The song was heard everywhere. The haunting bell-like notes of "Moonlight Densetsu" were played on everything from bagpipes to violins to pianos to flutes. Lovers would dance, dreamily drifting on their hopes for the future. One might speak of overnight phenomena but it was odd for a song to remain popular for five years.

Even more compelling was the fact that the identity of its composer remained anonymous. The music had been copywrited by the pseudonym of Chad Romansu, but investigations yielded no information on his true identity. He still rented a box at the Tokyo Central Post Office, paying for it through the mail and only visiting when heavily muffled by clothing.

Every few months a new song would appear, each one an instant hit:

"Moon Revenge," "Tuxedo Mirage," and "Sailor Stars" to name just a few. The songs were recorded by famous idoru. Little girls would sing along to the infectuous music as they listened to their radios. As a lark, manga artist Takeuchi Naoko wrote an episode of "Codename: Sailor V" in which Romansu had been found to be an agent of Dark Lord Calcite. (She got an actual reply from the composer, saying he rather prefered Mars.)

In the handful of interviews he had granted by post, he always was asked the same question: what in the hell had he been doing since the publication of the song? The hermit replied that he had pursued the religious life and said no more. How could he begin to explain his breakdown because of his parents' expectations, or the peace he felt when he was with the girl he had discovered? Impossible!

Things, however, would not remain secret for long.

She stalked around the shrine. Past the sleeping old man and the raven tressed girl. Ethereal. Spooky. Out of this world. Not that she actually came from this world. She had been a lucky one who managed to sneak out with one of the warpgates. She paid no heed to the scrolls hanging, as if the warnings against demons didn't exist. Which was fitting for she was no demon.

She was much more complicated then a mere Abyss-dweller. In her body flowed music, the arts. She fed upon creativity, imagination. She could hear music in the silence if the composer was near by. She felt the motion of the prima ballerina's dance as she slept. She saw the colors of the artist paint through the void of dreams. And she fed on them.

Her latest lover-victim was here; she heard the music he composed in his sleep. Bell-like and haunting. "I'm sorry that I'm not gentle/ I can say that in my dreams . . ." Beautiful. He was a diamond in the rough. It would be a pleasure to feed on him. Yes, a pleasure.

He lay on a futon, sprawled. Chin slightly rough. Long messy brown hair. She smiled and heard the music even stronger. ". . . my thoughts are about to short circuit/ I want to see you, right now." She cradled him into an embrace. Next to the futon were assorted stacked papers. "'Moonlight

Legend, a song for Rei and her Friends' Kumada Yuuichirou"

And she fed.

Sailor Moon Dark War
Episode Sixteen:  A Question of Talent

by Becky Malsin

Beta Version

Morning. Last night Hino Rei had slept rather uneasily. She had the distinct feeling that something had settled around the shrine. Her dreams were rather odd. Especially the sunken city of jade with a shadowed man in the center. She felt as if she had known that man before. No, almost knew.

Or maybe she shouldn't have read all that H. P. Lovecraft the night before.

What was that noise? Rei clamped her hands over her ears. It was like a garbage disposal grinding china crossed with a vacuum cleaner sucking up a sock. She could barely make out what seemed to be lyrics. And what idiot played electric guitar at this hour? "Yuuichirou . . . " she muttered, "You are going to wish you were never born."

Rei charged into the room Yuuichirou had lived in these last five years or so. "It seems to be crying, the moonlight/ But I can't telephone, it's midnight/ I'm so naive; what can I do?/ My hear is a kaelidoscope." He proceeded to strum on the guitar, mangling the Romansu tune horribly. Rei scoffed at the long-haired shrine apprentice. How could he dare presume to sing something written by a genius and turn it to garbage? She had to pull the plug for the good of mankind!

"What the hell did you think you were doing? I need to keep up my skills!" The Dazed and Confused Poster Boy blinked owlishly at the perturbed priestess. Why in the heck was the girl he adored above all others glaring at him like that? He had only been practicing on his guitar. It wasn't like he had used the sacred fire to roast hotdogs or anything sacreligious.

"What skills? A sick alley cat sings better than you, idiot! I forbid you to make that awful noise in my presence." She glared at him. While one part of Yuuichirou was cowering in terror the other part was observing that, even when angrier than heck, Rei was incredibly beautiful. Somehow sensing that, Rei's short fuse finally burned down.

"You don't believe me? As Head Miko I will punish you!" She grabbed the nearest blunt object she could find, a Sailor Mars garage stand, and commenced chasing the helpless hippie wannabe out of the room and around the property, screaming obscenities at the top of her lungs. The few neighbors that didn't already think the Hikawa Temple Shrine was a virtual madhouse instantly revised their opinion.

This lasted for the next fifteen minutes untill Yuuichirou collapsed, gasping for air, on the temple steps where Rei had found him all those years ago and promptly blacked out. Neither were in the condition to appreciate the synchronicity of the location. Calming down, she decided to haul him back into his room, taking care to hide his guitar, less he stir in the near future. Then, rather tired herself, Rei set about to getting dressed for school.

As Rei dashed out the gates a cloaked figure shook her head. She had hoped to catch the girl earlier that morning but upon watching the chase had thought better. If the Sailor Mars of this world was anything like the one she knew, interrupting her then would not be a good idea. So much for the direct approach. She might as well try again later.

The woman sighed and ducked behind a tree to change into her old school clothes, as well as putting a glamour on her hair and eyes to make them look more normal. It seemed that for once looking like she was in her mid-teens would be to her advantage.

She reflected that it was amazing she _had_ come back for her friend. She should have been dead by her own hand. Would have been dead if her husband hadn't begged her granddaughter to bring her back. She knew now that he would do the same thing if she ever tried to suicide again. Which meant that she would have to wait many, many years. Which in turn could involve visits to her sister-by-oath.

The woman was really getting frustrated with all these dead ends.

Her friend's house and her friend's cousin's house had both been abandoned. When she went to the Silkworm to check up with the owner about its most valuable customer she found out that it too was deserted. She had looked up in the records to see if anyone had moved but it listed Titania Hobbes, Calvin Hobbes (terrible pun, that), Catherine Margrave, Azure DeWitt, Piram Troy, and Chrystine Phobos all as missing. The first five had disappeared a scant month after she had left and the last had a few months later.

There still should be a good few hours until the girl would come home. The woman resolved that she might as well ask around Bunkyo Junior High about her friend. If she remembered correctly the students there went to Juuban High School after graduation so that would be her next stop. All in all, she would have a busy day. And she had a feeling that even if she couldn't find her sister-in-cause her curiosity would at least be satisfied.

"The senshi have their own enemies to fight. You can only stay here for one battle of theirs before you wreck the timeline." The advice rang true enough and it came from a person who knew her and this world much better than almost anyone else. And hadn't she gone to visit that teenager, the first time since she had left her friend, for advice of that sort? Well, now she had a deadline. She smiled. Before her life had been turned upside down three years ago she had always worked better with a deadline.

The woman decided that she would return to Sendai Hill later that evening to talk to Hino Rei about what had happened January of 1995. The Senshi may not have had anything to do with the disapearence of the last of the youma but she would bet her seifuku that they did. She hissed an oath under her breath. If they had done _anything_ to Titanite . . . of course, her friend couldn't have been _killed_ by the Senshi. She knew enough of this world's future to know her bond-sister would reappear someday. But even if they weren't responsible for her disappearance she was willing to bet they knew who or what was behind it. No matter. She would approach them later if need be, there were others she could ask first. Rhiannon McIntyre nodded and started walking in the direction of the school.

Superman stood in his ice-fortress, staring at the chamber ahead. It was now or never. He could stay his super-powered self, but lose Lois forever. Or he could enter the chamber, submit himself to the red sun of Krypton, and become just as human as anyone else. Human enough to marry Lois. He made his decision and-

The phone rang. "Shit!" Aurium muttered as she put the VCR on pause, then picked up the reciever. "Yeah?" She answered with the most annoyed tone she could muster.

"You haven't been quite careful enough, have you?" The Chairman.

Her lucky day.

"Whaddya mean? I'm still alive, which is more than I can say for my moronic brother."

"Your warpgate hasn't been watched that well, has it?"

"I don't think I like the sound of this . . ."

"Aurium, whatever idiot you had guard it should be hanged! Sleeping on the job is unaccepta-"

"Dando."

"What?"

"Dando Redcap. The idiot that I had stand guard. I'll exterminate him after I finish my movie."

The Chairman sounded a bit strained. "_After_ your movie?"

"'Superman II.' It's like way essential, even if Christopher Reeves isn't as cute as Dean Cain."

There was a silence on the other end. Aurium suspected that the Chairman was wondering about her sanity. She was perfectly sane, she just liked to see her movies all the way through. Especially if they included her favorite caped wonder.

She decided to break the ice. "So, any other news for me?"

"Yes. You know that ill-watched warpgate?"

"Like, duh. We already talked about _that_."

"Give me strength! One of the Lhiannan Sidhe escaped, you innatentive Valley Girl!"

"No way!"

"Yes way. And you better have this mess settled by tomorrow or I won't be happy. And you don't like it when I'm not happy."

"Don't worry, Chief, I'll get it done. But right now, I'm outie!"

Aurium sighed as she hung up the phone. So much work and not enough time. Now she'd have to find someone to get rid of that stupid Lhiannan Sidhe. And that of course would get the senshi on her tail again . . . a light bulb went off in her head.

Why not leave the fairy killing to the Senshi? Probability in this town was so skewed that at least one of them would come into contact with the problem. No need for her to do the dirty work. She checked her Hello Kitty watch. Good, she had enough time to finish the movie and kill Dando before 'Lois and Clark' was on. Sighing happily, she hugged her pillow and got back into the movie.

Ikeda Meiko and Hayashi Kaori sat in their usual place under the smaller maple. The larger maple a few feet away from it, of course, was reserved for their classmate Tsukino Usagi and her friends. The two didn't fault the other girls for winning the coveted other tree. As Kaori once said philosophically, on any given day there were anywhere from four to seven of the others and usually only two of them. Usually.

"Kaori? Meiko?" A girl in their old school uniform sat down by them. Meiko blinked. She thought she knew who the girl was but only because she literally hadn't changed. "You might remember me from about three years back. Ti-chan introduced me to you."

Meiko finally got her lips to move. "Um, yeah. You're Rhiannon, aren't you? You were staying here with relatives for a month or so back in 1994. We didn't know you were back in town."

The newcomer shrugged. "Sorry. I wanted to tell Ti first but I couldn't find her. Her house was sold and everything. Silkworm was too, so I couldn't ask Phobos-san either. Where _is_ Ti, anyway?"

"She vanished about a month after you left."

"You're kidding!"

Kaori shook her head. "We don't like it either, but it happened.

I'm afraid we're just as much in the dark as you."

"Shimatta," Rhiannon muttered.

"Yeah."

There was silence, then Meiko finally spoke up. "Rhiannon, did you know that Ti wasn't quite . . . normal?"

She paused before answering. "Yes . . . but neither am I, really."

"She was a senshi. Kaori saw her transform."

Rhiannon nodded, "Polaris _always_ was my favorite."

"So you knew about _that_?" The two were incredulous.

"Well, I told her a similar secret of my own."

Kaori gasped, "Are you a senshi?"

"I'm not a senshi as you know them, but, yes, I could be considered something like that. That's why we made such good Senshi Trackers, we knew what to look for."

"That club thing you two were always doing!" Kaori remembered.

"Ah, well, it was more of a cover-up for something else. It would take too long to explain what that was."

There was another long silence, then Rhiannon spoke again. "It was nice talking to you guys. I miss Ti-chan a lot. She was . . ." Rhi seemed to be at loss for a word, so Meiko helped her out.

"Special?"

"Yes, special. I guess this is goodbye, then."

"I guess . . ." Meiko then thought of something. "Have you eaten lunch yet, Rhiannon?"

"Not really."

"Then stay with us, it's the least we can do. I have an extra dango, anyway."

"Yeah," Kaori grinned, "I'll tell you about how I found out about Ti being a senshi."

"Thank you, both of you. If it's really not much of an inconvienience, then how can I refuse?"

"You can't." The rest of the lunch hour was spent trading stories about their missing friend. Rhiannon _did_ get to staring at that new kid, Laura, once, but she snapped out of it quickly enough. For how could she explain to Kaori and Meiko that she recognised that another girl was older than she looked?

"Honey, I'm home!" Rei yodeled. Hmm, neither Grandpa or Yuuichirou was responding. She checked around to see if either had left her a note. Ah, here it was. She read it out loud.

"'Rei, Went to Tomobiki to visit old schoolmate. Be back Thursday. I tried to wake Yuuichirou but the damn boy insists on sleeping in. Beauty rest is one thing, but it's already two o'clock. I want you to check on him. Maybe you could find some way to wake him up? Have fun together and don't do anything I wouldn't do. Love, Grandpa.' Hmph. Why would I want to do anything with that baka?"

Speaking of the baka, Rei supposed she better check on the big idiot. There weren't any tse-tse flies in Tokyo, so he should be done napping. She hoped. If not, well Rei could kick him.

He was still asleep. Rei tried to kick him, but it didn't work. Neither did dumping water on his head, playing Pink Floyd at top volume, swearing, chanting prayers, donning a candle wreath, meditiating, waving spirit wards, or collapsing on him crying. He was a stone.

"Yuui-kun," Rei whispered, using the nickname for the first time and she stroked his comatose head, "I'll get help for you, I swear. By Susano-o, Ameratsu, the kami-tachi, Buddha, and Queen Serenity-sama."

Making sure Yuuichirou was as comfortable as someone could be in his condition, Rei left him to make a few calls. There were only a few people in the world who could help her with this . . .

A half-hour later she was greeting the guests as they filed into the bedroom. Mako, Mina, Ami, and, last of all, Usagi and Mamoru. The last two were blushing, which provided a clue to the reason for their lateness.

After explaining the problem to the Senshi and Tux Boy, Rei asked Ami to examine Yuui. As the scholarly senshi did so, Rei started to bite her nails. Finally she couldn't bear it any longer. "Well, do you know what's wrong with him?"

The blue-haired senshi said, rather detachedly as she ran her computer over the prone person, "Exhaustion. Caused by either psychic, spiritual, or magical means rather than physical."

"Could you narrow it down?"

Ami sighed, "My dear Rei, I am a doctor, not a parapsychologist."

"Oh . . . "

A voice piped up behind the worried miko. "Rei?"

She spun around, startled, "Usagi?"

Usagi grinned, embarassed, "Could the enemy have done this to

Yuuichirou? I mean, it might just be a coincidence, but it might not."

Rei was staring at Usagi like she had grown another head. "By the ring-tailed blue monkey goddess! Usagi, you have had, for probably the first time in your life, a good idea. Let's hit the books and see what kind of bitch of a fairy's done this to Yuui-kun!"

"Uh, thanks . . . I mean . . . HEY! I have too had good ideas before!"

Rhiannon sighed. No leads at all. Well, it seemed like she would have to visit Ms. Hino after all. Hopefully Rei will have cooled down since the morning. What a hothead! As she reached the end of the block, she heard a scream followed by a terrified yowl. And then felt the thump and the hard pavement.

"Shit! Shit! Shit! Stupid bike!" A familiar if blurry figure stood over her. And she had the voice of Kasahara Hiroko. Which meant . . .

Rhiannon shook her head in amazement. Had she died and gone to Cephiro? "Fuu? Where's Hikaru and Umi? Oh my goddess, I don't remember falling off Tokyo Tower!"

"Falling off Tokyo Tower? Are you _sure_ you're all right?" A white and black shape joined the girl. Perhaps a very dirty Makona?

Rhiannon started to feel around for her glasses. After putting them on, Rhiannon realised her mistake and blushed. "I'm okay. For a second I thought you were someone else." I've really got to cut down on Mahou Kishi Rayearth. It's gone to my brain.

The girl _did_ bear a bit of resemblance to the wind-wielding Magic Knight but that was all. More importantly, she was that girl Rhiannon had seen at school during lunch. Meiko had said she was the new Canadian exchange student. The one that _looked_ like a high school senior but, if somebody knew what she was looking for, was quite a bit older on subsequent glances.

What's she up to? Rhiannon wondered, then chastened herself. This wasn't her world. It was none of her business. Really. Besides that, curiosity killed the cat. A mocking voice in her mind added: but satisfaction brought the cat back. Speaking of which, a member of the feline species was looking at her thoughtfully. Rhiannon decided to ask the important question.

"What's his name?"

"Huh? Oh, my cat's named Puck. I'm Laura."

"Rhiannon. Nice name-I always liked the Dream."

"Me too. Ever seen Mel Gibson in 'Hamlet?'"

"Yeah. I missed Leo in 'Romeo and Juliet,' though. But the version of R&J they did in the sixties was pretty cool."

"My teacher showed me that in ninth grade!"

"Weird, so did mine. Mind if I play with Puck?"

"Not at all."

Rhi started stroking the kitty, making conversation and rubbing his stomach. "Silly trickster. You 'jest at Oberon to make him smile and likewise the bean-fed horse beguile.' Not to mention tricking little old ladies to sit on you. Don't you, Robin Goodfellow?"

Puck solemnly nodded his head, and continued rubbing himself against Rhiannon, purring. "He likes you," Laura commented.

"And I like him." There was a pause. "You look eighteen."

"Well, you look fifteen."

"I'm older. Are you?"

"Yes. I'm twenty-two."

"I turned eighteen over the summer. Not that age matters. But still, I was wondering, why are you acting younger?"

"I can't really tell you that."

"Makes sense. I can't tell _you_ why I'm in Tokyo either." Rhiannon stroked Puck for a few minutes more then shook her head. She was getting later all the time. "I guess I better be going. Nice meeting you."

"Likewise." Laura re-mounted her bike and turned a corner, the opposite way of Rhiannon. About half a block away she stopped, and leaned in to listen to Puck.

"Follow her. I have a hunch she's going to figure into what comes next." Laura sighed, but she turned around.

"I'm getting to really hate these hunches of yours. All this bike riding isn't good for a girl."

"Nonsense. Exercise enriches the body and mind."

"Then why don't you ever walk instead of have me bike you?"

"Just follow her. We'll discuss this later."

"Rei, stop pacing. It's annoying."

The disgruntled miko glared at Minako, "Hmmph. It's my shrine and

I'll pace if I want to. You would pace too if it happened to you."

"Didn't it already happen to Yuui?" Usagi asked, confused. The others tried to refrain from snickering.

Rei grimaced. Ami seemed to be the only person trying to help her. Minako and Usagi (when the latter wasn't disapearing to make-out with Mamoru) were scarfing food as fast as Makoto could cook it. Their token male helped with the research part of the time, but those smooching breaks were too frequent for Rei's taste. At this rate Yuui-kun would never get cured. They had only gotten to kelpie in the Hikawa Temple Shrine's guide to supernatural spirits (the number-one essential guide for all miko-

Grandpa's friend Sakuranbou had given it to them at Rei's birth).

The bell rang. Probably some damn solicitor. As if Rei didn't have problems already. She motioned Ami to continue with the research as she put on her best disgruntled face and headed towards the doorway. "Yeah. Whaddya want?"

Whoever it was seemed female, gaijin, about year three junior high, and wearing the same Bunkyo uniform that Mako used to have. "Excuse me, Hino Rei, but do you know the whereabouts of a Titania Hobbes?"

Rei frowned, "She's been gone for two years. I'm rather busy right now so if you could please come back later . . ." She began closing the door

The young girl quickly stepped inside the shrine, "Gomen nasai, but I am looking for Titania Hobbes."

Rei gritted her teeth, "I told you, no one has heard from her since 1995. Now please, we're conducting a very delicate operation and you must leave."

The intruder hissed, "Hino Rei, I am looking for Titania Hobbes and I will not leave until I get information. We can do it the easy way or we can do it the hard way. Your choice."

"What will you do, little girl? Beat me up?"

"Little girl? I am older than you, Hino Rei. Tell me where Titania

Hobbes is."

Rei snorted, "Why should I?"

"Because I asked. You will tell me where she is, then I will leave you and your senshi friends alone."

Rei forced herself to laugh, "Senshi? You think I'm a Sailor Senshi?"

"I know you are, Hino Rei."

"If I was a Sailor Senshi I could just take out a henshin pen, transform, and hurt you badly." Rei realized her mistake. "Err . . . if senshi used henshin pens, I mean."

"You wouldn't."

"How do you know that?"

"I am no magical construct or even a youma. I am a human, like you.

Now, please tell me where Titania Hobbes is." The girl paused, "Perhaps you know her better as Titanite or even Sailor Polaris."

Rei stared at the intruder, "Then again, we may have something to talk about after all. Right this way, err . . ."

"Rhiannon. Rhiannon McIntyre."

Halfway to Yuuichirou's room, they heared a rather loud cry. "EUREAKA!"

Rhiannon looked at Rei. Rei looked at Rhiannon. "Sounds Greek to me," the miko finally said.

"It is."

"Oh."

It was at this point that what seemed an odango'd truck nearly ran them over. "Rei-chan! Rei-chan! Ami knows who's hurting Yuuichiro!" Usagi turned around at the knocked-down girls. "Err, sorry about that."

Rhiannon was the first to speak, "Konbanwa Tsukino Usagi. Do you know where I can find Titanite?"

"Never mind that," Rei cut in. "Just tell me who it is so I can strangle it."

"Ami says it was a . . ." Here Usagi furrowed her brow in attempt to get the right pronounciation, "err, a Ri-a-n-na-n Shii. It was some gaijin word, anyway."

"A _Riannan_ Shi, you say?" Rei looked at the intruder, "So, a Riannan Shii zaps Yuui-kun the same day I meet a girl named Rhiannon. AKURYO TAISAN!" Rhiannon dodged. "AKURYO TAISAN!" And dodged again. "Damnit, stay in one place, you fairy bitch." The ofuda came one after another.

About ten of the little spirit wards down the line, Rhiannon ducked into a closet. After a muffled shout, the interloper ran back out. Or at least Rei thought it was her. The hair and eyes seemed to have turned silvery grey. That and the fact the girl was in serafuku made Rei blink.

"You dare call me an evil spirit? You are not worth your henshin pen! I am the rather plain soldier Sailor Charon! In place of Pluto's moon, I will punish you!"

Rei laughed, "Oh yeah . . . MARS CRYSTAL POWER, Make up!"

Usagi seemed to be confused, "Are we fighting now? Er . . . ETERNAL

MOON POWER, Make up!" She cleared her throat, "Confusing me and Rei is a bad idea! In the name of the moon, you will come with us for further examination!

"Are you out of your small excuse for a mind?" Rei hissed.

Usagi shrugged, "If she's another senshi then we shouldn't hurt her. Ami'll know what to do. She always does."

"You use Ami as a subsitute brain!"

"Do not."

"Do too!"

Rei's tongue, I'd like you to meet Usagi's tongue. Oh, you know each other already?

Unnoticed by his present and former girlfriends, Tuxedo Kamen strode through the door, sweatdropped, and immediately left. "It's just another new Senshi," he said upon returning to Yuuichirou's room. "She seems harmless, but the two of them really shouldn't have transformed in front of her."

And the tongue war raged on . . . although both Usagi and Rei were beginning to feel their weapons dry.

Rhiannon (or Sailor Charon or whatever) coughed loudly, "Don't you think that you should take me in to see the other senshi now?"

"Oh yeah . . ."

After two or three minutes of arguing, the trio made their way to

Yuuichirou's room. Ami grinned as she saw them come in. "Usagi told you about the Lhiannan Sidhe, didn't she?"

Huh? "What did you call it, Ami?"

"A Lhiannan Sidhe. In romaji, el-aitch-eye-ay-en-en-ay-en space ess-eye-dee-aitch-ee. They feed on the energies of creative artists while they sleep. Didn't Usagi tell you?"

If Rei's gaze had been physical, Usagi's body would have been riddled with stab wounds. "Not exactly."

"Okay, I mispronounced the name. We still need to talk to that other senshi!"

The mysterious gaijin girl in serafuku bowed deeply. "Konbanwa Mizuno Ami. My name is Rhiannon McIntyre and I am looking for a girl named Titanite."

"An alternate world?" Rhiannon mused, sipping her tea. "It makes sense. You say that the passageway slammed shut?"

Ami nodded, "Hai. I attempted to analyse it, but I'm afraid dimensional mechanics are not my strong point. Do you have any experience with extradimensional studies?"

"You could say it was my chosen field. I met Titanite while doing some traveling, trying to keep my mind off some mistakes I had made back home."

"If you don't mind me asking," Mamoru inquired, "but where do you come from? Even counting the rash of senshi we had last year, I don't believe we've ever heard of you."

"Well, if I tell you I specialize in dimensional mechanics and I mention I met Ti-chan on an extradimensional jaunt, there ought to be a logical answer." She paused for a second to let Mamoru assimulate her words. "I come from another dimension than yours, one where I'm the younger, plainer, less important, less talented, and less powerful sister of our Sailor Pluto. On the other hand, I was nominated the most suicidal, most depressive, and biggest inferiority complex of our senshi three years in a row. Even managed to beat Hotaru and Setsuna."

"Err . . . that's nice."

"Why, thank you. I'll even tell you the tale of Ti-chan's and my excellent adventures for the price of a meal."

Usagi, who had been listening during the moments when she wasn't shoveling down Pocky, was enchanted by the idea. "Neat! As soon as we kick the fairy's butt we can listen!"

Rhiannon raised an eyebrow. "There you go, mentioning fairies again. I somehow doubt you refer to those who prefer their own sex. What happened? Have they decided to hold their hunt in Tokyo?"

"You know about fairies?" Makoto asked.

"Just the basics. The Fae were the race that came before humans, weren't they?"

Minako nodde. "Yeah and now they want the Earth back. They even sent somebody after Yuuichirou."

"I'd noticed. It isn't every day that I get mistaken for a Fae, that's for sure."

"It was an honest mistake," Rei grumbled. She sighed and took another quick look at Yuuichirou. Still asleep. "If that baka of a leprechaun doesn't get here soon, I'll flambe him."

"You rang?" The voice came from the windowsill.

"Lemme guess," Rhiannon grinned, "you're a double agent for Oberon himself. Robin Goodfellow, right?"

The faux fairy was nonplussed, "Actually, most people call me Macavity."

"Oh, the son of Avity. I guess you've also seen 'Cats' or at least read Eliot. I liked 'Prufrock' myself."

"You could say that I was the muse for that part of 'Old Possum's.' _Anyway_, Ami's right about it being a Lhiannan Sidhe. I haven't seen one of those since the time I was in Oxford. One of them even went after my friend Chuck Dodgeson. No wonder he only had a thing for little girls after that."

"This isn't the time for a flashback, Mack." Rei's voice had a dangerous edge to it.

"Of course it isn't. Now what are you going to do about this particular Unseelie?"

Mamoru shrugged, "We're still trying to figure that out."

"What finally cured Chuck was related to a couple of late night vigils we held. I suggest you try some of those." He paused to survey the room. "Will your friend help us too?"

"Rhiannon?" Usagi asked. "Err, maybe. I dunno."

Rhi smiled. "Why not? Consider it payback for helping me with

Ti-chan. How about Rei and I take the first vigil. It's about eight, so we can watch him 'til midnight. Whaddya say, Rei?"

The miko was agreeable. "That's good enough for me. They don't call me the fastest ofuda in the east for nothing."

"Remind me to tell you about my own problems with them someday."

Macavity yawned, "Well, if it's all right with you then I'm all for short catnap. See you in the morning."

"Oyasuminasai!" The collected adolescents (and postadolescent) called out at once.

"We have an anime series?" Rei asked after she had recovered from the shock.

"In quite a few worlds, yes. There's this theory by a famous sci-fi writer that every work of fiction is real in one reality or another. Both Ti-chan's cousin and myself have proof. In the non-Senshi worlds, you do have an anime as I said. For the first four seasons it aired, Sailormoon had a viewing rate of about eleven percent of the general population of Japan, although it slipped a little during the fifth and final season. Basically, the show spanned your adventures from the Dark Kingdom to the Sailor Starlights."

"Millions of people know I'm Sailor Mars?"

"In other worlds."

"How many?"

Rhi tapped her finger on the flow. "Eto . . . not too many in the grand scheme of things. I'd say one or two moles."

"You measure worlds in furry animals?"

Rhi shook her head. "It's a chemistry term. I got it from one of my

Setsuna's books. Think the number six with twenty-three zeroes."

Rei spat out a word that made Rhiannon blush.

"It's not that bad. There's at least a googolplex of possible worlds out there. I've only been to a couple hundred myself since this body's birth. And apart from a short vacation in the Ranma Nibun no Ichi universe, I've only spent a copious amount time in your world, my world and this one other." She raked her fingers through her bangs. "Plus, my world and the other run at same speed as yours but are about three years into the future. And we weren't lucky to get anything like the Fae in 1997."

Rei nodded, then started babbling about implications of being anime as the gaijin girl watched with the air of a psychologist. Finally, Rei's voice regained its usual speed and asked the first answerable question that popped into her mind. "They don't show the fight against the Unseelie?"

"No. In almost every world I have visited, Takeuchi Naoko ended the manga series with Usagi's marriage to Mamoru just after the defeat of Galaxia. Although I only got to glimpse at that final volume, I believe your fearless leader had a bun in the oven named Chibi-Usa."

Rei facefaulted. Rhiannon replaced her glasses and peered down at Rei. "Yes, I know. Naoko-kamisama no hentai."

Rei blinked. "We're drawn by Takeuchi? Takeuchi 'Sailor V' Naoko?"

"Yeah. She supposedly modeled Usagi's parents after her own.

Anyway, the show was dubbed in the states back in 1995 and was promptly mangled since the censors in the states are ridiculous. These things have been happening since Tetsuan Atom became Astro Boy. They did an okay job on the manga. Even published these little Senshi guides, see?" Rhi took a book out of her backpack. "This one's yours. I only have the Eigo one with me, unfortunately."

Rei opened a page at random and started sounding out the words as Rhi leaned back and hummed "Moon Revenge." There was a loud thunk as the slim book was thrown to the floor.

"So let me get this straight," Rei said as she glanced at the prone Yuuichirou for the umpteenth time that night, "Yuuichirou is portrayed as some rock star in our anime series? He's the anti-singer!"

Rhi was polishing her glasses with the underside of her skirt. "I'd have to qualify that. It's only one of the dub's quirks. Yuuichirou's just a bum in the original. They do thing like that and mostly it's neither detrimental or interesting. On the other hand, the new alias for Chibi-Usa is pretty funny. 'I shall call her . . . Mini Moon.'"

"I don't get it."

"D'oh. I was referencing a movie from 1999. Gomen nasai." She sighed. "The thrills of being from a world three years ahead." Her co-sentry was looking at their charge again. "Earth to Rei!"

The distracted miko wrenched her attention away from the comatose shrine boy. "Hmm? Did you say something?"

"Never mind. Not important. I was just wondering . . ."

"Wondering what?"

"You know the sacred flame you use for visions? Do you think it might work for someone who isn't a miko?"

Rei leaned onto her open palm. "It might. Although favor from a kami helps, a psychic sensitivity is of utmost importance. Why do you ask?"

Rhiannon looked away. "When I was first born thousands of years ago, my extended family was famous for its mental gifts. We had telekinetics, psychometrics, pyrokinetics, precogniscents, postcogniscents, empaths, espers, and almost anything else you could think of. My older sister was both pre- and postcogniscent. We had a baby sister who was telekinetic. Mother was an empath. And then there was me. The only talents I had lay with conventional magic, not with the mind. They loved me anyway, but that didn't change the fact that I was their first dud in who knew how long . . ." The girl from a foreign world glanced at Rei and sighed. "And the last dud until the end of it all. No matter how hard I try, the only things I've ever been able to achieve are the odd unclear dream and a couple of parlor tricks." She reached into the backpack and pulled out a little bag. "Catch!"

Rei opened the bag and slid the contents onto the tatami. "Tarot cards?"

"My one talent. I always get an accurate result using them. It's the same with the I Ching as well." Rhi flashed Rei a pained grin. "Don't stare at them! Shuffle them!"

Bemused, Rei complied and handed the deck to Rhiannon. "What are you going to do with them?"

"Give you a reading, of course. I'll be laying they out into a Celtic Cross or, as we called it back on Pluto, the Platial Blueprint."

Rei raised an eyebrow feeling mighty Spock-like. "Why in the world would you call it a Palatial Blueprint?"

"Who knows? My grandma then said that it was because the spread looked like the old blueprints for Queen Serenity's palace." Flipping the card from right to left, Rhiannon slapped it down on the tatami. "The first card is the significator. It represents you."

Rei bent over to read the card. "I'm the Queen of Wands? Isn't that Usagi?"

"Very funny. The Queen of Wands is a woman with fire nature. She is self-sufficent, a born leader, and doesn't suffer fools easily." Rhi slapped the next card down horizontally over the first. "The second card represents the issues you are currently dealing with."

Rei looked down at the picture on the card. It showed a haggard man slumping forwards as he carried a burden of what looked like to be sticks of wood. "Wands again. There's ten of them."

"Ah, that signifies that you're in danger of biting off more than you can chew." Rhi placed the next above the first. "The third card crowns you. It represents your goals and ideals."

The card pictured a woman with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales. "Justice," Rei read.

"Pretty self-explanatory." Rhi placed the next card to the right of the first. "The fourth card represents your distant past."

THE MOON, it read. Rei stared at Rhiannon. "Go on."

"The fifth card represents your recent past." Rhi placed it beneath the first card. THE HIGH PRIESTESS.

"The sixth represents the near future." She placed the card to the right of the first card. "The Tower. Oh my."

The tower the card was named after seemed to be crumbling before Rei's eyes. "What does it mean?" Rei dreaded the answer to her question.

"Disaster," the other girl answered. She placed her next card six inches to the right of the figure. "The seventh card represents how you view yourself." STRENGTH.

"The eighth represents your associates." Rhi placed the card over the seventh.

"The Lovers?" Rei grimaced. "Hentai! Only Haruka and Michiru are like that!"

"Actually, it means a bond that withstands reincarnation." Another card above of the last. "The ninth card is the state of your emotions." THE PAGE OF SWORDS.

"Heh. It's reversed."

"Yes. Inverted, it means that you are too quick to criticize."

Rhiannon bit her lip. "The tenth and final card indicates the ultimate result of your path." She slapped it above the inverted Page and looked away.

"It's okay, I think . . ." Rei whispered.

"What is it?" Rhiannon asked, half-moaning.

"The World."

"Oh." The gray-haired girl relaxed. "Things coming full circle."

"You call this a parlor trick?" Rei whispered.

"My grandma wouldn't have needed cards to tell you that."

"She must have been something, hmm?"

Rhiannon leaned back against the wall. "Grandma Cerridwen was amazing. When she was younger than you or I she was already the head of Clan Bwenteir. Before she turned twenty, Grandma had helped set Serenity I on her throne. She was the most powerful psychic ever known in the Solar System. She knew no one could follow in her footsteps, so she named the dud for her heir." The girl laughed harshly. "I've only once since then seen anyone even nearly as good as Grandma and she was from another world."

Rei was interested. "One of the ones you saw on your trip with Titanite?"

Rhi shook her head. "No. This was after. I borrowed a Time Key from Setsuna and started hopping through random worlds. I wanted to see if there were any where I lived a happy normal life. There weren't many. In a lot of them I died by adolescence or didn't even exist. In all of them, none of my co-lessers existed except in shadows of themselves. I only found one world where I was happy and even there my double was legally dead and living incognito." She fidgeted with her collar. "I used the Key to speed things up through the course of my double's life there. When she had just turned thirty, a little girl and her baby sister moved next door to my double and her family." Rhi paused for a long time.

"And then what happened," Rei prodded Rhi.

"That baby, even in infancy, was stronger psychicly than anyone else living. By the time she was our age, she could travel time by force of mind alone!" Rhi's face was white. "Grandma may have had a wider range than the child, but no one besides Setsuna has ever traveled time without a Key or a Nanban Mirror or a Delorean or a Tardis or . . . well, in all the worlds I've cataloged, non-Setusna people need physical objects for time travel." Rhi relaxed her clenched fists. "Luckily the child has no ability for dimension travel, true magic, pyrokinetry, telekinetry, empathy, or ESP."

Rei patted Rhiannon's hand. "Then she's powerful but limited. Does your double know about her?"

"Know? She gave the child her rudimentary education. Like I said, this is in the one world when I lead a happy life. Not only does my double get to have a nice middle class life with no interfering magic or Senshi, she has some of the same talents as the child, albeit at much lower strength." A tear slid down her cheek. "Everything that I've always wanted, she's had fall into her hand by luck. Happiness. Love. Her child. A clean soul." Another tear followed. "I lost my first love to his goddess and my second is forbidden to me. My children grew to be monsters and forced me to kill in self-defense. That sin and my refusal to obey taboo in regards to my love have damned me so badly that not even Usagi could save my soul."

Rei put her arm around the younger-looking girl. "Sshh. It's okay, Rhi-san. Kamisama will understand."

Rhiannon sniffled. "I wish I had your faith." She sighed and leaned closer to Rei. The wind blew against the paper walls of the shrine. She was tired, so tired. Maybe, just for a second . . .

She closed her eyes.

Macavity was curled-up on his side in his all too apropriately named catnap. His dreams were pleasant for once, consisting of fish dinners that were meant to feed hundreds somehow ending up to be just for him.

In the middle of biting into a kipper, he awoke with a start. "Now why did I do that?" he asked himself, scratching his head. "I need my sleep! I wouldn't do that to myself . . . unless there was there something I was forgetting."

An illusionary lightbulb flashed behind his head. "Aw, crap!" he hissed. Those damn faerie vamps and their ability to provoke sleep . . .

He tore off as fast as his little legs could carry him towards the shrine boy's room. Leaping through the screen, Macavity realized that his fears had already come to pass if the fanged woman in the racy, even near-pornographic kimono was who he thought she was.

With a measure of good sense many of his former colleagues would have denied that he had, Macavity leaped feet first onto the open mouth of the nearest girl . . .

Rhiannon McIntyre was happy . . . nay, she was content. The rarity of that particular state of mind for the terminally depressed Slightly Lesser Senshi was such that blue moons were more frequent, not to mention old women with pin fetishes selling flying peppermint hobby-horses in London parks.

[Author's Note: Don't laugh. There has been at least one documented occurance of the latter in the last century.]

The reason for her contentment had much to do with the piece of lined notebook paper she was currently scribbling on. HER REBUTTAL:

INSPIRED BY T.S. ELLIOT'S "PRUFROCK," read the tentative title.

She placed her pen down and read the first few lines out loud. "'Let us go then, me and you/The city stretched beneath our view/ Like a great beast slouching towards Tokyo.' Sugoi!"

The music in the background did seem to be helping quite a bit. It was familiar, too. She had known a song with that tune, although the words she was hearing now were not in the right language. And it was quite impossible that they could follow the tune.

"Guided by moonlight/ We meet many times over/ Choreography of the stars/ Shows love's where-abouts/ Born in the same place/ A miracle romance."

Rhi picked up her pen to write more - and her mouth was suddenly full of cat fur.

CAT FUR?!?

Rhiannon woke up with a start.

She looked wildly around. There was a hole torn in the paper walls; she could see little leprechuan with a cat's name running off into the night. And around Yuuichirou was woman. In a skimpy kimono. With fangs. And pointy ears. Carressing him like there was no tomorrow.

"Rei isn't going to like this," she muttered. Rhi reached into her pocket for a pen and whispered five words, beginning with "Charon" and ending with "Make Up."

I've got to remember to adapt the serafuku to a longer skirt, she thought as she started to shake Rei.

Hino Rei basked in the spot light. A stadium filled with people chanting her name lay in front of her. It was good to be the most famous idoru in Japan. Her music sold more records than even SMAP did. In fact, if she ever decided to get her own television show, the once unbeatable quintet would be out of a job.

Luckily she didn't want her own television show. She liked the Bistro King segement on SMAP SMAP too much to ever replace their comedy hour with her own. Not to mention Makoto would kill her. Their lead singer looked too much like her sempai.

Rei took a breath and started to sing into the mike:

"I was born under the red star

I can't offer just sweet love

They say I have a profile of glass

But they don't know

The part of me that's in love

My silence could be intensity"

The song was called, "Atashi no Boyfriend." Although Rei had hits before, this one broke all records. She was beautiful, talented, and wrote her own songs. Who could top her?

As her band played the instrumental riff, she glanced over to her side. On the edge of the stage, the god Mars was nodding his head to the beat.

Suddenly, the music slowed to a halt. After a momentary silence, a clear voice started to sing: "Together for one more weekend/ God, I wonder if there's a happy-end/ Present, past, and future/ I devote my thoughts to you."

The song . . . Yuuichirou had sung it that morning.

Yuuichirou!

Why was she onstage? She was needed to protect Yuui-kun!

Rei blinked. The friend of the youma was shaking her. Rhiannon. That was her name. And she was dressed in serafuku. But Rei had seen her in serafuku earlier, so it wasn't as surprising as it could have been.

Kamisama, did she feel groggy.

And over the other girl's shoulder she could see a woman.

A woman?

And the woman seemed to be doing something potentially etchi with

Yuuichirou's comatose body!

Gone were any records of Rei's former fatigue. Pushing Rhiannon away, she grabbed her henshin pen and shouted, "MARS CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE UP!"

Rei jumped to her feet. "The love that is not spoken of is no less a love! I demand an explanation for your actions with Yuui-kun! I am the elegant soldier Sailor Mars and in place of Mars I will punish you!"

"You demand an explanation?" Rhiannon asked, frowning as she pushing herself to her own feet. "Since when?"

"Since now! And the faerie bitch better make it quick!"

The Lhiannan Sidhe disengaged herself from Yuuichirou. Rei realized with a sudden cold shock that the faerie was almost her twin. They were identical apart from the Unseelie's fangs and ears.

The Lhiannan Sidhe smiled seductively at Rei and the Martian senshi felt like she was falling into a bottomless well of purple. She could hear the voice behind her, singing: "Our dear existing time/ Will not be forgotten/Billions of stars/ Since then look over you/ An accidental chance returning/To have lived this life with love." Rei _knew_ the voice.

"It's a glamour," Rhiannon whispered to her. "The Fae do it naturally, like youma." Suddenly the well was not so deep, the edge not as far away.

Rei nodded and stared straight ahead at the Lhiannan Sidhe with no appearent fear. Then the faerie opened her mouth and spoke with the miko's voice. The voice that had been singing. The faerie bitch had stolen her voice to sing "Moonlight Densetsu."

"I do this because he is a musical genius," the Lhiannan Sidhe said simply. Calmly. Ridiculously.

"Yeah right. Yuui-kun couldn't carry a tune if you gave him a bucket. What's the real reason, joro?"

The Lhiannon Sidhe looked at Rei quizzically. It was unsettling to say the least. "I find no fault in his singing. It is pleasing to the ear. However, I speak more of his talents concerning composing."

Rei couldn't help it. She dissolved into a fit of giggles.

Rhiannon stared over the top of her spectacles at the Lhiannan

Sidhe. "You have a tin ear, I take it," she stated dryly.

The Unseelie gave a cry of rage and charged at the two senshi. Rei continued laughing uncontrolably. Rhiannon grimaced and pushed the Martian senshi away.

Rei blinked as she watched the other girl kiss the Lhiannan Sidhe passionately on the mouth. The faerie shifted into the form of a boy her age but almost immediately became a man the prime of life. The Unseelie alternated between the two males, removing his (her?) mouth from Rhiannon.

"She isn't _him_," the Lhiannan Sidhe remarked as he (she?) caressed Rhi, "but she has enough of an artist's soul to please me. Did you know she scribbles poetry? I do and I know about all those songs you slave over while _his_ music springs unbidden from his pen. You dream of being the famous idol singer and all the while _his_ music hangs on the air. Don't you hear it?"

Rei heard it. In her own voice, the song hung in the air.

"Unintentionally, we cross paths . . ."

"Meeting many times over," Rhiannon said softly.

The Lhiannan Sidhe stared down at her. "Why aren't you sleeping?"

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Yeah right, my dear name thief." Rhiannon grabbed the air and latched onto something that looked a lot like the Time Staff if that talisman-studded weapon had been made of cardboard, lead, and tin foil. "KNEECAP STRIKE!"

With a painful moan, the Unseelie sunk to his/her/whatever's knees. Rhi bowed bowed respectively. "I believe it's your turn to avenge your love, Rei-san."

Her love? Gaijin _were_ crazy. Rei formed a flaming sword, feeling mighty biblical. A decade spent at a Catholic school complete with nuns would have that effect on anyone.

Needless to say, the Lhiannan Sidhe died a painful and rather warm death. And Rei got the opportunity to vent _a lot_ of unspoken rage.

As the last of the Lhiannan Sidhe combusted, Rei wiped the sweat off her brow and detransformed. Rhiannon followed suit.

Rei glanced at the disguised lead pipe. "That was an interesting attack you used."

"Arigatou. I was hankering to test the Pseudo Staff. I wasn't sure if cardboard could be placed in subspace." Rhi dropped the cardboard staff and it vanished again. "The truth is that with a few exceptions such as the ginzoishou and the Talismans and Time Keys, most physical objects are just focuses for power. A henshin pen doesn't transform you. You transform yourself. What do you think would happen to Usagi if she lost her current magic wand?"

"She'd be helpless", Rei answered. There was no other answer. She had seen it happen before.

"Right. She'd have no object to focus on. However, Usagi has a strong will. Most senshi do. Moreover, Usagi is tied to the ginzoishou. Her will combined with the crystal will provide her with a new wand. The new wand will act as an improved focus until she reaches the point where she doesn't need a wand."

What the gaijin was saying somehow sounded similar to her conversation with Mars. "That makes sense." Rei couldn't quite squelch the note of surprise in her voice.

"Well, I've been thinking about it for some years now. The experiments seem to be pointing towards my hypothosis, though. Like my Pseudo Staff. I have another stick that I used to use in attacks. I wanted to see if something of similar size would work as a focus."

Rei was frankly confused. "But you didn't use it to focus any powers! All you did was break the faerie bitch's knees!"

"So I did." Rhi scratched the back of her neck. "Ah, well, I didn't want to wreck the shrine." Her brow furrowed. "I do have this distressing tendency towards overkill."

Rei shook her head and smiled. Might as well humor the girl. It wasn't as if the strength of senshi powers were a true measure of a person's worth. Ami would have had better early attacks if that were true.

She felt Rhiannon tap her on the shoulder. "'Choreography of the stars shows love's where-abouts,'" she quoted. "Rei-san, he's over there."

Rei nodded slowly and bent down next to Yuuichirou. "Yuui-kun? You awake?" She brushed back his shaggy bangs. For once she could see his eyes.

They opened and blinked. "Rei-chan?" the shrine boy asked. "Why are you crying, Rei-chan?"

"I was worried for you." She traced his stubbled jawline. "Yuui-kun."

"Rei-chan," he answered softly, raising his face to kiss her.

A kiss that was interrupted by a loud wolf whistle. Rei turned. The calvary had arrived.

Usagi yawned. "We heard noises, Rei-chan, but we thought it was the enemy."

"In other words," Minako smirked, "not you and Yuuichirou."

"We weren't!" Rei protested.

Yuuichirou shrugged. "I did have some really weird dreams, Rei-chan."

"That's all they were! Dreams!" Seeing his hurt expression she added in a whisper, "For at least a while, Yuui-kun."

Rhiannon coughed. "My dear hosts, lend me your ears. The Lhiannan Sidhe did attack Yuuichirou, but Sailor Mars burnt her to a crisp."

"Only after she was imobilized by a mysterious new senshi, remember," Rei added.

"I missed everything? WAAAAHHH!" Welcome to Usagi Falls.

"Shut up odango-atama!" Rei snapped.

"Can somebody get me my guitar, please?" Yuuichirou begged. "It's on the top shelf of my closet."

Makoto shrugged. "Why not?"

"No!" Rei protested, "Do you want to kill us all?"

"It doesn't matter," came the Jovian senshi's muffled answer. "All

I can find are these sheets of music." She handed a good sized stack of papers to Rei. "See for yourself."

"'Moonlight Densetsu?'" Rei read. "Yuui-kun, this is a hand-written copy. Where did you get this?" A dark look crossed onto her face. "You didn't steal this from Romansu, did you? Did you?"

He shook his shaggy head. "Look in the top corner."

Her eyes shifted to the edge of the paper. "Yuui-kun, did you write this? Are you Chad Romansu?"

He laughed. "I never could sneak around you, could I?"

"Sugoi!" Usagi shouted. Everyone started to talk all at once.

"I loved 'Route Venus!'"

"Man oh man, I touched the original drafts!"

"Could you autograph my CD tomorrow, Yuuichirou? I'll trade you two subbed tapes of Bill Nye the Science Guy."

"Usako and I used to dance to 'Moonlight Densetsu,' y'know."

"Hey guys?" Yuuichirou asked, trying to be heard above the rest of the room's inhabitants. "Guys? GUYS?"

A silence descended on the room. Yuuichirou cleared his throught. "If Rei-chan would be willing to sing, I did write the song with her in mind."

"I'd love to, Yuui-kun."

God may or may not have been in his heaven, but when everything is right in the world one person less in hardly noticed. Rhiannon McIntyre hefted her slightly lighter pack and walked out into the night, singing softly along with Hino Rei.

"Gomen ne sunao ja nakute

Yume no naka nara ieru

Shikou kairo wa shotto sunzen

Ima sugu aitai yo

Nakitaku naru you na Moonlight

Denwa mo dekinai Midnight

Datte junjou dou shiyou

Hatto wa mangekyou

Tsuki no hikari ni michibikare

Nandomo meguri-au"

Rhi heard someone behind her laugh and spun around.

"Oh, it's you. Hello again, Puck."

The leprechaun facefaulted. Upon recovery he sputtered, "How did you know it was me?"

"Cat hair in my mouth, perhaps. Glamour doesn't extend to the tactile. And if there's a faerie named after a cat, then there's also a cat named after a faerie. You, Puck. Give my regards to Laura."

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home. I never said I would stick around to the end of the war.

Setsuna would disapprove of me if I did."

"Seiza no mataki kazoe

Uranau koi no yukue

Onaji kuni ni umareta no

Mirakuru romansu"

The incognito cat growled. "I thought you were leaving!"

"Hush. After the song."

"Mo ichido futari de weekend

Kamisama kanaete happy-end

Genzai kako mirai no

Anata ni kibittake"

"I'm leaving," the illusionary leprechaun snarled.

"Suit yourself."

"Deatta toki ni natsukashii

Manzashi wasurenai

Ikusenman no hoshi kara

Anata o mitsukarareru

Guuzen mo chansu ni kaeru

Ikikata ga suki yo"

Rhi glanced up at the moon, winked, and bowed deeply. Then she began to dance, kicking and spinning. Dancing was not one of her talents; she looked clumsy and half-drunk whenever she attempted it.

Which didn't bother Rhi one bit. The moon was obviously lonely for a dancing partner. It must have been years since her last.

"Fushigi na kiseki kurosu-shite

Nandomo meguri-au

Seiza no mataki kazoe

Uranau koi no yukue

Onaji kuni ni umareta no

Mirakuru romansu

Shinjite iro no

Mirakuru romansu"

As the last syllable died in the air, Rhiannon took one last look at the Hikawa Jinja. It might have been her eyes playing tricks on her, but Rhi could have sworn that she could see Rei and Yuuichirou silhouetted against the rice screens. She stopped dancing in mid spin.

Time to go. Rhiannon withdrew the cardboard staff from subspace and traced a square in the air. "'Born in the same place/ A miracle romance/ This I must believe in/ A miracle romance," she chanted as the area she had outlined brightened into a sheet of light.

Feeling oddly content, Rhiannon stepped back to the world she felt most comfortable calling home. Another moon was missing her dancing partner.

As Rei finished her song, she became the first to notice the abscense of their night's visitor.

"She's gone," the miko announced, almost sadly.

Within fifteen seconds, the other occupants of the room were in agreement with her. Usagi voted to go after her but was voted down.

"She isn't even from our world," Ami reminded them. That clinched it.

"Look," Yuuichirou said, pointing to the edge of a tatami. "Whoever your friend was, she left you something."

Rei bent down to pick up the gifts. The other senshi crowded together to look. "Tarot cards?" Makoto asked.

"Like that youma who brainwashed Umino!" Usagi gasped, confusing everyone except Mamoru.

"Do you know how to use them, Rei-chan?" Minako asked.

Rei smiled secretly. "No, but I think I might learn." Rei placed the cards down and looked at the cover of the takubon. "'Pretty Soldier Sailormoon 11: Princess Kaguya's Lover, by Takeuchi Naoko,'" she read.

Rei opened the takubon. On the inside cover was scrawled a message in kana: THANKS FOR THE COMPANY. UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN, (signed) RHI. P.S.

READ "CASABLANCA MEMORIES."

She turned the page. DATA OF THE PRETTY SOLDIER, was written in romaji on the top. Below were headshots and profiles. On the opposing page there was the beginnings of a story in the unmistakable style of "Codename:

Sailor V's" creator.

Someone gasped and Rei distinctly heard Minako mutter, "When I get my hands on her, she'll breaking her leg instead of her promise. Naoko no baka."

Rei knew she should be angry upon hearing that revelation, but somehow wasn't. She was too busy flipping through the manga to find the enigmatic "Casablanca Memories."

Yuuichirou placed his hand on her shoulder. Then again, the manga could wait until tomorrow. After all, a chance to dance under a blue tinted moon was rarer than anything she knew.

End Dark War Episode Sixteen

Cue "Moon Revenge" as episode credits flash over footage from the episode.

Seiyuu:
(Original Cast)
Tsukino Usagi -> Mitsuishi Kotono
Mizuno Ami -> Hisakawa Aya
Hino Rei -> Tomizawa Michi
Kino Makoto -> Shinohara Emi
Aino Minako -> Fukami Rica
Chiba Mamoru -> Furuya Tohru
Kumada Yuuicirou -> Shimada Bin

(Guest Stars in order of appearance)
Rhiannon McIntrye -> Hayashibara Megumi
The Chairman -> Ikeda Shuichi
Aurium -> Hyoudou Mako
Ikeda Meiko -> Wantanabe Naoko
Hayashi Kaori -> Hikami Kyoko
Puck/Macavity -> Kappai Yamaguchi
Laura -> Kasahara Hiroko
Lhiannan Sidhe -> Tomizawa Michi/ Mitsuya Yuuji

Credit Where Credit's Due:

Sam Ashley first proposed a Lhiannan Sidhe with a tin ear latching onto Yuuichirou. Sam-kun graciously gave me permission to use the idea and for that and thousands of other things, I owe him more than I can ever repay.

Andy Combs, our orginal fearless leader, gave us the concept of Dark War. It's an honor to contribute an episode. He also is responsable for almost every new character used in this, with the exception of Meiko, Kaori, Rhi and Puck.

Ikeda Meiko and Hayashi Kaori are Mark Latus's. It was a joy to work with them and hopefully I'll get another opportunity. If I don't, then at least I can have a little fun with Kaori's descendent Kimua Toji II.

Puck belongs to current fearless leader Frank Barr. He can keep him. Mangy furball. *grumble*

The translation of "Moonlight Densetsu" is a my own and was the product of hours of work. And when some words turned out to not be in any of my references, I borrowed a little from the Sailormoon RPG book.

Rhi's poem was the beginning of an original work I abandoned.

Rei's song "Atashi no Boyfriend," however, comes from Kodansha's

Senshi Guides that Mixx is currently translating. Cute little books, those things are.

Rhi's theory of senshi powers is partly erroneous. Nobody's perfect.

Anyone who can spot the reference from "Mary Poppins Opens the

Door" deserves a pat on the back. P. L. Travers wrote all the good stuff that Disney ripped off.

Rei's Tarot spread also took hours of work. _I_ deserve a pat on the back.

If anyone cares, Rhi's contented double comes from a suburban fantasy novel I'm currently working on. By the end of the decade, it'll see the light of day in either book or online form.

Hopefully, the rest is all verbatim Becky Malsin

And now for something entirely silly . . .

REI AND RHI SAY:

REI: Today on Sailormoon Dark War, we learned a very important lesson on not judging people. For instance, we all thought Yuuichirou was a no-talent slacker when he really could write cool music.

RHI: Not to mention how elements from the dub can influence SME's writing.

Although with the way Frank writes Naru's dialog, that should be obvious.

[Sailor Nemesis pops up on the screen.]

NARU: Hey, did I _ask_ for a Brooklyn accent in the dub? I don't think so! It makes me sound like a bimbo. Not to mention they how they turned poor Haruka and Michiru into hetero cousins . . .

REI: Hey, this is our segement! Get out before we start calling you Molly!

A thirtysomething author also enters the room. The camera shakes as if the cameraperson was habitually nervous in his presence.>

FRANK: Excuse me, was I being mentioned?

NARU: Never mind. Just tell me why you're wearing the Superman suit again.

FRANK: Err, well, Aurium called me up and . . . I better get going.

NARU: Me two. Ja!

[The twain leave and the camera steadies itself.]

REI AND RHI: [sighing] Authors. Oy.

RHI: Where were we? Oh yeah . . . Technically, this is also an element of the dub we've adopted. It's not as stupid as the stuff that gets shown on TV, but still . . .

REI: [also shrugs] I kinda like doing this.

RHI: Me two.

[There is a silence.]

RHI: Well, can _you_ think of anything you'd like to add?

REI: Hmm . . . [her brows furrow as if in thought] In today's episode I'm shown in a sympathetic light, instead of being some stiff that mallets Maggie. I also get a romance with Yuuichirou, one of the first as an episode focal point since SMS. Even if he's gonna die soon it still counts . . .

RHI: So it wasn't so bad, was it?

REI: I've had worse situations in fics. REI-

RHI: -- AND RHI-

REI AND RHI: SAY! MWHAHAHAHAHA!

The Real End.