Heaven on Earth

By Ciel su'Maka/Sailor Centrali

Dawn broke over the durasteel horizon of Imperial City, the intense sunlight glaring off of the transports that bustles all over the planet, in the city's insane rush hour.

Sitting in a narrow enclove in the structure of the Jedi Temple, Ciel gazed out at the open sky, drawing her knees further into her chest as she wiped salty, stinging tears from her large blue eyes. Thinking about that day had never plagued her as it did now. The pain of loss, the pain of the knowledge that she could have saved her parents, the pain of the images forever imprinted on her mind taunted her, driving her mad.

She lifted the hilt of her lightsaber to the horizon and switched it on, feeling the power surging through the blade. It comforted her, especially in times like this, when she felt utterly alone and powerless against the injustices of the galaxy. Did anyone understand? Did anyone even care? Or would she stumble through this nightmare, alone, forever?

Gallinore... she thought, switching off the saber. Why don't you help me? Why do you leave me alone? Her eyes filled with tears again. I'm useless...if it is destiny, then destiny is wrong...

"Asellus?" she whispered, wiping her eyes. "Where are you?!" She looked around, standing up on the narrow ledge, flattening her back against the cold steel. "ASELLUS!!!!"

"ANNIKA!" Ciel screamed, almost falling off of the side of the building. She turned and clung to the temple wall, looking up at the odangoed girl leaning out of her window.

"I'm confused..." Annika murmured, furrowing her brow. "Who were you yelling at?"

"Nobody." She began to scale the side of the building, steady and sure-footed as she went. "Sorry. I snuck into your room while you were taking a shower, and climbed out the window..." she explained sheepishly, climbing back into Annika's room, her bare feet sinking into the carpet. "I'm a little upset, and I wanted to make sure that I'd be left alone."

"Well, you're not alone any more!" Annika exclaimed, squeezing Ciel to death. "Don't do that again! It's dangerous! You could have DIED!"

"...and then there would never be a Chibi Centrali, and I would have to... to... cry!" she wailed, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I'm not going to die," Ciel reassured her, switching topics as quickly as possible. "Why're you up so early? You usually sleep in..."

Annika quickly recovered, smiling cheerfully. "We're going to Earth today! Ippin says there's a new knight! Why don't you come with us?"

"Oh, come on!" Annika pleaded. "How do you know that if you've never been? Just come on this one trip, it's hoth! And we'll only be there for a little while, we're just getting Mr. Knight and leaving!"

"I give my super-duper, ultra-special, cross my heart and hope to die, Princess Annika Nesicha, soldier of love and peace pledge that Vra will not cause any trouble while we're gone!" Annika winked and gave her a thumbs-up. "Okay?"

In a cyclone of fog, Vra Vji appeared in the middle of Ippin's room, looking around. She quirked a brow, unimpressed with the decor. Well, at least there's red... but blue? Psh...

A noise from the bathroom started her. Okay, okay... cast the spell and bolt. She walked to the corner of the room, covering the gem on the top of Ippin's time staff with her small hand. Closing her eyes, she began to channel the Dark Side into the jewel.

After a few moments, she opened her eyes, leaning closer to inspect her work. Flawless. There was no sign the jewel had been tampered with, physically or through the Force.

Sailors Yavin, Iridonia, Bakura, Chibi Dantooine, Chibi Tatooine, Asteroid, Hoth, and Centrali had all gathered in a circle in the spacious lounge of the Rooms Behind the Waterfall. After a few moments of mental preparation, the Guardian of Time and Space stepped forward.

"Guardians of the Dimensions..." Sailor Yavin called, raising her time staff into the air with a sharp, graceful gesture of her arm, "please cast open the gates to Earth for us, the Sailor Jedi!"

As soon as the words rolled off of her tongue, a column of pure orange light shot down from the ceiling, casting shadows of the same color across the room and the faces of the senshi.

A knot formed in Sailor Centrali's stomach as she stood there, slumping over a little. "Something doesn't feel right..." she whispered. Sailor Iridonia nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes the gate creates a disturbance in the Force," Yavin explained, still holding her staff in the air to maintain the gate. "Don't worry. Once we get on Earth, your senses'll be back to normal."

Ippin closed her hazel eyes, concentrating on the Force. The gate expanded in an explosion of orange light, consuming all of the Jedi in its fiery glow.

The Sailor Jedi sped through the paths of time and space in multi-colored streaks of light, racing towards the final gate, where the Sol Senshi known as Sailor Pluto had kept watch since the time known as the Silver Millennium.

Ciel had heard about the Sol Senshi from the rest of the Sailor Jedi. They were Sailor Moon, Sailor Mercury, Sailor Mars, Sailor Venus, Sailor Jupiter, Sailor Neptune, Sailor Uranus, Sailor Saturn, Sailor Pluto, and Tuxedo Kamen. Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, and Pluto protected the system from outside invaders, Pluto playing the remote as the lonely Guardian of the Time and Space gates leading to the Sol System.

Meioh Setsuna. Of all of the legendary Terran Soldiers she had heard stories about, she felt she resonated most with Sailor Pluto. They were both lonely, isolated, and quiet, silently loathing the destinies set upon their shoulders, the miserable situations they endured because Fate willed it so. Two kindred spirits in a universe full of despair.

Ciel wondered if she'd be able to meet her. Maybe, just maybe, she'd make a friend...

Maybe I'll become friends with her... Ciel mused, training her eyes on the dark-skinned, green-haired figure on the horizon. She felt embarrassed for thinking such a childish thought, but she couldn't help it. She had never, ever, had a single friend in all of her fifteen years of existence. People just seemed to keep away from her. She didn't know if it was her dark appearance; or even if she smelled, which she assumed she would have been alerted to if that were the case. Or quite simply, it could have been her personality. She wasn't exactly the happiest person in the world. Her forced Jedi training and more seemingly trivial events during her childhood had casted her mindset as generally gloomy, introverted, secretive, and cynical.

But she did have a warmer side, one that she hid deep within herself. She was a die-hard romantic, always knowing, or rather, hoping that one day she would find that special someone in the universe, the one person she was meant for, the person who was meant for her. A person to be her best friend, her mentor, her protector, her lover, someone she cared for more than life itself and all its material pleasures, her inseparable companion until the end of time. Someone who would protect her, hold her everytime she cried herself to sleep, tell her that everything was alright, even if the galaxy was on the brink of destruction...

The Senshi approached the last gate before they would set foot on Earth, facing Sailor Pluto, Sol System's Guardian of Space and Time.

"Hello, Sailor Yavin," she spoke, smiling the slightest bit. "I trust you are well."

"Sailor Centrali!" Ciel blurted out, her eyes twinkling as she beheld this graceful, noble woman who was so much like herself. Her face flushed when she realized the extent of her outburst, eyes lowering a little.

"Nice to meet you all," Pluto said, clearing the path to the last huge gate that stood in their path. "You may proceed. Good luck, Sailor Jedi."

They began to file one by one through the door. Ciel was the last to pass Sailor Pluto and waited for the rest of the senshi to pass through the gate before she began talking. "Um, I just want you to know... I really admire you, and I wish I could get to talk to you, but..."

Meioh Setsuna smiled. "Thank you." She placed a hand on the shorter girl's shoulder. "Now is not appropriate - you have business on Earth to attend to. But with Ippin's permission, you may come and speak to me whenever you wish. I'd enjoy the company, Ciel."

Ciel's eyes lit up as she listened to Setsuna's words. "I-I will!" she stammered, reeling. "I promise I will..."

"C'mon, Ciel!" Annika yelled, popping back through the gate. "We gotta get going..."

As soon as the last gate closed behind them, the knawing sensation in Ciel's psyche began to grind at her mind again. Ciel, something isn't right. Your instincts have never been wrong before. Turn back now, before you get yourself killed, she thought.

But no, it was just the sensation of crossing dimensions, that's all, she convinced herself. She pushed the feeling into the back of her mind and walked in front of a slow-moving Annika, trying to catch up to the rest of the senshi.

"Ciel... wait for me..." Annika moaned, grabbing at the skirt of her purple fuku. "I don't feel too good..."

She turned around, lightly shoving Annika off of her legs. She was on her knees, holding her head weakly in her white-gloved hands. "It feels like I have a huge headache..."

Ciel learned over, putting her hands on her kneecaps. "I'm sorry. We only have a little more ways to go." She offered her a hand. "C'mon, I'll steal you a cake or somethin'." She turned around, looking for the rest of the team. "See? Now we're behind... suck it up, soldier!" she said jokingly, in one of her rare good moods.

Annika grabbed Ciel by the hair, holding her face to face. Dropping her Force-sustained guise, Vra snickered. "You're such an idiot!" she said, laughing. "Really, did you think you'd be free of me just because you were in a different dimension? It doesn't work that way, honey. There are some very creative ways to get over that."

"Do you ever give me a break?" Ciel asked, gritting her teeth to distract her from the pain in her scalp.

"No, not really," Vra said matter-of-factly. She picked up Ciel by the jewel in the center of her chest and flung her forwards with brute strength. She walked forward, standing over the fallen senshi and placing a foot on her neck. "Ready to die?"

"Why are you trying to kill me, anyways? You never really cleared that one up..."

"Because I feel like it!" Vra screamed, enraged by the question. She kicked her in the side with a tough, metal-toed lizard hide boot, sending her rolling across the smooth off-white pathway. She picked her up by the collar again, grinning wildly. "But I've decided I don't feel like it now." She carried her to the end of the path, peering over the edge, looking down at a blurred mass of land and ocean. "See you later!" she said, throwing her over the edge.

Ciel panicked, clawing madly at the open sky, tumbling down and down to Earth far below at neck-breaking speeds. Looking back up at the platform, the last thing she saw before she went unconscious was Vra's beautifully twisted face blowing her a kiss.

She woke up some time later, surrounded by a disgusting stench, wearing the same clothes she had worn hours earlier in the Jedi Temple, a purple and gray plaid mini-skirt, and a purple sweater.

Looking herself over for any cuts or bruises, she slowly crawled out of the cushy but horrible-smelling container, leaping over the edge and staring at the side of the bin, labeled "PROPERTY OF B. I. C. INDUSTRIES -- FOR NON-HAZARDOUS WASTE ONLY".

Ciel scratched her head, massively confused as she tried to figure out what the random lines on the side of the bin meant. What the hell is this? She shrugged and walked out of the small, dirty alley, stepping out onto a sidewalk that looked and felt like duracrete under her feet. She walked a few feet down the sidewalk, taking a deep breath. The air here was fresh and clean, nothing like the nearly poisonous, dirty air on Coruscant. She took another few steps down the street, marveling at the lack of buildings here. There were only a few businesses lining the street, twenty feet tall, at the most. Everything looked so nice, so... clean!

Ciel ran down the sidewalk, grinning at the fact that she actually had the SPACE to run! No more squeezing in between pedestrians for her! She spread her arms out, pretending that she had wings, closing her eyes and letting the breeze ruffle her short midnight-black locks of hair. So entranced by the heady feeling of freedom was she that she failed to notice a door.

She ran straight into it, stumbling backwards a little. She opened her eyes, rubbing her forehead where the cold metal frame of the door had met it. She recovered quickly and tiptoed into the open door, eagerly looking around the noisy place.

There were thousands of creatures everywhere, some barking, some squawking, some squeaking, some grunting, some hissing, some meowing. She jumped as she brushed against a cage with some sort of lizard in it, hissing wildly at her.

"Hi!" the man said cheerfully, smiling as he held some sort of furry, floppy animal, of which he had two more on his shoulders. "Want a bunny?" His voice was happy and held some sort of accent.

"That's because they're white bunnies," he explained, kissing one of them on the forehead. "You're a good little white bunny, yes you are!" he cooed, holding it towards her.

The grotesque, smelly thing hung from his hands, legs limp underneath it as it just flopped there. Its eyes were a reflective ruby color, and its tiny, spiked mouth twitched, imploding in on itself time and time again. Staring at her with those beady little eyes.

She screamed at the top of her lungs, causing the store to erupt in mass chaos and noise. Winged creatures screeched along with her, furry four-legged creatures howled, the hissing lizard hissing at her even more loudly than before. She covered her ears, closing her eyes and shaking madly. "Get... it... away..."

The man tapped her on the shoulder a few seconds later. She cautiously opened her eyes, relaxing when she saw the demon creatures were gone. She looked up at him, really looking at him for the first time. He was about four or five inches taller than her, with full, light brown hair, the longest of it falling towards the bottom of him neck. He was in good shape, or so she could see. His skin was a little pale, still nowhere near as pale as hers. His eyes were a deep, striking blue-green color that looked like it belonged in a painting of an exotic world rather than the eyes of a human. He was dressed in a simple black t-shirt which was covered with rabbit hairs, and a pair of loose-fitting khakis. "Sorry," she finally responded, speaking for the first time since she'd plummeted down to Earth. "It was looking at me the wrong way," she grumbled.

"It's okay," he said, still smiling. "There are a lot of other animals here that you might like better... cats, dogs, snakes, iguanas, mice, parrots, parakeets, finches..." he trailed off, only really looking at her.

Ciel, the poster child of oblivious, blurted out the first response she thought of. "I can think of one animal I'D like to take home!" she yelled, throwing her head back and laughing at her own joke in Annika's (sometimes) hyena-esque way. She laughed, and laughed, and laughed and laughed and laughed, until she was literally on the floor, laughing and crying at the same time.

Finally, after several minutes of laughter, she stood up, wiping tears from her eyes and cheeks. "Oh, man..." she murmured, giggling, "that was a good one..." She looked up at him, feeling horrible as she saw his reddened cheeks. "Um... I'm sorry..."

He shook it off, a new type of smile, a goofy smile, slowly spreading across his face. "It's alright." He slowly turned away, not wanting to take his eyes off of her.

Ciel stood there for a minute in silence, still feeling like a piece of crap. Make him feel better! she told herself. She tapped his shoulder, trying to fill the now-awkward silence, thanks to her. She was even willing to pick up one of those demonic creatures known as a "bunny" now. "Uh... sir... can I hold one of the... bunnies?"

"Sure!" he said, walking over to a huge cage and taking out a gray one, making sure to take one that didn't have red eyes. "My name is Harry Griffin, by the way," he said shyly, looking sideways at her as he tended to the rabbit. "What's yours?" He held it in front of him, showing her how to hold it properly, and then placed it in her arms.

"Ciel su'Maka," she answered, taking the bunny. It hopped up her chest, resting on her shoulder and sniffing her ear, tickling her. She giggled, gently picking the rabbit up again and cradling it in her arms. "This isn't so bad after all," she said to herself, kissing the bunny on the nose.

"Ciel... that's French," Harry said, scurrying after a few rabbits who had escaped, putting them back in their cages.

His jaw almost dropped on the floor. "You don't know what STAR WARS is?!" he screamed, appalled. "It's only the best series of movies in history! How can you not know what Star Wars is? EVERYBODY knows what Star Wars is!"

"Really...?" she asked, embarrassed but intrigued at the same time. "Tell me about it?" she asked, handing the animal back to him, whom she had long lost interest in.

He took a deep breath, just about to explain, when he was interrupted by the sound of the electronic chimes that greeted customers as they walked through the doorway. He looked over Ciel's shoulder, smiling at the new customer. "Hi, may I help you?"

"Not really..." a woman said, with a hint of humor in her voice. "But I will be taking your new friend..."

Ciel didn't have to turn around to know who it was. "Priire," she groaned, rubbing her forehead. She turned around, facing the grinning Priire. "What happened?"

"We don't know," she said, shrugging. "Me, Coru, Xarae, Yoshiko, Chouko, and Yuki fell through a roof down the street. Coru's Time Staff won't work. And we have no clue where Annika is... which is never a good sign."

By the time the senshi in England had figured out where Annika was, she had already been deported from Australia.

Annika had ended up in the Land Down Under after the separation, in an innocent-looking enough studio lot. Wandering around it, she noted that for some reason, the security was very tight, so she found a misplaced ID labeled "George Lucas" and pinned it to her shirt, so she would not be kicked out.

Venturing inside one of the large warehouses, she found a partially constructed Tatooine desert dwelling. It looked deserted and she quickly lost interest in it, when she heard noise coming from the door. A group talking, one of them sounding very very Scottish, and very very much like a certain Jedi Knight...

Annika's heart skipped a beat. How romantic! she thought, swooning. He came to find me! Ippin and the rest made it back, and he came here personally to bring me home! She bounded towards the doors, and seeing her Obi-Wan in his Jedi robes, jumped into his arms and huggled him to death. "Obi-Wan! You're so sweet... I can't believe you did this!"

Needless to say, Annika was arrested by Australian Police two minutes later and deported to America the next day. After many days of deliberation, the American government struck a plea- bargain with the odangoed girl... which is where our story picks up...

"Yes, sir! I will, sir! Thank you!" Annika hung up the phone and sighed, taking a bite of her donut, the only reward she was given all day for her hard, tiresome work. She dialed another number, getting strawberry frosting all over the dialpad. She began to lick her fingers clean, choking when the other end picked up. "Hello! Could I... oh, hello, Mr. Gore!" she said cheerfully. "I'm good, how are you?... That's great! Congratulations! Mr. Bush just called me, and he told me to tell you that he's not talking to you until you apologize for taking back your concession... Yes, yes, I think he's being a meanie too... no, Mr. Gore, I don't know what the Florida Supreme Court is going to decide... okay... I will... thank you! Bye." She nearly slammed the phone down, whining. "THIS ISN'T FAAAAAIR!!!" she yelled at no one in particular. She began to growl, and the phone rang again. "HELLO?! Yes, I called him, Mr. Bush! He told me to tell you that you're a meanie, and that Joe Lieberman does NOT look like Kermit the Frog!... It's not MY fault!" Click.

Annika screamed at the top of her lungs. "I can't take it much longer... COME FIND ME, IPPIN!"

Meanwhile, back in England, Priire had "persuaded" Harry's father, Vincent, to allow she and the rest of the stranded senshi to stay in their house as they tried to figure out the whereabouts of Annika.

They had all gotten temporary jobs to occupy their time, Ciel and Chouko working in the Griffin family's pet shop along with Harry, Yukiko teaching martial arts part-time at the local karate school, Xarae and Ippin working in the flower shop across the street, Yoshiko working in a department store, and Priire working in an arms shop.

Ciel had taken a keen interest in Terran cultures, spending all of her time in the town's library. She was still somewhat unfamiliar with the alphabet, but had learned it with Chouko and Harry's help and could read fairly quickly now. She had plowed through most of Shakespeare's classics, falling in love with the story of Romeo and Juliet. She also loved all of the fables and legends of this world, like the legend of King Arthur.

Soon her passion shifted from books to television. She became a couch potato, sitting in the dark with the glow of the TV set as the only light in the room until she couldn't keep her eyes on anymore.

And it was one night, while she and Harry were eating dinner on the couch, that they finally figured out where Annika was.

"And on a final note, it seems the election crisis in America is over, thanks to the help of a twenty-two-year-old political refugee," the news anchor said. The TV showed an image of the two American presidential candidates, George W. Bush and Al Gore, shaking hands with a very familiar-looking odango atama hugging the both of them. "More on that story when we come back."

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!!!" Ciel screamed, spitting mashed potatoes all over the couch, "IIIPPIIIIN!!!!"

Ippin, followed by Priire and Xarae, ran into the living room, with panic-stricken looks on their faces. "What?!"

"Annika was just on TV," Ciel explained calmly, shoving more potato into her mouth.

"Really? Wow!" Chouko shouted, shoving her way in between Xarae and Priire, followed by Yukiko and Yoshiko.

"She was?!" Ippin asked, looking frantically at the television. "Where is she?!"

"Umm... I don't remember," the black-haired girl murmured with a mouthful of food. "The story is going to be on after the commercials."

Ippin, Priire, Xarae, Yoshiko, Chouko, and Yukiko all piled onto the couch, shoving Ciel and Harry together to make more room. As usual, Harry turned beet red.

Sure enough, after the commercial break ended, they ran the story entitled "How Annika Nesicha saved the US." Annika had been in Florida for about a month and a half now, acting as a middleman and relaying messages between the two candidates. They also explained the story of how she had been kicked out of Australia.

By the time the newscast had ended, everyone in the room was roaring with laughter, even Harry, who was laughing only because he was very very confused.

Priire spoke up, wiping tears from her eyes. "Well, I guess we know what we have to do..." she said, looking at Harry. "Where do you hide the money in this place?" she asked, looking around.

"Ummm..." he said, looking to Ciel for help. "Don't you all have money from your jobs?"

Harry took a small whiff and sighed. That's the same kind that Ciel wears... he thought dreamily.

"I'll talk to my father," Harry finally said. "That's all I can do right now. Okay?"

Priire and the rest nodded. Ciel quietly went back to eating her meal, on the verge of tears.

Ciel ran out onto the balcony, tears falling from her turquoise eyes. She loved Earth. She loved everything about it. She didn't want to leave! It wasn't fair, even though she knew in the back of her mind that they would be leaving some day.

And what about Harry? Ever since she had gotten here, she and Harry had been best friends, always together. She finally had a best friend, someone who shared her interests and passions, and now she would have to leave him, and go back to that cruel galaxy full of disappointment and misery.

Xarae stepped out onto the landing, approaching Ciel. "Ciel..." she said quietly, "I need to talk to you."

Ciel turned red, embarrassed that she was crying in front of someone. She rubbed her eyes and looked over her shoulder at the brown-haired woman. "About what?" she spat, her voice choking up with emotion. "I know I can't stay here. I'm not going to try. I'm just upset..."

"It may not be much consolation," Xarae explained, "But you'll be able to take a part of Earth back with you."

"Harry is the knight we came here to retrieve, the Terephon Knight," she said with a smile.

"The Terephon Knight..." Vra repeated, listening to Xarae and Ciel's conversation from below. "So that's what they call him." Her blue eyes narrowed into tiny slits, her finely arched golden eyebrows furrowing in thought and anger. She disappeared from her vantage point below the balcony in a swirl of mist.

Ciel's eyes went wide. "A knight..." she repeated, her eyes looking far off. "He's a knight...that means..."

"YAY!!!!!" Ciel shouted, jumping into Xarae's arms and hugging her. "Who knows? Did you tell him? Does Ippin know? What about Priire? Does Yukiko?"

"Okay!" Ciel hugged her again, letting go and dancing around the balcony. "Thank you! Thank you!" she yelled, running back into the house.

She nearly fell down the stairs, jumping over every other step. "Harry!" she yelled, grinning. "Where are you?"

She ran into the living room, and stopped in her tracks. Priire, Ippin, Yukiko, and Chouko were there, all in their senshi forms. She didn't need to ask to know what had happened. "Where is he..."

Xarae stepped into the room, speaking for Ciel. "We need to get him back as soon as possible. We can't accept another knight being turned to the Dark Side."

Ciel spoke up, wide-eyed. "He's the knight we came here for... the Terephon Knight," she said. "And I need to get him back."

"What do you mean, 'I'?" Asteroid asked. "A fellow soldier has been abducted. It's our business now."

The rest of the senshi in the room nodded. Ciel had enough sense not to protest.

Xarae sat on the couch, holding the telephone in her right hand. "My relationship to Annika? Sister," she said. "Xarae Sarin... You've already had me on hold five times. This is serious. I don't have any time to be messing around!... Please, just let me speak to her."

The rest of the senshi stood around her, waiting for any good word. Ciel poked Xarae in the shoulder incessantly, shouting words about how they were wasting time and money with the phone call.

Finally, after several minutes on hold, a voice was heard on the other end of the line. "Annika!" Xarae shouted, "We've been looking for you!"

"XARAAAAAAAAAAAAAE!!!!" Annika screamed. Priire, Ippin, Yoshiko, Ciel, Yukiko, Chouko, and Xarae all covered their ears.

"I'm deaf..." Xarae murmured, handing the phone to the nearest girl, who happened to be Priire.

"Listen, Annika... we found the knight, but Vra Vji kidnapped him. You're still in Miami, right?"

"IPPIN!" Annika wailed, jumping into her arms and crying her eyes out. "I MISSED YOOOOU! ALL OF YOOOOU!"

"Come out, Vra!" Ciel, now Sailor Centrali, screamed, not waiting a moment too soon to call out the Nightsister. "What you did was inexcusable! Bring him back, NOW!!!!"

"Where IS he?!" Ciel shouted, making fists with both of her hands. "What did you do to him?!"

"I didn't do anything to him!" she said sheepishly. "I just wanted to talk to him!"

"Yeah, right!" Ciel yelled, leveling her arms at Vra. "Bring him back right now, so we can leave. If you don't, you're going to pay..."

Vra laughed. "It's not like you can go home anyways! Haven't you realized I sabotaged the Time Staff?"

Ciel had heard enough. "Violet Current!" she screamed, sending a beam of ultraviolet light at the Nightsister.

The eight attacks converged into one huge mass of swirling energy, crashing into Vra with the force of a nuclear weapon. When the air cleared, nothing remained but a pile of ashes. Soon after, Harry and the Time Staff appeared.

Sailor Centrali stared at the pile of ashes in disbelief. "It's over... she's dead... but... it wasn't by my hand..."

Xarae and Ciel sat in the kitchen of the Griffin residence, eating a lunch of sandwiches. Priire, Ippin, Yukiko, Chouko, Annika, and Yoshiko had gone out to a restaurant down the street for lunch, and Harry was busy packing things to take to Coruscant.

They had teleported back to his home the night before and explained to him his role as the Terephon Knight. He had been reluctant at first, but then realized that he would be with Ciel and had been raring to go since.

"No," she answered. "Gallinore told me that in order for her to be killed, I needed to defeat her. Not you, or Annika, or Priire, or Ippin, or Yoshiko, or Chouko, or Yukiko," she said with obvious malice in her voice. She sighed. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't be taking it out on you."

"I understand completely," Xarae said, thinking about her own mission to defeat Sidious.

Ciel stood up, pushing the chair out with her foot. She shook her head, locks of black hair falling on her deathly pale skin. "No, you don't." She turned and walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, Harry bounded down the stairs and sat next to her on the couch. "Are you okay?" he asked, tossing his bag on the floor in front of him.

"I guess," she said, self-consciously pulling down the sleeve of her purple sweater. "I wanna go home."

As if on cue, Annika, Priire, Ippin, Yoshiko, Chouko, and Yukiko bounded through the front door, waving to Ciel and Harry. "Ready?"

"Let's go home, then," Ippin said, transforming into Sailor Yavin. "Guardians of the Dimensions..." she called, "Please cast open the gates to Coruscant for us, the Sailor Jedi!"

Vra stood up, rubbing her forehead as she looked around the familiar landscape of her home planet. The sun began to make its slow climb over the horizon, casting warm rays over the planet's surface.

Father... she thought, thinking of the brief time she had spent with him. I will save you from that witch, in time... hang in there...

About the Senshi in this story:

Ciel/Sailor Centrali
Asellus/Sailor Gallinore
Annika/Sailor Bakura
Ippin/Sailor Yavin
Vra Vji
Xarae/Sailor Iridonia
Chouko/Sailor Chibi Dantooine
Yoshiko/Sailor Chibi Tatooine
Priire/Sailor Asteroid
Yukiko/Sailor Hoth
Harry/Terephon Knight