Setsuna stood behind Ami as the younger girl knocked on the front door of the Tsukino home. Usagi opened the door. Her face darkened as she noticed Setsuna again. "Why are you here again? I told you, you're not welcome-"
Ami grinned wickedly, grabbing one of Usagi's wrists and digging her sharp nails into Usagi's skin. She turned to Setsuna. "So, which one is this?"
The older woman slapped her hand away. "Don't hurt her! She's your --" Princess! But she didn't know if Usagi already knew that--she couldn't mess with this timeline until she had a better idea of what was going on. Setsuna shut her mouth and cursed herself. She shouldn't let things like that slip!
"What?" both girls gasped at once.
"So she's not a senshi?" Ami asked breathlessly.
"Of course I am!" Usagi insisted harshly, glaring up at Setsuna.
Setsuna pinned both of them down with an even more baleful stare. "Tsukino Usagi, I want you to bring Luna here, and tell her the senshi of water is finally found."
"What?"
Setsuna saw she'd finally intimidated this belligerent version of Usagi. "Go! When you bring her, we'll talk out here, away from prying ears. Hurry." Usagi turned to go. "No, wait! I almost forgot something. Here-" Setsuna reached out and sent a bolt of energy into Usagi, protecting her from the time line as well. She stumbled forward weakly as her hand dropped from Usagi's shoulder. "Okay, go." She sagged against the door frame as they waited.
"Are you all right?" Ami actually sounded concerned. Setsuna smiled weakly.
"Fine. That protection takes a lot out of me. Thank goodness it's only a one time expenditure of energy, and not a constant drain."
Ami's eyes lit with a thirst for knowledge. "Where do senshi get their power from, Pluto?" Some things didn't change, no matter what happened to the time line.
"PLUTO?!?" Usagi had returned with Luna draped over her shoulder, and the black cat pinned them both down with a surprised stare. "I don't remember a Pluto!"
Ami stared at Usagi and her pet in horror. "Did that cat just talk?"
Setsuna sighed and stood up straight. "Sailor Moon, Luna, this is the future Sailor Mercury, and I am Sailor Pluto. Shall we walk, before someone overhears us?"
Luna nodded, her eyes wide with shock. "I should say so!"
The three girls began to walk down the cracked and pitted side street. "So," Setsuna cut into the awkward silence, "you don't remember me, Luna?"
Luna shook her head. "I don't remember much of anything."
"And how about Artemis?"
"Artemis? Who is she?"
Setsuna unconsciously halted her slow amble and started. "There is a Sailor Venus, correct? Aino Minako-cha-er, Minako?" Usagi nodded silently in surprise, but Luna's eyes narrowed. "I think I need to know who you are before we continue this conversation. I don't know what's going on here."
Setsuna looked around and spotted an abandoned, trash filled alley. "Follow me." She strode toward in purposefully, and, after a few seconds of hesitation, Usagi and Ami followed. Setsuna again closed her eyes. "Pluto Crystal Power...Make UP!" She held her Garnet Rod up off the ground. It was bad enough she had to get this smelly offal on her boots. "I am Sailor Pluto, the guardian of Time." She whirled the garnet globed end of her rod toward Ami. "And this is Sailor Mercury, the senshi of water. There is also" the staff now pointed at Usagi, "Tsukino Usagi, who is Sailor Moon. Hino Rei is Sailor Mars, the senshi of fire. And Aino Minako is Sailor Venus, the senshi of love." Pluto decided to leave it at the inners Luna and Usagi already knew about, and fell quiet. Ami thought about these revelations for a second while Usagi and Luna both gaped, horrified, at Pluto. Ami raised her head and shifted her sun glasses as she looked at Usagi.
"So," she waved a taloned hand at the blonde girl, "what is Sailor Moon the senshi of?"
Usagi snorted and crossed her arms. "I'm the senshi of stupid pink plastic toy sticks," she muttered under her breath.
Luna nudged her. "Usagi! Quiet!"
"Well, it's true, isn't it?" Pluto covered her mouth before a smile peeked through. Usagi sounded thoroughly disgusted.
"Quit it!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Usagi grumped, then fell into a brooding silence as she looked at Pluto and Ami. Pluto released her transformation after a few uncomfortable seconds of silence and quickly pushed her way back out of the alleyway. The smell was overpowering, and without the powers of Pluto, she wasn't sure how long she could stay conscious in there.
"So, are you willing to listen to me, now?" Setsuna asked after a taking a few deep breaths of the cleaner air by the street.
Luna sighed. "I guess so. But you seem to know an awful lot. More than the rest of us."
Setsuna looked curiously at the small cat. "Just what do you know?"
Usagi glowered. "Nothing, that's the whole point."
"Usagi-chan!" Luna hissed warningly, her claws digging a little way into Usagi's shirt. She then turned to Setsuna. "Not much. I know I have to find the sailor senshi, and use them to find the princess and Ginzuishou. I have the vague feeling that there's a strong enemy out there we have to fight, but we don't know who yet."
Setsuna struggled to hide her shock, but could tell from the concern on Usagi and Ami's face that she'd failed. She sat down on the curb of the street quickly, before her legs gave out under her, and thought.
Why had the senshi even awakened at all? Didn't they awaken because of Beryl's presence on Earth? If they hadn't even fought her yet, how weak were they? They didn't know Usagi was the Princess, they didn't have Ginzuishou, they didn't have Mercury or Jupiter, they didn't even have Artemis! What exactly did they do?
"So, what exactly do you do?" Setsuna struggled to keep her voice even, but she could tell her skin was pale from these frightening revelations. What help could these Sailor senshi be to her?
Usagi looked around. "Mainly we fight crime and train. Luna keeps saying that this 'enemy' will come, but I don't believe her."
"Usagi!"
"Well?!? It's been years! Years! And the most we've ever done is catch those bank robbers. Ooooo. I'm impressed." Usagi crossed her arms and stared down at the street. "We're a joke, Luna, and you know it." Setsuna stared at Usagi. What had happened to her kind princess? What had turned her into this bitter teenager?
Did she even want to take these senshi out of the timeline? They were so different. So weak. Maybe she should forget asking for help, and solve this on her own.
But wait. The senshi were terribly weak in this new time line. Maybe that was the enemy's goal in this-or part of her goal. What if the next change would eliminate the senshi altogether? Something was better than nothing, and considering the time stream was already corrupted, there wasn't any problem with revealing some things to them that they didn't already know in their time. Maybe it was best that she find everyone she could before the next change. She sighed into her hands. So little to work with, and so much to do...
"What do you mean, little? We may not be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound, but we're a lot better than any other teenage girls you're gonna run across!"
Setsuna raised her head at Usagi's angry outburst. She must have said that last thought out loud. Oops. She was tired, angry, and disappointed, and she couldn't help a rather childish retort. "You mean you can't leap tall buildings anymore either?" With a disgusted grimace she got up and began to walk again, feeling as if she were trying to outrun her problems. What a mess this had turned out to be. The younger girls ran after her.
"Wait! What's wrong! You're not going to leave us now that you know who the enemy is, are you?" Ami cried. Setsuna slowed her pace. If the enemy sent any kind of attack now, these girls were helpless. She couldn't abandon them. She couldn't leave them to fight alone, even if they weren't the senshi she'd come to know and love in the last few years.
As Usagi pulled up Luna hopped onto Setsuna's shoulder. "Is what that girl said true? Do you know who the enemy is?"
"Yes...no...I don't know! Things are too messed up right now!"
Luna settled down on her shoulder, relaxing into a limp rag. "We've told you what we know. Now give us something."
Setsuna sighed. "I don't know what I should and shouldn't tell you. I know what you can't remember, Luna, because I come from a different time."
"You mean you're from the future?" Ami asked breathlessly. "You said you're a time traveler!"
"Yes, I can travel through time, but I'm not from the future. I'm from an alternate time line-from another universe, if you will."
Usagi looked blank, but both Luna and Ami nodded.
"In my time line, you found all the inner senshi before you were 15, Usagi, and defeated the enemy. You found out about your past and origins, and discovered me and some other senshi to help you in later, harder battles. Everything's so different here. You're all so different here." Setsuna looked down. "Now a new enemy's changing important events in the past, trying to create a present that she wants, and I'm playing catch up, trying to fix everything."
"So," Ami asked breathlessly, "what did she change in your time to make us exist?"
Setsuna looked at the ground. "She killed Vice President Truman. He was supposed to become President. Rayburn was a mistake-and a deadly one for Japan." Setsuna looked around at the dingy, poor surroundings. "The Japan I know has one of the strongest economies in the world, second only to, possibly, the United States. What a waste. Look at how it's destroyed all of you!" She looked at the two younger girls. "Will you help me bring back that other past? The real past, where you're all fighters more than strong enough to defend the Earth?"
Usagi tilted her head. "I don't do all that great in school--I'm not the smartest person around--but aren't you asking us to help you make it so we never exist? I mean, isn't that what you want?"
Setsuna nodded. "In a way. You all are alive in my present, but...different. Stronger. We have to get back to the correct time line!"
Usagi shook her head. "I don't want to change things. How do I know you're telling the truth?" She looked at Setsuna out of the corner of her eye. "If you know so much, tell us where to find Ginzuishou." Setsuna felt Luna's head bob with approval and stifled her anger. How was she going to tell Usagi that Ginzuishou lived inside her most heartfelt tears? She felt a twinge of worry. Would they have to kill Mamoru in order to bring it out? Speaking of Mamoru...
"Is there ever a mysterious man in a tuxedo around?"
Usagi and Ami looked at her. "You mean Tuxedo Kamen-sama?" Usagi asked, stars in her eyes.
Setsuna nodded. "Do you know who he is?"
Usagi shook her head, her hands clasped tightly together. "No...do you?" she asked breathlessly.
Setsuna shrugged. "There's too much. I don't know what I should and shouldn't tell you!" She put her hands in her pockets. "Call a meeting of the other senshi, and I'll have a talk with you all at once, how's that?"
Usagi nodded eagerly, still consumed with thoughts of Tuxedo Kamen. Ami turned to Setsuna. "So...do you have anyplace to stay tonight?"
Setsuna grimaced. "No, as a matter of fact, I don't. I guess I'll just find a room in some hotel or something..."
"You can stay with me."
"What about your mother?"
"Kaa-san? Oh," Ami waved her hand dismissively. "My parents are divorced. I live with otou-san. He won't mind at all. As long as you don't mess with his painting stuff."
Setsuna shrugged. There was part of the reason Ami was so different. "Why not? Where else am I going to stay?"
Luna and Usagi looked at the other two. "We'll have a senshi meeting in my apartment tomorrow morning." Usagi nodded to herself. "It'll be in my room at about ten."
Setsuna nodded. "We'll see you then." She pulled Ami away.
"Hey!" Ami suddenly shouted, "I still don't have my henshin wand!"
"Thank goodness," Setsuna muttered quietly under her breath. "Who knows what you'd do with it if you did! I only know I don't want to deal with it yet!"
*****
Hito didn't like the look of things at all. A frightening pall had fallen over the misty world around him. While this had never been a cheerful place, it was positively menacing now. He clutched the blankets around him even tighter and shivered more violently. He wished the black lady would come back. She was hardly good company, but any human--or humanoid--company was preferable to this cold frightening silence.
Hito was actually beginning to consider leaving his safe haven when two dark silhouettes began to come out of the gray mist. He strained his eyes and caught a glimpse of the lady's long metal staff. He sighed with relief. He wouldn't be alone for much longer. But who was the other person?
As he watched the other figure came into clearer view and he gasped. She had the longest red hair he'd ever seen, and he turned his face away from her in embarrassment when he saw her dress. He only hoped he wasn't blushing too noticeably...
"Hello boy," the black lady said rudely as they stood at the foot of the bed. The cold air had followed them. Hito shivered convulsively.
The woman in the purple dress raised one hand. Her fingernails glittered like the sharp talons of a vulture. "Are you cold, boy? Maybe I can help with that." She smiled and Hito drew away from her in fear. She had fangs instead of incisors! And he noticed some strange horns growing from her shoulders. Whatever she was, she was even less human than the black lady. He didn't want anything to do with her. The red headed woman frowned angrily, but the lady in black laughed.
"You're wise not to trust her, boy. This is Queen Beryl, the leader of our new allies--" She turned to give Queen Beryl a nasty smile. "That is, she's the nominal leader until Queen Metallia makes her appearance." Beryl raised a corner of her upper lip in a snarl, and her eyes flashed for a second, but she smoothed over her anger quickly.
"That's right--until we collect enough energy to waken Metallia. And you promised you'd help us wake her." Queen Beryl snapped her fingers and Hito leapt off the bed in surprise, making sure the bulk of it was between the Queen and himself. Behind her stood four men who'd appeared out of nowhere, all in obviously threatening poses. The black lady faced them all with an unconcerned look on her face. "What I still don't understand is why you awakened us from the forced suspension Serenity placed us in after she lost the battle for the Moon Kingdom. What are you getting out of this?"
The lady in black's lips twitched momentarily. "I don't see where it's any of your concern. Suffice it to say your presence will keep enemies of mine distracted while I conduct my plans."
Beryl stiffened in outrage. "We fight no one's battles! We're not to be ordered around!" At the rough edge in her voice the four men behind her bent their knees ever so slightly, readying themselves for a fight. The lady in black just sighed.
"I woke you up, I can put you back to sleep, and Metallia can wait another couple of millennia. Would it change your mind if I told you the princess walks the Earth even as we speak?"
"Princess Serenity? She's alive here and now?" The woman clenched her hands and ground her teeth for a second, then her head tilted to one side as a thought struck her. "Does that mean Prince Endymion walks the Earth as well?"
The lady's eyes flashed bright, and Beryl swallowed convulsively as the tip of the black lady's metal staff pressed sharply against the exposed pale skin of her throat. "He is alive. Don't toy with him, or I'll kill you myself, so slowly you'll beg for death until you can't scream anymore." Beryl looked up at the angry lady with half hooded eyes that glowed red in the mist and one of the men, the one with long white hair, took a step forward. The lady's red eyes flickered in his direction, and her lips moved ever so slightly as the tip of her staff flew in a blindingly fast arc to point at him. "Dead Scream." Hito's eyes widened as a planet shaped globe of black speckled magenta energy crashed into the man, splattering him into wet chunks that dissolved away into the mist. The man with curly tan hair pulled back at the nape of his neck took an instinctive step toward where the white haired man had stood and croaked something incomprehensible in the back of his throat. Hito turned back toward the red headed queen and gasped to see that the lady's staff was already pointed once more at their new "ally". "Well?" the lady asked with a confident grin. "Do you want to let anyone else try?"
The queen didn't answer at first, staring off into space and muttering "Kunzite...." under her breath. She blinked the fear out of her eyes and looked back at the lady again. Red eyes met red, and Beryl inclined her head with respect. "Very well. I will...leave him alone. But the princess is mine to deal with?"
The lady planted the butt of her staff in the mist-shrouded ground again and nodded, a faint air of amusement on her features. "Yes. But you'll have to find her yourself. I can't do that for you."
Beryl looked at her, confused. "But why not? You want us to succeed, but you can't give us information you already possess that will help us succeed? Why?"
The lady's eyes were suddenly haunted again, and Hito drew back from her as she hunched her shoulders and turned burning eyes on him. "Because I've sworn an oath."
"So? What are oaths to the likes of us? We're above such petty things." Beryl sounded truly curious to hear the lady's answers.
"Because, this oath is the last one I have left." She waved a hand dismissively toward the queen and her three remaining followers. "Go. I'll take you to Earth later. Right now I have other business." She smiled down at Hito. "I have another task for you."
After seeing yet another display of her frightening power, Hito simply swallowed his protests and nodded.
*****
Setsuna sat up quickly, and nearly fell off the couch.
"Whoa! What's the matter, there, Setsuna?"
She blinked and looked around, her eyes finally fell on a strange girl with lank, dark hair. "Who...?"
The girl laughed and pushed a glass of orange juice up to her, then her eyes went back to her laptop screen. "Not much of a morning person, are you?"
Setsuna gulped down the juice, wishing it were coffee, and tiredly ran her hand over her face. "Not really. But you are? That's a change!"
Ami's eyes flicked in her direction before going back to the screen in front of her. "No, I'm not really human when I first wake up either. But I've stayed up late this morning."
Setsuna shook her head. "Late this morning....? I don't understand...oh!" Setsuna looked up. "You haven't slept at all yet? What time is it?"
"About eight. We've got a couple hours before the meeting with the Sailor senshi." Ami's lips turned up in a grin. "It's sounds so weird when I say that! I love it!" She typed on her keyboard, her fingers blurring. "'Sailor Mercury'. There. I can truthfully say that now, can't I?"
"Aren't you going to get any sleep before this?"
"Nah. You woke me up from my sleep yesterday when you dropped by. Night's the best time for a hacker to be up. Less traffic on the 'net, tired people working security...can't miss that!" She polished off a few more lines and hit the last key with a flourish, quickly shutting the laptop case with a snap. "Besides, I'm too excited by all of this to sleep. After we get something resolved maybe I'll calm down." She stood. "I'm afraid the cupboards aren't too well stocked, but help yourself to whatever you can find that's edible. I'm gonna take a shower, then you can have it." She walked out of the room, leaving Setsuna on her own. With a depressed sigh Setsuna collapsed back onto the cushions and closed her eyes. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt...
*****
Setsuna hated feeling so off balance. She'd fallen asleep again, and now she and Ami were running to make it to Usagi's apartment in time! This whole mess had caught her off guard! This was the last time she ever allowed herself relax into her "normal" life, that was for sure. Well, hopefully she'd meet most of the senshi today and would have a chance to protect them all from further meddling with the time stream. Ami pushed her sunglasses up again--they kept almost falling off her nose--and turned to the older woman.
"So am I going to be able to transform into Sailor Mercury today?" she asked breathlessly, dropping her tough pose enough to let a little of her enthusiasm show through. "What can I do? Do I blow things up like Mars? Or use targeted attacks like Venus? What?" Setsuna didn't answer, but smiled ruefully to herself. This new Ami would be sorely disappointed by the powers available to her--though the heavens alone knew just what she would be able to do with her palmtop computer and VR screen. Maybe that would be enough for her...though whether Ami'd use it for dishonest things was a new worry Setsuna had never even imagined she'd have to consider.
"So, Ami, how do you do in school?" She changed the subject abruptly, not even bothering with subtlety.
Ami growled good naturedly and shrugged. "Okay. I get by. Who cares about school, really? I mean, I already know enough to make a good living." She smiled. "Actually, I already make more than tou-san."
Setsuna tilted her head. That little tidbit didn't really surprise her. After all, what artist made money before he was dead? "What about your mother? Isn't she a doctor? Don't you want to do something like that?"
Ami made a disgusted face. "Ick. No! Why would I want to go to school for eight years to learn how to cut people open? You make a lot of money, sure, but so much of it goes to pay off educational debts and malpractice insurance that you're lucky to take home a third of what you make. And the hours!" She rolled her eyes. "That sounds like a wonderful life, doesn't it? It never left Mom enough time for me!" She snorted and shook her head, still muttering expressively under her breath.
Setsuna didn't respond, but filed the new facts and impressions she'd gleaned away in the back of her mind. She'd think this all over later. She looked up. "There's the building. I hope Rei-chan and Minako-chan show up. Then we've only got to find Mako-chan." And Michiru and Haruka and Hotaru. So much to do! And I still don't know exactly what to say to these girls!
She quickly entered the building, with Ami squeezing in after her. Maybe part of Usagi's strange new attitude was her poorer surroundings--who could remain as cheerful as the old Usagi with all of this bleak grayness to compete against? She knocked on Usagi's door, and smiled as Usagi opened it, her eyes sparkling and her cheeks read with excitement. Why, she almost looked like her old self!
"Come in! Hurry! The other two are already here, and eager to talk to you." As Setsuna and Ami both slipped in Usagi closed and latched the door firmly behind them and scooped Luna up in her arms. "My room's this way," she informed them as she led the way through the small kitchenette/dining room and down a narrow hallway. She entered a small room with mostly dark red or neutral colors, and sat cross-legged on her bed while Luna settled comfortably between her folded legs. Rei and Minako looked up from their seats on two well stuffed pillows, and gaped at Setsuna and Ami. Ami smiled wickedly and wiggled her long fingernails in their direction, her grin stretching wider as Rei and Minako's eyes popped open in surprise. Setsuna smiled with what she hoped was reassurance, but she could tell they were in something approaching a state of shock. Setsuna observed them silently for a minute, noting their strangely subdued personalities, and decided to talk to Rei first.
"Rei-chan, why don't you live with your ojii-chan at Hikawa Jinja?"
Rei jerked her head up to look at her, then her eyes darted away as if she was frightened of Setsuna. "I-I don't talk to my ojii-san." she said softly. Setsuna strained to hear her. "Otou-san doesn't think he's a good influence. He's too bound up in foolish old practices...otou-san says...." Rei bent down over her hands and examined her fingernails, suddenly fascinated by them. Minako looked at Rei and inched closer to her, as if searching for protection in her friend's shadow.
"And how about you, Minako-chan. How are you?"
"I-I'm fine," she whispered so softly that Setsuna had to read her lips to figure out what she was saying. Ami sighed impatiently.
"Well? Are they the sailor senshi? What's wrong with them?" Ami sneered down at the two shy girls, then suddenly took a heavy step forward. "BOO!"
"Aie!" Minako and Rei fell backwards in a tangled mess of limbs, scrambling behind Usagi's bed.
Setsuna whirled on the laughing Ami as Usagi stomped up to her, fists clenched in anger.
"Look, I don't care if you are supposed to be the 'real' Sailor Mercury, you leave my friends alone, you freak!"
"Ami-chan, I think you could be a little kinder than that! They may be...different from what I remember, but only the last 50 years of history have been changed, so they're still essentially the same senshi they were in my time line! In our real time line! We have to save it! We have to all work together, here!" Setsuna let a little anger creep into her voice as she yelled at Ami, and had the satisfaction of at least wiping that sneer off her face. It vaguely annoyed her that Ami didn't take a frightened step back from her, but she didn't have time to let her own annoyance and petty desires get in the way of her mission, any more than she had time for Ami to cause problems. She turned away from Ami and faced the girls. "What have you told them?" she whispered out of the side of her mouth to Usagi. Luna jumped up on her shoulder as she watched Rei and Minako look at her from behind Usagi's pink bunny comforter. Setsuna felt a faint smile tug at her lips. At least some things hadn't changed. It was all that kept her from giving up...
"I told them you were another senshi...and that we think you can be trusted, and that you wanted to meet all of us," the black cat told her.
"Luna!" Rei gasped out, "Don't talk to her! You can't let people know you can talk!" Minako nodded her head in eager agreement. Setsuna sighed.
"I'm sick of doing this for no real purpose, but..." she closed her eyes and reached out through space for her henshin rod. "...Pluto Crystal Power! Make UP!" She twirled her staff in a practiced arc as it appeared in her hands, and waited for the obligatory chin dropping to finish. "There, now are you satisfied that I'm a senshi?" She sat down on the bed and placed her Garnet Rod across her knees. "Sit down, minna-san, I have something to tell you. But first-" she reached out toward Minako and Rei quickly, before they could back away, and set up a protective force field around them. Then she destransformed and collapsed back into the bed, almost spent. She'd been doing too much lately. Minako and Rei shook their heads uncertainly.
"Why-why'd you do that?" Minako asked shyly after a second.
"I'm the senshi of time--my duty is to protect the timeline and make sure nothing--no enemy, no natural disaster, my own incompetence--nothing disturbs the timeline." She sighed. "I failed. Someone's trying to change the present by changing key events in the past. And every change made so far makes you--the Sailor senshi--weaker. What I did will protect you from further changes in the timeline."
"Further changes? Does that mean-"
"What it means," Ami started off, impatient after hearing the whole story in full twice, "is that we are already different from what Pluto remembers as the real time stream, and so she's protecting us, in the hopes that she'll be able to use us to help turn everything back to the way it was."
Rei's eyes were wide with surprise, but she seemed to understand. Minako just looked puzzled. Setsuna sighed and pulled herself back up to a sitting position. "Imagine, Minako-chan, that someone who could travel through time hated me. Okay?" Minako's eyes widened at the comment, but she nodded. "Now, one thing they could do to get rid of me was kill my mother. That way I would never exist, right?" Minako nodded again. "But what if I had done something important in my lifetime, like...oh..." Setsuna reached for an event that was nonthreatening. This Minako was so timid, and she didn't want to frighten her. "...a new style of dress, okay?" Another nod. "Then that person not only stopped me from existing, but they also stopped that style of clothing from ever existing. Make sense?" Minako smiled faintly. "So imagine killing someone who'd done something really important in the past before they had a chance to do it. That would cause even bigger changes, ne?" Minako's eyes suddenly filled with understanding as it clicked in her head. Setsuna smiled at her, and Minako's lips pulled back in a shy echo of her expression. "So someone's killed someone very important in the past, and changed everything that happened after that, so your present is very different from mine. Which is how I know that Ami here is Sailor Mercury. And I wonder where your other friend is...." Setsuna turned to Minako. "Did a white cat ever talk to you like Luna does?"
"There's another talking cat like Luna?"
"Just...answer the question, please."
Minako's blue eyes turned to the ceiling as she thought. "N-wait! I remember that for a while a white cat was following me around! But otou-san's company was downsizing again, and we had to transfer suddenly to America for a year just before my fourteenth birthday. I thought it was really weird...but then forgot about it..." She looked back down at Setsuna. "Is that what you want to know?"
Setsuna nodded. "I think so. So...the first order of business is to give Ami her henshin rod. Then I'd like to see all of you practice a bit, so I have an idea of your skills."
"Wait!" Usagi shouted. "You've got to tell us more than that! You said you'd explain things! Like who Tuxedo Kamen-sama is, and who our enemy is!"
"Enemy?!? She knows who the 'enemy' is?" Rei asked in surprise.
Setsuna looked at Usagi, and nodded grudgingly. "Very well, I'll tell you something. Tuxedo Kamen-" she watched Usagi lean forward eagerly and felt a sudden temptation to lie to her--to claim that Endymion-Mamoru-Tuxedo Kamen-was hers. After all, she was going to change this timeline back to her old one, so it wouldn't matter what she did here, would it? Setsuna gritted her teeth and reminded herself of her oath of loyalty to the Serenity family. "Tuxedo Kamen isn't exactly your friend. He's not your enemy either--he has his own goals, and doesn't know what's going on any better than you do." Usagi and the other two senshi listened in rapt attention while Ami pouted because she hadn't received her henshin rod yet.
"What about the princess?" Minako asked with stars in her eyes.
"The princess...well, I know who she is, but I don't dare say more for now--it would just confuse things too much." Setsuna clenched her fists in frustration at the delicate nature of things, the relaxed and looked up. "Let's go somewhere to practice, all right?"
"Yeah! Practice! But first, give me my henshin rod!" Ami snapped her fingers impatiently. Luna jumped into the air and did a graceful flip, then landed back on the bed, with a blue henshin rod and small computer between her four legs. Ami's eyes widened with greed and Setsuna hastily snatched the items out of her reach. "HEY! What are you doing? Those are mine!"
Setsuna nodded. "I know, but I don't want you trying them out until we're ready to practice." She looked at Usagi. "Lead on, Sailor Moon, to the practice site."
Usagi looked uncertainly from an angry Ami to Setsuna's stern expression, then nodded. "Okay. Follow me."
*****