Someone Innocent

It was silent in the Black Fire Dreamer. The kind of silence that deafened everything. Even the sound of the engines couldn’t be heard past the silence. No one said anything because they were almost afraid that the sound would get lost in the deep abyss of silence.

Almost no one.

“Checkmate!”

“We’re not playing chess, Kairi-chan!” Sutaru sighed. “It’s checkers.”

The other girl looked a little confused. “But this is a chess set.”

“I don’t even know how to play chess,” Sutaru explained to her friend.

Kairiku’s eyes lit up. “Want me to teach you?”

“No! I’m winning!”

Aisu giggled. Watching them play was sometimes even more fun than playing. She popped another candy in her mouth. She casually passed the candy wrapper to Neburaa, who giggled and gave it to Audra. Audra was in the perfect position to...

...pretend she was doing absolutely nothing when Kyoko walked in. “How’s Priire?” they all asked at once.

Kyoko sighed. “Not too good. She won’t snap out of it.”

The younger senshi all looked at each other. Their thoughts were all taking the same path. Priire is not responding to anything... Ippin is Priire’s sister... Ippin is going to be in a really bad mood...

It was like a stampede of wild nerfs. Every senshi in the room except for Kyoko decided to exit at the same time. Aisu came back a few minutes later and grabbed the candy.

Priire wasn’t moving. Hardly moving, at any rate. At least she was breathing. If her face hadn’t been so pale and her body so limp, she could have been sleeping. As it was now, she looked like she was sleeping a sleep that she’d never wake up from.

Kousotsu wasn’t at his best either. The fight with the Sailor Sith had taken a lot out of him, but he refused to acknowledge it. And he refused to leave Priire’s side. Tired lines crossed his face, and when he finally fell asleep, none of the senshi had the heart to move his head from Priire’s belly. His head had slid progressively from an upright position, to leaning on one arm; then it got lower and lower the more exhausted he let himself become.

It would almost have been a cute scene if the circles under his eyes weren’t so dark and if Priire, underneath her tan, hadn’t been so pale.

Leaning against a doorpost — and with only slightly more sleep — Ippin stared at the pair. Her sister... more than anything, Ippin had always wanted a family. She’d never told anyone — not even Priire — about her most secret dream. It was like playing a hand of sabacc close to her vest. All of her cards were worth nothing without a special card that could turn a loser’s hand into the highest winner. The Idiot card. She could liken her boyfriend to any card she wanted or the other senshi to any card, but Priire was the idiot. A seemingly worthless card with the power to dramatically change the value of her hand. Besides, Priire’s natural inclination to less-than-astute acts earned her the name.

Now she was dying. Or maybe she was already dead. Ippin had seen her sister shot herself... she’d even felt her sister pulling away from her to try and spare her the pain that Priire knew she’d be causing. And now Priire was lying on the bed somewhere between asleep and awake fighting something that no one else could see. Whatever it was, no one seemed to be able to help her. No one could get inside her mind to find out. As far as Ippin remembered, there wasn’t a “Guardian of Screwed-Up Minds”. A thought made the fiery-haired senshi jerked upright. But there was a senshi of internal light! “Chakra!”

There was more than one pair of eyes peeking out of the hidey-hole. Among the various colors was a pair of crystal-like blue orbs. Those were the ones that Ippin was seeking. “Chakra! I need your help.”

A crash preceded the eight-year-old’s arrival. “Ye... yes, Ippin?” she asked. The other girls had told her horror stories about Ippin when she got upset. Of course, they’d failed to mention that most of the stories Priire had made up.

“I need your help,” Ippin said, her hazel eyes flashing. “I think you can bring Priire back.”

Chakra had transformed into Sailor Chibi Dathomir. What Ippin had planned was for the Guardian of Internal Light to see if she could find out what had happened to Priire to make her closed to all of her friends and her family.

As the twenty-year-old Sailor, Chibi Dathomir was confident she could handle whatever was going on in Priire’s mind. In her eight-year-old normal form, it wouldn’t have been as easy. And somehow, Chibi Dathomir had a feeling that whatever was going on in Priire’s mind and whatever had happened to her wasn’t going to be very pretty.

Her Light Scepter was resting against the wall near her while Chibi Dathomir herself was seated on a chair next to the bed that held Priire. On the other side — the right side — of the bed was Kousotsu holding Priire’s hand. He looked slightly more rested, but still very tired. Ippin was pacing around the room like a caged tiger.

Chibi Dathomir settled herself into the chair and put one of her hands on Priire’s forehead. Gently, she probed Priire’s mind. She recoiled slightly from what she felt there.

Someone had forced her way into Priire’s mind uninvited. They’d done it with such force that there were half-healed and half-opened “scars” on Priire’s mindscape. Very gently, Chibi Dathomir pushed aside the half-broken-down barriers that were Priire’s only defense.

The few minutes that it took Chibi Dathomir to enter Priire’s mind without causing any more damage spoke little of the pain Priire had been caused. When someone entered another being’s mind, it was unsettling to both of them, even if it was done with their permission. Very few people could enter another being’s mind even with their permission without making them uncomfortable. However... when someone entered a mind without care for what the other being felt... most cultures with rules about that type of thing regarded the forced entry into another being’s mind along the same lines as rape. Mind rape. That was the worst thing the woman could think of happening to anyone.

Chibi Dathomir was so intent on not causing the hurting girl any more pain that she almost wasn’t aware of the outside world anymore. Nom Da’Gara wiped off her forehead and cheeks beads of sweat that mingled with a tear falling out of the girl’s eyes. Nom wondered what was going on. It had been close to a half-hour.

Chibi Dathomir was in. Past the outer layers and into the truest part of a being’s mind, where their internal light was. It was like a flat gray plain that housed bright spots of light. She stepped on to it and looked around. Now, that was strange.

Instead of having one light, the plain seemed to host two. That was trouble. It could also be the reason that the man on the planet had claimed Priire was innocent and that she didn’t remember anything. If the light that wasn’t Priire had been the dominant light, then she wouldn’t have remembered anything about Priire’s life or about the Sailors.

She would have been innocent.

It was hard for her to tell if the darker light was really Priire or if Priire was the brighter one. That was pretty easy to fix. She was, after all, the Guardian of Internal Light.

Rainbow-colored light burst from her Light Scepter and “converted” the pretty lights to their human form. She was Chibi Dathomir, complete with Light Scepter, and the other two were... Priire?

Different versions of Priire at the very least. The one that had been the darker light had on Priire’s normal clothes — all black. She had her hair in braids and didn’t look very happy at all.

The brighter light was Priire too... only she had on a pink dress and no braids. The gloves that were always on the other Priire’s hands weren’t in evidence on hers. She had brighter eyes and looked... innocent.

“Hi! I’m Inni!” the pink-dressed girl said.

Now Chibi Dathomir understood a little better why there were two lights. When the Sailor Sith had forced her way into Priire’s mind, Priire had created another personality. One that didn’t have to deal with being hurt, as protection against anything else the Sailor Sith would try to do to her. It was a common defense. So she’d have to talk to Priire. With her scepter, Chibi Dathomir “reverted” the Inni-light back to its light form.

“Priire... what happened?” the brown-haired girl asked.

Priire glared at her. “I should be dead,” she said bitterly. “I wish I was dead.”

“That’s unlike you.”

The blonde shook her head. “I don’t think I am me anymore. I don’t think I want to be me anymore.”

Chibi Dathomir looked confused. “Why not? You’ve got everything you could ever want. Friends, family, a boyfriend... all you don’t have is money!”

“I have that too.” Priire’s tone was sarcastic. “Every heard the term blood money? The Hawkbat wasn’t a cheap mercenary to buy. So I have plenty of money to match the blood on my hands.”

Despite her physical age being years older than Priire’s apparent age, Chibi Dathomir suddenly felt that Priire’s age as measured by experience was far older than Chibi Dathomir could ever be. All of the weight of what she’d been before she’d become a Sailor was weighing down heavily on the blonde’s shoulders. The pressure of everything that she’d done piled on top of what had happened to her must have been what turned Priire... inward. That was the only way the Chibi Dathomir could describe it. Almost as if Priire had tried to hide herself by curling into a ball.

That was one of the two defenses that people had. They could either strike out, or they could pull inward. Because Priire was silent for a moment, Chibi Dathomir reached out to examine her light. She felt something was wrong. It wasn’t in Priire’s nature to pull inward. Priire should have reached out and fought back. Something must have prevented her from doing that. Whatever it was, Chibi Dathomir was going to find it. Even if it meant she had to keep dealing with this shadow-light. Drawing another metaphor, Chibi Dathomir thought that this light seemed to be the most unhappy part of Priire. As if this part of her had eddied into a stagnant pool that kept festering. She knew that it wasn’t what Priire was really feeling or what Priire really wanted. It was only her frustration and her pain that caused this.

Nom looked at her future daughter. The beauty in her golden-brown hair wasn’t from Nom’s own black locks... for a moment the Dathomirian warrior woman wondered what combination of genes had created her daughter. It was strange to think that she was going to have a child. Her eyes shot open. She had gotten a sense from Chibi Dathomir that something was wrong with Priire. What if...?

She reached out and touched Chibi Dathomir’s hand. Projecting feelings of insecurity and confusion, Nom tried to fit her feelings of “Is he going to be the one...?” into Priire’s situation. What if Priire was feeling, “Is he the one? Will he be there? Will we grow old together?” No one, as far as Nom could remember, had mentioned the couple as a couple in the future. What if that was it?

Dathomirians were never known to be subtle. Nom was no exception. Chibi Dathomir caught the flavor of what her future mother was sending her through the clumsy attempts at subtlety.

She was right, in a way. Chibi Dathomir knew that from her gentle explorations. But that wasn’t the crux of the problem. Something was missing from Priire. That sounded odd, but it was true.

Following up on her sense that something was missing, the brown-haired guardian looked for it. She stopped as Priire spoke.

“What are you looking for?” she asked, sullenly. The other girl thought again that the whole ordeal had turned Priire from her normally happy and upbeat self to a hollow... a hollow shell!

“What happened?” Chibi Dathomir asked. She was really talking to herself, because she knew Priire wouldn’t answer. Reaching into Priire’s mind, she touched the raw part where Ayameru had been.

The representation of Priire on the representation of a plain jerked. She put her hands to her head as if trying to keep Chibi Dathomir out.

It wouldn’t work. Chibi Dathomir wouldn’t let herself be shut out of Priire’s mind. She didn’t want to hurt her friend, but the Guardian Sailor had to know what had happened.

Easing her way into the raw part of the mind, the Sailor tried to shut out the sounds of Priire moaning. There, she was in. Now what had happened to the girl...?

The answer was more awful than the Sailor was prepared for.

Kousotsu looked up as Chibi Dathomir released a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. “What?” he asked.

“You might not believe this,” the Sailor started. She shook her head as she kept talking. “But Ariel has devised a way to ‘capture’ the internal light of a Sailor. She can somehow put the light inside of her and access it when she needs to power. I think we might have a problem.”

“Other than the fact that my girlfriend is unconscious?”

Chibi Dathomir rolled her eyes. “I mean that Ariel could be very powerful and very dangerous. She might be able to defeat us next time we run into her.” The girl shuddered. “Or, she might turn that machine on the rest of us. It made Priire want to die...” Her voice trailed off, then got stronger. “Whatever it was, it took out a good part of Priire’s light, or her Force-sense. And Ariel is using it for herself. If we meet her again, she’ll be able to draw on the power she stole from Priire.”

Looking up from the book she hadn’t really been reading, Ippin frowned. “How can we stop her?”

“I think...” The Sailor paused. “I am pretty sure I can use my Light Scepter to draw Priire’s light out, but Priire has to be conscious to help me.” Chibi Dathomir replaced to look of worry on her face with one of determination. “I think that I can convince her to come back... but there’s another light inside of her. I don’t know for sure, but I think Priire must have created another personality to deal with being hurt so badly.” Chibi Dathomir shuddered again. Unfortunately, to find out what exactly had happened to Priire’s mind, she’d let herself experience part of it. The sheer force of the violation of the other girl’s mind was almost too much for her to bear. Chibi Dathomir felt that if Priire recovered, she was going to be as deeply scarred by this experience as by the trial in which she was sentenced to death, only less visibly.

Blue eyes flashed dangerously. “Hurt?” Kousotsu demanded, bringing Chibi Dathomir back to the present.

“Ayameru forced her way into Priire’s mind. Violently.”

Ippin’s hazel eyes went wide at Chibi Dathomir’s words. “Mind rape...”

Nom winced. “I do not like the sound of that.”

“I’ll kill her.”

“You can only kill her once, Kousotsu,” Ippin said.

“Then I’ll make it worth my while.” His voice dripped with space-cold anger.

Usually calm and encouraging, the new attitude from the masked Knight went against everything Ippin would have said about him. Ippin was worried for him. If Priire never came back, then he could be turned into a bitter man. She put her hand on his tensed muscles. “Kousotsu,” she said, catching his attention. “There is no anger, there is peace. There is no vengeance, there is justice. There is no darkness, there is light. There is no death, there is love...” She paraphrased the Jedi Code, not remembering it perfectly. With a jangle of her gold bracelets, she gestured to Priire. “You love her, right?” She didn’t let him interrupt her. “She loves you more than anything. She is going to come back, because that’s destiny. Priire might not want to be destiny’s pawn all the time, but sometimes it’s good. Like now. She’s not going to leave us. Focus on bringing Ayameru to justice rather than punishing her for what she’s done.” Ippin gathered her thoughts and silently begged for Priire’s silver tongue. “Revenge is an unkind master to serve, and it will poison you if you hold it in your heart. She knows that so... don’t do that to her. Please.”

Ippin could feel the muscles of the man’s arm relaxing under her hand. Kousotsu nodded sharply, and then a bright gleam came to his eye. “Go on, Chibi Dathomir. I’ll be back.”

She had it figured out, Chibi Dathomir thought. When Ariel had drained off Priire’s Force-sense, the Sith had stopped something from happening. Before, the Sailor had gotten a feeling that something else should have happened. Ariel had suppressed what Chibi Dathomir could feel should have happened. Annoyed that she could pin in down, the girl decided to ask Priire a question. It was along the lines of what her mother had suggested.

“Priire... are you lonely?”

Chibi Dathomir asked her question quietly, hoping to make Priire remember that there were others in the outside world that needed her. Maybe she’d remember that her selfish act of walling herself up inside of her mind was hurting them.

It didn’t work.

“Lonely?” she asked bitterly. “Why would I be lonely?” The question was turned bitterly inward. “I have a sister and a boyfriend... isn’t that just lovely.”

“Oh?”

Priire looked at the girl. “Why? You think that I shouldn’t be... perfectly... happy?” She growled the last three words out, reconfirming that this was not the same Priire that Chibi Dathomir knew. If she’d known her as long as Ippin had known her, Chibi Dathomir would have known that Priire was hiding some deep pain that she didn’t want the world to see. Something that was hurting her constantly, but something that she didn’t want to hurt anyone else with.

Raising an eyebrow, Chibi Dathomir just looked at her.

“You wouldn’t understand.” Priire shook her head. “You wouldn’t understand what I don’t know. I don’t know if I’m ever going to get married. I’m scared.”

Gently, Chibi Dathomir asked, “Scared? Of what?”

“Yeah. Scared. Scared that maybe I won’t get married and have kids. Scared that I’m going to have to face parts of my life alone after I’ve found the only man who could ever make me happy. The only one I could ever love.

“Everyone else has confirmation that their love will last for the rest of their lives. Or at least that they’ll get married. Some senshi have chibi Sailors... daughters... some have people from the future who talk about them. What do I have?” She answered her own question. “Nothing. We were together before... but we never got past the ‘engaged’ stage. We died. Together, yes... but I don’t want that to happen again. I don’t want to die before... ” She paused. “Sometime in my life, I want to get married. Have kids. Know that someone will follow after me...”

Chibi Dathomir’s eyes went wide. “What? You two are destined for each other. Destined to love for forever and destined to be together. But even if you die, it’ll be happy. Destiny says...”

Priire glared at her. “If you say destiny one more time, I’m going to hit you. Hard.”

The other girl recalled what Ippin had said about Priire not wanting to be destiny’s pawn. “Oh.” The Chibi Sailor didn’t know what she could say to Priire. There had to be something. Some way that she could tell Priire that it didn’t really matter if Priire herself wasn’t sure if everything would work out, there was someone who did know.

For a moment, Chibi Dathomir’s eyes unfocused. Priire watched, almost interested.

“Someone has something to say to you,” the Chibi Sailor said. “Okay?"

Priire looked confused as Chibi Dathomir, out of politeness, pulled herself out of the other girl’s mind.

Still a little confused, Priire reached out to see whom it was who wanted to talk to her. She tried not to get close to the “surface,” because she didn’t want to feel and didn’t want to remember. Priire knew that if she let herself be drawn out, she wouldn’t be able to run away again. So she was going to keep hiding and hurting alone.

Someone had other plans.

Priire felt the pressure on her lips... No, she thought desperately. No, I don’t want to come back... But the kiss was like electricity running through her veins, and Priire was aware of her surroundings in a more vibrant way than ever. Her eyes were closed, but she could smell the intriguing freshness of Kousotsu’s cologne, and she caught a whiff of spicy sweetness that could only be her twin. Even the smells from all of the rooms of the complex that made up the Room Behind the Waterfall. Something that someone was cooking — it must have been Zyta because it smelled burned — and even scents of her beloved ship.

Even her sense of touch was heightened. She could feel Kousotsu’s hand holding her head up and where his hand was next to her. She could feel the weight of her necklace on her chest and a strange weight on her left hand. Something was around her ring finger... but that didn’t really matter at that point in time.

“I’m so sorry!” Priire said, not caring if anyone saw the tears that streamed from her eyes. Kousotsu held her close to his chest and soothed her, telling her that it would be okay and that everything was fine now.

He held her until her sobs subsided and her breathing relaxed. The man looked at Chibi Dathomir, who also had tears in her eyes. “It’ll be okay,” the girl said. “I think she just needs to sleep.”

Kousotsu ran his fingers through his beloved’s hair as he put her head down on the pillow. With a smile, he picked up her left hand and watched the harsh light glint off of the ring that he had placed on her finger. Forever, he smiled.

“Chakra?”

The girl looked up. “Ye... yes?” she whispered, her bright blue eyes larger than normal. Chakra was hugging a stuffed bantha tightly. “I’m... okay,” she said quietly.

Nom raised an eyebrow. “My daughter, are you sure?”

The little girl shook her head and pulled her knees up to her chin. “There are awful things in my mind. Things that I saw inside of Priire’s head. And they’re running around in my head. And they’re all up there.

“I don’t know what to do with them,” the little girl confessed. “But the other me does.”

Nom frowned. She didn’t quite know what to do about her daughter’s confessions, so she did what all mothers — even future mothers who were not mothers yet — did best.

Chakra sniffled quietly as Nom rocked her. Maybe the two people inside of her would be calm for a while longer.

Ippin felt her hand move. She’d put it down on Priire’s hand... but Priire’s hand seemed to have moved.

“Sorry,” her twin said, her voice cracking from disuse. Priire didn’t open her eyes. “My nose itched.”

Out of curiosity, Ippin asked a question that would seem to make less than perfect sense. “Are you awake?”

Priire shook her head. “Nah. I’m trying to think of something witty or moving to say.”

The blonde could sense her twin’s confusion. Eyes still closed. Priire went on to explain. “When people have been gone or unconscious for a long time, when they wake up or come back they always say something witty or moving. I’m leaning towards moving.”

Ippin sighed. “I’m going to humor you. What moving thing are you going to say?”

“Prunes.”

“If you weren’t sick, I’d throw something at you.”

Priire opened her eyes and laughed. “See? It’s those violent tendencies that’ll get you nowhere. Or everywhere.”

This time Ippin rolled her eyes. “Aster, you’re impossible.”

“I know,” the blonde said quietly. “And I’ve learned a few things.”

Because Priire’s tone was an odd cross between serious and hurting, Ippin listened. “Like what?”

“I learned never to walk away from something you can’t ever get back,” Priire said very quietly.

Ippin looked askance at her twin sister. “I thought I was the wise and philosophical one.”

The other girl shrugged. “Move over, sister.” Priire winced and closed her eyes. “And I think I’m going to roll over and go back to sleep.”

With one elegant hand, the Guardian of Space and Time brushed her twin sister’s hair off of her cheek. Ippin had missed her... she was glad her sister was back. And still annoying.

“You have to let me in,” the Jedi blustered.

Mara blocked his way. "You’re as far in as you’re going to get,” she said.

The Jedi frowned. “But, if this girl has a problem with her mind, then the Jedi are the best people to deal with it.”

Nom shook her head. “The Jai would not be able to help in this case.”

The Jedi’s frown deepened. “But... we should be allowed in!” he told them. It seemed like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “This is a Jedi matter!”

With an easy smile that didn’t tell of her strength, Yukiko took his wrist and arm in an aikiko wrist and arm lock. “I’m sorry,” she said calmly. “You’ll have to come back during normal visiting hours.”

As the Jedi knight flew out the door assisted by Yukiko, Mistique released her mind hold on him. Another dead-end. She had to know what Ariel was doing. Obviously, the Jedi weren’t the way to do it. Well then. She’d have to follow the Alpha Sith and destroy her plans.

This time, Priire vowed to herself, she would stay awake. Opening her eyes, she rolled over on one side and looked around the room with vibrant green eyes. Priire took more time to examine everything around her from the flowers on the table to the ring on her finger to the color of the carpet to the... wait a second. Ring?

Not usually one for squealing, Priire made an exception this time. “Eeek!”

Of course, after seeing the absolutely panicked look that came over Kousotsu’s face, she thought that maybe she’d do it more often. “Where did this come from?” Priire asked, holding up her left hand. The soft light in the room made the ring on her hand glow. It was white gold, with a large hematite stone set in the middle. On each side of the main stone were two silver stars that gleamed as the light in the room danced over them.

Kousotsu grinned. “I’m not sure. It was in my stuff when I came from Earth. Somehow... it just seems right, you know?” He looked at her earnestly. “It’s a promise. To you from me. I promise that I’m always going to love you. Always.”

This was not the time for words, so Priire didn’t say anything as she wrapped her arms around Kousotsu, and they kissed.

“We’ve got to confront her,” Kyoko said. “Ariel has been almost randomly attacking various businesses and organizations. Yesterday she almost destroyed a Burger Monarch and Ritz Coruscant.”

Numako winced. “Stop her we must! If let her go we do, then destroy the Dahgobah figurines she might!”

It was funny, but no one laughed. “Do we know where she’s going to hit next?” Priire asked, leaning forward. Annika’s eyes went wide as she noticed the latest addition to Priire’s outfit. Deciding to ask about the ring later, she turned her attention back to Kyoko.

“The Main Square, we think.” Kyoko sighed. “There’s going to be a charity picnic there. Mori’s already called the Jedi Temple to see if they can get it called off. Now. Kousotsu, you and Chikako are going to stay behind with Priire...”

Priire shook her head. “There’s no way I’m staying behind.”

“There’s no way you’re going.”

Responsible brown eyes met fiery green ones, and they waged and unspoken war against each other.

When Priire did speak, it wasn’t in defeat. “Look, Kyoko. If Ayameru is as powerful as I think she is, then we’re all going to need to be there. That includes me. And if she’s that powerful, she might be able to track me. Then we’d be putting the other Jedi in danger. I can do this!”

“Priire, this is not the kind of situation I’m comfortable letting you be in! Especially since you’re not up to full strength. You might not be able to fight.”

“Then I’ll sit on the sidelines and tell Ariel what I think of her, her friends, her planet, and I’ll probably make some passing reference to her questionable parentage,” Priire growled. “Look. Trust me on this one. I can help here.”

“Against my better judgment then,” Kyoko said, “we’ll all go.”

The silence that always seemed to permeate showdows was thick in the air. Arrayed on one side of the square were the senshi. Every color in the rainbow and a few outside of it were represented. Earthy browns stood next to sunset ambers. Vibrant blues mingled with greens and yellows. Purples were mingled with creams and white. All of them created a cacophony of colors to delight the senses.

The faces that the Senshi wore didn’t show delight. Most were apprehensive and a few were scared. Sailor Asteroid was easy to pick out in her dark fuku and with the claw marks across her determined face. She was in no mood to play around. The Dark Sailor wanted Ayameru to show herself so they could be done with it.

She got her wish as the Sailor Sith appeared on a piece of statuary. Ayameru was on one knee looking down at the senshi with her black cape blowing in the winds of Coruscant. “Looking for someone?” the evil Sailor said, smiling. Without waiting for an answer, Ayameru leapt off the top of the statue and landed in a cat like crouch.

“Ayameru!” Sailor Naboo challenged. “Give Asteroid back her power!”

The Sith frowned. “Why? I gave the dark angel what she always wanted. Innocence.”

“It’s enough to be innocent if you can’t remember why,” Asteroid growled.

Ayameru smiled at her. “You all are so insignificant. You don’t even realize it. Pitiful.”

“Gungan Blue Balls Launch!”

“Hoth Snowballs Bounce!”

The two earthborn chibi sailors attacked either side of the Sailor Sith. Ayameru rolled her eyes. “Is that the best you can...”

Before she could finish her sentence, Sailor Vjun launched lightning at her. The three pronged attack should have discouraged Sailor Sith Ayameru, at the very least. Instead, she seemed to absorb the power.

Holding her hands out to the side, Ayameru laughed as the power that had been designed to hurt her fueled her evil passions.

Sailor Hoth scooped Chibi Hoth out of the way of the expanding field of dark energy that began to surround Ayameru.

Closing her eyes, Ayameru stretched her arms out to the sides and tilted her head upwards. The field of dark energy that had surrounded her shot straight up to the heavens, then crashed down and funneled its way into the dark outline of a flame that had appeared on Ayameru’s forehead. Ayameru touched the power of the Dark Queen that had been stored inside of her and felt it flow all over her body. Then, she touched the power of Asteroid’s captured light.

Ayameru’s head snapped down, so that she was looking at all of the Senshi. It seemed that she didn’t really see them, as her eyes were filled with all the fires of every underworld of every race in the galaxy. The band that had held her hair in place snapped, sending Ayameru’s red and black hair flying about her face, ringing it like a wreath of black fire. What happened next made everyone shrink back from the powerful being before them.

The cape she had on, which had been blowing in the dark-energy-produced wind, expanded until it reached from one of her arms to the other. Like the shriek from a bird of prey, the cape split in half, each half forming a perfect bat-like wing.

The wings were darker than any shade of black and glowed faintly with the same red-yellow fire that inhabited Ayameru’s eyes. Her hair was back in its ponytail, but seemed to be glowing faintly as well.

“There are two words for this kind of situation,” Asteroid commented, trying to be heard over the power of the wind. “The first one is ‘oh’, and the second one begins with ‘s’!”

“Ancient...” Ayameru said, starting an attack. The tips of her batwings glowed with demonic fires.

“Fires...” she continued. The glowing of her wings intensified, sending energy down the pinions, and her hair was loosed from its bonds, again forming the wreath of black fire around her head.

“Of Evil!” She screamed the last words, and her head was forced upwards by the amount of power she unleashed. Her hair was back in its ponytail as soon as she said the words. It was like the wreath of fire around her head had been transferred to her wings. The glow from the tips of her wings became a pair of beams that fired straight to where her hands were, creating a ball of fire that writhed and seethed in its totality of evil.

“Hoth Blizzard Blast!”

“Aquaris Ice Waves Surround!”

The two freezing attacks from the twin cousins should have been more than enough to stop the attack of Ayameru. Instead, Ayameru’s attack blasted right through them and knocked the two girls unconscious.

Corellian Knight checked their pulses and glared at Ayameru. The Sith took no notice of him but instead concentrated on Sailor Naboo.

“I’ve been waiting so long for this,” the Sith purred.

“You’ll have to wait even longer! Bakura Eternal Heart Dream!” the eternal Sailor shouted, sending her silvery pink attack at the Sailor Sith. Sailor Bakura screamed as Ayameru returned the favor and blasted the sweet girl with her evil fires.

“Ancient Fires of Evil!” Ayameru cackled again. This time the attack swept from the tips of her wings in two streams that knocked all of the senshi that the attack even came near off her or his feet. “You can’t withstand my power!”

It looked like she was right. Despite the number of senshi who attacked - Naboo even used her powerful Jewel of Zenda Blast - Ayameru repelled them all. While the Sailor Jedi were getting tired, the Sailor Sith seemed tireless. The fire in her eyes never dimmed, and the fire from her wings never abated.

“Get my light out of her,” Asteroid growled to Chibi Dathomir. “She’s using it for power. Maybe if you can free it, we can beat her!”

Chibi Dathomir nodded. “I’ll have to meditate.”

Asteroid matched her nod. “I’ll try and protect you.”

Closing her eyes, Chibi Dathomir reached out with all of her senses. She frowned. This situation was only getting more and more odd. Ayameru had three lights in her. One was the Sailor Sith’s own, one belonged to Asteroid, and the third was more powerful than anything Chibi Dathomir had run across in her lifetime. The Sailor’s Light Scepter was a tool to show lights along the right path. Well. The path for Asteroid’s light was back in her right mind.

Opening her eyes, Chibi Dathomir looked at Asteroid. “Distract her,” she said very quietly. “I’m going to sneak around behind her.”

Sailor Asteroid didn’t acknowledge in any way other than walking towards the powerful Sailor Sith. Not knowing what was going to happen didn’t discourage the weakened Sailor at all. She took strength from the fact that soon she would be able to really fight back. Her prone friends... her family... needed her. So she approached the Sailor Sith.

Ayameru’s eyes lit up as Asteroid walked up to her. “Oh, hello, dark angel. Here to burn in my dark fires?” she laughed.

The blonde shook her head and lifted her wounded face. “I’m here to stop you,” Asteroid said with determination. “And I will stop you. Even if it takes all of my strength and my last breath.”

Scoffing, the Sailor Sith rolled her eyes. “You’ve already done that, dark angel. Besides, it’s not possible to stop me now! All of your friends are in no shape to help you...” Ayameru sighed like she was bored. “Misplace something?” she purred, catching a lightsaber rose that had been thrown her way. She threw it back at Tuxedo Jedi, who lunged out of the rose’s way and hit his head on a rock. He didn’t get up.

Asteroid clenched her teeth together. She couldn’t back down. That was the only way... but her heart hurt inside at the sight of Tuxedo Jedi bleeding and unconscious. “You will be avenged,” she quietly promised him.

“Fools! You can’t defeat me! Ancient Fires of Evil!”

Ayameru held the ball of fire in her hands, preparing to throw it at Asteroid. Chibi Naboo tried to run up and help Asteroid, but Ayameru brushed the little girl out of her way with a lazy wing. She didn’t notice that right behind her, Chibi Dathomir had her Light Scepter lined up with Ayameru’s head.

“Return Light!” Chibi Dathomir commanded. A silvery light burst from the tip of her Scepter and engulfed Ayameru. The Sailor Sith screamed and her wings tensed, stretching until they were unnaturally taunt.

The silvery light condensed into a bluish light that floated out of Ayameru’s chest and hung suspended in the air. Chibi Dathomir pointed her staff at the light and directed it to Asteroid. The Sailor of Internal Light expected Asteroid’s light to engulf her and merge back with the light she still had left.

It didn’t.

Instead of engulfing and merging with Asteroid, the Force-light entered her chest and flowed off of her back. The Senshi who still had enough wits about them to notice realized that the bluish light had formed a pair of wispy wings that were becoming more and more substantial. When they were opaque, Asteroid shook them. The white “covering” fell off in a shower of stardust, revealing a pair of blue, black, and silver wings. Where the wings started in the middle of her back, they were dark blue, fading into a starlit silver then finally into a deep black. The top of her wings were dark blue, fading to silver at the tips.

No one was more surprised than Sailor Sith Ayameru was. “Fool! You still can’t defeat my powers!” the evil sailor screamed. “I’m more powerful than you are! Ancient Fires of Evil...” she shouted.

Nothing happened.

Ayameru screamed a wordless protest against the Senshi in front of her. The Sith closed her eyes for a moment, touching the darkness that the Evil Queen had lent her. For some reason, her attack phrase had changed. “Fires of Evil!” she screamed, creating a ball of dark fire in her hands.

Asteroid stood, letting the wind riffle through her skirt and blow her blonde hair around. Her Sailor suit had changed where the stardust had fallen over it. The bow in her hair was thinner and longer than her original one. Instead of being just the bow, this one had tails on it that were the same length as the bow itself. It, like her skirt and collar, was blue in the center, fading out to silver then to black. Her other bows were silver fading to a very little bit of dark blue at the tips. The bodysuit of her Sailor suit was black, like it had been earlier. Her boots were still black and a little bit taller. The gloves that covered her hands were black over her hands fading to silver then dark blue at the ends.

The most striking thing about Asteroid’s transformation was her eyes. Not particularly the green orbs themselves, but the markings that surrounded them. Her tattoo was gone from her right arm... it seemed to have migrated to her eyes. At the corner of each eye were three petals of the Sejioutai flower and two stylized stems. The markings gave her eyes an exotic beauty that made her transformed self seem that much more dangerous.

Asteroid focused her green eyes on Ayameru. With a shake of her head that made her dangling black star earrings clink a little, she said, “You have tried to steal my Force-sense, and you twisted my dream to be innocent. Worst of all, you’ve left the stars without their protector. That I can’t allow.” Asteroid posed with her feet slightly apart, her wings stretched out to the sides and her hands stretched up slightly above her wings. The gloves had the same coloration as her wings and they looked almost as if they were one. “I’m the Senshi of stone, defense, and redemption... I am Guardian Sailor Asteroid of the Stars!”

“Guardian Sailor?” Ayameru scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding.” She threw the ball of dark fire at the winged Senshi.

A smile crossed the face of Guardian Sailor Asteroid. The fire had crossed about half the distance between the two before Asteroid made her move. “Stars...!” she shouted, curving her wings over her head. Where the tips of her giant wings met, a burst of black light dotted with pinpoints of white formed in the shape of a star. “Ancient Deliverance!”

The light that formed the star and the wisps around it flashed brightly, then shot towards the fireball. It was disintegrated the moment that Guardian Sailor Asteroid’s attack met it.

Sailor Sith Ayameru’s eyes were almost as wide as the rest of the Senshi’s were.

Chibi Hoth tugged on Sailor Hoth. “I want wings like that!” she demanded. Hoth was too stunned to say anything.

Looking around, Guardian Sailor Asteroid realized that all of her friends were either hurt or not in the best of shape. She decided that it would be easy to fix them. “Asteroids...!” she said, again arching her wings over her head. This time, instead of forming a star, the energy formed a series of asteroids. “Ancient Healing!”

The attack spread out all around her in gentle waves of blue, silver, and black light. When it touched the fallen Sailors, they revived. Little cuts and scrapes were healed, but not everything. Asteroid’s power was spread out over too many senshi to be able to that.

“Now, Ayameru. You will pay the price for your evil!” Guardian Sailor Asteroid held her hands out in front of her, forming the Redemption Crystal. It elongated itself into a wand, and she pointed it at Ayameru. “Redemption Crystal... Ancient Redemption!” Asteroid’s wings arched above her head, and she held the wand up so it was right at the point where the wings met. A stream of the deepest of space surrounded by lightning shot out from the wand and engulfed Ayameru.

The Sailor Sith screamed as she was covered with the stream of space-blackness. Lightning played over her body until her wings seemed to disintegrate under the pressure. The blackness and the lightning converged in one spot, and as Ayameru’s eyes got wider, separated something from her. Ayameru fell to the ground, but there was still a blackish-red light where she had been.

Chibi Dathomir pointed her Light Scepter at it to determine its true nature. “Kendra! Kendra somehow lent her light to Ayameru. That’s why she was so powerful!” The Guardian of Internal Light shook her head. “Well. I can fix that! Return Light!”

Looking up at all of the senshi surrounding her — and one very annoyed Guardian Sailor — Ayameru did what any Sith in right mind would have. She created a bolthole and fled.

“Wings!” Chibi Hoth exclaimed. She reached up her hand and stroked the giant wings that protruded out of Asteroid’s back. “Can you fly?”

Guardian Sailor Asteroid shrugged. “I don’t know.” She stretched her wings and pumped them up and down. Asteroid giggled as she was lifted into the air. “Wow!” She returned to the ground and furled her wings. As she did, a sprinkle of starlight shimmered over her, and she returned to her normal senshi form.

“Aster, that is so cool!” Yavin said. “I’m jealous.”

“I know. I’ve got wings and you don’t! I’ve got wings and you don’t!” Asteroid started teasing her sister in a singsong voice. Expecting the Time Staff flying at her, Asteroid ducked.

Iridonia started counting on her fingers. “So that’s two Eternals, one winged, and on Guardian Sailor?”

“A bird farm we are,” Dagobah commented. “Birdseed, anyone?”

Ariel snarled things that would never be heard in polite company under her breath. She had failed! Failed to destroy the senshi, failed to remove Mistique from her stolen throne... failed!

And worst of all, her failure had resulted in the creation of a new and powerful senshi brat. Now the darkest angel had wings.

Her ship slipped into the brightness of hyperspace, and Ariel decided to meditate. She didn’t have to because the power that had been in her was gone, but she thought it would be something nice to do. For old times' sake.

Dropping herself deeply into the Dark Side of the Force, Ariel let it flow around her. The Sailor Sith could see eddies in the rushing river of time and frowned. This was something new. Watching past events unfold, she smiled. Maybe she’d see the future.

Ariel saw the infinity of possibilities that time could take. One of the... the easiest way to describe them was threads... one of the threads of time seemed interlaced with an electric blue spark. Guessing that the blue represented the Force of the Sailors, she followed it, wondering where their Force wanted the galaxy to go.

Ariel saw herself with her wings, then saw Asteroid with wings... then she saw the future. The future that the Force destined to come to pass, and the Evil Queen that the Force destined to rule... Ariel saw her eyes. And they weren’t yellow.

The Alpha Sith smiled cruelly. The next few days would be quite fun.

“So...”

“So...?”

Kousotsu raised his eyebrow at Priire. “Don’t start that,” he laughed.

She laughed and collapsed on to the roof. The two were sitting on the roof of one of Coruscant’s buildings, watching the sun go down. “It’s been a stressful few weeks.”

“I know. But it was all worth it somehow, wasn’t it?”

His question made her wrinkle her forehead a little bit. By this time, both of them were laying on their backs, watching the darkness slowly envelop the shifting colors of the sunset. It wouldn’t get completely dark and there wouldn’t be many stars because of the brightness of the city lights, but it would be pretty. Priire rolled over on her belly and looked at him. “I think so,” she said, waving one hand in the air. “We discovered a new transformation for me that’s very powerful... and I can use that power to help defeat the Sailor Sith. And we’ve cut off an avenue of power for Ayameru. She won’t be able to do that again...”

Kousotsu grabbed the hand she’d been waving about and looked her in the eye. “That’s all really great. But was it worth it?”

They didn’t move as the sun fell below the city line. The last faint glow of the sunset and the first glimmer of the stars lent their light to the green eyes of the girl, the blue eyes of the boy, and the iridescence of the ring on the girl’s hand. The question became more than what the words he’d spoken meant. It became deeper, more probing. A question that everyone wanted to hear sometime in his or her lives.

A distant past and a probable future hinged on the word that came from the lips of the girl. The word she’d said a long time ago and would say again in a future far, far away was the one that she breathed out into the almost sill night air. A testimony that the stars would remember until they burned out of existence.

“Yes...”