Some Bad News
-------------

    "He's one of them, isn't he?" Hotaru simply said, looking across
the table at the man sitting next to Setsuna-mama. "One of Rhian's
folk."

    The man smiled, and Setsuna simply finished her drink.

    "I'm right, aren't I?" Hotaru tried again, leaning forward a bit
to press her point.

    "Who else do you think would be able to get my attention," Setsuna
replied dryly, opening up the menu before her and giving it a scan.

    "My full name is Caradawc Llyr," the dark haired man smiled
offering Hotaru his hand. "And I'm very pleased to meet you, Hotaru-
san, very pleased indeed."

    Hotaru recalled her manners and putting a polite smile on her face
reached out to take the offered hand. "A pleasure," she said, unsure
of what else to say.

    "There's no need to look so uncertain, Hotaru-san," the man
grinned back still firmly gripping her hand. "After all, I'm going to
be your... ah..." he scratched his head and looked over at Setsuna.
"Is Hotaru-san your adopted daughter or your ward? You never did
exactly say, Setsuna."

    "It's complicated," the woman replied.

    "Oh," Caradawc shrugged, turning back to look at Hotaru. "Well,
I'll be your 'something'-father then anyway," he finished with a wink.

    Hotaru felt her smile grow somewhat more real. "Actually, my
legally adopted mother is Kaiou Michiru, if that helps."

    "Ah, yes, the violinist," Caradawc nodded in recognition of the
name. "I went to see one of her concerts once. A most gifted young
woman, most gifted indeed..."

    "Hey, you don't play so bad yourself, you know," Setsuna commented
with a raised eyebrow as she looked up from her menu.

    "Ah, but I have had far longer to practice remember," Caradawc
replied back, reaching for his water glass. "That is not talent, just
perseverance."

    "So, you play the violin as well?" Hotaru queried politely,
putting in her two pennies worth.

    "Passingly," Caradawc waved his glass dismissively. "No, for real
talent you have to look to individuals like your mother or Rhiannon.
Now, they are people with a genuine flair."

    At this comment, Hotaru leaned forward in genuine interest.
"Rhian?" she queried. "Rhian plays the violin?"

    Caradawc looked at her, surprised. "Rhian? You mean Rhiannon? You
know of her... Oh, yes. I remember you mentioning something about her
at the beginning. Yes, Rhiannon plays the violin - remarkably well
infact, along with several other instruments. She takes after her
mother in that respect."

    "Olwen?" Hotaru queried, remembering the name of the stern looking
woman she had met this morning.

    "Olwen... You mean you have met her too?" Caradawc raised his
eyebrows and whistled. "You have been honored. But no, Olwen is not
Rhiannon's mother. That was Lady Caridwen Angharad, who was the first
wife of Lord Arawn. She died giving birth to Rhiannon a long time
ago." As he said this, his face grew kind of sad and Hotaru wondered
why, but she made no comment and simply waited to see what else the
man would say.

    "Hotaru," Setsuna finally put in. "These are not really subjects
that I think we should be talking about here, eh? I can appreciate
your interest, but I would much prefer if we spoke about things closer
to home, if you don't mind." And although the statement was presented
as a request, Hotaru knew an order when she heard one.

    "Oh, sorry," she remarked glibly, and reached out to take a sip of
water. "I suppose you're right. This isn't really the place for that
sort of thing, is it?" She paused, and then flashing an evil smile at
Setsuna-mama, turned the tables around. "So, are you going to let me
have all the juicy details on your relationsh..."

    ::Hotaru...::

    Hotaru double blinked. Rhian?

    ::Hotaru... Can... Can we talk?::

    Hotaru looked up startled, and twisted her head around to see if
she could spy out the other girl.

    "Hotaru?"

    "What?!" Hotaru jerked her head around to look straight into the
worried eyes of Setsuna. "Um, I mean, sorry..."

    ::Hotaru... I... Sorry... I shouldn't have... I'll leave you...::
The girl's mental voice sounded confused, uncertain, almost as if she
had just had a nasty shock.

    Rhian, wait! Hotaru scrambled to re-focus her mind. What is it?
What's the matter?

    "Hotaru, what is the matter with you?" Setsuna asserted more
loudly, reaching over to give her dazed looking 'daughter' a shake.

    "Mama, please," Hotaru held up a hand, trying to stop her
annoyance at the older woman from showing on her face. "Just let me be
for a moment will you?" She closed her eyes and concentrated. Rhian,
what is it?

    At first there was no reply, and Hotaru was just about to try
again when a thoroughly miserable voice suddenly came through.
::Hotaru... I've... I've just been told I'm... Oh, Hotaru! I've been
engaged to Owain! It's horrible! He's ancient! Even my real mother was
engaged to him before Father chose her! What am I going to do, Hotaru-
san?!::

    By now, the force of Rhian's "voice" was making Hotaru's head
spin. The power of it was simply incredible, and it was flooding her
mind to the point of insensibility.

    "Hotaru!" Setsuna exclaimed, reaching over to slap the shaking
girl lightly across the face. "What are you doing?"

    "Ouch!" Hotaru complained raising her hand to her stinging cheek
as the jolt of pain returned her to her senses.

    ::I don't want to marry anyone, Hotaru!:: Rhian continued at full
force. ::But father and mother say that I must! That I have too! That
I have a duty! I hate it! Hate it!::

    Rhian! Hotaru sent sharply in an attempt to break through to the
enraged girl. Please! Stop it! You're overwhelming me!

    ::Hate it! Hate...:: Rhian's mental voice abruptly broke off as
the young Avatar realized what Hotaru had said. ::Oh, Gods... Hotaru-
san, I'm sorry... I...::

    Let me come to you instead, Hotaru offered without really
thinking. Tell me where you are and I will try and teleport there.

    ::Try?::

    Heehee, I'm still getting the hang of somethings...

    ::If you're sure, I can bring you here if you want. I...:: Rhian's
'voice' grew slightly thick for a moment. :: Thank you for the offer,
Hotaru-san. I...::

    Silly, Hotaru smiled. Give me five minutes, and then "bring" me to
you.

    ::...:: came the confirmation. ::And thank you...::

    "Hotaru! Speak to me!" a voice suddenly exclaimed in her ear,
making the girl start.

    "Huh?" Hotaru blinked, and found herself looking into the
concerned face of Setsuna - really up close and personal. "Ya!"

    Setsuna fell back in surprise, the voice of her daughter still
ringing in her ears.

    "Mama... Oh..." Hotaru tried an apologetic smile, and then,
without a further word, jumped abruptly to her feet. "Sorry, mama, but
something's come up, something involving Rhi... I mean, a friend. I've
got to go!" It took a moment for her own words to sink in. Friend? But
she had only just met Rhian and the others today. How could she
already consider them her friends? Why?

    "Eh?" a confused Setsuna was in the middle of saying when Hotaru
tuned back into what was going on around her. "What the heck do you
mean - you've got to..."

    "Setsuna," Caradawc laid his hand on the Time senshi's arm. "Let
her go."

    "What?!" Setsuna gave a most uncharacteristic squawk and turned on
the man. "What do you mean..."

    "Trust me," Caradawc just said with a mysterious smile that would
have done the Time senshi proud. He looked over at Hotaru and winked.
"It was nice to finally be able to meet you, Hotaru-san. I only hope
we can do this again, at a more say, convenient time."

    From the knowing look communicated in his eyes, Hotaru guessed
that he had caught some of Rhian's incensed conversation as well, but
she just nodded her apology and shrugged. "Friends can be troublesome
at times, but..."

    "Friends are friends," he finished for her. "Like them or hate
them, they are still friends."

    "Something like that," Hotaru grinned back as her put on her coat.
She bowed once more in apology, "Again, mama, Llyr-san, I really do
apologize for this, but..."

    "You had better have a good explanation for this when you get
back, Hotaru," Setsuna stated coldly. "Or I will use a certain device
to invade a certain person's privacy, and find out what this is all
about."

    "It's a friend, mama," Hotaru said as she straightened, a small
feeling of adolescent rebellion stirring in her gut, "That's all.
Aren't I entitled to my own small secrets as well?"

    Setsuna's eyes narrowed at the slight undertone she heard in her
daughter's voice. "Secrets, Hotaru, can be dangerous. I don't like
them."

    Hotaru had to bite back the scathing comment that popped almost
immediately into her mind at that statement. This was getting her
nowhere. Why did Setsuna-mama think she had the right to know _every_
little secret that was part of her life? Gods! This was partly the
older woman's fault anyway! If she had not...

    "Setsuna," Caradawc took the woman's hand in his own.

    "What?" she asked cooly, breaking her gaze from her daughter and
staring back at her fiance.

    "Do you trust Hotaru?" was his simple question.

    "Of course I do," Setsuna replied back tartly. "But..."

    "Then let her live her life, eh?" the man said calmly without even
missing a break. "She's a big girl now and does not need you trying to
protect her from every little thing."

    Uncharacteristically, Setsuna's face went white at this comment
and then slowly colored. "What do you mean?" she said in a voice that
would have frozen ice.

    "Exactly what I said," Caradawc replied, a light smile still on
his face. "Remember what I told you before when we first meet? Well,
you're still doing it."

    Setsuna's mouth tightened, and she looked like she was having a
hard time deciding which curses to start throwing first. It was then
that Caradawc did something that made Hotaru almost fall over in
shock. With a total disregard for the public nature of the restaurant
they were in, the Avatar leaned over and gave the woman next to him a
kiss of the type that was anything but chaste. Hotaru felt her face go
bright red, and she turned speedily away with a gasp.

    ::Go see your friend, Hotaru-san:: Caradawc's warm voice whispered
in her mind. ::I think Setsuna and I are going to be... slightly
busy...:: The voice faded away and when Setsuna gave a small contented
moan, Hotaru unilaterally decided that now was indeed a _very_ good
time to make her escape.

    And that was precisely what she did, furious blushes and all.

    Outside, it was just getting into the cool of late evening, and
Hotaru stood still for a few moments in an effort to get her bearings.
It was just beginning to rain, and the small side-street outside the
restaurant in which she was standing was all but empty.

    Christ... Over the last ten hours she had seen sides to Setsuna-
mama that she had never before imagined existed, and the experience
left her reeling. The sound that the ancient senshi had made when
Caradawc... Ack! Taking a deep breath, she gave her head a quick
shake. She did not want to go down that path - no.

    ::Hotaru? Are you all right?:: Rhian's voice rang through her
mind. ::Your thoughts seem a little... odd::

    It's nothing, Rhian, Hotaru hastily replied. Gods, getting used to
this constant invasion of her mind was going to be tricky.

    ::Opps... Sorry, I...::

    Argh! Sorry, Rhian, Hotaru tried to apologize. I didn't mean it to
sound quite like that... Anyway, how are you feeling now? You seem a
bit calmer.

    ::Humph!:: the girl snorted. ::I've just been speaking with Bran
and Arian. It appears that they have had a similar, ah, request from
their parents tonight as well. They weren't exactly thrilled about it
either::

    What? The same person? Hotaru spluttered in surprise.

    ::Oh... No, no. It appears that the three of us will have the...
_honor_ of being shared between various...::

    WHAT?!? Hotaru blew up.

    ::Yes:: came the single reply, and this time Hotaru caught a hint
of the cold fury that Rhian was seriously trying to keep bottled up
inside her. ::That was Bran's reaction as well::

    ::THEY CAN GO AND BLOODY _FUCK_ THEMSELVES!!:: Bran's eloquent
comment stormed through Hotaru's mind.

    "With a sandblaster!" a sudden enraged voice hissed behind Hotaru,
causing the brunette to shriek and spin around.

    "Arian?!" she gasped as her heart travelled the short distance
back down from her throat to the place where it usually rested. "What
the... Don't do that, girl! You nearly scared me half to death!"

    The only reply she got to this however, was a curse that reminded
Hotaru of a certain shrine maiden on a very bad day. Arian looked
furious enough to start tearing strips of flesh from the first person
that annoyed her, and the way the girl's eyes were glowing a furious
white color convinced Hotaru that perhaps, at that exact moment, being
quiet was a more sensible idea.

    "&##^@@#^%%^!" Arian swore. "Those little &&*#$^@#^!!"

    Rrrighttt... was all that Hotaru could think of as a suitable
response.

    "You can bloody well say that again!" Bran cursed, popping into
existence just behind Arian.

    "&##^@@#^%%^!" Arian obliged, glaring at the ground as flickers of
white light started to play over her hands in an alarming way.

    "Arian, get a grip on yourself!" Rhian exclaimed, as she and Pwyll
abruptly appeared in a way that left Hotaru in no doubt that these
kids had teleportation down pat.

    "Pwyll!" Bran wailed throwing herself at the startled boy.
"They've engaged me to Gilvaethwy!" she howled, trying to strangle the
poor lad. "Gilvaethwy and Mabon!"

    "&&*#$^@#^!!" Arian put in as well.

    Pwyll was unfortunately rather short of breath at this time so he
failed to make any comment, but Rhian did.

    "Bran! Arian! For fuck's sake - shut up!"

    Later, Hotaru was not exactly certain if it was the green flames
that abruptly exploded to life around the slender girl, the way the
ground seemed to suddenly shake for a few seconds, or the white fury
that was contained in Rhian's tone, but whatever it was, Arian and
Bran fell silent.

    "Thank you," Rhian stated, the flames around her vanishing as
quickly as they had appeared. "Now, perhaps we might be able to
discuss how we get out of this stinking mes..."

    The rest of the girl's statement was abruptly drowned out by an
explosion from just across the street, the force of which threw them
all to the ground. Scrabbling to recovering herself as quickly as
possible, Hotaru looked up. From the smoke and flames of the ruins,
she saw a number of very singed looking individuals stumble out to
stand dazed in the night air.

    "What the hell..." Hotaru was just in the middle of saying when
she stopped dead, her eyes widening.

    Several other, er, things also emerged from the fiery rubble.
Several big things, with horns, teeth, scales... Hotaru blinked.

    "...ame...iper..." a faint shout could be heard coming from one of
the figures, and a bolt of something red shot across the rapidly
diminishing distance between the two opposing groups to strike a
scaled head. From the reaction of the head's owner however, this
attack only seemed to irritate it.

    "What the fuck is that?!" Arian swore, her eyes wide as she
pointed at the battle going on just in front of them.

    "...hain..." came another faint shout as the battle moved off
further down the street, the big things chasing after the smaller,
more agile figures who seemed to be fighting them without much visible
success.

    "Trouble, perhaps?" Bran supplied in an innocent tone, making
Pwyll give a choked sound.

    "Bran! Of course it's... Arrgh! Why bother!?" he exclaimed.

    "It's the Inners!" Hotaru yelled, turning to stare at Rhian. "The
Senshi! We have to help them!"

    Rhian did not answer. She was just staring dumbly at the commotion
the battle was causing. Hotaru waited for a second, and then ran
forward grabbing Rhian's arm. "Rhian! We have to help them!" she
repeated, twisting the girl around.

    Rhian looked at her. The girl's eyes were unfocused, and the
expression on her face was glazed.

    "Rhian! Please!" Hotaru shrieked, and this finally seemed to get
through to the lavender haired girl.

    "Help them..." Rhian repeated dumbly and then shook herself.
"Right... right..."

    "What the fuck are those things?!" Arian exclaimed, still pointing
at the fleeing creatures.

    "The enemy," Hotaru exclaimed, having had enough of amateurs and
raising her hand, she cried out "Saturn Star Power Make up!"

    Lights and energy cascaded over her body as she felt the
transformation take effect. Strength and power welled from deep within
her being, filling her with a gentle warmth as the person called
Hotaru ceased to be and became instead Sailor Saturn - the Senshi of
Rebirth. Then, ignoring the still gaping Avatar, the Princess of
Destruction ran off down the street to help her friends.

                *           *           *           *

    Rei was having one of "those" days. She had known it would be one
of "those" days when she had first woken up this morning only to find
that her car refused to start. This feeling had been confirmed when
she had gone all out to try and get to college on time, only to
discover that her first lecture had been cancelled. And then, to crown
it all off, her date for tonight with a hunk she had been chasing
after for well over a month, had been abruptly interrupted by a
desperate call from Makoto to come and help fight some... things...
that looked like they came from Hell and smelt even worst.

    Then, what finally confirmed today as one of "those" days, was the
fact that they were losing.

    "Oak revolution!" Jupiter yelled, unleashing yet another futile
energy attack on the nearest of the... things. The creature, which
looked like a mad combination between a bald chicken and a Christian
demon, gave an insane gibber and lumbering jerkily forward, tried to
take a piece out of Jupiter's side. Jupiter however, leapt nimbly out
of range and warily circled the... thing... at a safe distance. So
far, the only advantage that the three girls  had found in battling
these... whatever they were... was that they seemed to be incredible
stupid, and nowhere near as fast as the Senshi. The only minor problem
however, was that they also seemed to be virtually indestructible.
Anything that the Senshi threw at them, including a bathtub that Venus
had tried for variety, had exactly the same effect - zippo.

    "Venus! Look out!" Rei screamed as Minako, a.k.o Venus, while
trying to retreat from one of the things, stumbled on some loose
rubble and fell over. The whatever it was gibbered, and happily
attempted to oblige Venus's mistake by ripping her head off.

    Venus shrieked, and desperately tried to recover her footing. The
scattered debris however slowed her down too much, and by the time she
was on her feet once more, the hulking creature was almost upon her.
Out of sheer instinct, she screamed and threw herself to the ground in
an effort to avoid the demon's talons.

    It was at that exact moment, that a familiar, but rarely heard
voice cried out "Silence Wall!" and the thing's claws raked across a
dome of invisible energy that suddenly sprang up protectively around
the fallen Senshi.

    Rei twisted around to spy out the source of the cry, and a wild
hope broke across her face. "Saturn!" she exclaimed as the small
brunette in a white and black uniform came running over. "Thank the
Lord!"

    The slobbering thing trying to reach Venus still mindlessly clawed
at the protective shield under which the girl lay, and completely
ignored the huge gash that Saturn's pole arm tore open across it back.
An unholy stench arose in the air like a miasma, and almost
immediately the wound began regenerate.

    Saturn jerked the Silence Glaive back, and nearly stumbled as the
repulsive smell abruptly bombarded her senses. The stench of it
overwhelmed her. Her eyes watered, her throat gagged, her...

    ::Hotaru! LOOK OUT!:: Rhian's panicked shriek bought a reaction
that was entirely instinctive, and Saturn threw herself to the ground
as a wick claw tore through the space where her head had just been.
Rolling out of range, Saturn sprang to her feet and fell back into a
ready stance. Fuck! These bastards were tough!

    Rei bought her hands up in front of her and yelling, "Fire Soul!"
cast yet another seemingly futile attack in order to give Venus the
distraction the girl needed to get away. Then, turning to look at the
younger girl at her side, she demanded, "Saturn! What the hell are
these things?!"

    "How the heck should I know, Mars?!" Saturn shouted back,
springing forward and using the Silence Glaive to lop the arm off one
of the things. "They're ugly, smelly and want to kill us! Isn't that
enough for you!?"

    "Hound summon!" a piercing voice suddenly cried out surprising
both girls.

    What the hell...

    Rei jerked her head around in an effort to identify the source of
the shout and nearly fell over backwards in shock at what she saw.
Running towards her were at least six of the most vicious looking dog
things she had ever seen. Well, not exactly dogs, but that was the
best way her mind could describe them. They were huge! Standing at
least to the size of a small horse, and fairly rippling in muscle.
Their eyes were piercing points of red light, and their fangs...

    "YAAA!" Rei screamed, and scrabbling out of the way as fast as she
could, the six beasts rushed passed her and fell on the demon things
with a savagery that was... well, bestial, for lack of a better word.

    The unholy stench caused by the dogs attack made Saturn's stomach
churn, but she forced herself to watch the battle as it erupted
between the two sets of demonic creatures. The six hounds were
literally ripping the flesh off the four other things faster than they
were able to regenerate it, and the very sight of it made Saturn
cringe. One of the demons, emitting an unearthly howl, attempted to
claw at the hound savaging its leg, but impossibly, that taloned hand
just passed straight through the hound as if beast were not even
there! The demon seemed stunned by this and froze, unable to
comprehend what had happened, and at that very moment the hound tore
the demon's head off, and much to Saturn's horror, began to eat it
with gusto.

    ::Hotaru!:: Pwyll's shrieking voice broke through Saturn's daze.
::Get yourself and your friends out of there! Annwn's Hounds will only
obey Rhian, and she is almost at her limit! If you don't get out of
there now, then they may attack you as well!::

    Looking at how enthusiastically these "Annwn's Hounds" were
feasting on the two still moving demons, Saturn did not need anymore
convincing than that. "Mars! Venus! Jupiter! Get the hell out of here!
NOW!!"

    The aforementioned girls, still shaken by the sudden change in
events, were a bit slow on the uptake, but when Saturn abruptly spun
around and fled as fast as her young legs could carry her, they soon
got the idea and fled after her.

    Saturn ran back towards where she had left the four young Avatars,
and was alarmed to see the slender form of Rhian almost being totally
supported by Pluto and Caradawc. The young girl's long lavender hair
was floating about her body shimmering with a life of its own, and her
right arm was outstretched in the direction of the Hounds. As Saturn
jerked to a halt just opposite Pwyll, she was for the first time able
to get a clear look at Rhian's face and immediately understood what
the boy had been talking about. Rhian looked terrible! Her pale face
was bathed in sweat and had an expression of such strain on it, that
the girl looked like she was trying to change reality by sheer
willpower alone.

    "Rhian..." Hotaru whispered appalled.

    Rhian's eyes, which were literally burning with a green light,
flared and the girl gave an agonized moan. "I... can't hold...
them..." she just managed to say. "Pwyll... Finish it..." Then, with a
supreme effort, the girl lifted her arm and garbled out, "Hound...
Dismisss..." before collapsing utterly into Caradawc's waiting
embrace.

    "Rhian!" Hotaru and Arian cried out at the same time rushing
forward to grab the unconscious girl from Caradawc. "Rhian!"

    Rei looked over at Pluto and then shifted her gaze to take in
Saturn and the other girl struggling beneath the dead weight of the
kid with the long lavender colored hair. "Pluto?" she queried,
glancing back at the Time senshi. "What the hell is going on here?"

    Pluto said nothing, but simply looked back at her. Rei opened her
mouth to try again but was interrupted by a curse from the dark haired
boy standing next to Saturn.

    "Shit! One of those things is still alive!" and with that, the boy
spun around to face the three Inners. "Hurry! I need your strength! We
have to attack it now, while it is still weak!"

    The boy's statement made Rei abruptly remember what it was they
had been fighting, and she jerked her head around to confirm what the
teenager had said. It was true. Whatever that weird girl had done to
bring those hound things had ended when she had collapsed, and now,
they were on their own.

    "Hurry!" the boy exclaimed again holding out his hand. "We must
attack now!"

    Pluto stepped forward, and taking the boy's hand in her own,
commanded, "Mars, do as he says."

    Rei looked confused, but after a brief hesitation did as Pluto
bid, resting her hand on top of the older Senshi's. Her action was
wordlessly followed by Venus, Jupiter and the other younger dark
haired girl.

    "This is gonna hurt," Pwyll warned them, and lifting his hand he
steadied himself before calling out, "Sword Tempest!"

    What happened next was... confusing to say at the least. Rei
abruptly felt like she was having her guts extracted with a plastic
spoon, but was completely unable to move or even scream. She was just
frozen to the spot, while inside, her body felt like every nerve was
being slowly roasted alive. With a supreme effort, she managed to emit
a feeble moan, and then abruptly, a torrid of hot fiery power of the
like she had never felt before, erupted from deep within her. Waves of
agony wracked her form as that eruption of energy was rapidly siphoned
off by an external force. Then, as suddenly as the burning pain had
appeared, it was gone, and Rei was at last able to sink into the black
pit that yawned like a dark chasm at her feet, and mercifully, she
knew nothing more.

    To Hotaru, still struggling under the dead weight of Rhian, it
seemed like a glittering tower of flickering lights suddenly descended
from the heavens to strike at the still standing demon. For a moment,
the lights seemed to dance around obscuring the creature from view,
but then, they flared blindingly and exploded, generating a shock wave
which threw everyone to the ground like rag dolls. Instinctively,
Hotaru pulled the unconscious form of Rhian as close to her as was
possible, and tried her best to shield the girl from the flying
shrapnel generated by the explosion.

    "..." Hotaru winced as the force of the explosion buffeted her
along the ground, knocking the air from her lungs. Tightening her grip
on Rhian even further, Hotaru rolled as best as she could to help
absorb the force of the impact. Somewhere in the distance she heard
the sound of shattering glass, and daggers of pain suddenly rained
down on her back and exposed legs, causing her to give voice to an
involuntary sob.

    And then, everything was silent.

    Still clutching Rhian protectively to her, Hotaru took a couple of
deep breaths and attempted to move. The sharp twangs of pain that this
effort sent shooting through her body however, suggested that for now
it might be better if she tried to stay still. As her brain went
through the painful process of rebooting itself and loading up the
operating system known as "Hotaru", the teenager slowly began to
become more aware of the things that were around her.

    Sensations, feelings, pain - all began to be slowly registered on
her mind. Oddly however, the most distracting thing that caught her
attention was the tickling presence of soft, slightly fragrant
tendrils of hair that covered her face. Hair, which after a moment's
consideration, Hotaru concluded must belong to Rhian. Carefully
opening her eyes, Hotaru found herself looking directly into the pale
white face of the unconscious girl. Blinking a few times to help
better focus her eyes, Hotaru used the opportunity to take a careful
look at the face that was now only a few inches away from her.

    The fair skin was, as far as Hotaru could tell, undamaged by the
force of the explosion, but it looked far too slack for Hotaru's
liking. The flesh just seemed to be hanging loosely from the girl's
high set cheek bones, in a way that suggested all the muscle control
was gone. Whatever Rhian had done earlier to conjure those Hound
things must have been far more draining than Hotaru had first
believed. So draining infact, that the force of the explosion had not
even disturbed the girl's unconscious state, and that was worrying.

    Shifting a bit so that Rhian's hair was not tickling her nose
quite so much, Hotaru pulled her head back and looked down
thoughtfully at the burden in her arms. Like all of her kind, Rhian
had a delicate ethereal beauty that would have been called
captivating, even exotic, if it had been on the face of someone else.
On Rhian, however, it seemed just right, as if it were part and parcel
of the bundle in Hotaru's arms. If Rhian had been human, Hotaru could
well imagine that the girl would have had a stream of devoted
followers vying for her attention, but considering Rhian's, Bran's and
Arian's rather... unique positions, Hotaru doubted that anything like
that would ever happen. From what Bran had been fuming about earlier,
it sounded that all three beauties had had their destinies pre-decided
for them, and in a way, that was a shame. It would have been
interesting to see how Rhian and the other two might have reacted
to...

    "Hotaru-san! Rhian! Are you two all right?" a loud voice suddenly
cut through Hotaru's musings, and a face leaned over her that her
brain recognized as Maxen.

    "Felt better..." Hotaru groaned out.

    "Hold on, I'll..." Maxen pulled gently at Rhian in what Hotaru
took as an attempted to separate them.

    "No!" Hotaru barked sharply, worry for her new found friend giving
her fresh strength. She stared angrily at the boy trying to help.
"Rhian maybe hurt! I took quite a battering from that explosion, and
although I heal fast thanks to my uniform, Rhian doesn't have that
luxury. Moving either of us straight away might not be a good idea. I
have powers that can help heal her if she has been injured, let me use
them first."

    Maxen looked uncertain for a moment, and then he pulled back an
expression of alarm on his face. "Rhian's injured?"

    Hotaru shot him an exasperated look, "I don't know yet. That's
what I want to check."

    "Oh... Sorry... Of course, do as you must, Hotaru-san."

    Ignoring the boy, Hotaru took a few more deep breaths and closing
her eyes, slowly focused on the slender form clutched in her arms.
Gently, she used her powers to probe the girl for any signs of hurt or
physical injury. With relief however, Hotaru found that on the surface
at least, Rhian was fine. A few cuts and bruises, but nothing serious.
Narrowing her probe even further, Hotaru gently guided her power
deeper into the girl's prone body, checking for any internal injuries
or...

    Hotaru's eyes flew open and with a scream she spasmed as wild
power, more intense than anything she had ever encountered before,
ripped at her psyche. Rhian's body, her essence, her soul, were
literally _seething_ with raw, alien, unfocused energy that was almost
incomprehensible in nature! It was as if the girl were a walking power
plant given flesh, and it was tearing Hotaru's mind apart!

    "...The Avatar were literally living bio-weapons..."

    In the extreme of her agony, Hotaru abruptly recalled Setsuna-
mama's words from earlier that day.

    "...created to be able to fuse, and then enhance, any other
magetech that they came in contact with..."

    It was then that Hotaru realized her fatal mistake. Rhian was an
Avatar...

    A bio-weapon.

    Hotaru was a Senshi - another weapon.

    Rhian's ancestors had been specifically created to bond with, and
then enhance, such weapons as Hotaru represented...

    And that, was exactly what the girl's power, freed from any
conscious direction, was seeking to do...

    Rhian's eyes suddenly jerked open and convulsing, she screamed.
Green energy crackled over her body, causing her long hair to dance
with unnatural life. An aura of green flame began to radiate from her,
moving out to cocoon both herself and the shrieking senshi beside her,
in something that was like an intense form of faerie fire.

    Maxen gave an involuntary shout of fear, and leapt back as the
advancing green flames threatened to scorch him. He swung around to
stare disbelievingly at Caradawc and Arian, but their looks of
incredularity mirrored his own.

    Caradawc, raising his hands to shield his eyes, ran forward crying
out the two girl's names. However, the heat and light thrown off by
the flames were now too much, even for his own power to protect him
from, and he had to fall back. "Hotaru!" he shouted in vain once more,
but the cocoon now obscured the two girls completely from view, and he
could only watch on helplessly as the corona of green light consumed
them utterly.

    Hotaru was burning. Everything that she was, was awash in a sea of
green flame. There was nothing else but pain and fire. She could feel
it, slowly invading every part of her mind and body. Creeping,
touching, absorbing, moving on. It was horrible! Every part of her
mind, her soul, was being violated by an alien energy and she could do
nothing to stop it...

    An attractive green haired young woman leans over the edge of a
crib and smiles down at her. The loving warmth that only a mother
could have suffuses her face... Mama...

    An attractive dark haired woman looks down at her with no
expression on her face whatsoever beyond a mild disinterest. She turns
away, leaving the toddler crying... Mama...

    A handsome blond haired woman laughs as she throws the toddler in
the air, catching the child as she shrieks with joy... Papa...

    A handsome dark haired man reaches down to ruffle her hair and
smiles, a far away look in his eyes... Papa...

    A bigger boy points his hand mockingly at her as the children
dance around, calling out names the eight year old does not
understand...

    A dark haired girl smiles shyly at her, holding out a hand in
friendship which the smaller girl, with her lavender hair up in pig
tails, shyly takes...

    A small pink haired girl grabs at her arm, begging her not to
sacrifice herself...

    A white haired boy passes her a drink...

    Images... Memories... Confusion swirling around in her mind...

    Who is she... Where is she...

    A black haired woman with an insane face tears at her mind...

    A young man bows his head in respect before his princess...

    Images... Memories... Pain... Confusion...

    Fire burns... Searching... Finding... Distorting... Twisting...

    Children turn away in fear and disgust... She is alone...

    Her mother looks down at her with a callous disinterest as she
cries... She is alone...

    Fire building... Pain... Burning...

    A woman, older than her smiling mother, speaks to her of the
importance of performing the "right" duty, of acting in the "right"
way. The girl gets the very firm impression of what will happen to her
if she does not... She is alone...

    Her father smiles fondly at her, but tells her he has no time to
play right now, that he has more important matters to attend to... She
turns away to try and play by herself... She is alone...

    Alone. We are alone.

    Pain... Fire...

    Alone... We do not want to be alone...

    Fire promises... Sharing...

    Not alone...

    Fire promises...

    Not alone...

    Hotaru screamed as the agony and loneliness became too much for
her mind to bear, and desperately, she reached out for anyone or
anything with whom she could share that pain. Anyone who could fill
that horrid loneliness...

    Anyone...

    And at the extremity of that pain, at the extremity of that
loneliness, just when despair was about to consume her, she finally
touched upon someone. Someone who the fire had promised would be
there. Someone who the fire had promised would share everything with
her. Someone who the fire had promised would be for her alone...

    Someone who touched her back.

    Someone who needed her as much as she needed them.

    The person the fire had promised...

    The person who Hotaru willingly embraced with everything that she
was...

    The fire blazed, burning connections, clearing blocks that had
been in place for millennia beyond counting, restoring memories,
fusing two halves into one whole...

    Caradawc grunted with pain as the fiery cocoon surrounding the two
girls suddenly flared, and with a soundless explosion of radiant
energy, abruptly vanished. The sheer force of the power being released
was enough to knock him forcefully to the ground, and it was a few
moments before he was recovered enough to get to his feet. Looking
around, he tried to make some sense out of what had just happened.

    Lying in the street, in the middle of a still smoldering crater,
were the two young teenagers that he had been so desperately trying to
rescue earlier. He swore, and scrabbling over the still bubbling
tarmac as quickly as he could, Caradawc rushed over to where they lay.
Kneeling down, he hesitantly put out his hand to see if the two girls
were still actually alive. The atmosphere around them was still
charged with some residual energy from the magic that had just been
released, and frankly, it scared him.

    Trying his fiancee's ward... daughter... first, he put a finger
lightly on her slender neck and felt for a pulse. He was relieved, and
to be honest, slightly surprised to find one. He gave a small sigh of
relief, and was about to check on the lavender haired girl sprawled
out next to the brunette, when Hotaru started to stir.

    "Hotaru-chan," Caradawc said gently as the girl groaned and her
eyes flickered open. "Hotar..." Caradawc stopped dead the moment the
brunette's eyes focused on him.

    They were gold.

    The deep, almost unique, purple eyes that had been staring at him
over dinner less than twenty minutes before were now a bright,
unsullied gold. A gold that seemed to shimmer as if lit by a power
within. The startling eyes blinked, and then, in a voice that sounded
somehow more melodic than the one he remembered, the girl spoke.

    "Rhiannon..."

    Caradawc swallowed, and was at a complete loss at what to do.
Saturn herself just ignored him, and sitting up, reached past the man
to gently stroke the face of her still unconscious companion.

    "Rhiannon," she repeated, pulling the unconscious head up to rest
in her lap, brushing the long hair back from the pale face. "Rhiannon-
chan..."

    As if responding to the call, Rhian stirred and with a slow exhale
of breath, her eyes opened. Somehow, Caradawc was not surprised to see
that the youngster's once pale blue orbs were now exactly the same
color as Hotaru's. What the heck was going on here?!

    "Rhiannon-chan," Saturn said, looking down into the pair of
bewildered golden eyes staring up at her. "How are you feeling?"

    "Hotaru?" Rhian blinked. "Your eyes... What... What just happened?
I... I feel funny... Kinda like... well..." The girl tried to move,
but Saturn put a hand on the girl's shoulder and gently restrained
her.

    "Rest, Rhiannon-chan," she whispered, making that the only answer
to the questioning look in the girl's eyes. "Rest, my little
elin'rth..." Saturn gently stroked the pale cheek, and the questioning
golden eyes closed as a genuine sleep claimed the lavender haired
girl. Saturn looked down fondly at her Avatar once more, and then
raised her eyes to focus on Caradawc. "Where's Pluto?" she demanded
sternly.

    Caradawc frowned at the odd tone of command in the girl's voice.
Something had happened here tonight that had obviously changed Hotaru
in more ways than one. He swallowed to try and wet his throat, and
then spoke up. "Hotaru..."

    "Where is Pluto?" the girl repeated, and this time there was a
slight edge to her voice as if she were unaccustomed to having her
requests questioned.

    "Over there," Caradawc said pointing behind him. "But she's
unconscious at the..."

    "Humph!" the oddly behaving girl snorted, seemingly amused by this
answer. "Pluto never really was much of a fighter. It's good to know
that somethings at least never change." She reached down, and
carefully positioning her hands under Rhian effortlessly stood up,
bearing the weight of the unconscious girl in her arms. "Well, when
she finally comes back to the land of the living, tell her that I will
be at home taking care of my elin'rth. I'm sure Pluto will understand
what that means..." The smile on the girl's face widened as if at a
private joke only she understood.

    "Hotaru-san, wait!" Arian called out, running over to put herself
in front of Caradawc. "What's going on? What's wrong with Rhian? Where
are you taking her? Tell me, please!"

    Saturn stood still for a moment, and then looked over at the girl.
"Arianrod's your name isn't it, child?"

    Arian was surprised by that question, but she just nodded. "You
already know that, Hotaru-san."

    "I'm afraid I'm not quite the same 'Hotaru-san' that you were
introduced to this morning, Arianrod," Saturn replied, shifting Rhian
ever so slightly. "I have my memories back now - all of them. You
could even say that I am a completely different 'Hotaru-san'
together." The smile on the young senshi's face grew faintly cold,
almost cruel. "You might even say that in one way, I am now the true
'Hotaru-san', it just depends on your point of view."

    "I don't..."

    "Understand?" Saturn finished for her. "No, I didn't expect you
to. But Pluto will, ask her. Let's just say that I am Saturn, and
leave it at that." She turned and started to walk away.

    "Wait, please!" Arian tried again. "Rhian..."

    The girl in white and black turned around once more, and her
golden eyes looked down at the bundle clutched in her arms. "I will
look after her, Arianrod, never fear. She is mine now, and I always
protect what is mine - even if it destroys me. You can ask Pluto about
that as well if you wish." Then, turning, she took a few steps and
vanished, leaving a very worried and confused Arian looking at the
place where the Senshi had just stood. She frowned, and turned to look
at Caradawc.

    "What the heck was all that about?" she asked confused.

                *           *           *           *

    Rhian dreamed she was floating. Floating in a warm, hot sea where
she felt totally relaxed and was able to drift along without a care in
the world. The water lapped softly around her ears, and her hair
floated free like a lose aura, sometimes tickling her when it came
into contact with her skin. In short, it was a wonderful dream that
she was loathed to wake up from. Giggling, she kicked her feet and let
herself sink into the warm ocean, watching the sky overhead as the
water lapped at her face and the soapsuds tickled her nose...

    Soapsuds?

    Rhian bolted up, her eyes opening to find herself lying in a bath
of luke warm water with soapsuds covering her face. She blinked
furiously, and used her hands to get the stinging suds out of her
eyes. Raising her head, she looked around and tried to get a handle on
her current situation. The last thing she could remember clearly was
looking into a pair of golden eyes while a voice was telling her to
sleep. Everything after that was a total blank, and how she had ended
up here, lying in a luke warm bath in some unfamiliar bathroom was a
complete mystery.

    "Gods, I'm exhausted..." she murmured as she sank back into the
warm suds and tried to work out just what had happened. There had been
some sort of battle, she could remember that at least. She could also
remember panicking, and rather stupidly calling upon the Dogs of
Annwvyn for help. That would certainly explain her current state of
exhaustion. The Dogs were a rather unique form of demonic being, bound
to serve her family by bonds so ancient that all knowledge of their
origins had long since been lost in the mists of time. The use of such
beings might have arguably been overkill, but Rhian admitted she had
not exactly been thinking clearly when she had summoned them. She
frowned, and tried to recall what had happened after that, but it was
all still too fuzzy. The next clear image that she had was those eyes,
that voice, and then finally waking up here.

    "Well, someone must have put me here," she reasoned. "Maybe one of
those senshi..." She let the water lap over her chin, musing
thoughtfully while she played with her hair. Mmmm... This was
wonderful... She could stay here... like this... all... day...

    "Zzzzz...."

    "Rhian-chan."

    "Mmmmm...."

    "Rhian-chan, the water's cold. Come on, wake up."

    "...Slee...p..."

    "You're going to look like a fish if you stay there much longer
you know, Rhian-chan."

    "What?!" Rhian jerked up, wide awake at last.

    Hotaru was standing over her looking down with a wide lop-sided
smile on her face. "I said the water is too cold to be sleeping in,
Rhian-chan. You're getting all waterlogged."

    "Hotaru?" Rhian blinked a couple of times, trying to get her mind
into gear.

    The brunette winked, and Rhian suddenly remembered where she was.

    "Ya!" the girl exclaimed as her arms flew up to cover the various
parts of her anatomy that one did not usually show to other people,
and blushing furiously, looked down. "Please, Hotaru-san, turn
around."

    Hotaru giggled, "And just who do you think it was who put you in
the bath in the first place, Rhian-chan?" she asked, making Rhian go
an even brighter shade of red.

    "Please, just turn around, so I can get out."

    "Okay, okay," Hotaru replied still smiling and turned around.
"There's a bathrobe on the back of the door when you've dried yourself
off, and I'll just be downstairs if you need me." She glanced back
over her shoulder and grinned once more, before heading back towards
the door.

    "Wait, Hotaru... My clothes?"

    "In the wash, I'm afraid," Hotaru replied. "I've laid out some of
mine in the next room for you. We're about the same size, so they
should fit."

    "Oh... Thanks..."

    "Don't mention it," Hotaru opened the door, but just before she
left, she turned her head back around and grinned mischievously at the
girl still blushing in the now cold bath. "Oh, Rhian?"

    "Ah, yes?"

    "I'm glad to know your hair color is real you know. I think it
makes you look really cute."

    "...What?!" the poor girl spluttered, and Hotaru chuckled once
more before closing the door and leaving Rhian alone. Rhian took a
couple of deep breaths to steady herself. Gods! What sort of ecchi
pervert was Hotaru? She mumbled a couple of choice words under her
breath and slowly got out of the bath, keeping herself covered just
incase Hotaru decided to come back in. The bathrobe was on the back of
the door just where the brunette had promised it would be, and Rhian
gratefully slipped it on.

    "That's better," she sighed as she started to look around for a
suitable towel with which she could dry her hair. While she generally
liked her long locks that fell almost to her upper thighs, washing
them was a pain she could well do without. Finally, after locating a
suitable towel, Rhian opened the bathroom door and entering the room
beyond, started to hunt around for a brush. She found one sitting on
top of a nice looking mirrored dresser that was made from some
darkish, lacquered, hardwood. And sitting down on the smallish stool
just in front of it, Rhian used the opportunity to take her first good
look around the fair sized room.

    Soft light spilling from various small lamps, lent the room a
peaceful aura that made Rhian sigh. This place was great! It had life,
breathed character, and Rhian could not help but be slightly envious
of the effect that Hotaru had managed to achieve. It was so much
better than the simple plainness of her own room at home.

    Finishing drying off her hair, Rhian began the arduous task of
brushing her locks back into some form of order. It was never an easy
task. Her father had once told her that she had inherited her mother's
fine hair, and without any spray or hairpins to hold her tresses in
place, they always seemed to fly around as much as they liked. It was
with this in mind that Rhian looked around on the top of the dresser
for something with which she could restrain her locks, but with a
small groan she gave up. There was nothing.

    So, after getting her hair to look as presentable as she could
given the current tools at her disposal, Rhian crossed over to the bed
and looked down at the clothes that Hotaru had put out for her. "Heh,
Hotaru sure likes black," was the first comment that sprung to mind.
For the clothes that Hotaru had selected for her consisted of a black
casual turtle neck, black mini-skirt and to finish off the funeral
look, dark navy tights. Rhian sniffed, "Boy, Hotaru really needs a
good lesson in color co-ordination some time..." But, as that was all
she had, Rhian shed the bathrobe and carefully changed into the
offered clothes.

    Turning back to the mirror, she pulled her hair out of the turtle
neck and gave herself a quick once over. Hmmm... Not bad, not bad at
all... Maybe Hotaru was onto something here... Rhian had never tried
an all out black look before, but now, posing slightly for the mirror,
she had to admit that it did serve to emphasize her pale complexion,
trim figure and gold eyes very well...

    Wait a minute - her what?

    A startled squawk from upstairs followed by a loud thump bought
Hotaru running. Throwing open the door to her room, she rushed in.
"Rhian! What's the matter?"

    The girl in question was sitting on her bottom staring up at the
mirror with a face that looked like it was doing an impression of a
fish. The moment Hotaru spoke, Rhian's head shot around to face her,
and Hotaru found herself looking into two wide staring eyes.

    "Rhian?" Hotaru tried again, concern filling her. "What is..."

    "My eyes..." the long haired girl suddenly blurted out. "My
eyes..."

    "Ah, the eyes," Hotaru smiled as understanding dawned and she
knelt down beside her stunned companion. "Heh, we make a pretty pair,
don't we?" she giggled, pushing her head close to Rhian's so that two
pairs of bright gold orbs stared back at from the mirror. "Personally,
I like it. What do..."

    "Hotaru!" Rhian gasped, jerking her eyes away from the impossible
sight before her. "Your eyes! They're gold! How? How me? How..."

    "Rhian, Rhian, Rhian," Hotaru said getting to her feet, and
pulling the still shaken girl up as well. "If you want to know how
this happened, then the answer is I don't know. It just did. I tried
to heal you and bang - gold eyes."

    "But... but..."

    "Hey, relax, Rhiannon-chan," Saturn slipped her arm around the
slender girl's waist and guided her to the bed. "Personally, I think
it looks really nice, and besides, if you don't like them you can
always get blue tinted contacts, eh? But, that would be a shame."

    "Gold," Rhian said once more, trying to come to terms with what
had happened. "I have gold eyes..."

    "Yes," Hotaru said patiently, "You do, and so do I."

    Rhian took a deep breath. "Okay... I can handle this..." She took
another deep breath and slowly let it out.

    "Better?" Hotaru asked, her arm still looped around her friend.

    Rhian nodded, "Getting there," she finally said with a smile.

    "Good," Hotaru grinned, getting to her feet and offering Rhian her
hand. "Now, are you hungry? You've been out for almost four hours."

    At the mention of food, Rhian's eyes widened. It was almost as if
her body had been waiting for that exact trigger word. "Ravenous," she
replied, taking Hotaru's hand so that the brunette could pull her up.

    Hotaru nodded, and pulled Rhian towards the door. "Well, I've got
some fresh muffins heated up downstairs if you want them. Put some
butter and honey on them and..."

    A faint growl came from Rhian's direction, and the girl flushed
with embarrassment. Hotaru's grin widened and she gave her friend a
wink. "Shall I take that as a yes then? Come on, let's go." And so
saying, she gave a carefree laugh and dragged Rhian along behind her.

    "Hey! That's me! Watch it..." and the rest of Rhian's protests
were lost in the hallway as the two girls went downstairs.

                *           *           *           *

    "Kill me... please..." were the first words that Rei managed to
groan out as she opened her eyes and slowly returned to the land of
the living. Her head felt like it had swollen to five times its normal
size and strange blotches of colored light made pretty pictures in
front of her eyes whenever she breathed. The best comparison that she
could make to how she felt right now was that one time many months ago
when she had tried to have a drinking contest with a gaijin student
with some weird sounding name and had ended up sleeping...

    No, her mind said firmly. You're not going down that route again,
Rei my girl - definitely not.

    "Rei-san," someone with a loud megaphone suddenly screamed in her
ear.

    "Uggg..." Rei gurgled back.

    "Rei-san," the soon to be slaughtered person with the megaphone
repeated. "Are you awake?"

    "...uck o..." Rei tried to tell them what to go do with
themselves, but somehow the words did not seem to emerge quite as she
had intended. In addition, the effort that the words cost her
convinced the girl that at this precise moment, death was a preferable
option to speaking. So, trying to fix her eyes on the blurry figure
who insisted on shouting at her, Rei opted instead to call down a
curse on the person that would make them suffer a horrible, lingering
fate that would...

    "Here, Rei-san, have these."

    A pair of nimble fingers slipped two smooth objects into her dried
up mouth and out of instinct, Rei swallowed.

    "Good girl," the megaphone congratulated her just before the
blackness swallowed her up once again and she knew nothing more.

    With a sharp intake of breath, Rei jerked up, and this time
amazingly the room actually stayed in one place. She blinked, and with
a sense of confusion, looked around her to try and get a bearing on
just what the hell was going on. She appeared to be spread out on a
futon in the middle of a semi-darkened room alongside what looked like
the still sleeping forms of Minako and Makoto. Leaning forward, Rei
almost reached out to shake the two girls awake, but killed the
impulse as soon as it was born. Even asleep, both of her friends
looked absolutely shattered and Rei did not want to wake them unless
she really had to. So, slowly getting to her feet, Rei steadied
herself and stepping over the still sleeping bodies, moved off in an
attempt to find out where the three of them currently were.

    The immediate room that they were in appeared to be a fairly large
and modern living room. Two pairs of thick curtains blocked out the
light from outside, so Rei carefully drew one back and peered out. The
glimmering lights of the city were spread out before her like a field
of twinkling stars, and overhead, the sky was dark and moody. Rei
could just about make out the distant lights of Tokyo bay bridge, and
concluded that she must be in, or somewhere around, Shinjuku. Quite a
distance indeed from where she now lived.

    Pushing the curtains back into place, Rei used what little light
was available to see if she could determine anything else from the
contents of the room itself. It did not seem wise to announce that she
was up and around until at least, she had some form of idea whether or
not she was in the hands of friends or foes. Personally, she knew no
one rich enough to be able to afford living in a high rise apartment,
so unless it belonged to a friend of the Outers or something, she
preferred to error on the side of caution just for now and wait.

    Scattered along a book shelf and also on top of an expensive
looking cabinet, were a number of photos. Rei however, did not
recognize any of the figures that were portrayed within them. Two
faces kept appearing on a regular basis, but they were of people at
least five or six years older than herself, so Rei was uncertain quite
what to make of them.

    Abandoning the idea of trying to workout whose apartment she was
sleeping in from their personal effects, Rei moved over to the door
and carefully put her ear up against it. She could just about make out
the presence of voices coming from the other side, but they were too
indistinct and muffled to make any sense of, so, taking a deep breath,
Rei slowly opened the door and peered out.

    The wide hallway beyond was tastefully decorated and spoke of the
presence of wealth. The faint voices that she had originally heard
were clearer now, and appeared to be coming from somewhere off to the
left of her current position. Rei bit her lip thoughtfully as she
pondered what it was she should do. She rapidly came to the conclusion
that simply standing here like a lemon was not doing much good at all,
and that if she really wanted to find out what was going on then she
would have to at least get closer. It was unlikely that she was in any
immediate danger, enemies - at least in her experience - do not
usually put you in a comfortable room to recover from a fight. So,
creeping forward, she quietly pulled the door closed behind her and
cautiously made her way down the dim passage towards the place where
the voices seemed to be coming from.

    As she got nearer, Rei could begin to make out what the voices
where saying. One of them was particularly clear, and it was with a
faint sense of relief that Rei recognized it as belonging to the Time
Senshi - Meiou Setsuna. A _faint_ sense of relief, because whenever
that woman popped up into her life, Rei usually ended up regretting
it. Swallowing in an effort to try and lubricate her dry throat, the
girl crept forward to listen in on what was being said.

    "...to plan," Setsuna was in the middle of saying. "Not perfectly
perhaps, but near enough."

    "I had hoped that she would bond with another though," a male
voice replied with a sigh. "I had plans for that girl Rhiannon, plans
which will take quite some effort to change."

    "That's the problem with the Time Gates," Setsuna stated with a
snort. "They seem to enjoy deliberately blurring the details at times.
I have sometimes seriously wondered if they have a sense of humor in
just what they do, and do not, reveal."

    "And your other self? Any news?"

    "No. Since the last contact, the distortions have become so bad
that travel using the Gates is no longer possible. We can expect no
further help from them, the rest is up to us alone."

    "Unless _they_ decide to help us once more..."

    "Heh," Setsuna snorted in a way that made it clear what she
thought of that possibility. "I think that _their_ help is as likely
as..."

    "They may, you know," the male voice interrupted Setsuna once
more. "Just to protect their investment if nothing else. You know what
they are like..."

    "That may be, but the question that still bothers me is why _they_
are helping us at all. By their own admission we mean virtually
nothing to them, so why take all this trouble to aid us?"

    "War can make strange bedfellows," the male voice replied matter
of factly. "And to be honest, I don't really give a shit about their
true motives, it's the results that matter. If it weren't for them,
our chances at survival would be zero - Time Gate or no Time Gate."

    "'Suppose..."

    "And besides, they do get some benefit out of us. They get
Saturn."

    Saturn? Rei frowned and pushed her head closer against the door.
Who was getting Hotaru?

    "Heh, as if they needed her," Setsuna remarked with a sigh. "Well,
what is, is. Moaning about it won't change things at all - will it,
Mars?"

    Shit.

    "Perhaps, you can tell me, Pluto," Rei tried putting a brave face
on things, stepping into what appeared to be a kitchen and giving the
three people standing there a calm look. Setsuna, Rei recognized, but
the identities of the other two men were a complete mystery.

    "Tell you what, Mars?" Setsuna replied back with a cool smile
gracing her lips. "Something about your bad manners? Or just life in
general?"

    "How about some details regarding just what the hell is going on
here?" Rei shot back angrily, her tiredness making her more irritable
than she might otherwise have been.

    "Of course," Setsuna commented smoothly. "And just what exactly is
it you would like to know?"

    "Well, for a start, you can tell me what the heck those things
were that we were fighting tonight," Rei said, suspicious of Setsuna's
sudden complying attitude. "They were like no daemon or youma we have
ever encountered."

    "I'm afraid I can't answer you that one, Mars," Setsuna stated
with a shrug. "Because I have no idea what they were either."

    Rei frowned, "Why should I believe you?"

    Setsuna smiled back. "And why shouldn't you?"

    "Pluto is telling you the truth you know, Hino-san," one of the
two young men suddenly stated, making Rei turn to look at him. "That
attack was... a foretaste, I suppose would be the best word to use, a
foretaste of something that Pluto and myself are trying our damndest
to stop."

    "Oh, really?" Rei replied, her eyes boring down onto the man. "And
just who might you be pray tell?"

    The young man smiled and gave her a wink. "Me? No one important."

    Yeah, right, Rei thought to herself turning back to glare at
Setsuna. "So, are you going to tell me what is going on or not?"

    "Are you really sure you want to know, Rei?" Setsuna asked with a
deadly serious look suddenly appearing on her face. "Sometimes,
ignorance can be much more desirable than knowledge you know. If I
tell you what it is you want to know, you may very well end up wishing
I had kept silent. Think very carefully, Rei, before you ask me again.
The burden of your choice will be on your head, not mine."

    Rei shivered, Setsuna had called her by her name - twice. The
woman was being serious, deadly serious, and Rei was now not quite so
convinced that she wanted to know. When Pluto got this serious, then
it was time to start considering one's actions very carefully. Rei was
silent for a moment, and then taking a deep breath, she slowly nodded.
"Any knowledge can be a burden," she replied. "But to be forewarned
means that one can be better prepared, and for us, that can be the
difference between life and death. Tell me what it is you think I need
to know, and I will trust to your own judgment on just what that
information is."

    Setsuna looked slightly startled at that reply, but then slowly
smiled. "You've grown up, Rei," she said, "in more ways than one." She
fell silent, and then pulling out a chair, sat down. Rei was surprised
at how tired the young looking woman suddenly appeared. It was almost
as if all the centuries of endless life that the woman had endured
where catching up with her all at once, and without even thinking
about it, Rei walked over and gently laid a hand on the Time Senshi's
shoulder.

    "You're not alone, you know," she said gently. "All of us - the
Inners, the Outers, even our funny little Princess - we are all here
to help you, if you want us..."

    At this, Setsuna gave a slight gasp and astonishingly, her eyes
suddenly moistened. Reaching up, she gently took Rei's hand in her
own. "Thank you," she whispered. "That means more to me than you can
possibly know..." She gave the captured hand a light squeeze and
gestured for Rei to sit down in the chair opposite her. Keeping the
brunette's hand clasped in her own, Setsuna took a moment to collect
herself and then began.

    "What I am about to tell you is a severely edited version of the
events that may well come to be, but I hope you will trust me when I
say that the detail is something you are better off not knowing. You
may tell the others if you wish - I will leave that up to you - all I
ask is that you please remember the warning I gave you - knowledge is
not always for the best." The woman's stern eyes bore into Rei's, and
then, breaking the contact between them, she started to speak.

    "As you already know, in approximately one thousand years from now
the Moon Kingdom will be reborn in what we call Crystal Tokyo, and its
birth will herald in a new age of peace and prosperity such as Man has
not known for thousands of years. It should be a time to look forward
to, a time that should last for hundreds, perhaps, thousands of
years..."

    "But?" Rei asked softly. There was usually always a 'but' in these
kinds of stories.

    "Dreams do not always turn out as they first appear," Setsuna
replied in a dead voice. "For reasons that I will not bore you with,
soon after the death of Queen Serenity IV and the ascension of her
daughter, the dream began to go sour. At first, it was in a small way.
Dissension amongst the outer colonies, rifts between noble houses -
small things, but slowly, surely, a corruption began to manifest
itself in the hearts of the people. A corruption which as time went by
began to become more and more evident..."

    "Until?" Rei whispered, beginning to wish now that she had never
even asked this question. Ever since she had first learnt of the
existence of Crystal Tokyo and her role in bringing it to fruition,
the future had seemed to be nothing but full of bright hope and
expectations. She did not want to believe that those hopes had been
nothing but an illusion, that it was all going to fall apart. However,
she also knew that the future was not fixed, that things could change.
If there was no hope for that, then Setsuna would not be telling her
these things now... Would she?

    "Until..."

    The voice of the other woman was so faint that Rei almost missed
it.

    "Until..." the voice repeated, and this time a small shiver passed
through Setsuna's body, and the hand holding onto Rei's clenched.

    "Well, let's just say that the dream became a waking nightmare and
leave it at that, shall we?" the young man who had spoken previously
finished off the sentence.

    At his words, a bitter laugh escaped Setsuna's mouth and she
looked up at him. "Yes," she said in that same dead voice. "That is
one way of putting it..."

    From that little exchange, Rei got the distinct impression that
she was much better off not knowing what precisely the "until" meant,
so instead, she tried another tact. "And what about the future us?
What are we doing to stop this... corruption from happening?"

    The young looking man who had not yet spoken now stepped forward.
"The events of which we speak happened, or will happen perhaps I
should say, long after the deaths of both yourself and your friends,
Hino-san. In the timeline of which we are speaking, there are no
Senshi - at least, not as you know them. And that is one of the things
we are trying to change."

    "I don't understand..."

    "Let me ask you a question instead, Rei," Setsuna suddenly said,
turning to look at her. "Why do you think it is that this solar system
has always been at the brunt of so many conflicts? Why is it here that
so many 'bad guys' always seem to make themselves known? Why the Dark
Kingdom? Why the War of the Fallen? Why the Death Busters? Why here,
always here?"

    Rei frowned, and slowly shook her head. "I... I don't know. I've
never really thought about it..."

    "Neither had we," Setsuna replied. "And until... someone explained
it to us, we had no idea it even mattered."

    "What do you mean?" Rei asked in a quiet voice, her attention now
fully locked on Setsuna.

    "There are Universes out there, Rei," Setsuna said softly. "Not
just ours, but hundreds, thousands, millions of them. Each of them
different, each of them unique, and yet each connected in ways we
cannot even begin to understand."

    "You mean as in the theory of quantum mechanics?" Rei jumped in.
"That every time a change happens, a new universe is born?"

    "Exactly," Setsuna replied, her eyes like frozen shards. "But this
is no theory. There is a war going on, Rei. A war between beings whose
nature is utterly alien to us, beings whom we could in some ways even
correctly describe as Gods. And the battle fields for these beings,
Rei, are not just worlds, or galaxies, but entire Universes. And if a
Universe is lost..." the woman just shook her head and her eyes slowly
closed.

    For a moment, Rei wondered if Setsuna was joking. She could accept
what the Time Senshi had said about the existence of many different
universes quite readily. Hell, theorists had postulated such things
for years, but Gods... That was... difficult. So, using Setsuna's
silence to collect her thoughts, Rei asked the question that she most
dreaded an answer to. "So, we are a battle field, are we? Is that what
you are saying?"

    Unexpectedly, Setsuna snorted and shook her head. "No, thank God.
If we were, then you and I would not be having this conversation now.
Our little solar system would have been blown away like chafe in a
storm. Let me make one thing crystal clear, Rei. The beings to which I
refer are not like Galaxia or the other enemies we have faced. They
_are_ Gods, in fact, in someways, more than Gods. Can you imagine how
long we would last against such an opponent as that?"

    "The Great War is not our concern," one of the young men spoke up.
"By the time it eventually comes here, both of our races will be
ancient history anyway. What we have to be more worried about are its
effects on us in the here and now."

    "Effects?" Rei queried, wondering what the heck this 'Great War'
was, and just who exactly this young man was who seemed to know so
much about it.

    "The answer to that is in the original question I asked you, Rei,"
Setsuna said, taking up the conversation once more. "You see, there
are places, well, worlds to be more precise, where the... barriers
between these separate Universes are at their weakest. These worlds
are connected, in that they each share common elements with each
other. Such planets are known as Threshold Worlds, and because they
are connected, they tend to, well, resonate each in sympathy with one
another. Our Earth is one such Threshold World. It is because of this
that we are so often the focus of so many difficult conflicts."

    "We are mirroring the conflicts that are sometimes happening in
other such Threshold Worlds," the young man continued. "And it is
because of this resonance, that the future which the Time Gates have
alluded to may possibly happen."

    "Possibly?" Rei straightened. "You mean it's not certain? We can
still change it?"

    Setsuna gave the young brunette a firm look and nodded. "Nothing
is ever one hundred percent certain, Rei. If it was, then my job would
be pointless. However, the future to which I am referring is real, and
is happening. What my... our concern is, is how do we _stop_ it from
happening, and that is exactly what we are trying to do."

    "We?" Rei asked, a small frown on her face. "And just who is
'we'?"

    At this, Setsuna sighed and for a moment, her face looked
uncharacteristically vulnerable. "Please, don't ask me that question,
Rei, just trust me. I don't want to get you or the others involved in
this affair anymore than I have to, and there is some knowledge for
which the price is just too high."

    "But..." Rei began.

    "Please, Rei," Setsuna repeated, meeting the fire senshi's eyes.
"Please."

    The look of concern filling the older woman's eyes hit Rei like a
fist. It was almost as if the veil of strength and solitude that
always seemed to surround Setsuna had, for one rare moment, been
pulled back, and what was revealed of the soul beneath made Rei's
throat tighten.

    A heavy silence filled the room.

    "Setsuna," Rei finally said, giving the older woman's hand a
tender squeeze. "You are not alone, you know. I will help in anyway I
can. I don't know what exactly I can do, but I will help, if you want
me to."

    Setsuna's eyes widened and an expression of almost sisterly love
flickered across her face, an expression that was slowly replaced by a
regretful smile. "Live your own life first, Rei. That is far more
important than worrying about a future which may never happen.
Remember, the way towards Crystal Tokyo is not entirely without bumps
of its own. You need to fight for that first, to ensure that Man at
least has a bright future to look forward to. Without that hope, then
everything else is pointless anyway." Her smile grew rueful, "Hell,
even I'm trying to make a life for myself in the here and now. I've
been worrying about the future for so long that I almost forgot..."
her voice stopped, and in a total change of mood, the Time Senshi
actually started to blush.

    "Setsuna..."

    "Rei-san," the first young man who had spoken smiled up at her.
"There comes a point in your life when there is only so much that you
can do. That is the nature of things - we are driven by the acts of
the present. The timeline to which we are referring may not even
happen. We are all doing our damndest to ensure that it doesn't, but
in the final analysis, we will not know until that future becomes our
present, and by then of course, it will be too late anyway, so..." he
shrugged.

    "Hotaru. This has something to do with Hotaru, doesn't it?" Rei
suddenly remembered the snippet of conversation she had overheard
earlier.

    The young man's smile faded slightly as his expression became sad.
"Yes," was all he said.

    "What are you goi..."

    "Rei," Setsuna said getting to her feet. "Please, enough. There
are somethings we cannot tell you for reasons which should be obvious.
Hotaru's role is one of those. She will act as she must. That is her
fate, but she must do so because she desires it, not because it is
expected of her."

    "You mean she must sacrifice herself again?" Rei asked in a pained
voice.

    "No, it means that she must act out of love," the young man
replied. "For that is how the stage is set."

    Rei frowned at the odd choice of words and waited to see if the
young man would say anything else.

    "Errr, excuse me," a feminine voice suddenly inquired, causing
them all to jerk around surprised to see a blinking Minako standing in
the door, clutching at her head. "Has anyone got something for a
headache? I've got one hell of a hangover..." She stopped confused,
"Rei? Why are you banging your head on the table? Is that some kind of
cure..."

                *           *           *           *

(To be continued...)