This story takes place in the Sailor Moon Expanded Universe and it is probably best if you'd have read the various fics and Planetary Compendium that is available there. This is because there are some "artistic license" taken in this fic with regards to Saturn's powers and the differences between Saturn and the rest of the Senshi. Believe me, it'll be much easier if you read the Planetary Compendium first.

Comments and Flames are welcome, so e-mail me at

<sherlynl@hotmail.com>

Prologue

The news of youma encasing people in ice had spread like wildfire through the city. This was in part due to the fact that the attacks were no longer confined to the Juban area. Everywhere, people were discussing the bizarre cases that did NOT happen in Juban. Despite all the rumors, faith in the Senshi was still high and life continued as usual for most of the population.

It was business as usual in the bank's headquarters and no one commented, as a thin, pale woman in her late twenties walked through the door. She moved with an assured grace to a desk where a receptionist was putting some papers in order.

"Good morning, I have an appointment with your manager, Mr. Yamaguchi."

The receptionist manning the desk replied with an automatic smile pasted on her face. "Good morning--" and stopped as she got her first good look at the woman in front of her. She was striking, with extremely pale skin and jet black hair. It was her eyes, however that had drawn a gasp from the receptionist. A deep purple, they were so clear, it seemed like they were looking into your soul. The receptionist pulled herself together with a start, uncomfortably aware that she had been staring.

"Of course. If I could have your name please," She replied with an effort, the smile still pasted stiffly on her face.

"Tomoe Hotaru,"

Ten minutes later, Hotaru was left in a little vault like room with only a table and a chair. On the table was an empty, flat metal box. The size of the account that Setsuna had established for her had ensured complete complicity from the bank manager. The man assured her that her instructions had been carried out and that she would have absolute privacy in the little room.

Hotaru took off her long black coat and folded it neatly over the chair. She sat down, lost in her memories for a few minutes. What she was about to do was unusual. But Hotaru had faith in her friends and knew with certainty that the two closest people to her would understand. They and one other. Memories whirled through her mind, chasing one another and coalesced into the same inevitable conclusion.

Haruka and Michiru were the first to know of the new invaders. They were on a tour around Europe when the news of the ice attacks reached them. For once, the attacks were not centered around Japan but in the northern reaches of Norway. The two alerted her and together they attempted to take out the invaders without notifying the inner Senshi.

Images from the first battle flashed across Hotaru's mind. It took place in the frozen continent, the Arctic. In their first attack, they had stumbled across an ice encased American expedition, their faces still visible in a rictus of horror and fear through the ice they were encased in. The poor people. And yet their frozen tombs seemed oddly appropriate considering the icy surroundings they were in. Haruka alerted the authorities, who treated it as a freak weather anomaly. As if any weather could do what they did to people, Hotaru thought bitterly.

Their first foray into the enemy's camp had met with little success. The ice demons were far too numerous. With the sheer weight of numbers on their side, they managed to turn every attack that Uranus had come up with. The last attack, a last ditch effort, came closest to success. Uranus and Neptune lured most of the ice demons into an ice ravine and trapped them with a carefully triggered avalanche and then let loose their full powers. Caught between the ice wall and the full fury of Uranus and Neptune, hundreds of ice demons were killed and still more came to meet their deaths.

Taking advantage of the distraction that the duo had provided, Saturn then sneaked into the enemy camp to take out the leaders. She saw rows and rows of seemingly comatose people, dying even as she stood watching in the shadows. Similar hooded figures came to cart the dead away. Dumped in an unceremonious manner in a corner, no one seemed to notice the dead or dying as more figures came to take the places left empty by the dead. Shaken by the callousness of the invaders to their own kind, she slipped away from the chambers in search of the leaders but was spotted by the sentries.

In the end, she barely managed to escape the swarming ice demons that seem to appear out of nowhere. With that last failure, even Uranus was forced to concede and they returned to bring warning to the rest of the Senshi in Tokyo. Warning to get their defenses in place before it was too late. And now, finally, the invaders were here.

Hotaru sighed quietly and took out her transformation pen.

Sailor Saturn walked out of the bank, her coat swirling about her legs. Back in the bank, in an immense, well-guarded vault, her transformation pen remained quietly in the flat metal box. The box, identical to the thousands that were stacked around it, waited patiently to be opened.

Changing of Guard

Part 1: Transferal

Sailor Saturn swung her glaive in a quick economical movement, effectively disemboweling the demon. She sensed another attack coming her way and dodged, missing the blow that would have encased her in ice. Reinforcements had arrived. Unfortunately, they weren't hers. Furious, she created a barrier with her Silence Wall. An instant later, several blasts caromed into her shield.

{Damn! How many are there, anyway?} The Senshi thought furiously. With a care that is at odds with her anger, Sailor Saturn carefully extended her shield to cover her back as well. She was taking no chances. Another barrage of blasts hit her shield. One of them completely missed and hissed past her. Sailor Saturn grit her teeth and prepared herself for an all out attack. All of a sudden, she heard a long drawn out scream, redolent of pain and fear. She half turned and stared in horror at the sight that greeted her eyes.

The blast had hit a young man, cowering over a young woman holding a baby. Meant for the Senshi, the attack has the force of a ten-ton demolition ball. Sailor Saturn watched on helplessly in her own shield, as everything seemed to slow down. She watched the young man's body being flung back to the wall, his body turning to ice even as he flew through the air. He was frozen solid when his body hit the wall. The impact shattered his upper body and the pieces flew like shrapnel, slicing into the young woman and the baby she carried. The cries of anguish rang out through the air. One of the pieces hit her barrier; it slid to the ground, with the young woman's blood still dripping off it. The man's frozen eye stared unblinking. It seemed like the eye was crying tears of blood.

The scream still reverberating in her ears, Sailor Saturn turned back to face the ice demons. They were still blasting against her shield. A small distant part of her noted clinically that her shield would not hold long. She ignored it. All she could hear was that long drawn out scream.

{Destroy. Destroy them all,} the words rebounded in her head, mingling with the scream in her ears to form a litany of flames. Unasked, unwilled, power welled up in Sailor Saturn, filling her with a dark smoldering power.

Sometimes, she hated herself. Hated the restraints that bind her and made her helpless. She wished vehemently that she could be like Haruka or Rei, free to use her power to the fullest. To annihilate all the demons.

She could not, _would_ not, unleash her most destructive attack, her self-restraint was too strong to let her, for to do so would destroy the world and all her friends in it. But she would make them pay.

The power grew steadily in uneasy ebbs and flows, filling her. When she judged it sufficient; Sailor Saturn dropped her shield and said, without any emotion in her voice,

"Go to hell,"

Moments later, Sailor Saturn stood alone on the desolate streets.

Wearily, she bent and picked up the eye, still frozen, still crying tears of blood. "I avenged your death," she told it. She didn't care that it was a crazy thing to do. It just seemed appropriate somehow, for her to tell that to an eye. After all, it was because of her that it got separated from its owner.

Just then, a movement caught her eye. Hotaru blinked. It wasn't a mirage, the baby was moving! She dropped the eye and dashed to the still, pathetic figures lying on the ground. Ignoring the pain in her side, she dropped her glaive on the ground, knelt and gently lifted the baby out of her mother's embrace. Sailor Saturn cradled the child in her arms. Aside from a few cuts, the baby was unharmed; her mother's body had sheltered her. Sailor Saturn blinked back tears. "Hush, little baby, it's going to be all right." She crooned to the baby, instinctively rocking the little child then spared a glance for the mother. Even in her very last moments, the mother had curled up to protect her child as much as possible.

Looking at the woman, she saw a flicker at the young mother's throat. A pulse. The mother was alive! {How could anyone be alive after being sliced to ribbons?} She wondered amazedly. Sailor Saturn hastily put the child down and turned her attention to the mother. Focusing, she thought grimly,{You're not going to die on me. Not today if I have anything to do with it.} She began the long and tiring process of healing to bring the young mother to life.

At last, Sailor Saturn lifted her hands off the woman's head. She slumped down, her face a deathly white. She had drained all her reserves and was perilously close to her limits. Unable to remain conscious, she finally slipped over the edge and passed out. She awoke to find herself still lying beside the woman. Healing had always tired her out, and this had been one of the worst. The woman had lost an incredible amount of blood. Unable to move, she simply waited beside the baby and closed her eyes.

Soft whimpering roused her. It was the baby making her discomfort known. A corner of her mouth lifted in amusement for she was too tired to smile. {War rages on, but baby comes first.} Summoning the remnants of her strength, she healed the child of the cuts on her hand and face. She winced as the baby gurgled and tugged at her hair. She was too weary to protest the treatment. {An unappreciative patient and a healer who cannot heal herself. How typical} she thought. Then, she simply laid still and watched as the baby's eyes lighten from black to purple.

"Good luck, little one, and prosper," she whispered as she gently caressed the little child. She watched as the baby fell into a deep restorative sleep like her mother and smiled somewhat wryly at the Saturn sigil glowing at the child's forehead.

Using the glaive as a crutch, she managed to get to her feet. She looked down at the sleeping mother and child and silently gave them her last benediction. Sailor Saturn then limped away into the night.

She had finally reached her destination. A secluded park, where she and Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama had spent many happy weekends, picnicking. There was a tree that Haruka-papa had said was more than 300 years old. She loved the tree as a child, and as an adult, had spent time sitting under its shade, contemplating. She had always thought it would be a good place to die.

She sank down, leaning against the trunk. "Goodbye, Haruka, Michiru, Setsuna. Goodbye," And Hotaru curled up under the vast tree and died.

Somewhere in the city, tears were streaming down 2 Senshi’s faces as they continued fighting against the ice demons.

* * *

A moment, or perhaps an eternity later, Hotaru opened her eyes, "That's that," she sighed with a slightly pensive air. She looked around her new surroundings. She was alone in a grey featureless plain. The greyness seemed to stretch to infinity. Looking down, she could see her reflection staring back from a floor of black glass.

"I thought hell is a lot worse than this. And this better not be heaven or the Bible has a lot to answer for." Hotaru remarked to herself. "Unless this is nirvana, but I never did quite get that concept. Ah well." Cupping her hands around her mouth, she yelled, "Anyone here?

Hello?"

Her yell echoed through the vast expanse. As if in response to her shout, points of lights slowly materialised, shimmering in the air and before joining together to form a hazy outline of a figure. More streamers of light appeared, like bright ribbons hanging in the greyness for a brief instant then flowing into the figure. To Hotaru's dazed eyes, it was like watching a bright version of her Death Reborn Revolution, but without the death and destruction that comes with it. As Hotaru watched on, tears began to form in her eyes. The sheer beauty of it had touched the very core of Hotaru's being. Somehow, she knew that this was what her powers could be, in another world, in another life. The wondrous light grew in strength and slowly the figure began to take on solidity. Details of the figure grew and sharpened until Hotaru is able to make out a softly glowing woman dressed as Sailor Saturn.

As Hotaru looked on, the woman's features shifted and merged, forming the appearance of yet another women for a moment before changing again. Hotaru watched in awe as the figure grew and shrank in size, as the faces flowed into another and another for an uncountable number of times. Two things remained constant in the changing figure. It was always a woman and it was always dressed as a Sailor Saturn.

All the women had a certain familiarity about them. It was as if she had known them before and yet Hotaru was certain that she has never met any of them before.

Finally, the transformations began to slow. The figure was now a woman in her early thirties. Keen grey eyes stared at Hotaru and the figure spoke for the first time.

"This is where all Saturn Senshi come to, after their deaths. Our memories, feelings, the essence of what defines us as Senshi, is kept here. We, in our tenure as Sailor Saturn, had held tremendous powers and responsibilities. All of us carried within ourselves the seeds of destruction, to be used as the very last defense. Because the nature of the burden we shoulder is such, every Senshi before and every Senshi that will be, will not abandon that responsibility, even after death. We serve, in death, as we had in life. For eternity. Just as you had chosen."

The woman fell silent and the figure shifted again. This time, it was a younger woman that spoke.

"We serve, by giving our memories, our knowledge that we had accrued when we lived to the current Saturn Senshi, as and when it is needed. You yourself had used our memories when you were alive. And now you will offer *your* memories together with ours to those that come after."

The figure changed and the next woman that appeared smiled gently at Hotaru, "You used my memories when you destroyed your first youma. And you used yet another sister's memories to know all that happened when you were reborn. We offered, freely, to give all the information we have. Our knowledge was yours to use when you needed it."

Her face merged to form another Senshi who continued, "When a Saturn Senshi dies, her knowledge, skills and memories joins the others as a legacy to the next Senshi, to be used when needed. The present Senshi takes that knowledge as pure information, without any of the emotions felt during that memory. That is an instinctive action. As Sailor Saturn, you have the accumulated memories all past Saturn Senshi had to give. Actual usage of that knowledge depended on your need. You had but to think of it and the knowledge would be there."

The figure changed for a last time, to an image of a fifteen-year-old girl.

"I've waited and waited for you to come. And now, finally, you are here. Now, we would finally be one with the past." the figure smiled at Hotaru. It was herself.

Hotaru stared at her younger self in a daze. She could hardly believe her eyes, it was herself at age 14 right down to the minute scars that was part of her father's work. Hands trembling, she reached out to touch the slight figure, to reassure herself that this was no grotesque nightmare.

Her younger self, still glowing with that strange light smiled with understanding and grasped the proffered hand firmly.

At first, nothing happened. Hotaru was beginning to feel somewhat foolish. She smiled rather awkwardly at her younger self, at a loss for what to say. After all, what do you say to yourself? Their hands still grasping each other's, the two Hotarus stood there, uncertain of their next moves.

Finally, the younger Hotaru seemed to take pity on her older self. She said in a conversational, almost chatty manner, "You know, I really am glad that we grew so much taller. For a while there, I thought that we were destined to be the shortest of the Senshi. I hated being the shortest."

Surprised, Hotaru exclaimed, "I did too! It was the pits, wasn't it?"

Younger Hotaru smiled and nodded. "Yes, I was so happy for us when you made 167cm. I'm glad for us that you had a happy life. Michiru and Haruka made good parents, didn't they?"

Hotaru smiled back, "They were the best parents and I was very, very happy with them. You would be too, Hotaru-chan. I'm sure of it."

The younger Hotaru whispered, "I know." Their grasp tightened as the two held on to one another. Slowly, the light surrounding Hotaru-chan spread to envelop Hotaru.

"Are you scared?" One whispered to the other.

After a short hesitation, the other whispered back, "No. Not when you're here."

And the light grew and swallowed the two figures.

Changing of Guard

Part 2: The New Guard

Yamaguchi Keiko stopped and placed the heavy box on the ground to rest awhile. The movers had already left, leaving only the family's personal belongings to be unpacked. She wearily wiped sweat dripping from her forehead and wondered, not for the first time, what new disasters would befall on them next. She sent a swift prayer to her deceased husband, asking him to watch over her and their daughter in this new house. Especially their daughter.

A soft smile creased Keiko's face as she thought about their daughter. Fruit of their love, she was the one remaining legacy from her husband. And yet, she was so *different* from both of them. She and Taro had been the most ordinary couple that you could hope to find this side of Japan, but from this exceedingly normal couple, their daughter came about.

The child seemed to have been jinxed by the cataclysmic events that occurred soon after her birth. The Ice Age that took away her beloved husband and the incredible metamorphose of the battered city into what was now known as Crystal Tokyo. And the magic. Keiki shuddered slightly at the thought of magic. She didn't care what the experts on television or the Senshi said. Magic is just so unnatural.

Although mother and daughter seemed to escape with barely a scratch, her daughter had one single reminder of their close shave. Her pretty eyes had turned from the black, so typical of most Japanese to a beautiful purple. It was her daughter's change more than anything that led Keiko to move away from the beautiful city. That, and that her husband had died there. Never mind that Crystal Tokyo is probably the safest place to be in right now, it had too many painful memories there for Keiko.

Keiko sighed again; her daughter's life seemed to reflect the events that happened at her birth. It mirrored the fate of the city itself. Time and again, disaster would strike, yet every single time, her daughter would manage to escape unhurt, just as the city of Tokyo was frozen over then rebuilt by the magic. While she was thankful that she was safe, Keiko could not help thinking how much better it would be if the disasters never happened in the first place.

She shuddered as she thought about the more eerie occurrences. Once, when she was only sixteen months old, she had toddled out of their apartment and was lost. Keiko had been frantic and the neighbors and the police had been roped in to search for the baby. She had been positively identified by many people as being seen in the old abandoned building across town that was scheduled for demolition that day. And yet, later that day, she was back in her room, safe and sound in her own little cot.

How little Yumi had made her way across town and back to her own room was a mystery that confounded the authorities and the neighborhood alike. Keiko never mentioned those occurrences to her daughter. She gazed out the window, where her daughter was still unloading the last of their luggage. Love and concern for her beloved daughter was evident in her eyes.

Yumi was humming under her breath as she unloaded the last of their luggage. She welcomed the move as a new challenge. They had moved into a rural community, a change from the big city that they had previously came from. Yumi's mother had reassured her daughter that although it was just a small farming community, there were all the necessary amenities and that there were plenty of students who come from the surrounding areas for their education. Best of all, they had their own house, all to themselves. Yumi took a deep breath, fresh air, not the polluted smog back in their old place. A new house, beautiful countryside and a new school.

Her face brightened at the thought. School means students and students mean new friends. Yes, new friends that could not possible know about her and the strange events that seem to follow for every step. Yumi knew that most of the kids back at school had thought her strange and only a few had dared to come forward to be her friend. Still, nobody knew the truth about her strangeness, not even her mother.

{After all, it is rather difficult to tell someone that you have been hearing voices in your head all your life isn't it, Yamaguchi Yumi?} She asked herself, only half serious. She didn't really expect an answer. The voices only came when she was in trouble or in serious danger. Then, they were the best friends and guardians that she could have.

All of her young life, she had lived with the knowledge that she was not the same as anyone else and that the voices would never ever abandon her. The knowledge made Yumi more adventurous and outgoing that she would have been under normal circumstances. Not that the voices would help her if she did anything silly. They only come when things were serious, like if her life is in danger. But still, it made Yumi feel that much more secure to know that she is being watched over.

Yumi heaved the last box out of the station wagon, putting it down with a less than gentle thud, she stretched and saw, out of a corner of her eye, her mother looking out the window at her. Yumi grinned. It was going to be wonderful in this new house, she thought as she waved vigorously to her mother. Her mother smiled back at Yumi and waved back. Yes, everything was going to be just fine.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a place unknown to mankind, two figures, a man and a woman, stood, suspended in a grey void. The male figure was glowing and was the only visible source of light there.

The glowing figure crossed his arms and waited. "Well?" He drawled. "Have you understood the consequences yet? Or perhaps you would like to wait until she is institutionalized?" Sarcasm dripped off every word.

"It had to be done. Yumi could never have survived that explosion without our help." The speaker stubbornly insisted.

The figure sighed in exasperation, "My dear Saturn, couldn't you just place the memory as per normal and leave her to it? No, you had to talk to her. Now she thinks she's probably insane and _that_ is not good."

"How are we to know that Yumi would get into so much trouble? And besides, the first incident was when she was only a baby and needed human, well, vocal reassurance. That sets precedent and you know that as well as any of us. Don't you try to wriggle out of that, Miles!"

"For one thing, I _never_ wriggle and for another, she isn't a baby any more." Came the swift reply from the figure.

"True, but she already knows us. She knows we are there, Miles, and it helps her in more ways that you can imagine!" The other figure argued impassionedly. "It's hard being alone and defenseless in a hostile environment and our presence makes it easier for her. Surely you can see that?" Surely even you could understand the words hung in the air.

The figure sighed. The other waited with drawn breath and looked at him pleadingly. The figure took a deep breath and slowly let it out with a sigh. "I'm going to regret this. I can feel it in my bones."

Saturn laughed delightedly, "Thank you Miles, you're a sweetheart."

The figure gave a muffled growl. "Oh, get along and spread the news. I'm too tired to pass on your messages for you."

She grinned and began glowing, "Thank you. Thank you ever so much." And as the outline of her figure grew dimmer and more ephemeral, her voice floated out, "And Miles, I'd hate to break it to you, but you don't have any bones to feel things with. Or be tired in."

The figure looked hard at the fast disappearing figure for a moment then relaxed and smiled. Despite what all the Saturns may say, he did understand. Not very well perhaps, but he understood. Since his inception, he literally existed for only two things. Protect the Ancients. Protect the system and the other Wonders. But there is one other reason that he continued his vigil over the system. The third unvoiced reason. His children. Those who took up his glaive and followed him into his lonely watch over the Wonders. Everyone was singularly precious to him, perhaps all the more so since he would have to sacrifice them to fulfil his duty.

He used them, controlled them and ultimately sacrificed them to follow his prime directive. Is it any wonder then that he loved them?

He smiled briefly and vanished with a sudden implosion. It's time for him to see what his new Saturn is up to.

* * *

The new Saturn, otherwise known as Yamaguchi Yumi, aged 14, is currently in very deep trouble. She backed away, unable to take her eyes off the floating figures in front of her.

She was on her way to school and had decided to take a shortcut along the river that runs through the outskirts of the town. She was almost halfway through when the river started to churn and ghostly figures slowly clambered out of the river and into the air, leaving trails of slime behind them.

Why me? Yumi thought to herself in despair and the burgeoning fear. Everyone else gets to lead a normal life, why can't I? Why do I have to be the one who sees weird transparent spirits floating around? And what are these things, anyway? I thought they were just old wives tales meant to scare little children!

Indeed the floating apparitions did have more than a passing resemblance to the stories told by old grandmothers. There were three of them hovering around Yumi. Yumi flinched away as one of them came too close to her for her liking. Dripping slime and seaweed, they resembled corpses of little children, except that they had seaweed instead of hair and their bodies were covered in little greyish scales. The monstrous figures moved closer and closer. Yumi sidled away, not taking her eyes off the strange monstrosities. Until she was backed up against the wall. Horror and adrenaline pumped through her body, her heart pounded and Yumi could only stare in fear at the approaching figures.

Just as the monsters were about to grab her, a change came over Yumi. Her heart stopped racing and all the fear and horror she felt suddenly fell away. The calvary had arrived. Voices rang in her head and Yumi found herself speaking in a strange language, one that has not been spoken for over 10,000 years. She gestured curtly and shadows began to form over the apparitions. There was a brief wail and then, all was calm again.

Yumi collapsed onto the ground, crying in relief. {Where were you?} she thought vehemently to that part of her mind in which her guardians inhabited. A soothing voice/thought replied, *Don't cry, Yumi-chan. It's all right, it will never hurt you again.* Yumi sniffled a little, {But it was so scary! And ugly. Are there any more horrible things waiting here?} The voice/thought answered, *Take a look yourself. But this time look with your mind, like this* And even as the voice/thought spoke, instructions appeared in Yumi's mind, and she found herself extending senses she didn't know she had. And the world changed forever for Yumi.

The world was overlaid with an single aura. Interlocking bits that made up a whole. Around the area where the monsters were destroyed, the aura had a sense of wrongness, of decay and Yumi knew intuitively that the wrongness was because of the monsters. She looked around with her new abilities, and found no more 'bad' aura. Yumi relaxed imperceptibly.

*You see, they are all gone.* Came the voice/thought again. {Yes, but why did they appear in the first place} Yumi asked. There was no answer. The voice/thought was gone. Sighing, Yumi looked around at the new world revealed to her, storing up the wondrous sight in her mind before continuing the trek to her school.

* * *

The voice/thought hurled his summons with the force of a tornado into the void. "Saturn! Attend to me!"

The void erupted into action at his summons. Figures materialized from nothing, popping up from whatever it was that the summons had taken then from. Within seconds, the void was filled with the presence of all past Senshi.

One of the Saturns spoke up, "What is wrong Miles? What happened?"

"Yumi was attacked by some traditional water creatures conjured up by the negative feelings of the people. " He replied coldly. His initial anger was gone, replaced by cool logic.

"So? We'd handled that already, with the destruction of those creatures, it would be years before the level of negativity rise to that level again."

"I don't think that is what Miles is concerned with. Are you, Miles?" murmured another Senshi.

"You're quite correct, Saturn. I am more concerned with Crystal Tokyo. More specifically, I am concerned with the high levels of manna available to people who have no idea on how to use them. No one in the Age of Silver would have been so careless as to allow their negativity to be accessible to such crude representations. Yumi cannot be left defenseless in such a dangerous environment. Saturn must be awaken."

"I can understand your position, but I'd hardly say that Yumi is defenseless. Besides, don't you think it's too early to awake her?"

"No." Turning to yet another Senshi, he commanded, "Hotaru, transfer your memories of the transformation wand to Yumi now. I don't want Saturn to be at the mercy of infants who have no idea of what they are dealing with in manna."

Changing Of Guard

The New Saturn

Yumi tossed and turned uncomfortably. Beads of sweat slid down her temples as she whimpered softly. She was in that halfway state between sleep and consciousness, in the grey areas that overlapped dreams and reality. Another person's memories imprinted themselves onto her brain, carrying with them an imperative order to obey its summons. It was time for the emergence of the next Saturn.

The next morning, it was Saturn that woke up in Yumi's bed, Saturn that absently kissed Yamaguchi Keiko goodbye. It was Saturn that did all those things that Yumi would normally do. That day, she turned away from the path that would take her to school and walked towards the train station and bought the tickets that would take her back to Crystal Tokyo. The place of her birth. The place where her destiny awaits her.

It was easier that she had expected. She had expected some protest at least from the bank when a 14 year-old walked through their doors and demanded to see their manager. From there, it was a simple step to give the passwords that would gain her entry into the vaults where the transformation pen was kept. Even now, standing outside the vaults as the manager fumbled with the locks that would open the vaults, she could sense the siren call of the pen, calling to her. Memories comforted her. It was always thus when a new Saturn stepped forward to take up the pen, they whispered, lending her their own memories of their own ascension.

Finally, she was left alone in the vault with the box in front of her. She surprised herself at the steadiness of her hands as she opened the box. The pen laid there, seemingly innocuousness but for the power that shrieked at her. She hesitated for a while, then slowly reached out to grip the transformation pen.

In the heart of Crystal Tokyo, Serenity felt a faint echo of power, a power that was oddly familiar, like a song heard a long time ago. She reached out with her own senses, groping for the tantalizing glimpse that hung just out of her reach. She could not find it. She frowned and concentrated harder, but it was too late. The power was gone.

Yumi stared at the women who just materialized in front of her. She knew instinctively that this was a friend, an old comrade, which was why she made no protest when the woman opened a gateway and gestured Yumi to follow. Gripping the transformation pen tightly in her hands, she followed the woman and stepped through the gateway.

"Hello Saturn." The woman greeted her warmly, a hint of a smile hovering about her face. They were now standing on a hillside overlooking the sea.

"Pluto."

"Yes, I suppose you wish to know why I brought you here, interrupting your first transformation."

"Not really." Yumi smiled back, "You forget, I have certain advantages over the rest. I remember you."

"Ah, yes." Pluto smiled faintly. "That famous Saturn memory." She stopped and continued soberly, "I was asked to tell you something. Something very important.

"Serenity would grant all Senshi of this generation and the next immortality."

"Immortality?" Startled, Yumi stared at the green haired Senshi. "Why would she do that?"

"Serenity does things for her own reasons."

"In other words, it's none of my business."

"If you want to put it that way, yes."

"Immortality..." Yumi mused over the words. "If you don't mind, I think I might think better if I transformed."

"Go ahead. For now, you have all the time in the world."

Yumi held up her transformation pen and concentrated for a moment. She then transformed amidst a flurry of black ribbons. Sailor Saturn emerged and posed for a brief second. She smiled, revelling in the power that filled her body. It was like swimming in crystal waters, every nerve seemed to stretch and filled itself with light. She grinned at Pluto, then saw the sorrow that was in Pluto's eyes and stopped smiling.

"What's wrong, Setsuna?" She asked gently.

"No, nothing's wrong. It's just that you look so much like Hotaru." She smiled sadly.

Compassion for the guardian of time filled Yumi's heart and calling up memories of her predecessor, she reached out and laid her hand against Pluto's face. "I'm not Hotaru. But I know what she thought and what she felt." Yumi hesitated for a moment, then took the plunge, "She never had the chance to say goodbye when she left, but... She loves you, Setsuna-mama. She was thinking about you and Haruka and Michiru when she died."

There was a long silence. Yumi stared out at sea, giving her friend a chance to compose herself. Finally, a soft voice whispered, "Thank you for telling me that. I will always remember that."

Yumi turned back, "You're welcome."

After a while, Setsuna broke the silence again, "Have you decided what you will do?"

Yumi shrugged, "Do I have a choice? Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So far, there is a balance, of having power and the ability to be able to sacrifice our lives at need. But immortality...

Immortality would ruin the balance." She looked up suddenly, "Isn't that what I chose anyway?"

Setsuna laughed wryly, "Yes, that was what you chose in the end, that was what all Saturns after you chose. But it was difficult, for both you and the rest of the Senshi. You had to watch them remain youthful, while they had to watch you age and die. This way is better. Remain apart, Yumi."

"But not forever."

"No, not forever." Pluto agreed and smiled.

The End.