a steady silver glow from the entrance.

The lights from the temple began to fade, but Shingo didn't notice, as the trees in the courtyard were still reflecting the silver glow. He continued watching the setting sun.

He started slightly when a pair of arms slipped around him, and two silver-gloved hands wrapped themselves around his own. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" Saturn's voice whispered in his ear.

"Hai," Shingo said softly. He broke Saturn's hold slightly and turned around to face her. "But not as beautiful as you."

Saturn blushed. Recovering, she gestured at herself. "How do you like it?"

Shingo looked Saturn up and down, taking in the shimmering silver of her fuku, the glittering purple skirt and sailor collar. "I love it," he said.

Saturn smiled at him. "I...I'm glad you're staying here," she said.

Shingo took her by the shoulders and drew her close. "You didn't think I'd leave and risk never seeing you again?" he asked. "I'm not about to let go of a good thing."

Saturn giggled happily, and leaned into him, hugging him fiercely. He returned the hug just as tightly.

Just as they were about to kiss, a voice interrupted them. "Shingo-kun," Mercury's voice said, "I'm leading everyone to the palace staff quarters now." Realizing what she interrupted, she eeped. "Gomen nasai!" she squeaked, flushing.

Saturn blushed, and Shingo groaned. "Alright, I'm coming..."

"No you're not," Saturn said. She gave him a strange smile. "Not tonight. I'm not letting you go right now."

Shingo blushed. "Hotaru-chan?"

Mercury also blushed. "Saturn! You're not planning to..."

"I'm not ready for that yet," Saturn said, reddening slightly. "I just don't feel like being alone tonight with all the excitement."

"Okay, if you're sure..." Mercury said.

Not replying, Saturn dragged Shingo off towards the palace, giggling.

Luna walked up to Mercury. "They're not going to..."

Mercury shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"Well, I hope they get some sleep tonight," Luna said. "We've got a busy day tomorrow, and..." she paused slightly, grinning wickedly, "Shingo and some of the others might not be too pleased with me."

Mercury looked askance at the black cat. "Luna...what are you up to?"

"My official duty," Luna said simply, looking about as innocent as a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. "As court advisor, it's my job to suggest candidates for the royal guard to Her Majesty..."

Mercury blinked, then giggled as realization struck.

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