If you've checked out my short stories thread lately, you've seen that I wrote a Willow/Tara uber short story set in the "Sailor Moon" universe. This thread will see the continuation of that story. The reason I’m starting a new thread is because I don’t really see the point of continuing this story in my short stories thread, especially since one or more of these sequel stories may end up being more than short story length.

So, without further ado, let’s get started.

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• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

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[center]Prologue: Internal Troubles[/center]

“Moon Tiara Boomerang!”

The projectile flew through the air, flying past the monster to which it had been targeted before turning around and, on its return course, impacting against the creature’s back. Knocked off balance, it collapsed to one knee as the projectile landed back into the gloved hand of the female who had thrown it, transforming back into the gold tiara with inlaid red jewel that had been on her forehead only moments before.

The girl was clad in a white leotard, blue skirt and knee length pink boots adorned with yellow crescent moons, red bows affixed to both her chest and the small of her back; her blonde hair done up in two decorative pigtailed buns, with barrettes and white ringed red circles decorating those buns. She raised one arm, calling forth her next weapon, a pink wand decorated with jewels and topped by a silver crescent moon. Affixing a battle pose, she spoke the phrase that would cause the tool to deliver one of her most powerful attacks.

“Moon Twilight Flash!”

Bursts of light emerged from the crescent moon on the wand at the command, slamming into the monster with enough force to cause it to howl in pain, each successive impact knocking it further back until at last it collapsed to the ground and disappeared in a flash of light.

Nodding her head, the girl turned to leave, only to stop short as she saw two people above her. One had platinum blond hair done up in a ponytail and wore what appeared to be a white military uniform with very little decoration other than a silver cape held on his person by epaulettes on his shoulders that were inset with green jewels. The other was a slightly older man with long red hair the same shade of his uniform, cape and jeweled epaulettes. The look on his face was the type she had seen in predators who had their prey in sight. Not an inaccurate description, given the fact that both he and his comrade were holding swords in their hands that they were currently pointing directly in her direction.

“You may have defeated our latest monster, Sailor Moon,” the red haired man said. “But this one defeat does not mean that you have won the war. You cannot hope to halt the advance of the Dark Kingdom. We shall find the Mystical Silver Crystal and free Queen Metallia from her imprisonment. And when we do, no one on this planet shall be safe from us.”

“That’s what you think,” Sailor Moon replied as the males leapt to the floor, swords in hand. Using the momentum of their fall, they propelled himself towards Sailor Moon, who ducked and rolled to avoid their first attack, turning to deliver a kick to the back of the blond that momentarily caught him off balance. Turning and letting out a snarl, he flexed the fingers of his left hand and sent a bolt of green energy towards his attacker.

Cartwheeling out of the way, Sailor Moon stole a moment to look around, hoping to see anyone that could help her deal with these people. Not that she expected anyone to show up. As far as these types of situations were concerned, she wasn’t exactly on speaking terms with most of the people who were supposed to help her, and even if they were, they didn’t know that she was here.

She was on her own.

Or so she thought, for just when she had given up hope of finding rescue, she saw another person leap from the second floor to join the fight. This person was a female clad in a tuxedo, a cape affixed to her shoulders, long blonde hair flowing across it. Her identity was obscured by the top hat on her head and the white mask over her eyes. She held what appeared to be a walking cane in one gloved hand, which she twirled like a baton and pointed at both enemies. “She’s correct, fiends. As long as the two of us live, the Earth will be defended from the likes of you.”

The blond snickered. “Then…I guess that will have to change, won’t it?” Raising their swords, the pair moved to attack the newcomer, the blond in the lead. His attack was blocked as the blonde raised her cane, stopping the strike that would have bisected her. Bringing the sword down to one side, the tuxedo clad figure slammed an elbow into the stomach of her opponent, crumpling him in half. Before he could recover, she brought her cane down across his back, knocking him head first into the ground.

Taking advantage of the opportunity afforded to him by the failure of his comrade, the one in red charged forward, shouting at the top of his lungs a howling fury of rage. Getting up off her knee, the blonde parried the attacks of the male like an expert swordswoman, which only served to increase the fury of his attacks. But it was all for naught for, as with his companion, he too was sent to the ground with a series of well placed blows to the gut and chin.

“Go back to your master,” she said, pointing at both men as they got to their feet. “And let her know that her quest for the Mystical Silver Crystal will not go unchallenged.”

Getting to their feet, swords in hand and snarls on their faces, the pair swept their capes up and disappeared from sight. Once they were gone, the tuxedo clad female turned to look at Sailor Moon, tilting her head in silent approval. “You fought well.”

“I have to,” Sailor Moon replied. “My friends…the ones I’m supposed to lead…we haven’t been getting along that well lately. At least, not as far as the whole ‘save-the-world-from-evil’ destiny thing goes. I mean, we all still get along well as regular people in school and everything. And it’s…it’s my fault that we can’t get together on this mission. I’m supposed to be their leader, and I can’t find it within myself to be the kind of person that sort of role requires me to be.”

“But you must,” the blonde replied with a nod. “I know you can be that sort of person. But you have to believe it yourself, Sailor Moon. Otherwise you will never be able to find the strength to convince yourself of this.” Moving off, she turned as she reached the open window. “But rest assured. No matter what happens, you have at least one friend in this fight.”

And with that, she leapt out the open window. Sailor Moon stood rooted to the spot for some time, watching the empty space where her rescuer had been. She soon found her attention drawn elsewhere at the sound of a very familiar voice.

“I thought that I would find you here, Willow.”

Sailor Moon looked up as a bright light shone from her body, fading after several moments to reveal a young woman in her mid-teens, wearing a red t-shirt, faded blue jeans and sneakers, her elaborately designed blonde hair now a chin-length red. She took in the newcomer with an indignant stare, actually surprised to discover that she would come at all.

“So how long have you been here, Anya?”

“Long enough to see you talking to our enemy,” Anya retorted.

“She’s not our enemy,” Willow insisted, the tone of her voice as she said this showing the strain of one having done a task repeatedly and without end. Which was, in a sense, exactly what she was doing, for ever since the others had found out about the one who had saved Willow during her first battle, the five of them deciding to call her Tuxedo Mask for lack of any other means by which to identify her, they had begun to question whether or not she was really looking out for their best interests.

Although all were resistant to the idea of considering her as a potential ally, Anya was especially adamant about refusing Willow’s attempts to convince them to see her as an ally, saying that, for all they knew, she could merely be a part of the enemy’s plans against Earth, useful to them only as a means to lull the five of them into a false sense of security where they would come to depend on her presence whenever they battled, and then choosing to remove her from the equation when they decided that things needed to start getting serious.

Willow, being the good natured person that she was, took exception to this, trying to convince them all, and especially Anya, that if Tuxedo Mask really were an enemy, then she wouldn’t have gone out of her way to risk her life the countless times that she had done so while helping them to battle the evil monsters the Dark Kingdom sent their way. While the others had at least been able to agree on that, Anya stated plainly that this information didn’t negate the fact that she always seemed to wait until the last possible minute to make her appearance, and had never decided to reveal her true identity to them, which were valid enough points, at least in her opinion, to counter any argument to the contrary that she were anything other than an unknown factor in their fight, and could potentially be harmful to their mission.

That had been, if not the main thing, one of many that had driven a wedge between the five of them over the course of the past month. The sense of camaraderie that they had shared when they had first met, pledging to fight the enemy under Willow’s leadership and the guidance of Luna and Artemis, the feline companions of the long dead Queen of the Moon Kingdom that were sent with them to the future to guide them along the path to their respective destiny, had long since faded, with no real discussion about where to go with regard to their mission to find the Moon Princess and the Mystical Silver Crystal she carried and only the barest hints of the friendships they had made before that day not so very long ago remaining.

It was almost as if the entire sense of friendship and bonding that had occurred that day had become a wool sweater, and the various arguments on how to find the Princess and the Silver Crystal, figuring out how to deal with the Dark Kingdom that seemed hell bent on finding both and using them in their plans for world domination and how the mysterious tuxedoed female fit into the whole thing became the curious person that had pulled at a loose thread on that sweater for so often that it had all but unraveled, leaving behind only a mess of string that would be nearly impossible to put back together again.

Luna and Artemis had tried the best they could to keep the five of them together and on task, but Willow had explained to them that what had happened between them was exactly the sort of thing that occurred when you got five different people together in a room and gave them a problem to solve: each person ended up having a different opinion on what to do about the situation that completely clashed with what another person had thought, which in turn clashed with the ideas that the others had. Eventually you would start to argue about what was the best course of action, to the point that you might even begin to just argue for the simple sake of arguing, completely forgetting the original reasons that you started arguing to begin with. Willow told them that all that could be done about it was to simply let the tiff that had developed between them run its course, in the hope that they could come to some consensus before anything bad happened.

“You keep saying that as if you’re absolutely convinced of what you say,” Anya said, bringing Willow’s thoughts back to the present. “It’s little wonder why we can’t work together as a team when our leader is blind enough to miss the obvious.”

“Like what?” Willow asked, her voice rising in frustration. “Do you really think that the person who’s saved us more times than I can remember could be an enemy?”

“Yes, I do,” Anya replied with a straight face. She turned away from Willow and began to walk away. “And if you truly wanted to be our leader, you would be willing to at least consider that.”

Watching Anya walk off, Willow came to realize that she was right. She had never once been open to the idea of considering Tuxedo Mask as an enemy. But that was because, unlike the others, she had been there when the blonde had made her first appearance, saving her from an attack by one of the enemy, much like she had done not only tonight, but whenever she went up against the forces of the Dark Kingdom.

Walking off, Willow thought to herself, ”If she were truly the enemy, would she have saved me then? Would she have saved me tonight? Would she have saved me all those times in between tonight and that first time?

One final thought burned itself into her brain. ”And if she were the enemy, would she continue to save me?”

**

Faith knelt on one knee in front of the pulsating purple form that was Queen Metallia, her arms outstretched; a large blue orb in her upturned hands. This orb contained the energy collected during her warriors’ latest attempts to gather energy from the people of Earth, a task that was being done in order to accomplish the Demon Queen’s rebirth; a task had been going slowly over the past month, but had been progressing quite well, in her opinion.

It would, however, progress much better and faster had her underlings managed to find the Mystical Silver Crystal, but after nearly a month of fruitless searching, they had appeared to be making no progress in finding it. How could it be possible that an object like the Crystal would be that difficult to find, especially when they had so little territory to traverse?

Even as the question crossed her mind, Faith realized that she knew the answer: those four warriors to whom she had entrusted the task of finding the Crystal, their combined power making them the strongest of all of those who loyally served Queen Metallia and herself, seemed to be more willing to spend their time and energy squabbling amongst themselves on how to accomplish the task of finding the Crystal than in actually doing it. This was one of the unfortunate side effects of the manipulation she had enacted on their emotions and minds, both through her words and the spell she cast over them in order to make them more subservient to her control. It made them loyal to her, yes, but it also made them more than willing to do whatever they thought was necessary in order to accomplish whatever goal she gave them, even if it meant stepping on the backs of their comrades and preventing them from accomplishing the very same thing.

Faith let out a small sigh as she spoke, “Oh, great Metallia, Demon Queen of the Dark Kingdom, I, Queen Faith, you most humble vassal, do offer you this energy we have collected in your name, in the hopes that it shall bring you power.”

The contents of the orb made their way into the purple mass, which began to pulsate more quickly as it absorbed the energy. A face then began to form within the mass, its features becoming those of a creature that would cause untold horror and fright to those who gazed upon it.

Faith bowed her head to the face, mostly out of subservience to the true leader of the Dark Kingdom, but also to hide the fact that she was frightened to gaze into that face, its cold eyes and unfeeling features a manifestation of soulless being to which it belonged. This was an event unto itself, for there were few things that could frighten her as badly as an audience with Queen Metallia.

”Your gift pleases me, Faith,” the deeply feminine voice of Metallia intoned. ”But I must admit that…I grow concerned about your lack of progress towards reviving me.”

“I know, my Queen,” Faith admitted, knowing that to lie within Metallia’s presence would not be wise. “Our best efforts to gather energy for you have met with…some resistance.”

”I am aware of this, Faith,” Metallia replied. ”The Guardians of the Princess have been reborn on Earth, and seek to thwart my plans to rule this planet. This greatly displeases me, Faith. I thought that you would have done better with the powers I offered you. Perhaps I was wrong.”

Faith bit her lip in order to keep herself from commenting on this. This was the game the two of them played. Faith may be ruler of the Dark Kingdom, but she was still answerable to Metallia in all things. She had to be, of course, for it was the Demon Queen who had granted her the abilities she had used to bring that destruction down upon the people of the Moon, especially the Moon Princess.

Faith gritted her teeth as she recalled the features of the Moon Princess, whom she greatly despised with every nerve and fiber in her being. The heir to the Moon Kingdom was the living embodiment of all that it stood for and all that made the people of Earth despise them: natural beauty unbecoming of any mere Earthling, near eternal life thanks to the powers of the Mystical Silver Crystal, and total ignorance to the thoughts and feelings of the people of Earth as they meddled in their affairs. Faith knew that Queen Serenity had decreed that, despite their people’s mission to watch over the people of the Earth, they should not directly get involved with them, since it would only serve to cause the seeds of distrust that had always existed between the two cultures to bloom into something terrible that would eventually bring about their mutual destruction.

But she had apparently decided to make an exception in her daughter’s case, as it soon became known among both her people and the Earth Kingdom that there was a relationship between Princess Serenity and Endymion, Crown Princess of the Earth. Faith had known from that moment on that she had a perfect opportunity to take her revenge on the Moon Kingdom, knowing that the hatred the people of Earth would have upon learning of the union between one of their most prominent members and the Princess from the Moon would be the spark that would ignite the confrontation between them that would see her fondest desire, that of Queen Serenity and her daughter dying at her own hand, come true at last.

Faith had indeed been the one who led the people of the Earth in their attack against the people of the Moon, and now led the Dark Kingdom, the remnants of that once mighty army, in their attack on the people of Earth during this time. But she knew that it was only because of her meeting with Metallia, who had come to her saying that she also sought the destruction of the people of the Moon just as much, if not more so, as Faith did, that she had able to do this. This bound Faith to Metallia, just as her command and control over the Shitennou, who had, during the Silver Millennium, been Princess Endymion’s best friends and guardians, and whom she had manipulated to serving her, bound them to her. She forced them to serve her and do her bidding, just as Metallia forced Faith to serve her and do her bidding.

Faith would put up with this subservience for now, because, as most things that annoyed her did, it worked to her advantage, at least for now. But like most things, her amusement about the situation would fade, and she would seek to use Metallia’s power for her own personal gain. For if there was one thing she craved, it was power. And Metallia’s power was greater than any she had ever seen before, the offering she had been given merely a sample of the deep well the Demon Queen drank from.

That power would be hers, whether or not Metallia would want to freely give it away.

“Fear not, Great Metallia,” Faith said, knowing that her pause wouldn’t bring down the wrath of the Demon Queen upon her. Until she was at full strength Metallia could not strike out in force against anyone. And by the time that happened, she hoped to have it under her control. “My greatest warriors are even now searching for that which will bring you to full strength. And once you have it, we shall rule over this planet together.”

“I shall rule this planet, Faith,” Metallia’s voice boomed, a sound that sent a shiver down Faith’s spine. ”And when I rule, those who have served me faithfully will be rewarded. And those who have disappointed me...or have betrayed me…or have stood in my way…shall be destroyed.”

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Score! Yay for updates. Very nice Alex.

PS-I'm still mad at you for getting me sucked into this particular AU. *shakes fist* That said, more updates soon please? *makes puppy dog eyes*

yay, I'm so glad you're planning to continue this as a series. I like the tension between Willow and Anya.

_________________
~Selena~
"Hear that baby? You're my always."

Amber: Glad you enjoyed the update, Amber. And I hope that you continue to enjoy this series, despite your hatred of the AU verse in which it was spawned. What, may I ask, makes you hate Sailor Moon so much? Is it the American dub? Well, I can sympathize with you on that, yes. The NA dub was all sorts of wrong, especially when it was done by DiC, the Cloverway dub only being marginally better. Maybe if you watched the live action "Pretty Guardian" series, you might come to enjoy it.

Selena: Glad you enjoy it. And yeah, I kinda like the tension between Willow and Anya, too. It's kind of a nod to several things, not the least of which is the fact that they had a frictional relationship in Buffy Canon ("Triangle", anyone?). Hope you enjoy this latest update.

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• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

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[center]Chapter One: Fractured Light, Gathering Shadows[/center]

One Month Later

Willow walked up the steps to the front doors of Sunnydale High School, her movements hesitant, almost as if, despite her early arrival and little fear of getting detention for being late, she didn’t want to go inside. Her mind was going over the events of the past two months, and how the dangers of the Dark Kingdom and the pain of her life as a Sailor Soldier had made school, the one place in this entire town where she thought that those two parts of her life could never reach her, had instead become the place where they had come together rather violently, the constant need for her to keep that part of her life separate from her, for lack of a better term, otherwise “normal” life making her existence a living nightmare.

It certainly didn’t help matters much that three of the four people that had become integrated into both of those lives were also attending this school, and though two of them were at least willing to consider her a friend as far as normal life was concerned, the fact that the entire group had widely varied opinions insofar as how to deal with the enemy they were supposed to be united against made it nearly impossible for them to be anything other than politely civil towards one another.

Although true of all three of them, it was especially true of Anya, who very pointedly made a conscious effort to avoid Willow whenever she possibly could, regardless of whatever negative repercussions the teachers and the principal decided to enact on her. The fact that the two of them shared several classes made this especially difficult, and it led, on more than one occasion, to Willow doing the bulk of their project work while Anya sat back, giving no real indication that she had any willing desire to be in Willow’s presence. It was bad enough that she refused to deal with her in the way that their roles as de facto and de jure leaders of the Sailor Soldiers required of them, but Willow had at least thought that they could get along outside of Soldier life. It quickly became apparent how wrong that assumption was.

It was only marginally better among the rest of the Soldiers, who two months ago had no idea that they were the reincarnations of the Princesses of four of the Solar System's planets during the period known as the Silver Millennium, nor that they, along with Willow and Anya, were tasked with the mission of protecting the Princess of the Moon, heir to the Moon Kingdom, from the evils of the universe. Since then, the four of them, who had, at the very least, shared a basic camaraderie and the slightest hints of a budding friendship when they first met, had their commitment to that mission wane to varying degrees.

Cordelia Chase, the only one of the five who did not attend Sunnydale High, was, by a wide margin, the one whose commitment to their mission had dropped the most, not only in significance, but in tolerance. Having been plagued by visions ever since she was a child, she was not at all pleased to discover that these visions, which had made her a target of suspicion and fear throughout her entire adolescence, were the faintest remnants of the memories she had of her time as Princess Mars, one of the Guardians of Princess Serenity. Although willing to be a part of the group at their first meeting, realizing what inaction on her part could bring to the others and the whole of humanity, the various problems the group had once they had come together as a unit, combined with the growing intensity of her visions and her dislike of them, led to Cordelia eventually deciding to exclude herself from the others in all things. Even to Willow, whom she had long considered to be the only person in town she could call “friend”.

Winifred Burkle, who preferred to be known as “Fred”, and Elizabeth Summers, who preferred to be known as “Buffy” and had transferred to Sunnydale High from Hemry High in Los Angeles, were somewhat more willing to accept their destinies as protectors of Princess Serenity, and considered Willow to be not only their leader, but also a dear friend. But despite all of that, the two of them couldn’t come to an agreement as to how to deal with the Dark Kingdom and the threat that they posed to Earth. Fred had adopted what Willow called the “wait and see” approach, thinking that they should do their best to stop the Dark Kingdom from gathering energy while they searched for the Moon Princess in secret, never letting the enemy know what they were doing. In contrast, Buffy had adopted what Willow decided to call the “think first, ask questions when and if you ever decided to” approach, coming up with a plan that Willow figured most hard nosed military would put together when put in a similar situation: that the best way to develop a good defense was to go on a strong offense, and that the Dark Kingdom and those who served it should be wiped off the face of the planet before they could even think about finding the Princess, so as to minimize the threat to her life.

Willow’s inability to come to a decision about which course of action to take had made the others seriously wonder whether or not she could act effectively as their leader. And Anya, as Willow expected, was quick to state that she should take over command of the group, citing that Willow couldn’t even make such a basic decision as that. Luna disagreed, saying that the only way for Willow to gain the experience she needed to truly be their leader was to try the best she could to make the decisions she thought were best for the group.

For the past two months, however, Willow had found herself unable to do anything even approximating that, which led to the five of them, who had seemed so united in their common cause on a day that the redhead imagined now must have been long in the past, drifting away. And Willow knew that, no matter how hard she tried, there was nothing she could think of doing that would get them back together again.

As far as her scholastic achievements went, on the other hand, Willow had made incredible progress. Never really all that good of a student before meeting Luna and the others, she quickly found herself managing to become quite better at topics that used to confound her, especially English, Mathematics and Literature. At Luna’s insistence, however, she was forced to fail a test every so often. When Willow had asked her why, Luna replied that in order to maintain her secret identity as Sailor Moon, she shouldn’t strongly give off the fact that she was any different than anyone else, since the enemy would immediately take any indication of such as a sign that there was something going on out in the real world, and would immediately make her a target. Luna had told them all that Willow’s first encounter with them had alerted them to the fact that there was someone on Earth who would stop them in their efforts, and that any abrupt change to the ordinary way of things would be seen by them as the revealing of the identity of those attempting to thwart their plans. Willow could readily agree with that statement, knowing that if the Dark Kingdom were ever to target her, then the lives of her friends and family would be in danger, as well.

And there was one person on this Earth she wanted to protect, and whose memory she fought for every single time she went into battle. The angelic, youthful face of Tara Maclay, whom she had been dating for the past eight months after a courtship of nearly a year and had recently revealed to her the fact that she was looking for the Mystical Silver Crystal, the object that both the forces of the Dark Kingdom and the Sailor Soldiers were looking for. Luna had said that it was somehow connected to the Princess, and that finding it would find the Princess.

When Tara had told Willow of her search for the Crystal, Willow had promised to keep it a secret from everybody else. That meant that she also had to keep it a secret from Luna and the others. Willow didn’t want to expose Tara to the dangers of her new life, and she would fight as hard as she could in order to make sure that the Dark Kingdom never got to her. She had once said that she would do so even without the help of the other Soldiers.

Well, it certainly appeared that it would end up that way. The fact that she was fighting to protect Tara didn’t make that seem important. If anything, it made her feel more…confident. Willow wasn’t sure she’d be able to fight the Dark Kingdom if she was doing it to protect someone she didn’t know, but doing it to protect Tara felt…strangely right.

Finishing her long walk up the steps to the door, Willow was happy to be greeted by Amy Madison, her best friend in civilian life outside of the other soldiers, and the one who had the somewhat questionable honor of being involved with the Dark Kingdom’s first plot against the people of Earth. Not that she knew that, of course, thinking that the whole thing was just the result of possible heat exhaustion. Nor did she know that Willow was one of the people who had saved her that day. Luna had told her that their identities as Sailor Soldiers could never be revealed to anyone, lest the enemy find out that others knew who their opponents were in their daily lives and use that information to their advantage.

“Hey, Amy,” Willow said, waving her hand. “Feeling OK?”

Amy walked up to Willow’s side and moved to open the door. “I’m fine, Willow. You don’t need to worry about me. I’ve long passed the point where I get those blackouts and headaches. What I want to know is if you’re OK?”

“What do you mean?” Willow coyly asked, though she had an idea about what Amy was talking about.

“I mean the fact that we were supposed to go to the Bronze last week, but you cancelled at the last minute. I mean the fact that we were supposed to meet after school to study for a test on Tuesday, but you wanted to go see Tara instead. I mean the fact that I called you last night, and you never answered your phone,” Amy explained as they walked inside the school and went to their homeroom class. “Will, something’s going on with you. I can feel it. Is there something bugging you that you want to talk about?”

Willow sighed. “No, Amy. Nothing’s bothering me.” To herself, she thought, ”It’s just that I have to deal with an enemy that wants to use me, you and everybody we know as batteries to power their sleeping alien demon queen that wants to kill us all, and I’m one of the only five people on this planet that have any chance of stopping them, only me and those four other people can’t seem to agree on how to do that, so I have to do it all by myself.”

Amy sighed and looked around. “Well, at least you’re on time today, so we don’t have to worry about getting caught by Snyder again. Let’s get to class.”

**

Faith gazed down as the Shitennou made their way into her presence, their right hands to their chests as they kneeled on one knee in front of her, their heads bowed down out of respect. Normally this showcase of their devotion to her, manufactured though it was, would please her immensely. But these days, when their search for the Mystical Silver Crystal grew more and more frustrating with each passing day, she was not in the most pleasant of moods, and not even the sight of those four showcasing their loyalty to her, manufactured though it may be, could lift Faith’s spirits.

“My Queen, we bow before you in obedience and await your commands,” one of them intoned. This man was clad in black with a red cape affixed to his body by the epaulettes inset with white jewels that rested on his shoulders. Both the cape and uniform were trimmed in gold, his long dark hair flowing loosely on his shoulders and down his back.

Faith rolled her eyes in disgust. “Obedience, you say, Angelus? And yet the four of you cannot manage to accomplish the simple task I have given to you. I cannot imagine the difficulties the four of you could have in locating the Mystical Silver Crystal.”

This was a lie, of course, and both Faith and the others knew it. One of the Shitennou, a youngish looking young man with short cropped dark hair that complimented the dark purple uniform he wore, spoke, “We are deeply sorry for failing you, my Queen. We have tried our best to locate the Crystal, but our efforts have been thwarted time and time again by the guardians of the Princess.”

“Yes,” Faith stated with an expression on her features akin to that of one who had just been told the one thing that would displease her more than anything else on this world could. “And I would have thought that the four of you would have been capable of dealing with them.” She passed her glance to the one clad in white. “Especially you, Spike. I would have thought that you would have readily taken whatever opportunity came your way if it meant that you would have the opportunity to kill them, given how one of them managed to embarrass you so…easily.”

“It was not that easy, my Queen,” Spike growled, his head still bowed and hiding the expression on his face that indicated how deeply Faith’s words had wounded him, almost as much as the attack that girl had dealt him. Even after all this time, he still did not have it treated, preferring to carry it as a symbol of that which would consume him as much as the search for the Crystal would: the death of the one who had dealt him this blow.

“And to think that Angelus trained you,” the final member of the Shitennou spoke, his red uniform and hair making him the living representation of the fire that burned deep within his heart. “Perhaps his efforts were for naught. After all, you could barely handle that Sailor Soldier we faced not too long ago.”

“You didn’t appear to have any better luck dealing with her, either,” Spike snapped back.

This exchange brought about another of the arguments that the four of them always seemed to have while they were in her presence and their meetings went from discussing their plans to debating over how to carry them out. It was typical male posturing, and Faith usually found it amusing for quite some time before she grew annoyed.

This time, however, she was far from amused by their antics, and made that apparent to the four of them by slamming her staff down, sending a shockwave through the ground.

Their attention back on her, Faith clearly set out the situation for them. “I grow weary of your constant and pointless prattling. I have allowed it up to this point because it amused me, and kept the four of you on your toes. But now things have changed. Queen Metallia will tolerate no more delays, and neither will I. The four of you will have to work together as one in order to accomplish your goal.”

“Work together?” Spike flustered, raising his head. “With them? You cannot be serious, my Queen.”

“Have you known me to be anything but, Spike?” Faith asked, an icy tone in her voice that left little indication that the matter was to be discussed in any way.

Acquiescing, Spike lowered his head and apologized. “Forgive me, my Queen.”

Fait sat back on her throne and looked at the four one at a time. “Now, can I assume that one of you has a plan that can be carried out that will see the Silver Crystal end up in our possession?”

Angelus raised his head, a faint smile on his face. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

“Then perhaps you can tell us this plan,” Faith said, her tone of voice making it perfectly clear that it was not a question.

“Certainly, my Queen,” Angelus said. “The reason that the Sailor Soldiers have been able to thwart our plans is because our work in draining the people of the Earth of their energy makes them come to us with the advantage of surprise and stealth on their side. If, however, we were to do something that would draw them out in such a way that would give us the advantage, we could get them together and wipe them out in one fell swoop.”

Faith’s lips curved up in a smile. “I see. And how would you go about this?”

“The four of us will traverse Sunnydale and capture people at random,” Angelus explained. “The sudden disappearance of so many people is sure to attract the attention of the Sailor Soldiers, especially if we were to capture one or more of the people to whom they are related, either by blood or by friendship.”

“And when you have gathered them together, you will force them to turn over the Princess?” Faith asked, comprehension dawning on her face as she began to understand what Angelus planned.

“Yes, my Queen,” Angelus nodded. “The thought of seeing so many people in danger will surely compel them to trade the life of the Princess for the lives of innocents. And then, once we have the Silver Crystal, we will simply slaughter them all.”

Faith let out a chuckle. “I like this plan, Angelus. You and the others may proceed with my blessing.”

As the four got up and moved to leave, Faith allowed a smile to form on her face, realizing that, when pushed, the Shitennou could truly come up with a plan that appeared on all levels to work without a flaw. Then again, since nothing is completely flawless, there may be some small imperfections to their plan. But even then, the imperfections may prove to be of some worth...in some way or another.

Faith would find a way to make them work to her advantage. After all, even failure brought about the opportunity for success.

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Oh no, the tension! And I had completely missed the part where Tara and Willow were already dating for so long. I thought that they maybe only sort of started during the last update, but apparently I was *way* wrong. Bad reader!

And as for my dislike of the show, a little boy I baby-sat when I was in high school would watch it. It was the cartoon, and I think it came on Cartoon Network, so of course it was a dubbed version. I was maybe 15 or 16 and I made him watch it in his room, but I don't remember exactly why. I think it was because I had no idea what was going on it it, and Sailor Moon always jumped around and made high-pitched noises and cried a lot. I got annoyed. But this version I like. Keep up the good work!

Amber: Glad you like the tension, Amber. If you think that's tense, though, you should see what I have planned. Compared to that, this is peaches and cream. Yeah, Tara and Willow were together for some time before the start of the original fic. I flirted briefly with doing it how Sailor Moon usually did it, and having them be rather antagonistic towards one another, but at the time, I only had that story in mind, with no real inclination to continue it, so I figured it would be safer to have them together. And besides, if you've read any of my previous work, you can see how many times I bend the rules of the Kitten without actually breaking it, and I decided that this time I wouldn't do that...at least, I hope I won't. Can't really guarantee that, since there are some Sailor Moon things that I want to preserve, while at the same time stamping my own thing onto it.

I understand your dislike of the dubbed anime. To be honest, ever since I started watching "Pretty Guardian", my love of the anime has steadily decreased. I still enjoy it, but compared to "Pretty Guardian", it just doesn't hold a candle. That's why its from there that I borrow a lot of Sailor Moon elements from there (the uniforms that Angelus and co. wear are styled in the same way as the uniforms their characters wear in that show, with only the bejeweled epaulets they wear being drawn from the anime.) There's one other element from "Pretty Guardian" that I enjoy that will be here, which kinda leads into the "tension later" thing I mentioned above. Let me just say that when you see it, you're gonna be surprised.

[hr]

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Two: Behind the Clouds[/center]

To all appearances, the two felines in the room didn’t appear to be anything other than your garden variety cats, nothing about them betraying the fact that they were anything but, at least from a distance. Upon closer inspection, anyone taking notice of them would see that each cat bore a yellow crescent moon on their forehead, the mark of those who served the Moon Kingdom in the time of the Silver Millennium, and who today were those chosen by Queen Serenity to guide the reincarnations of her daughters’ chosen defenders.

It was that very issue that they were discussing at that very moment, the black furred cat speaking to her white furred companion. “I’m worried, Artemis.”

“I am, too, Luna,” Artemis replied. “It shouldn’t be taking this long for them to come together as a team. Even in the old days, when they had their disagreements, they always managed to put them aside and come together as a team when confronted with a very real threat to the life of the Princess. We know the Princess’ life is in danger…”

“I know that the Princess’ life is in danger, Artemis,” Luna replied indignantly, knowing full well what her companion meant by that statement. “But no matter how much it might help, we simply cannot allow the others to know that Willow is the Princess they are sworn to protect, especially Willow herself.”

“Why not?” Artemis asked. “I would think that enough time has passed since we’ve been together to make that piece of information something we should feel more comfortable discussing. And in any case, if what you’ve told me about Willow is true, then we may not be able to keep it a secret for much longer, anyway.”

“I know,” Luna sighed, turning away to look at the wall. Although Willow had never spoken to her about any recovered memories of her time in the Moon Kingdom, the fact that she had slowly begun to become better at her studies over the past two months greatly concerned her. Princess Serenity had, after all, been highly intellectual and nothing if not an overachiever when it came to her studies. Luna took it as a sign that her memories as Princess Serenity were working their way to the surface, even if Willow herself was unaware of them. She had hoped to wait for a more convenient time to talk to Willow about this, but fate was apparently having other plans. If Luna was correct in her assumptions, Willow could regain her full memory in but a matter of days.

She dreaded what would likely happen once that occurred. Seeing how close to them the person the other Soldiers were supposed to be protecting was, they might actually look past their differences and come together under Willow’s leadership as they should have done right at the start. On the other hand, since she had kept a secret of this magnitude from them, it might very well end up being the thing that caused not only the great rift already present between the Soldiers, but may also cause Willow herself to abandon the fight, seeing Luna as little more than someone who put her life at risk quite unnecessarily.

Just then, the door to the room opened, and Willow walked inside, backpack slung over one shoulder. Grateful for the distraction, Luna asked, “How are you feeling today, Willow?”

Sitting down at the table in the center of the room and dropping her bag down beside her, Willow let out a deep breath as she replied, “About as well as can be expected, seeing as how I’m lying to my friends about what I do when I’m not in school, I can barely speak to my other friends without having them want to know how I plan to deal with the enemy, and to top it off...”

Willow trailed off unexpectedly, Luna seeing that she was about to say something, but seemed almost reluctant to do so. Wondering if it was somehow related to their mission, she asked, “What is it?”

Willow blinked and rubbed her eyes, trying to clear her head. “It’s nothing, Luna. I’ve just been having…having a rough couple of days.”

Luna grew concerned at that. This was the first time that Willow had given any real indication that she may be remembering her past. And as much as she didn’t want to talk about it right now, there appeared to be no better time than the present to do it. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I want to,” Willow replied. “But…I don’t think you’d understand.”

“Try us,” Artemis said, coming over and leaping onto the table in order to look Willow directly in the eye. “We can be surprisingly understanding when it comes to understanding something others tell us that may shame us to reveal.” He turned to look at Luna at this, and the black furred feline was thankful that Willow hadn’t picked up on it.

“Well,” Willow began. “I think I may know who the Princess is.”

Luna’s eyes widened noticeably, and Artemis tried not to look surprised. “You…you do?” he asked.

“Well, I think I do,” Willow clarified. “I mean, I might not be sure, because I could be jumping to the wrong conclusion. And I’ve done that before, and I don’t think I want to do it again, especially when it involves something like this. I mean, what if she’s not the Princess? That could be embarrassing. We wouldn’t want to go up to this person and say ‘Hello, you may be the reincarnation of a Princess that once lived on the Moon that needs to be protected from an evil organization that wants to use the Crystal you carry to destroy us all…”

Artemis chuckled, and even Luna, despite herself, had to be amused. Realizing that the two cats were laughing at her expense, Willow stopped herself and said, “Like I said, I may know who the Moon Princess is, but I’m not sure that I should tell you…”

“Then perhaps you shouldn’t,” Luna said before Artemis could interrupt. Willow clearly didn’t want to reveal that she knew that she was the Moon Princess, which was perfectly fine with her. Of course, she was assuming that Willow did in fact know she was the Princess, which was a rather incredible leap in logic. But there was no one else Willow could suspect as being the Princess, so there didn’t appear to be any problems. “I mean, I don’t think that it’s necessary to reveal the identity of the Princess quite yet, at least not until we can get you and the other Soldiers working together.”

“Not to mention that there’s been a high amount of people disappearing throughout town lately,” Artemis added, his tone of voice clearly telling Luna that he was displeased with how Luna had just conducted herself. “We have to assume that’s something the enemy is doing in order to draw you out into the open.”

Willow nodded. “I’ve been thinking about that, yeah. We’ve got to do something about that.”

“The attacks seem to happen at random,” Luna noted. “And they appear to happen mostly at or near areas where large groups of people congregate. Is there anywhere you can think of that they might strike next?”

Willow mused about it for a moment. “Well, there is a swimming competition this afternoon at the rec center for the regional championships. Fred’s going to be there. Buffy and I were going to go down there after I came and talked to you.”

“Perhaps one of us should go with you,” Luna offered. “To offer moral support.”

“I don’t think the others would be as grateful to see you as I would,” Willow said, getting up and picking up her backpack, heading towards the door. Pausing as she opened it, she gave Luna and Artemis one final look. “Besides, cats hate the water. You’d be out of place there.”

Willow stepped out of the room, closing the door behind her. Looking at the spot where she had been, Luna and Artemis turned to look at one another, sharing a look between them that bordered on irritation.

**

Willow walked down the street, an expression on her face that any passersby choosing to take notice of her would no doubt interpret as one of shocked surprise. It was an assumption that was not far off the mark, but the reasons behind it were something beyond the comprehension of the majority of the people of Sunnydale, most of whom lived in ignorance to the danger they faced.

Especially the one who, unbeknownst to her, could very well be the focal point of the entire battle Willow was fighting.

”And I almost let it out,” Willow thought, still shocked about how close she had truly come to revealing to Luna and Artemis her suspicions about Tara, and how she thought that her girlfriend might be the Moon Princess they were looking for. True, she had no real knowledge to support her claim other than Tara’s own words, which neither confirmed nor denied it. All that she had said was that she was looking for the Mystical Silver Crystal, but only after she got Willow to promise her that she could not tell anyone about it.

It was a confidence Tara had chosen to divulge to her, knowing that Willow could possibly look at her quite differently than she had in the time that they had been together. And truth be told, Willow did look at her quite differently than she had before, but instead of a crazy old woman talking nonsense, Willow saw a person of royalty, and someone who was quite obviously unaware of this fact.

Willow knew that she had to keep her suspicions about Tara a secret, not only from her, but from Luna and Artemis as well. If they, or if her friends, found out, they would want to get her involved in something that, regardless of her former life, did not concern her now. And there she had been, coming as close to blurting it out as she ever had in the two months since first learning it.

As much as Willow knew keeping her assumptions a secret was the right thing to do, there was something gnawing away at the base of her skull telling her that, at some point in the not too distant future, she would have no other choice but to let Luna and Artemis know what she suspected. It was something she knew she couldn’t avoid, but at the same time, she knew that she couldn’t betray Tara’s confidence, even if she did it to keep her safe. It was that commitment that, until recently, had been so familiar to her when it came to doing her schoolwork: doing what she thought was best to get what she wanted getting locked in an eternal battle against doing what she knew was right in order to get what she knew was needed.

Willow had always hated that part of herself, especially when it came to the surface during times like this, when what appeared to be the fate of the entire world hinged on her decision. Only this time, she knew that it wasn’t a joke: the entire world did hinge on the decision she had to make.

She realized it was selfish of her to think of her dilemma in terms as limited as what would happen between them if she were to reveal Tara’s secret. After all, it wasn’t just her life and Tara’s that were in danger, but those of the entire planet. Willow had been telling herself that keeping Tara’s secret wasn’t selfish; but her way of making sure that her girlfriend didn’t suffer while she led a double life as Willow Rosenberg, normal, average, everyday High School student, and as Sailor Moon, the Sailor Soldier of Love and Justice, leader of the Sailor Soldiers, defenders of the planet Earth against the evils of the Dark Kingdom.

”Tara could never know what it’s like to lead a life of mystery and secrets in the name of protecting the innocent,” Willow thought. ”I mean, she knows a lot about living a life of secrets, seeing as how she never talked to me about her past before…well, before. That’s why I can’t tell her about this. I know how much she’s already gotten involved in my fight, and I can’t let her get any more involved in this than I fear she may already have.”

But, as she stopped at a red light, she had cause to wonder if that line of reasoning wasn’t just as selfish as what she had thought of before. After all, not telling Luna and Artemis about her suspicions of Tara might have been her way of protecting Tara, but assuming at all that Tara needed to be protected was not giving her the credit she deserved. Willow knew that Tara had a troubled life growing up, having lost both of her parents at an early age and having been forced to live on her own ever since.

But despite all of that suffering, she had never once complained about it. Willow had always known that Tara was strong enough not to let things like that get under her skin, and by even for a moment thinking that she needed protection, Willow was dishonoring everything about Tara that she had come to know, not to mention everything the blonde had done for the whole of her life.

Tara had never given Willow any indication that she needed anyone’s help to do anything, and Willow doubted that she was going to start now.

But that still didn’t answer the question about what she should do: should she keep Tara’s secret, and run the risk that the enemy would find out and capture her? Or should she tell Luna and Artemis, and betray the confidence that Tara had given away so freely and without a second thought, even if it was done in order to protect her from a threat against her life that she wasn’t even aware of?

Willow didn’t have the answer to that question, and as she brought her fingers up to brush the heart shaped brooch that she wore around her neck, she knew that she was highly doubtful to find an answer any time in the near future. Whether or not she truly was the Princess, Tara was in danger. And that meant that she would fight with all of her being to protect her, even if she did it alone.

Her thoughts drifted to Cordelia, then, and Willow wondered what she was up to at that moment. They hadn’t talked in weeks, and it was painful for the two of them to be separate. Before this, they had been such good friends; now Cordelia wouldn’t give her the time of day. It was sad to see a lifetime of friendship flushed away due to circumstances that neither of them could control.

”I hope you come back to us, Cordy,” she thought. ”We… I miss you.”

**

Cordelia sat at a table outside the Espresso Pump, mildly sipping at a cappuccino she had ordered nearly an hour ago. The drink had gone cold some time ago, so its value as a warm drink had long since vanished.

Not that it mattered, since the soothing effects that came from drinking it were about the only thing these days that made her visions seem anything resembling comfortable.

Her head beginning to hurt, Cordelia put the book she was reading down and rubbed her temple, taking another sip of her drink in order to fight the growing headache she was beginning to feel. After a few moments of painful torture, her headache faded.

Its cause, however, burned itself into her brain, where it was unlikely to be removed from anytime within the near future.

It had been like this since she was little, though throughout the whole of her life, she was worried about what it meant. But now she knew the truth. These visions she had were the memories of her former life trying to reassert themselves after having been buried for so long.

Her former life…

Even two months later, Cordelia still had trouble believing that she was a Princess, especially since she had always dreamed of being a Princess when she was younger, imagining herself living in a castle in some faraway land and having royal subjects to order around.

But she was a Princess. But she was not a Princess of a foreign or fairy tale land, but a Princess of one of the planets of the Solar System. And instead of having subjects who worshipped her, she was charged with protecting the Princess of the Moon long ago. And these blasted visions she had, which had plagued her since childhood, were of that time.

Cordelia always resented it, and learning that they had been intentionally given to her (despite the claim she had been given that it was an accident) didn’t make her feel any better about it. And to make things worse, she had been hostile towards Willow, who was her only friend and who had not deserved to suffer her wrath.

She hadn’t wanted it to end up like that, but her visions had gotten progressively worse in the two months since they had met. And that, combined with the fact that the five of them couldn’t come up with some sort of plan that could defeat the enemy, had finally sapped away at Cordelia’s resolve, making her choose to break her friendship with Willow and her commitment to the mission to which she had been entrusted, despite the fact that doing both was extremely dangerous not only to her, but to the others.

Looking down at her wrist, Cordelia saw the red bejeweled bracelet she had been given all those months ago. Even though she felt so negatively about what happened, she couldn’t bring herself to take it off and throw it away. She knew that it had something to do with the fact that there had been times since she left when she had thought about going back, apologizing for her part in what had happened and giving her solemn promise to never let it happen again.

But she couldn’t do that, no matter how much she wanted to. Who knew how the others felt about her now? And, more importantly to her, who knew what Willow felt about all of this? After all, of all of them, hers was the voice she missed the most.

“So there you are.”

Looking up in barely contained surprise, Cordelia saw Anya at the door, looking directly at her. ”Oh, great,” she thought irritably. ”Now there’s one voice I’d like to never hear again.”

Making her way over to sit down in front of Cordelia, Anya affixed the brunette with a stare. “I’ve been trying to get into contact with you for the past few weeks.”

“And now you’ve found me,” Cordelia replied irritably, reaching for her cappuccino and taking another sip, this time to calm her nerves about the upcoming confrontation. “So what do you want?”

“You know what I want to talk about,” Anya stated matter of factly, and Cordelia grimaced. This was the topic she hadn’t much wanted to talk about, especially to Anya, who, of all the others, was the most vocal proponent about what they had to do in order to accomplish their mission. Cordelia suspected that it had something to do with the fact that she resented playing what was essentially second fiddle to Willow in regard to who actually led the team in that mission, especially since Willow had no real ideas on how to accomplish it.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” she replied, picking up her book and all but telling Anya that the conversation was over. “I didn’t then, and I don’t want to now.”

“You’re going to have to, though,” Anya pressed on, clearly not taking the hint. “How long do you think you can continue to play the wounded child and give us all the silent treatment?”

“I’m not sure,” Cordelia replied, looking up from her book, her words all but dripping with sarcasm. “But just between you and me, let’s just try and see.”

Anya frowned. “Listen, Cordelia, you don’t like those visions, fine. I didn’t like having my memories of the Silver Millennium restored either, at first. But when I realized that it gave me a duty and purpose more important that being vain and having material goods, I realized that it made me someone special. Not that I particularly dislike the idea of having material goods or being vain, but I know that I have a higher calling. We all do, whether we wanted it or not.”

“I don’t want it,” Cordelia stressed, not bothering to look up from her book this time. “And this conversation is over, whether you like it or not.”

Anya sat dumbfounded for several more seconds, then got to her feet. As she turned away to leave, she whispered, “Willow misses you, you know.”

“What?” Cordelia asked, putting her book down.

Turning around, Anya said, “Willow misses you. After you left, she talked to us all the time about whether or not you’re going to come back. She told me that you two were friends before all of this, and that she was the only one you ever felt comfortable around, even if you did hide the secret of your visions from her.”

Anya looked away, mostly to hide the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes. “She goes out there every night, fighting to protect the people of this town from the Dark Kingdom. And she does it all out of the goodness of her heart, despite the fact that there are some of us who don’t deserve the treatment she gives us.”

“Especially the two of us, who have cut ourselves off from her completely,” Cordelia finished.

Anya nodded and moved to the door, stepping outside of it without another word or look back.

Cordelia sat in silence for several more minutes before putting her book inside her purse, withdrawing the cell phone she had received from Luna, slinging the purse around her shoulder and heading for the door. As she walked, she dialed the number for Willow’s cell phone, but received no answer.

”She’s not answering,” Cordelia said after her third attempt to contact Willow failed. ”I wonder what she and the others are up to right now. No doubt she’s probably with the others at some big event having the time of her life.”

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Awww....Anya does have a heart. *sniff* I wonder if maybe the other girls won't figure out Willow's place in all of this without the cats' help. I mean, they're obviously being gifted with their memories of this past life much more quickly than Willow herself, so this could lead to some interesting situations. I like it, and look forward to the next wonderful update.

Amber: Yeah, I kinda wrote Anya as being more sympathetic to the situation than she normally would. Though to be fair, it will be revealed later that her concern for Willow's safety is simply on a purely professional level. She can see that, after two months, their common goal of working together to complete their mission isn't working out as well as she would like, especially when she recognizes the fact that the reason why is that they're still at odds with one another. Anya can see how much Cordelia being apart from the group is affecting her, so she's done this in order to get her back so that Willow can...well, not at peace, but not exactly as mopey as she's been. Anya's concern is purely in regard to their mission. Willow's happiness, quite honestly, is the furthest things from her mind.

I wouldn't say that the others are getting their memories of their past lives back sooner than Willow, though Anya does have more of an understanding about what's going on than the others do and Cordelia does get the odd flash of recovered memory once and a while, though she doesn't really understand it. By the end of this fic, though, I can guarantee that everyone will know what's up.

Oh, and here's something for you guys to look at. I suppose you've all been wondering how each of the girls transforms. Well, thanks to YouTube, I can show you.

Willow

Fred

Cordelia

Buffy

Anya

[spoiler]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPOSRUPYzzo: Willow later on when she becomes Princess Sailor Moon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93x3hJLXGPA: Fred when she becomes evil(which is happening sooner than you may think )[/spoiler]

Here's the update. I actually had this done a while back, and I was going to post it on Sunday, but I thought it would be better if I posted it now, kinda as an early Christmas gift. Enjoy! !

[hr]

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Three: Ring Around the Rose[/center]

”Man, I’ve never been more bored in my entire life.”

Willow didn’t want to feel that way, but there was no denying that being at the rec center watching the swimming competition was one of the most boring experiences she had ever had to suffer through. She knew, however, that it was one of the few ways in which she could enjoy the company of her friends without having the shadow of their work as Sailor Soldiers hanging over their head, so all she could do was suffer quietly on the inside while giving Fred all of her support on the outside, and hope that her indifference to the situation didn’t make her enthusiasm as manufactured as she feared it would be.

At least Buffy appeared to be having fun, though Willow suspected that it had more to due with the fact that there were so many well toned and half nude men also taking part in the competition. Even at an early age, Willow had never liked boys in that way, so it was somewhat funny to see Buffy be as boy crazy as she was, going on and on about how any attractive boy she met resembled, at least in her mind, anyway, her old boyfriend Parker. Buffy had even compared Parker to Riley Finn, who was always at the Bronze whenever Willow and Buffy went there, whether it be for Soldier business or just have fun on their own, and to Buffy’s amusement, he had taken more than a passing interest in her

But while Willow found it amusing for Buffy to go on and on about how Riley and other boys she knew reminded her of Parker, she had to admit that it did start to get annoying after a while. She never really told Buffy to stop doing it, though, because Buffy was having so much fun doing it, and to tell her to stop would just be insensitive. And she didn’t want to be so insensitive to Buffy, knowing that, with Cordelia apparently going out of her way not to talk to her, the blonde was the only person she really felt comfortable talking to amongst the four remaining members of the group.

That didn’t make Fred someone Willow didn’t like to be around, though. The fact that she was here was more than enough proof of that. But for the longest time, she had seen the young girl like most of the people she knew did: someone whose math talents and study habits made her appear to be too conceited to either talk to anyone else or attempt to be anyone else’s friend, making her the object of jealousy and scorn of pretty much the entire school save her teachers. Willow, who had until recently failed pretty much every single math test she had ever taken, had always resented Fred for the apparent ease with which she did her work, even if she had always taken the awards and accolades in stride, saying that it was no big deal.

Of course, it wasn’t until after Willow had gotten to know Fred better that she learned the true reason why she did so well in school: she was so painfully shy when it came to dealing with other people in social situations that she couldn’t muster up the courage to talk to others. And the thing that frightened Willow the most was the fact that Fred said that she preferred it that way, because the last thing that she said she wanted was to have her hopes to have a person in her life she could call “friend” dashed in such a painful manner.

”That must be why she stays with me,” Willow had thought when Fred has told her this. ”She must be so willing to consider me a friend as far as our civilian lives go to look past the fact that, like the others, she can’t come to see me as the leader of the Sailor Soldiers.” It was this revelation that made Willow decide to try and do everything she could to live up to the image of the friend Fred wanted her to be, even if the redhead knew that she couldn’t live up to the image of the leader that Anya wanted the others to see her be.

As she saw Fred emerge from the locker room and head to her place at the starting position, Willow tried to put her thoughts of the situation the five of them were enmeshed in to the side and simply try and enjoy herself as she watched her friend compete. It may not be all that exciting, but it was preferable to thinking about things that made her feel unhappy.

Being bored, at least when compared to being unhappy, seemed more preferable. At least being bored didn’t allow the opportunity for overanalyzing a situation you had no control over.

**

Tara ran her index finger across the surface of the locket briefly before moving to open it, the faint melody it played whenever she did so springing immediately to life and filling every one of her senses with its beautiful harmony and haunting familiarity.

The star shaped locket was surprisingly light for such a large object, and though a beaded chain was attached to it, Tara never considered wearing it in public. It was far too precious an object to her to risk losing it by accident. After all, it was the one thing she had that could possibly help her remember her past.

Kneeling in front of the table on which she had placed it, Tara let out a sigh, the melody the locket was playing bringing to mind feelings and faint traces of memories she knew she had experienced at one point or another in her life, but for some reason could not recall now. It was frustrating how much this really bothered her, especially since there was a long period of time in her life when it did not.

But recently, things like this brought to the surface the memories of the dreams she had when she was younger; dreams which had begun to come back to her in the past two months, more forcefully and more clearly than they ever had before.

And there had also been her nocturnal activities as the mysterious tuxedo garbed figure that assisted Sailor Moon in her fight against the enemy she faced.

Tara found her thoughts turning to the blonde heroine she was helping, and wondered, not for the first time since meeting her, if she, her missing memories and her search for the Mystical Silver Crystal were all connected somehow. It certainly couldn’t be a coincidence that the return of her dreams and Sailor Moon’s first appearance both occurred at the same time that an enemy appeared from out of nowhere and made its intentions to destroy the Earth clear to both of them.

Closing the locket, Tara decided that the best way to clear her mind might be to let something else occupy it. Getting to her feet, she went to the closet and opened to, seeing as she did so the top hat, dress shoes, walking cane and white mask sitting on the top shelf, along with the tuxedo ensemble that, though out of sight to anyone else who might have opened it, she knew was hanging off to one side.

”I’m living a double life, and I can’t tell Willow about it,” she thought. ”She could never understand what its like to lead a double life and deceive the one you love that you’re doing so. It was bad enough that I told her about my search for the Crystal, but at least she understood everything about that and didn’t consider me crazy. But I could never tell her this. Not only would she think I was insane, it would put her into danger. And…I don’t want to risk hurting or losing her. Finding the Crystal and regaining my memories is important, but her friendship and the love that we share are more important to me than anything in this world. I’d gladly put Willow ahead of everything else, even if it meant I could never remember my own past.”

Withdrawing her shoes and coat, she put them on and walked out of the house, hand reaching into her pocket to retrieve her keys.

**

After an hour at the mall, Tara had to concede that perhaps coming here hadn’t been the best way to make herself feel better. In fact, it appeared to do everything it could to make her feel that much worse.

It wasn’t something she could blame on herself, however. With Christmas just a few weeks away, families throughout the town were preparing to spend the holidays together, buying gifts for their loved ones, getting food together to fix a holiday feast certain people would no doubt spend three months exercising off, and generally being nice to one another.

But all of the yuletide cheer she saw simply reminded Tara of what she didn’t have: a family of her own to spend Christmas with. Sure, she had Willow in her life, and she would never be ungrateful for that. But there were times and situations that the love of a family was preferable to the time one could spend with a girlfriend. And it was at this time of the year, more than any other, that the thought of having no family to go home to deeply hurt her.

Deciding that the best way to make herself feel better was to buy something for Willow, she walked into the nearest jewelry store and took a moment to look around, seeing if any of the jewels triggered something in the back of her mind that might make her think any of them was the Mystical Silver Crystal. After a moment of fruitless searching, however, she gave up and decided to look for something that would be the best gift to give Willow.

A few moments later, she found it. A small promise ring embedded with a 2 karat diamond. It was nothing fancy, but it made Tara’s heart smile. Willow had never been the type to appreciate girlish things like this, but Tara knew that if she gave it to her, Willow would no doubt make a big fuss about it, which was more than enough to make her happy.

Paying for the ring and accepting the box as it was handed back to her, Tara turned to the shop’s entrance and began to walk towards it. Halfway there, another person entered. The newcomer had long platinum blond hair that hung loosely around his shoulders, and was clad in a long dark duster over equally dark pants and shirt. As she walked by him, Tara couldn’t help but feel that there was something familiar about this person, even though, to the best of her recollection, this was the first time she had ever seen him.

Shaking the feeling off, she walked out of the store and headed to the parking lot, wondering if Willow would come to visit her today, and if she did, whether or not it would be an appropriate time to give her the ring.

**

Spike took a look back as the blonde woman left the store, thinking for a moment how familiar she looked. Then again, that could mean anything, since he had seen dozens more like her in his time here, some of which were currently held prisoner by him and the others, Angelus’ plan apparently working better than he had thought.

At least, it was working as far as it served draining energy to give to Queen Metallia. The plan’s other intended desirable effect, the drawing of the Sailor Soldiers into their web, had apparently not worked thus far. It was especially frustrating for them to have accomplished so much in this plan, yet have very little to show for it.

His arm ached at that moment, and he was instantly reminded of the fact that one of them had bested him in battle. This infuriated him as much as the failure of his and his fellow Shitennou, since of the four, he was the first to be directly attacked by the Soldiers. He had vowed ever since then that he would make the one who did this to him suffer, but he had to play by the rules of this plan and not expose themselves until the Soldiers exposed themselves first.

The man on the opposite side of the counter noticed him then, and said, “Hello, sir. Is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes,” Spike replied, resting his hands on the countertop palm downward. “There is something here that you have which I require.”

“Oh?” the man asked. “And, what may I ask, is that?”

Spike chuckled and looked down at the countertop. Then, with a quickness that gave the other man little time to react, the blond was over the countertop and behind the clerk, grabbing at his right arm with one hand while clutching the man's neck in the other. Before the clerk could react to this, Spike sent his upper body slamming into the countertop, the glass display case cracking at the sudden impact.

“Your energy,” Spike snarled, disappearing, along with the clerk, a few seconds later in a cloud of white rose petals.

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Yay for Tara's returning memories! This makes me happy. Oh, and the promise ring for Willow is a lovely touch. Now if only our girls would get those pesky secrets out of the way. I mean, those never end well. A very nice update (even with the lack of .) As always, I look forward to more!

Amber: I wouldn't say that Tara's memories are returning, but she is starting to recognize certain things about her past life. She doesn't really know it, however, because that part of her is still sealed off, at least for the time being. Yeah, I kinda like the idea of the promise ring, too. It'll make an appearance later on.

I have to agree with you. This story hasn't had a lot of yet, and to be honest, that's mainly by design. The idea I give is that there's a relationship between the two of them before the start of the original fic, neither one realizing that they had a relationship in their former lives. There was plenty of kissage then, and I promise I'll get around to showing it. (It's actually something I'm really looking forward to doing, so you can imagine how much I actually want to cover it.)

Glad you're enjoying the story, Amber. Update is below.

[hr]

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Four: Raging Fire, Melting Ice[/center]

“I feel guilty about leaving without Fred,” Willow told Buffy as the two of them left the rec center and headed off down the street.

“She’ll be fine,” Buffy reassured her, though her tone of voice betrayed the fact that she was as unsure about whether or not what they were doing was the right thing to do as Willow was. But it couldn’t be helped. While she and Willow had watched Fred doing her relays, her cell phone had gone off. Luna was on the other end, and told the two of them to come back to the Secret Base for a meeting.

“Maybe we can get Luna to call her again later,” Willow said, knowing that she was trying to justify walking out on Fred, something she thought she would never have to do. She hoped that Fred could understand that it wasn’t done intentionally just to snub her, but that Sailor Soldier business had come up while she was busy. She would understand that…wouldn’t she?

“Maybe,” Buffy replied, her tone once again betraying her uneasiness about the situation, though she said nothing more about it.

The two walked in silence all the way to the Bronze where, after flashing their Bronze Passports to the young man at the counter, they walked to one of the nearby doors and into the room that, to most of the other patrons of the nightclub/entertainment lounge, was nothing more than a simple empty storage room. In actually, however, when Willow or her friends opened it, the empty storage room became the Secret Base, the room Luna and Artemis said was the place where they could discuss strategy and generally get together and relax.

Willow had been there earlier in the day, and even then, she didn’t exactly like it, as it was here that she had the most vocal arguments and disagreements with Anya and the others. That didn’t exactly give her a lot of fond memories about the place, and from what Luna had told Buffy, it sounded as if there was more of the same to be had on this occasion.

So Willow wasn’t all that surprised to find waiting for her at the table in the center of the room not only Luna and Artemis, but Anya as well. What was surprising, however, was the identity of the one sitting beside her.

“Cordy?”

“Hi, Willow,” Cordelia said with a slight wave of her hand.

“But…But I thought you said that you didn’t want to have anything to do with us anymore,” Willow blustered, trying to figure out what was going on. Realizing what she said, she quickly amended, “Not that I’m not glad to see you, because, well, we’ve been friends for a long time and it’s always nice to see you, but I got the impression that when you said you didn’t want to be with us anymore, you also didn’t want to be friends with me.”

“I didn’t,” Cordelia agreed as she got to her feet. “But then Anya told me how much you missed me, and that made me realize that by staying away, all I was really doing was hurting you, not only as far as our lives as Sailor Soldiers go, but also as your far as being your friend in real life goes. And that made me realize also that you’ve had to deal with a lot recently, and that our friendship shouldn’t be sacrificed because I didn’t agree with it. So I decided that if you can make personal sacrifices for the benefit of all of us, then so can I.”

Willow smiled and ran at Cordelia, arms outstretched, enveloping her best friend in a hug, trying vainly to fight back the tears that threatened to come forward; an urge that she saw Cordelia fail spectacularly against. Willow looked at Anya over Cordelia’s shoulder and silently mouthed, ”Thank you.”

”You owe me,” Anya mouthed in reply, letting Willow know immediately that even though the rift between her and Cordelia had just been patched, there still existed a rift between the two of them, one that was not likely to be as easily mended, nor likely to be so anytime in the near future.

But that didn’t matter to Willow right now. All that did matter was that Cordelia was not only her friend once again, but was also back on the team. That made having to deal with Anya a lot more bearable, since Cordy would now no doubt side with Willow on anything, making the odds in dealing with the blonde, who still fancied herself as leader of their group, slightly better than two to one did.

“While I’m happy for this reunion,” Luna interrupted, bringing them all back to the present. “I must say that I’m concerned that one of you is missing. Why isn’t Fred with you?”

“She’s still at the rec center,” Buffy explained.

Luna sighed, turning to look at Willow. “She’s still at her swimming competition?”

Willow nodded.

“Very well,” Luna said. “This news is too important for you to know to wait until she’s arrived to tell you. One of you will have to tell her later. Now, I assume that you’ve all heard about the reports of people disappearing?”

Willow and the others nodded in the affirmative, Anya saying, “Do you think this is some attempt by the enemy to draw us out?”

“It’s the only explanation that makes sense,” Luna confirmed. “And that’s exactly why I think that it would be a good idea for the five of you to be on your guard from now on. There’s no rhyme or reason to the enemy’s movements. They appear to be striking at random, choosing targets that have no discernable pattern. It would appear that they are doing this in the hope that one of their victims is someone you know.”

Willow found her attention at that moment shifting from Luna’s words to her memories of Tara, her still unproven yet unquestioning belief that she was the Moon Princess making its way to the surface. The thought of Tara ending up a prisoner of the Dark Kingdom frightened her for many reasons, not the least of which was the fact that they might be able to force the Mystical Silver Crystal from her. But it was mostly due to the fact that Tara, as an innocent in the battle she and her friends were fighting, did not deserve to have her life be put in danger that way. That was, after all, why she fought so hard when she had no help. But to find out now that all of her best efforts might have been for nothing…

“Willow?”

Willow’s attention abruptly refocused to the present when she heard Luna’s voice, realizing that she had been trying to talk to her. “Willow, are you all right?”

“What?” Willow asked, before coming to her senses. “Oh. Yes. I’m fine.”

“Are you sure?” Anya asked, her tone indicating to Willow that she asked out of genuine curiosity, and not out of what appeared to be an apparent opportunity to capitalize on Willow’s perceived lack of leadership skills and assert herself as the leader.

“Yeah,” Willow answered, moving to sit down. “It’s just that…I’ve got something to tell you all.”

”Please forgive me, Tara,” she thought to herself. ”But the only way I can protect you is to reveal your secret.”

**

Fred stepped out of the locker room, clad once again in her shirt, pants and coat, plastic bag containing her wet swimsuit in hand and knapsack containing her schoolwork slung over one shoulder, looking towards the stands to see if Willow and Buffy were waiting for her. She had seen them earlier just as she was about to perform her first relay, and had been happy to know that they had come to watch, just as Willow had promised her. But her face fell sharply when she realized that her two friends were no longer there.

Fred smile returned, if fainter than before, at her silent mention of the word, knowing that this was the first time in her life where she could feel right about using it. Even back home in Texas, her natural talents with Mathematics had made her distant from her fellow classmates, which made her family’s decision to come to Sunnydale all the better, as far as she was concerned. She had hoped for a new life here, and for a time, she wondered if that would be possible, given that everyone at school was no more willing to accept her than the people she had known at school back home.

Then two months ago, her entire life had changed. Not only did she actually gain some friends, but she also came to learn that she was a superhero, sent from the past to defend the Earth in the present from an evil force that threatened its future. The thought of all of that impressed her a great deal, certainly, but not nearly as much as having friends for the first time in her life. And it was that sense of friendship that kept Fred connected with Willow and Buffy while Cordelia and Anya had gradually distanced themselves from the group, perhaps never to return.

Fred knew what it felt like to be alone, which was why she stuck by Willow no matter what happened. And the three of them had done their best over the past two months at repelling the forces of the Dark Kingdom. Or, at the very least, keep them from succeeding in such a fashion that would mean the end of the world. Their decreased strength, combined with their internal problems, kept them from working at their full potential, which meant that, unless the five of them could start working together again, all the three of them could do was simply delay the inevitable.

Walking out of the rec center, Fred made her way idly down the street, looking up into the sky as she wondered where Willow and Buffy had gone. For a moment she thought about giving them a call and asking what they were up to, but she realized that if she did so, it might make her seem clingy and dependant, and she didn’t want to project that anymore than she knew she already did, since that was indeed how she felt on the inside most of the time.

Willow had her own life to live. And Fred knew that, no matter how she might feel about it, she couldn’t be a part of it all the time.

”Maybe they’re at the Secret Base,” she wondered. ”Willow wouldn’t just leave me all by myself unless there was something important she had to take care of. And what could be more important than Soldier business? Maybe I should go there and…”

She shivered at that point, realizing how cold the surrounding air had become. But as she became aware of the blowing snow and freezing wind, she realized how little what was going on had to do with a change in the weather.

A few moments later, the blowing snow and winds formed a tornado from which emerged a man in black with a red cape, holding a sword sheathed within a scabbard in one hand. Giving her an appreciative stare, he smiled faintly.

“Such a pretty little thing, you are. I almost feel bad that there’s nothing you can do to stop me.” Withdrawing his sword, the man pointed it directly at her. “Almost.”

Fred dropped her knapsack and affixed a battle stance, knowing that this had to be one of the agents of the Dark Kingdom. If that was true, there was only one thing she could do to protect herself. Thankful that she had strapped on her bracelet when she had changed, she moved to transform.

“Mercury Power Make Up!”

**

Willow had to admit, the others had taken her news far better than she expected them to. But that didn’t mean much when what she had expected was a lot worse than what she had been given, which, when she thought about it, wasn’t all that great, either.

“You’ve known who the Princess was for the past two months?” Buffy asked.

Willow nodded slightly.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Anya asked.

Willow nodded again, her head moving slightly less than it had the last time, almost as if she were ashamed to admit it.

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Cordelia asked before the others had a chance to say something that could make Willow feel worse. “If we had known you knew who the Princess was, we would have stuck by you and forgotten the petty differences that came up between us.”

“I know,” Willow admitted. “But…but I thought that it would be easier for her if she…if I…if I didn’t let you guys know I knew who she was.”

“Why not?” Luna asked, taking in the conversation with a great deal more interest than she normally would have, given the fact that she knew Willow's memories were coming back faster than the others. And that the only thing that made sense at this point was that Willow had found out for herself the fact that she was the Moon Princess, deciding not to reveal that knowledge to the others for her own reasons, much like Luna had done when they had first met the others and explained the situation to them. She couldn’t tell what Willow’s motives were, though she suspected that they were similar to her own: that the knowledge she had was not something that needed to be discussed at the present time.

But apparently, what Artemis had said earlier in the day was right. If Willow knew for certain that she was the Princess, there was now no way that they could continue to keep it a secret.

“Because…” Willow began before stopping herself, feeling the tears began to well up. “I made a promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone. Not even you guys. I…I just wanted to protect her without letting her know how much danger she was in.”

“That’s a very noble thing for you to do,” Cordelia said.

The others agreed, though Luna noted that Artemis clearly displayed some concern about hearing that. Tilting her head to indicate that she wanted to speak to him in private, the pair made their way out of the hearing range of the others. “What’s wrong?”

“You know very well what’s wrong, Luna,” Artemis said. “Willow wouldn't think about protecting the Princess if she thought she herself was the Princess.”

“What are you saying?”

I’m saying that Willow clearly thinks that there’s someone else who is the Princess. We can’t let her go on thinking that, Luna.”

“What’s so wrong about that?” Luna asked, completely nonplussed.

“You can’t be serious,” Artemis stated, his features indicating he clearly did not like what Luna was thinking. “You can’t think that letting Willow and the others believe someone else is the Princess is a good idea. Aside from the fact that it’s not right to the others, you can clearly see how badly this is eating away at Willow. She’s been through too much in the past two months, and we’re not completely faultless in giving her those problems to deal with. We can’t sit idly by and expect her to go through this, as well.”

“I know,” Luna sighed, admitting defeat in this particular argument. “But like you said, she’s been through too much lately. Don’t you think it might be a good idea for her to get this off her chest, just so she can be at peace…at least for a little while?”

Artemis nodded, and the two moved to rejoin the conversation between the others. “So, Willow,” he said. “I think you can agree that telling us who the Princess is would be a better way for her to be protected rather than keeping her identity a secret from the ones sworn to protect her.”

Willow nodded in understanding. “OK, then. I’ll tell you who she is, but only if all of you can promise me that you won’t make a big deal out of it.”

“We promise,” the group said in unison.

“OK, then,” Willow said, mentally preparing herself to do the hardest thing she would ever have to do in her life. “I’ll tell you what I know.”

**

Angelus hated to admit this, but he was indeed surprised about the events that had transpired in such a short amount of time. This plan had been enacted with the hope that it would draw out the Sailor Soldiers. He never in a thousand years would have believed that this plan would be successful in actually capturing one.

But here she was. This young girl, appearing no different than the others he and his comrades had captured one moment, had revealed herself to be one of the five whose capture was the ultimate goal of this plan. Even more surprising was the fact that this one, despite her obvious weaknesses in the face of a superior enemy, appeared to be holding her own.

Angelus knew, however, that she couldn’t last. Whenever she had fought before, she had always been in the company of either their leader or their leader and at least one other, and never served any real purpose in any of their conflicts other than to provide distractions that would give the others the opportunity to attack whatever monster the Dark Kingdom sent their way. He could also feel the emotional turmoil that this one was going through at the moment, and knew that this would make her far more useful to their cause than he had first imagined.

They said that friends could be one’s own worst enemy. Well, if all went as well as he expected, he would find out how true that statement was very soon.

**

“Shine Aqua Illusion!”

Fred sent the attack, one of her most powerful, directly at her opponent, hoping that it would be good enough to inflict some harm. But her hopes faded when he brought his sword up and deflected the attack with ease.

Gritting her teeth, she tried again with a different attack. “Mercury Aqua Mist!”

This wasn’t one of her more powerful attacks, and she knew it. It was, in all honesty, little more than a defensive tactic used so that the enemy would be distracted, giving Willow or Buffy enough time to do some other attack that would be more powerful. So she wasn’t at all surprised to find that it was deflected as well.

Her opponent smiled. “I’m impressed. You are holding your own quite well, despite the fact that you’re all by yourself.”

That comment stung, but Fred refused to let it get under her skin too much. “We’re just as powerful apart as we are together.”

“Are you?” the man asked, his smile showing that Fred’s words amused him more than concerned him. “You don’t appear to be all that powerful without them. Perhaps if your friends were here, then I would have already retreated.”

Fred couldn’t help but admit to this fact. If Willow and Buffy had been here, this…person, would have already been defeated, leaving them free to go about their own business. “Maybe, but I’ll still be able to beat you all by myself.”

The man raised his free arm and wagged a finger. “I don’t think so.” He then brought up his sword and ran his other hand across the blade, the action giving the weapon a purple tinge. His smile, which had never wavered during the entire battle, suddenly became, if possible, more lecherous. “In fact, I would daresay that this battle…is over!”

With that declaration, he swung his sword, casting the energy directly at Fred. She tried her best to fight it, but her defenses were too worn down from the fight to put up any real resistance, and she collapsed to the ground.

”Why?” Fred thought as she began to lose consciousness. ”Why have my friends abandoned me?”

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

You. Are. EVIL.

*begs*

*regains dignity* Ahem. I mean, please update soon. Thanks.

Amber: Yeah, I'm evil, Amber. If you want someone to blame for that, blame watty. Reading and leaving fb for "Geek Love" has taught me the value of writing an rather angsty filled story. And to be fair, the point in the PGSM storyline I' ripping off of is pretty much the same as what has been done thus far in the fic. Though, of course, it'll all turn out good in the end. The road to get there, however, will not be good.

Glad you're reading, Amber. And glad you're leaving feedback. I'll post the next chapter tomorrow morning. (I've been playing Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast for the past couple of days, and it's really good. Which makes me kinda glad I got the next few chapters in various states of "in-the-can" to justify my spending time playing it.)

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Five: Willow Rosenberg is Sailor Moon?[/center]

Willow walked up to Tara’s door and moved to knock on it. She hesitated as her knuckles touched the door, her thoughts replaying the events of the past several hours. After she had told the others about her suspicions about Tara, they agreed that it would be a good idea for one of them to go to her and explain everything to her. Though Anya said that she was more than willing to do it, Willow had quickly interjected with a resounding rebuttal to that, saying that if anyone had the right to tell Tara about this, it was her.

Willow had come to that conclusion for a number of reasons. For starters, she knew that it would be better for Tara to hear this from her rather than Anya, since the blonde was anything but tactful when it came to sensitive situations like this. More importantly, however, was the fact that it had been quite some time since Willow knew the swimming competition had concluded, and even longer since Fred should have at least contacted them, so her safety swiftly became of paramount importance. However, they all agreed that talking to Tara was equally important, so it was decided that Anya would take the others to find Fred while Willow went to talk to Tara all by herself.

Willow was worried about Fred, but she was slightly more worried about having this conversation with Tara. Talking to her had always been something that made Willow feel pleasant, even when Tara gently admonished her over her bad grades and decisions in life. Never in the time Willow had known her had Tara’s voice ever made her feel uncomfortable.

Willow knew that belief was about to be shaken to its very core, though how badly that was going to end up being was something that was in question. Willow had no doubt that the minute she became aware of the fact that her secret had come out, Tara would feel betrayed about the fact that the redhead had chosen to tell her secret to others. But she didn’t know that Willow had done it for a good reason, one she might not understand, but a good reason nonetheless.

On the other hand, even when given that knowledge, Tara might not react to that bit of news as well as Willow hoped she would. On the contrary, Tara would most likely consider that news as a sign that she was being made fun of, the very thing she had hoped to avoid. One way or another, things were about to get very awkward between them.

Taking a deep breath, and realizing that the inevitable couldn’t be put off any longer, she knocked on the door. It opened a few moments later, revealing the smiling form of Tara. “Hi, Willow.”

“Hi, Tara,” Willow said, her voice cracking a bit, no doubt due to the cold. “Can I…can I come in?”

“Of course,” Tara replied, opening the door and allowing Willow to enter. Willow took off her coat and left it on the armrest of the stairs as she made her way up them into Tara’s living room, the blonde moving into the kitchen. Willow smiled faintly as she watched Tara’s retreating form. This was the ritual they had always gone through whenever they were here, Willow sitting down in Tara’s living room as Tara made her girlfriend some tea and a small snack.

But as she sat down on one of the chairs, Willow knew that this time would be different. Immediately beginning to fidget, Willow knew that her nervousness was all too apparent, and she knew that Tara would immediately pick up on it, making any attempt to dance around the issue for as long as she could a useless endeavor.

Coming into the living room with a cup of tea, Tara noticed Willow fidgeting, and grew concerned. “Willow, what’s wrong?”

Willow felt her stomach tighten, and decided that she should just get it over with before things got any worse. “Tara, I’ve done something horrible.”

Tara’s expression immediately softened into a look of compassion as she came over to kneel beside Willow. Gently bringing the redhead’s head around, Tara looked into her emerald green eyes. “Whatever it is, Willow, I want you to know that you can feel comfortable talking to me about it. I’m sure that it isn’t as bad as you think it is. If you had a good reason to do it, I’ll understand why you felt you had to do it.”

Willow let out a breath, Tara’s declaration letting her know that, as far as talking to her about this was concerned, she wouldn’t be upset. “I…I…I talked to somebody.”

“What’s so wrong about that?” Tara asked, clearly surprised that something like that would upset Willow this much.

“About you.”

Tara was still confused for a moment, but realization dawned on her face quickly as she realized that there was only one subject that Willow could be talking about that would make her this upset. Getting up as quickly as if she had been struck by a live wire, Tara made her way over to the window. “Willow, you promised me that you wouldn’t tell anyone about that.”

“I know,” Willow said, getting up from the chair and moving to join Tara at the window. “But…but I had to do it. You said that you would understand why I had to do it if I had a good reason.”

Tara turned to look at Willow, and the expression on the blonde’s face shook Willow to the core. In one single look, Tara had managed to convey hurt, sadness, and most importantly of all, betrayal. Willow immediately grew sick at seeing her girlfriend look like this, knowing that there was perhaps no explanation in this world that could be good enough to justify what she had just done.

“Why?” Tara asked, her voice catching, as if she didn’t want to say that. “What reason could you possibly have to tell somebody about my search for the Crystal?”

“What?” Willow asked, realizing then that Tara had misunderstood her about what it was that she had done. “No, Tara. I didn’t tell anyone about that. I promised I would never tell anyone about that.”

Tara looked away, the sight of Willow making her feel uncomfortable. Not only had she betrayed her trust, but now she was trying to say that she hadn’t done it at all to begin with. Tara knew that she shouldn’t have trusted Willow with her secret, even though she believed the redhead to be the most trustworthy person she knew. There were few people that Tara could trust with as important a secret as her search for the Crystal was, but Willow had been one of them. Now she had proven herself to be no different than anyone else. It made her sick.

“Please, Tara,” Willow continued. “I never told anyone about your search for the Crystal. I just…I just…”

“What?” Tara snapped, turning back to look at Willow. “What did you do?”

“I just told them who I thought you were!” Willow shouted.

Taken aback slightly, Tara took a moment to compose herself before replying. “What…What do you mean?”

“I…I..,” Willow stammered. “When you told me about your search for the Crystal, you said that you had dreams of somebody telling you to search for it. I thought that…that…because you had those dreams, that the person you were talking about…might have been yourself.”

Tara, who had begun to believe Willow despite herself, now found herself doubting the redhead once again. Not bothering to turn around to address her, she asked, “So…what, Willow? Do you think I have a split personality or something? Do you think that I could be imagining all of this?”

“No, Tara!” Willow insisted. She tried to continue, but realized that there was only one way that Tara was going to believe her. And that was to tell her the truth. “Tara, I know how important it is to find the Mystical Silver Crystal because…because I’m looking for it, too.”

Tara turned to look at Willow, but before she could say anything, Willow spoke again.

“Moon Prism Power Make Up.”

Tara stood rooted to the spot as Willow’s body was enveloped in a light so bright that she had to bring her hand up to shield her eyes. It faded quickly, and Tara looked in surprise at the person who now stood before her. It was still Willow, but she had changed. Where before she had worn a t-shirt and jeans, she now wore a leotard and skirt combination that looked similar to the school uniforms Tara knew Japanese girls wore. Her red hair was now blonde, done up in two buns on the side of her head from which trailed pigtails. A red bejeweled tiara rested on her forehead, pink bows on her chest and back, and pink knee length boots.

Tara couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“Willow, you’re…you’re…”

Smiling faintly, Willow said, “I’m the beautiful Sailor Solider of love and justice, Sailor Moon. And in the name of the moon…” She paused, realizing that a change in her attack phrase was needed at this moment. “And in the name of the moon, I’ll explain everything.”

**

“You cannot be serious.”

Standing in front of Angelus, Oz knew that he was speaking for the others when he voiced that. A glance at each of them all but confirmed this, though why they did not speak, he did not know.

Looking down, he saw the reason for this declaration laid out on the stone slab in front of them all. It was bad enough that their leader had chosen to bring the Sailor Soldier he had decided to capture here, but to utilize her in the manner that he had just finished describing did not make any sense.

“I can assure you that she can be conditioned to suit our purposes,” Angelus said as if the worrisome complaints of his comrade were of no concern. “She is already in a state of emotional turmoil, no doubt brought about by the friction between her comrades. All she needs to be turned to our side is to be exposed to the power that Queen Metallia possesses. She will then become the instrument that will bring about the Sailor Soldier’s destruction.”

“This cannot end well, Angelus,” Xander spoke up after the moment of silence that preceded his leader’s assertion. “Even if this were to work, we have no guarantee that she will be compliant enough to do our bidding. For all that we know, she could end up seeking to destroy us as well. I do not think that is such a good idea, and neither would our Queen.”

“Really?” Angelus asked, moving towards Xander, who became aware after a few moments that both Oz and Spike were backing away. Before he could do anything about it, however, Angelus had his sword up, the sharpened tip perilously close to his throat.

“Luckily, I don’t need your approval for this,” the elder warrior said, his gaze cold and unfeeling. “Neither do I need Faith’s.” He turned to the others. “And I especially do not need yours.”

“But Faith is our master,” Xander replied. “She would not approve of this.”

“She would approve of any plan that brings about the defeat of the Sailor Soldiers,” Angelus stated, looking at each of his comrades. “You all know that they are at odds at the moment. That alone assures their eventual destruction. Can none of you deny the fact that by having one of their own fight for us, their own internal strife would accelerate that much quicker, allowing us to strike directly at their heart and rid ourselves of their interference one and for all?”

He watched as Oz and Spike seemed to accept this, but noted that Xander remained unconvinced. He would no doubt report this little incident to Faith, acting like a dog blindly obeying the orders of his master without question.

Angelus wasn’t surprised. Of the four of them, Xander was the one who appeared to be completely loyal to her, without any hints of deception or subterfuge marking his action. He knew not how much of the reverence Oz or Spike held for Faith was true and how much was an act, nor did he particularly care. To him, they were no different than Xander: blindly following the orders of a power mad woman who couldn’t see past her own ambitions to look at the big picture, even if they did so only to mask their own ambitions and goals.

That was why Angelus capitulated to Faith like the others did, at the same time plotting to usurp her power and make it his own. But unlike the others, he was patient. All he had to do was bide his time until Faith managed to find a way to control the power that Metallia had at her disposal. Then, when that day came, she would perish at his hand. And he would then take up the mantle of King of the Dark Kingdom and lead them against the people of Earth.

With him in command of the forces of the Dark Kingdom and the power of Metallia at his side, those who could oppose him would be eliminated without mercy.

Angelus longed for the day when he would expunge the Earth of all humanity. It would be on that day that he would reign unopposed, secure in the knowledge that there was none who could defeat him.

**

Tara sat in surprise as Willow, who had reverted back to her original form, explained to her everything that had happened in the past two months: how Luna had come to her saying that the world was in danger of being overrun by the forces of the Dark Kingdom, how she and four other girls had come together to join forces in combating them, and all about the battles she had to fight, many of them by herself, with only a mysterious tuxedoed female assisting her.

She didn’t need to hear any explanations from Willow about that, because, unknown to the redhead, she was that mysterious tuxedoed female. Tara knew now that she could tell Willow about that without fear, but knew also that, from what Willow had told her, her friends might not look at her in the same way. It would perhaps be for the best if that remained a secret, at least for the time being.

“So,” she said once Willow was finished. “When I told you about my search for the Crystal, you thought that, because I knew about it, I might be the Princess of the Moon Kingdom?”

Willow nodded. “I’ve wanted to tell you for a long time, Tara. But I…I didn’t think you would believe me.”

Tara smiled faintly. “I understand, Willow. I know how difficult it can be to keep a secret from the one I love.”

Willow chuckled slightly, though her head was still downcast. “I know.”

The pair sat in silence for a minute or so before Tara got to her feet. “Where are you going?” Willow asked.

“I got you something,” Tara answered, hoping that the change in topic wouldn’t seem so abrupt. “For Christmas, I mean.”

Willow’s smile brightened as she looked up at Tara. “You didn’t have to, Tara.”

“I know,” Tara replied. “But…I wanted to. Christmastime isn’t a…isn’t a good time for me. And I thought that the best way I could make myself happy was to…to make you…happy.”

Willow blushed, knowing that this was another of Tara’s habits: doing anything possible make her happy, even when it wasn’t needed. But something sparked in the back of Willow’s mind, making her realize how inappropriate Tara’s gift was. “But Tara, Christmas isn’t until Monday. You can’t give it to me yet.”

“I know,” Tara admitted. “But I want to give it to you now so that…so that you have it with you. If it would make you feel better, you don’t have to open it now. You can wait till Monday.”

Willow thought about it for a moment, then said, “OK.”

Tara left the living room and walked down the hallway to her bedroom. As soon as she was out of sight, Willow let out a sigh of relief, the weight she had accumulated from having to keep her dual nature from Tara for the past two months leaving her with that expelled breath. Now there would be no more secrets between them. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to relax.

Her moment of relaxation was brief, as she became aware of a faint buzzing sound somewhere nearby. Thinking that it was a bug that had managed to get inside Tara’s house, Willow paid it no mind.

“Willow, you’re buzzing.”

Willow’s eyes snapped open when she heard Tara’s voice, realizing that it was her cell phone that was causing the buzz. Withdrawing it from her pocket, he opened it up. “Hello?”

”Willow, it’s Cordelia. You’d better get back to the Secret Base right away.”

Something about Cordelia’s voice immediately had Willow on edge. “What’s wrong?”

”We found Fred’s stuff near the rec center.”

Willow crinkled her brow in confusion. “What do you mean, ‘you found her stuff?’ Didn’t you find her?”

Cordelia didn’t reply, but her silence was all Willow needed to hear. “I’ll be right over.” She closed her cell phone and got to her feet, looking at Tara with an apologetic stare. “I’m sorry, Tara. I have to go. It’s…”

“Soldier business?” Tara asked, and Willow noted that it was not only done in a kindly fashion, but with the faintest hint of a smile on her face. That melted Willow’s heart immediately, knowing that there was now more of an understanding between the two of them than there ever had been before.

“I’m sorry, Tara,” she tried to explain, but stopped as Tara brought a finger to her lips, her free hand working something into Willow’s own.

“Don’t explain it to me. Just go.”

Willow smiled and ran down the stairs, grabbing her coat from the armrest as she did so. She worked her shoes on as fast as she could and ran out the door. Halfway to the street, she paused as she remembered the package Tara gave to her. Bringing her arms up, she opened her palms and looked at the box Tara had put into her hands. She opened it to find within a ring embedded with a small diamond.

Willow’s eyes watered over as she smiled, sniffling a bit. “Thank you, Tara,” she whispered as she put the ring on her finger, replaced the box in her pocket and began to run towards the Bronze.

**

Tara watched from the window as Willow ran off, then moved to her closet when her girlfriend was out of her eyesight. Opening, she withdrew the tuxedo ensemble, along with the shoes, hat, mask and cane. She got dressed quickly, leaving the mask for last.

She paused as she moved to put it on, taking at look at it and realizing for the first time the danger she was now about to put herself in. Before now, it didn’t seem to matter that she was risking her life to protect Willow, because she had thought that Willow wasn’t involved in the fight. But now that she knew that the redhead was more involved than she ever would have suspected, Tara felt different about donning the guise of Tuxedo Mask. She had done it in order to protect Willow from an enemy she knew nothing about, which she had thought she had accomplished incredibly well up until now. But now that she knew the risks of doing so, it didn’t feel right for her to do it anymore.

”I can’t do this anymore,” she thought. ”It isn’t right. I can’t continue to risk my life to protect Willow, because she will never stop risking her life to protect mine.”

Putting the mask on over her eyes, Tara came to a decision as she left her home.

”This is the last time.”

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Bad me, didn't leave a feedback 'til now...

Great work. I love it how it's resemble the original anime but keeping the characters 'buffy-ed'. I like the arguements between the Soldiers, well, not that i like them to argue but it makes the story more realistic.

It kinda makes sence that Anya doesn't want Willow to be the 'leader' though. It's easy to think Anya is better choice as a leader: strong, most experienced (compare to Willow seems to be), and quick. But I think this is also what makes Anya the worst choice as a leader. Nevermind that Willow's actually the Moon Princess, but i think in a fight like this it's important that the 'leader' of the group has a 'heart', to understand and accept and not to jump to the conclusion. Sometimes decision may need to be made very quickly, but sometimes there're many aspects that need to be considered before making one. It may takes time, but rushing into a wrong conclusion is even worst.


Okay. Now I'm really worried. Tara's going to be okay... right???

Can't wait for more.

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I am not crazy... my mum had me tested.

Oh boy, I think things are going to take a rather dramatic turn for Tara and not in the way she expects. I like the subdued reaction to Willow revealing she is Sailor Moon; anyone else would have freaked, but Tara hardly bats an eye because she knows that in the end it doesn't really matter, its still Willow.

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~Selena~
"Hear that baby? You're my always."

Oh dear. This isn't going to end well is it? I've got a bad feeling about this. (Switching AUs, I know, but I couldn't resist.)

I enjoyed this update and look forward to the next. Jedi Outcast is fun, but I think I liked KOTOR or Jedi Academy better for some reason. Hae you ever played Morrowind (The Elder Scrolls 3)? I did that this summer instead of working on my thesis research like a good kitty.

Cynthia Taz: Hey, nice to see you. I'm glad that you liked how much I kept the characters like their counterparts in the Sailor Moon verse (though I have to slightly correct you and say that they're more like they were in PGSM than they were in the anime), considering how different they are from one another. (Anya as Minako I could see, though Willow as Usagi is the furthest and required a bit of tinkering around on my part to make it work. And of course, Buffy as Makoto just works.)

I'm glad that you liked the fact that there was tension between the group. I felt that the first story (in my short stories thread) ended on such a high note (of course, that was because I hadn't exactly planned on doing a continuation) that I needed to have them come apart at the start of this to make what happens next the more believable. If it helps any, that's more or less what happened around the second arc of PGSM, with the girls all going in their separate directions, allowing for the opportunity for Ami to get captured by Kunzite and turned into Dark Mercury (as Fred was here.)

I'm very happy that you managed to pick up on the tension between Willow and Anya. Along with it being a nod to the not-so-rocky relationship that they've always had in Buffy, it's also a reference to how their roles are in this story. Anya (though she doesn't know it yet) is actually the leader of the group, as Willow was the Princess in the past life. Luna, though, decided that the best way to keep the Princess out of harm's way way to actually put her in harm's way, everyone unaware of what her true role was in all of this. (Though I don't think it's much of a spoiler to say that isn't going to last much longer.) I'm also glad that you noticed the differences in their leadership. The next chapter should be a pleasant one for you.



Well, if you're as big a fan of the anime as I know you are, you already know the answer to that. Stay tuned for more.

[hr]

Selena: Indeed. This certainly will be the last time that Tara takes up the Tuxedo Kamen disguise, though to her displeasure, not the last time she puts herself in harm's way to protect Willow. The subdued reaction on her part to Willow's revelation was intentional, because it not only shows the love and respect they have for one another, but also a change in their relationship. After all, Tara just got told that she's a Princess (which she actually is, though neither of them know its not the Moon Princess) and that she's actually the person she's been helping to battle the Dark Kingdom. But now that this has changed, Tara knows that she can't put herself in danger to help Willow anymore. Of course, things aren't going to turn out that way, as you'll see.

[hr]

Amber: Well, it might not seem that it will end well, but it's the Kitten, so you just know that it will. (Besides, I've already kinda sorta killed Tara already, only to bring her back by the end of the story, so it's not like putting her in harm's way like this is anything new to me.)

I've actually had Jedi Outcast for a while now, but never could play it because my old system was a piece of shit. I've played both KOTOR (which I might get for PC now that I know my system can handle it) and Jedi Academy (the console versions), but never heard of Morrowind. (Is that a LucasArts game?)

Thanks for reading, folks. The update is all done and sent to my beta. I will be gone all day tomorrow, though, so depending on when I get it back and how much more I need to work on it, it could be up tonight, tomorrow morning or Sunday.

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Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Morrowind is by Bethesda Softworks and is the third game in the Elder Scrolls series (the most recent of which is the newly released Oblivion). It's a pretty spiffing game, and you can buy the game and both of the expansion packs in a set that is fairly inexpensive ($10-20 US). It rocks my face off (but that might just be because I'm easily amused).

Amber: Hmm. Sounds interesting. I might have to track that down...after I get a copy of KOTOR, of course.

And now, here's the update. Now I'm off to play Jedi Outcast for the rest of the night, and then to bed so I can be awake early to do my day long trip. Enjoy!

[hr]

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Six: Forged and Broken[/center]

Willow was nearly out of breath by the time that she got to the Bronze and so tired from her exertion that she forgot to take out her pass and show it to the attendant at the counter. Luckily, Riley was the one who was there, and Willow knew that he was a lot more polite about her slip up than others would have been, and after fumbling through her pockets to withdraw her wallet, and withdraw her pass from it, she made her way into the Secret Base without further incident.

Entering the room, she saw Buffy, Anya and Cordelia sitting around the table, Luna and Artemis on it. And all five of them were looking at what had been placed upon it: Fred’s knapsack and a plastic bag Willow could see contained her swimsuit.

“This was all we found,” Buffy said as Willow approached; no emotion whatsoever in her voice as she gestured to the bags. The blonde’s head was downcast, and Willow could immediately tell that she felt guilty about what had happened.

“It wasn’t your…” Willow began to console Buffy, then stopped when she realized that she herself wasn’t entirely blameless for what happened, either. “It wasn’t our fault,” she amended. “We couldn’t have…we couldn’t have known that this might have happened. And even if we did…we don’t know if there was anything that we could have done about it.” She suddenly perked up. “Besides, we don’t know that Fred is actually captured. For all we know, she could have gone off somewhere in such a hurry that she dropped her stuff and left it behind and…and…I’m reaching here, aren’t I?”

“Kinda,” Buffy admitted. “Besides, if she did go off on her own, why didn’t she contact us to let us know?” She buried her face in her hands. “It’s our fault this happened.”

“It doesn’t matter who’s at fault right now,” Anya bluntly interrupted. “All that matters right now is that we find her and get her back.”

“Agreed,” Luna said before anyone could comment on the rude tone of Anya’s words. “Without any proof to the contrary, we can only assume that she was captured by the enemy. No doubt they saw her as nothing more than a random passerby whom they could take advantage of. Since she revealed her Soldier identity to them, it must have opened up a situation wherein the idea of capturing her proved too inviting a situation for them to willingly pass up.”

“But if they did capture her, where could they have taken her?” Cordelia asked. “I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m not up for walking around the entire town trying to look for her.” At the glances of the others, Cordelia clarified, “It’ll take too long to look for her that way, and it would put all of us in danger, too.”

“Now that they have one of us, the enemy won’t feel the need to act in secret anymore,” Artemis surmised. “It’s most likely that they’ll use Fred as bait to put into action some large scale plan in order to draw the rest of us out of hiding. They know that we won’t pass up an opportunity to rescue her.”

Willow slammed a clenched fist down on the table, startling the others. “Well, I don’t plan to let them get that opportunity!”

“And what exactly do you suggest we do, Willow?” Anya asked. “I mean, you’re supposed to be our leader and everything, so why don’t you come up with a plan to rescue her instead of standing there and spinning on your wheels letting the rest of us try to figure something out?”

“Leave her alone!” Cordelia snapped, her calm finally leaving her and glaring at Anya. “Can’t you see that she’s in pain over this? She doesn’t need to deal with another round of you trying to assert yourself and be the boss of us at the same time that she has to deal with you disputing her ability to lead us!”

“I may not have agreed with Willow’s leadership of us, but at least I stuck around,” Anya snapped back. “Where were you when she was putting herself in danger every night?”

Cordelia was stung by Anya’s comment, but thankfully Buffy interrupted before she could say anything. “You’ve never helped us out,” the blonde said, her face contorting into an expression of abject disgust. “All you did was come here every day and tell us how we should be doing our jobs. Did it ever occur to you that maybe we’re not like you, and that we can’t devote our entire lives to the success of our mission?”

“Why should I act like I have a life outside my life as a Soldier?” Anya shouted. “It’s not like I have anything else in my life to look forward to!”

The others fell silent and looked at Anya as her head immediately turned down to the floor, their expressions immediately growing a great deal softer than they had been mere moments before. After a few moments of silence, Anya brought her head up and looked at each of them in turn; giving to them in a whisper the explanation she knew they deserved to hear. “I…I was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor some time ago. I…I have six months, perhaps a year left to live.”

“And that’s why you’ve been pushing all of us to work harder?” Cordelia asked, quickly realizing something else. “Why you’ve...you’ve tried so hard to get me to take a more active role in the mission?”

Anya felt the tears well up in her eyes as she nodded slightly in response to Cordelia’s question. “I don’t have a lot of time left, and I want to make sure that before I…before I…leave, the mistakes of the past can be prevented from happening here in the present.”

The group became uncomfortably silent at that, none of them daring to look at the others. Luna broke the silence a few moments later by saying, “We can’t afford to deal with this now. There will be time later to do so once we’ve found Fred and brought her home.”

The others nodded in agreement, getting to their feet and moving to the door at the opposite end of the room. As they reached it, they all turned to look at Luna and Artemis one final time before Willow opened the door and led the group out of the room.

“Good luck, Sailor Soldiers,” Luna whispered as they left, an unshed tear forming in her eye.

**

Faith looked up from her throne as Xander made his way into her presence, right hand on his chest in subservience, and immediately grew disgusted by his appearance here and now. It didn’t take much thinking to surmise why he was here; of the four Shitennou, he was always the one that sought to curry favor with her by informing her of the activities of his brethren. Not even Oz, who, like Xander, also conducted his work out of genuine love for her, did resort to that sort of underhanded trickery. And despite her disgust of his tactics, there had been times when she had allowed him to do so, enjoying the feeling of allowing him to believe that doing this was what pleased her, even though the times when it actually did were rare.

But Faith knew that whatever he had to say now, she was going to find it neither pleasing to hear nor amusing to twist to her advantage.

Bowing his head, Xander began, “My Queen, I have news about Angelus…”

Faith immediately grew annoyed and raised a hand, cutting off Xander’s words. “I do not care to hear about whatever petty problems you have with him. Be gone from my presence and be thankful that you are too valuable to me at the present time to properly punish you for disobeying me.”

“But my Queen, he seeks to act against you.”

Faith’s eyebrow rose slightly, betraying her interest in a topic she had just stated her disinterest in. “Oh? And how does he plan to do this?”

“He has captured one of the Sailor Soldiers, my Queen,” Xander replied, his head still lowered, almost as if he could not risk looking into the face of his Mistress, who no doubt would be displeased by this news. “He believes that, if she were to be turned to our side, she could be influential in bringing about the destruction of the others. I fear…that once he is done, Angelus may seek to use her to overthrow you and take the power of Oueen Metallia for his own.”

Faith rested her head in one hand, mulling over this news with more interest than she had previously wanted to show. Angelus acting on his own was very worrisome, indicating that the power she had over him was slowly beginning to fade. More interesting than that, however, was the news that he had captured one of the Sailor Soldiers and sought to make her an agent of the Dark Kingdom. Foolish Xander believed that this was an act on his comrade’s part to be an affront to her power.

Faith had no doubts that it very well could end up becoming this. But that would come to pass only if she allowed it to happen. And Faith was too clever to allow her followers to do anything to harm her. Especially if she could somehow make it work to her advantage.

“Thank you for informing me of this development,” she said, a wicked smile crossing her features. “I shall be on guard against any…deception. As for Angelus’ plan…I shall allow it.”

This was clearly not the response that Xander had been expecting. “My Queen?”

Faith chuckled. “Clearly you cannot see the clever fiendishness of Angelus’ plan, my dear Xander. Having one of the Soldiers fight for us will indeed prove to be most…destabilizing to the others. By having her fight for us, and showing that one of their number can be convinced to do so, we can show them all how powerless they are to stop us.” She got up from her throne. “Tell Angelus to bring her here. I shall see to her…reeducation personally.”

Xander didn’t like the thought of what Faith was planning, but he clearly enjoyed the prospect of being punished for disagreeing with her even less. “Yes, my Queen.”

As Xander moved to leave, Faith allowed a slight chuckle to escape from her, a chuckle that soon became a deep, hearty laugh. Angelus’ plan may have been one he had hoped to enact for his own ends, but it would become more beneficial to her in the long run.

Not only that, but it had given her an idea about another way to hurt the Soldiers that perhaps could be more effective at causing their downfall than all the power her followers could muster. After all, direct attacks from without by her warriors had failed more times than she would care to admit.

Perhaps it was time to consider a different approach. Perhaps it was time to have someone deliver a subtle blow to the heart of the Soldiers; someone who could work her way into their confidence over time, and tear them apart from within when she wished it.

Someone who would be the last person they would suspect of being capable of doing so.

**

Willow walked in silence beside Anya, the two of them walking down the street towards the park. She had said to the others shortly after they had left the Bronze that the easiest way to find Fred would be to split up in order that they could cover more ground. Cordelia and Buffy quickly agreed, and said that they would go together to check the downtown area, leaving Willow all alone with Anya for company as Willow decided that they should check out the park. It was Willow’s assumption that Fred had gone there after her competition, and that someone had stolen her belongings from there, leaving them where Buffy and the others had found them, which would also explain why Fred hadn’t been able to contact them. It wasn’t exactly the most sound explanation, and not exactly one that held up under scrutiny, but Anya didn’t seem to mind, other things obviously being on her mind

Willow turned to look at Anya, who, much like she had been ever since leaving the Bronze, was doing everything she could to avoid having to talk or look in her direction. Willow didn’t exactly blame her for doing this, knowing as much as she did that her declaration had changed the relationship between the two of them.

Willow also knew that Anya wasn’t going to be the one to discuss it, since she was as vulnerable now as she had ever been. That meant, whether or not she liked it, Willow had to be the one to get them talking about it. There had been a time when Willow would look forward to tearing Anya apart over some flaw in her character, of which she had plenty. To do so now felt wrong, but at the same time, was essential.

“Why?”

Anya turned to look at Willow at the redhead’s question. “What?”

“Why didn’t you tell us about your…” Willow paused, searching for the appropriate word. “Your...condition.”

Anya waved a dismissive hand, clearly telling Willow that was a topic she did not want to discuss. “What difference would it have made?”

Willow spun on her heels to look Anya directly in the eye. “It would have made a big difference, and you know that. If we knew that the reason you were being so confrontational towards us about how to do our mission was because you only had a short amount of time in which to accomplish it, we wouldn’t have fractured the way we did. Cordelia wouldn’t have run off on us, Buffy and I would have been more agreeable to your point of view, and Fred…”

Willow sniffled, trying in vain to hold back the tears that threatened to burst forward as the mention of Fred’s name. “Fred wouldn’t feel so…alone.”

Anya blinked and affixed Willow with a cold stare. “What? Are you saying that all of this is somehow my fault?”

“No!” Willow shouted, immediately recognizing the tone in Anya’s voice and going on the defensive. “I’m not trying to dump this all on you.”

“Why shouldn’t you?” Anya asked with a defeated shrug. “It is, you know.”

Willow’s rebuttal died unsaid on her lips. “What?”

“It’s my fault,” Anya stated matter-of-factly. “I’ve known a lot more about what’s going on than the rest of you do. And I’ve known it for a lot longer than you do. I think that’s what makes me feel so…determined to see the enemy defeated. And I didn’t want to tell you why I felt that way because…because I thought that you didn’t need to know.”

She looked over Willow’s shoulder, seeing the nearby shops displaying their Christmas wares. “I wasn’t always like this, you know. There was a time when nothing mattered more to me than making money, marrying a nice man, and having lots and lots of children. But then…” She chuckled. “God, I never thought about it till now.”

“What?” Willow asked.

“Last year, I was living in New York,” Anya explained. “I had gone out to do some last minute Christmas shopping for some friends. I was on my way home when I heard a voice. I looked around for who was talking to me, and found Artemis coming out of the alleyway, telling me all about my past life, the duty to which I had been sworn to uphold and the mission to which I had been predestined to accomplish since my rebirth on this planet. I knew that to do so, I had to leave my friends, my family, and my entire life behind.

“At first, I treated it like a game,” she continued. “Something I would do in my spare time for fun. But then I learned that…that I only had a short amount of time left to live. It was that, combined with being on the move for so long trying to find both the enemy and you and the others, that I started to grow bitter about my situation, so when I finally ended up finding you all, I couldn’t allow myself to see you as friends I could enjoy in civilian life, but only as people who couldn’t do the job our former lives as Soldiers required of us.”

Anya let out a small laugh. “And I had no idea that the four of you would be so different. I think that’s why I knew I had to do all I could to get all of you together on the same page, even if it meant ruffling your feathers. Who would have thought that I could fail so spectacularly at that? And who would have thought that I would find all four of you in the same place?”

Letting out a small whistle, Anya moved to sit down on a nearby bench. “Time really flies when you’re not having fun.”

Willow moved to sit down beside Anya. “So when did you find out about your…condition?”

“About a month or two after meeting Artemis,” Anya answered; her head tilted towards the snowy ground. “I knew then that I had to completely devote myself to the mission, even if it meant I couldn’t have a normal life.”

Anya lifted her face to look at Willow directly in the eye, and Willow could see the tears running down her cheeks. She then looked away, saying, “I’m sorry, you know. I didn’t want to be so harsh with you. I guess you think that makes me a bad friend.”

Had she not the knowledge of Anya’s impending fate, Willow would have to agree with her statement. Now, however, it made all too much sense why she behaved the way she did. “No,” she whispered, lifting a hand to Anya’s cheek and turning her head back around to face her. “That’s what makes you a good leader.”

Anya smiled, sniffling a bit. “Willow, there’s more to being a leader than being single mindedly devoted to a mission or goal. You have to look out for the people under your command. You have to make sure that they feel loved and wanted and that the time and effort they give is not taken for granted. I’ve never done that. But you have.”

“What are you saying?” Willow asked, confused.

“I’m saying that I was wrong,” Anya answered. “There’s no one better suited to be our leader than you.”

She smiled, and Willow returned the smile, knowing that a bridge had finally been built between them; a structure bringing together a gap that had been shattered for far too long. Combined with the bond that she shared with Cordelia and Buffy, Willow knew that it finally meant that they were strong enough to face any threat the Dark Kingdom could throw their way.

But it had happened too late, for by capturing Fred, they had already inflicted upon them the greatest harm they could imagine. But Willow knew that wouldn’t last forever. They would find their missing link, and when they did, the chain that was their collective friendship for one another would be forged anew, stronger than it had ever been before.

”We’ll find you, Fred,” Willow promised herself. ”I swear it. We’ll find you…and bring you home.”

**

Faith held a white rose between her thumb and index finger, watching its petals with interest. The rose was an indicator to the magicks that Queen Metallia, at her request, was using to turn the Soldier Angelus had brought to her to their side, and the magicks that both she and the great Demon Queen were using to craft the one that would work its way into the Soldier’s lives and destroy them from within. Once the petals of the rose changed completely from white to black, Faith knew that both would be ready to be unleashed upon them.

But first, there was another plan that had to be enacted. Turning, she looked at the Shitennou, arms crossed against their chests once more in obedience, awaiting her command to carry out her will.

“Begin,” she said, her voice a raspy whisper.

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

But it's Tara not Mamoru... I wanna know now... :: pout and storm foot until knee smash into the face and now finally calm down... a little ::

I never watch PGSM before, seeing my childhood anime turning to a live action seems a bit strange... and now that you're writing the story base on PGSM I'm reaaaaaaal glad I didn't watch it... though now i've to check everyday for the updates... ::hint hint::

Poor Anya though. Can't you get someone heal her? Or say the doc actually make a mistake? I keep linking Anya with Minako in anime... u know, nosebleed from thinking about boys too much I guess it make sence when Anya being the real leader since Willow's the princess... I remember in the anime (or manga?) Minako's actually the princess decoy (kinda like star wars... um...). Only now the other way around...

I can't imagine Fred turning bad though, I hope the gang will manage to save her in time...

Can't wait for more.


P.S. Buffy's gonna be a good cook like in anime? 'Cos the only thing I can imagine her cooking is burgers...

_________________
I am not crazy... my mum had me tested.

What! What! You can't leave it like that! Gahhhh..........*collapses in a twitching heap*

Whew. That was certainly a packed update. I can't wait for the next one now! Soon please?

Gotta say I like this chapter - the way you had everyone deal with that heavy revelation about Anya...

Cynthia: I admit that seeing Sailor Moon as live action was a bit strange. It certainly was to me, as I had never known it had been done live action.

As for Anya...well, Minako's condition in PGSM was never really specified (I guess it was a brain tumor on account of the fact that there was one episode where she had a headache and fainted), so I just made a guess here, hoping it wasn't too far off the mark. I tried to make it clear in that chapter that Anya was very much like anime Minako before the dual blow of learning about her former life and her disease made her the way she is today. As for whether or not she'll live...I'm not gonna tell.

Yeah, Anya's the leader since Willow is the Princess, just like it was in the franchise. I didn't want to have Anya be the Princess decoy, though, for reasons that may (or may not) be explained later.

As for Buffy, she's like Makoto in that they're both tomboyish characters who have crushes on every guy they meet. And that's the only way in which they're the same here. In all other respects, Buffy's the same character as she was in the show (more or less, since she's not the focus here.)

Thanks for reading.

[hr]

Amber: Thanks. Update tomorrow...hopefully.

[hr]

Devi: Yeah, I'm kinda happy with the way that turned out, too. With all the tension between the five of them because of that, to have the reasons come out the way they did begged for that sort of thing.

Thanks for reading. Update tomorrow.

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Seven: Breaking Point[/center]

Cordelia and Buffy walked out of the library, their spirits no better now than they had been when they had first entered the building. They had been everywhere downtown that Fred might have been, and it was now inevitable that they would have to reach the conclusion that Fred had not gone off on her own, but instead had been captured.

“So, what do you want to do now, Cordy?” Buffy asked, glancing towards her dark haired companion, and was surprised to discover that Cordelia was looking off in the distance, the glazed over look in her eyes telling Buffy that wherever it was she was looking, Cordelia would probably have better luck finding it through a telescope.

“Cordy?”

Cordelia snapped her head around to look at Buffy. “What?”

“I said, what do you want to do now?”

Cordelia sighed, her shoulders slumping with the act. “I dunno. Let’s…let’s meet up with Willow and Anya and head back to the Secret Base.”

The pair walked down the street back towards the Bronze in silence for several moments before Buffy exclaimed, “You’re keeping something from us, Cordy.”

“What?”

“I said, you’re keeping something from us,” Buffy repeated. “What’s wrong?”

Cordelia turned away, looking inside one of the nearby shop windows. “I think you know.”

“I know we all sympathize with Anya, but…”

“But it’s different for me,” Cordelia replied, the tone of her own voice shocking herself into silence for several seconds. After taking a few moments to calm herself, she continued, “She always wanted me to…to get more involved. Always forcing me to do things I…I didn’t really want to do. That was mostly why I decided to leave you guys.”

“But you told us that it was because…”

“…of the visions?” Cordelia finished. “Yes, I did. I didn’t want to tell you the truth that it was because of Anya that I wanted to leave, and figured that giving you a more believable reason would have been better for you to understand.”

“I see,” Buffy admitted, though she had to admit to herself that she really didn’t. Why would Cordelia think that lying to the others would be a good way to make them feel better? “So…when she told you that Willow missed you…”

“I believe her,” Cordelia admitted. “It was the first thing she said to me that didn’t sound like she was trying to subtly coerce me into doing something I didn’t want to do. At least now I know why she did it, along with why she did those other things.”

Buffy nodded in reply. “And with Fred…” she paused, unable to make herself say it what it was obvious both of them knew. But she noticed then a tear make its way from down Cordelia’s cheek, and knew that, even without saying it, she understood what it was that she was trying to say.

**

Amy leaned back against the hard plastic chair, absently munching on a French fry as she stared out the window at the crowds of people going to and coming from the mall across the street. She shivered a bit as she recalled the events that had taken place there no too long ago, remembering how much she had been frightened about what happened there that day.

And remembering also the fact that Willow had seemed rather reluctant to talk about it, not only the day after it happened, but nearly every time that she had brought it up in conversation since then. It wouldn’t bother her as much to see Willow acting that way if it wasn’t for the fact that it was also around then that her behavior began to change. Having known Willow since junior high, and knowing that she had a weakness when it came to the academics, it surprised Amy to see that Willow was beginning to take her schoolwork more seriously, consistently improving her marks to the point where she had gone from being nearly average to an honor roll student in less than a month, seemingly without any real effort on her part.

”It must be because of all that time she spent with Fred,” Amy thought as she took a sip of her soft drink. Why Willow would knowingly choose to hang around with a known social outcast like Fred was an idea that she simply couldn’t wrap her head around. True, neither she nor Willow were exactly on the high rungs of the ladder of social popularity, but at least there were those among the student body of Sunnydale High with which they could feel wanted and loved. But in all the time they had known her, Willow and Amy had always assumed that Fred was simply an island alone in the vast sea of students that went to the school.

Setting her drink down on the table, Amy looked out the window again, seeing the sky beyond the mall begin to darken as the dim light of the winter afternoon transited to the full dark of night. Looking down at her watch, Amy figured that she probably shouldn’t stay out that much longer. Her mother would no doubt be worrying about her.

Amy thought about her mother then, knowing that what had happened two months ago had changed the relationship between them. Before then, Catherine Madison had never really paid too much attention to her, preferring instead to focus on her career as a local stage performer. Amy had desperately wanted to have a relationship with her, the kind that she thought every teenage girl should have with their mother.

It was that, more than anything, which overrode her suspicion about her mother’s motives when she had suggested she help out in the performance she was doing at the mall that day when she and Willow had gone. It wasn’t until it was too late that she realized the true reason why her mother had been acting strange all day: it hadn’t been her mother at all, but some strange alien creature that had shoved its hand into her chest and drained away all of her energy, sending her into unconsciousness.

Her next memory was waking up in the hospital, seeing through the fog of her mind Willow’s face looking down on her. After taking the time to talk to her about what had happened, Amy had gone to her mother’s room. And it was there that mother and daughter promised to one another to spend more time together and to get along better than they had before.

”Who would have thought that it would have taken an attack against both of our lives to make us realize how much we truly mean to one another,” Amy thought as she reached to take up another French fry.

It was the last conscious movement she made, for as her fingers reached into the pile of fried golden sticks, the wall behind her exploded inward, sending chunks of brick and glass flying, one of which impacted square against the back of her head, immediately knocking her to the table and sending the remnants of her meal scattering to the floor around her.

**

Standing near the ruined building, oblivious to the cold surrounding him and the cries of pain emanating from those trapped inside, Angelus smiled and turned to look at his comrades, seeing in their eyes the fire burning within his own heart. This direct assault was exactly what they had been waiting for, knowing that it would draw the remaining Sailor Soldiers into a confrontation that, given the capture of one of their comrades, they would be completely unprepared for.

He silently cursed Faith, the soulless witch seeing fit to take the one they had already captured for her own purposes. He also cursed Xander for being weak enough to actually inform Faith of his plans despite his warning, but knew that it wasn’t his fault for doing so. Faith had him wrapped around her finger so much that it was impossible for him to even contemplate going against her.

It didn’t matter who was at fault, to be honest. Let Faith have Sailor Mercury. Soon enough, he would have the other Soldiers in his possession, and through them, the Princess and the Crystal, as well. And once he had them, nothing would be able to stop him.

Drawing his sword, Angelus swept it across the area. “Level it all. Show no mercy.”

**

Tara watched from the cover of a nearby alleyway as the four men blew a hole in the Doublemeat Palace and moved to set about causing destruction to the surrounding area. She was sure that one of them was the person she had spotted earlier in the day, and even more sure that he, along with the others, had been someone she knew…or had known, at some point in her past.

That didn’t make sense, though. Even though she couldn’t remember a thing about it, Tara knew that her past had been a kind and peaceful time; and a time where she had been as she was now: a goodhearted individual not prone to violence or irrational thought, never acting on random impulses or against her moral code. She could never knowingly associate herself with people like them.

But Tara realized that, at the moment, it didn’t really matter who they were or what connection they had to her distant past. All that did matter was that they were causing harm to the innocent, and that meant they had to be stopped by any means necessary.

”This is for you, Willow,” she thought as she brought up her walking cane and began to head towards them. ”What I do now, I do so that you may never have to do it again.”

**

Buffy and Cordelia had called Willow and Anya, letting them know that they had no luck in finding Fred. Willow responded likewise, saying that, since it was beginning to get dark, it might be a good idea to call it a day and for all of them to head home, picking up where they left off tomorrow. But Buffy could pick up on one important fact from how Cordelia described her tone: Willow was just as doubtful about whether this was the right thing to do as they were. She knew as they did that while it might be beneficial to them, it would more than likely harm Fred in the long run. The longer it took to find her, the more unlikely they were going to find her.

“I feel so useless,” Cordelia moped as Buffy slid her cell phone back into her pocket.

“Don’t feel so bad,” Buffy replied, her face brightening into a wide smile. “Hey, let’s head down to the mall. Bet that’ll cheer you up.”

Cordelia smiled faintly at that, knowing that Buffy’s reasons for suggesting this were more out of a need to cheer her up more than a desire on her part to actually go, a trait she no doubt inherited from Willow. ”She has a way of bringing that out in people,” Cordelia thought.

It took the two of them only a short amount of time for the two of them to arrive at the mall, and they had gone but five minutes before they came to realize that there was something out of the ordinary. The first hint was the fact that, despite the fact that Christmas was mere days away, the mall was hauntingly empty. The second hint came when they rounded a corner and saw that most of the people that were in the mall had congregated around a jewelry store that had been taped off, mall security and police working inside trying to solve the mystery of what happened to the shopkeeper inside.

The third and most obvious hint came when they heard a large explosion coming from somewhere outside.

Making their way through a crowd that was quickly doing its best to be somewhere else, Buffy and Cordelia made their way outside and tried to find the spot where that explosion occurred, swiftly finding it at the remains of the Doublemeat Palace across the street, and finding there also the four individuals that were no doubt responsible for its destruction.

“Man, I knew the food at the Doublemeat was bad, but I think blowing it up was a bit much,” Buffy commented, both she and Cordelia giggling slightly at that, and stopping when they realized the seriousness of the actions being displayed in front of them. Swiftly reaching into her pocket, Buffy withdrew her cell phone and pushed the redial button.

”Hello?”

“Will, it’s Buffy. You and Anya need to get down to the mall right away.”

Willow sighed. ”Buffy, if you’re calling me because you’ve found out about a twenty percent off all shoes and shirts sale…”

“Will, the enemy is attacking.”

An uncomfortable silence followed Buffy’s comment before Willow replied, “We’ll be right there.”

Buffy put her cell phone back into her pocket and rolled her eyes, not exactly surprised that Willow had thought she would be calling her about a sale.

Moving to join Cordelia under cover and out of sight of anyone who may be watching, Buffy turned to look at her companion and nodded. Cordelia nodded in reply, joining Buffy in raising her arms to transform to their Soldier forms.

“Jupiter Power Make Up!”

“Mars Power Make Up!”

**

A few blocks away, running as fast as they could, Willow and Anya raised their arms.

“Venus Power Make Up!”

“Moon Prism Power Make Up!”

**

At the Secret Base, Luna, who had until moments before been sleeping quietly on the floor, suddenly found herself wide awake, her eyes widening in shock and fear.

Something was about to happen. Something bad.

Moving towards Artemis, Luna tapped his sleeping form with one paw. “Artemis? Artemis, wake up.”

The white furred feline stirred and mumbled something Luna couldn’t hear, but otherwise gave no indication that he had heard Luna’s words. Annoyed, she swatted Artemis over the head. “Wake up!”

Grumbling, Artemis opened his eyes and got up, giving Luna an annoyed look. “What?”

“We have to go,” Luna said, moving towards the door. Artemis watched her go, and could tell that whatever it was that was bothering her, it was serious and immediate.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

Luna turned back to look at Artemis, her expression that of a person knowing that she had run out of time. “It’s happened.”

Moving to join Luna, Artemis asked, “What?”

Luna couldn’t bring herself to say it, knowing that Artemis would once again chew her out over it. Instead, she simply said, “Things are going to change, Artemis. And we have to be there when they do.”

That was all Artemis had to hear, and the two of them made their way from the Bronze towards the place where their lives, and the lives of the Soldiers, were about to be fundamentally altered.

They had done their best to prevent it, but their time had now run out. All they could do was to make sure that the transition occurred with as little problems as possible.

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

You and your cliffhangers...*shakes head* This is a v. exciting update Alex, and I eagerly await the next one.

As a big fan of Sailormoon myself, I feel the need to say something about this. This crossover/uber thing you got going totally threw me. I don't think I've ever read something quite like it.

At first it was strange, I can't really imagine Willow as Usagi, or with odangos for that matter - that would be too weird. The other Senshi are a bit more believable, but it's still strange to think their appearances completely change when they henshi (why do they do that anyway?). And poor Faith, got stuck as Beryl. Good choices for the Shitennou, though.

This fic really grew on me, and now I'm all nostalgic, thinking about my avid Sailormoon watcher days. I didn't actually watch PGSM, I don't like live actions very much. I watched seramyu, I like most of the musicals even if I can't understand most of what they say/sing. There's just something about japanese music...Nao and Yuhka are great. And Megumi Ogata rocks big time, IMHO.

My real vice was the anime, no doubt. It was very cute in a kind of silly way. Nowadays it's kinda embarrassing to admit I used to watch it so much, but y'know, I found out there are some interesting cultural/mythological references in Sailormoon, so that makes me feel a bit better about it.

It's a pity your fic is set so early in the Sailormoon timeline, it would have been so cool to have the Outer Senshi there too. I just love 'em! Who do you think could be the Outer Senshi?

Keep up with the great work, it's excellent.

Amber: If you like my cliffhangers, you should see the ones coming up. Thanks for reading.

[hr]

Songbird: I'm glad to think this fic is something unique. I'd like to think that it's a bit different from my previous work. I agree that seeing the Buffy cast as the Sailor Moon characters is a bit strange at first, and I'll definitely agree with you that Willow as Usagi is probably the one that works the least in context, which is why I went with the whole "she-can-be-smarter-if-she-just-applied-herself-more" approach that I did in the first story. And of course, like I said before, Willow as Princess Serenity is much more like Buffy Canon Willow than Willow is up until now, so I got that to cover my rear. Some of the other casting decisions work well in context (Faith as Beryl, Angel(us) as Kunzite and Fred as Ami), and those are the ones I'm really proud of.

As for the reason why their appearance changes, it's really to make sure that they're less recognizable, which I think works better, since the live action has them looking like ordinary girls when in their normal forms, getting their anime hairstyles only when they transform. It's a perfect means of disguise, and works really well here, since, like you, I can't imagine Willow with odango's either.

As for the Outer Senshi, I was thinking that Dawn could be a good replacement for Hotaru, but now that I'm thinking of adding Sailor Luna to this fic (an idea I was very much against at the start), I dunno. Setsuna would probably be Kendra, for lack of any better ideas. And as for Haruka and Michiru...well, there's only one person I could figure for being either of them, and Kitten rules don't allow her to be used in fics posted here.

I've never seen a Seramyu, but maybe I should. I know where you can watch PGSM online. Drop me a line if you're interested.

[hr]

• Title: Moonlight Densetsu: A Dramatic Surprise! The Moon Princess Appears
• Author: SithLordWiccan (Alex)
• Email address: decepticons_4_ever@hotmail.com
• Feedback: Feed the beast, otherwise it shrivels up and dies.
• Distribution: Mystic Muse, Through the Looking-glass. Anywhere else is fine. Just ask first.
• Spoilers: Spoilers for Moonlight Densetsu. Even though I'm including some references to what happened in that story, I am assuming anyone reading that story is reading this one, so I won't be going into too much detail about the exposition.
• Rating: PG-13
• Disclaimer: Willow, Tara and other Buffy: The Vampire Slayer/Angel characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy, the WB, UPN, 20th Century Fox and others. Sailor Moon concepts, characters and situations belong to Naoko Takeuchi. Absolutely zero money is being made off this.
• Summary: Two months following the arrival of the Dark Kingdom to Sunnydale and her transformation to Sailor Moon, Willow Rosenberg and her friends face a new crisis, as the Shitennou come together to draw the Moon Princess out of hiding, neither they nor the Sailor Soldiers realizing how close to them the Princess really is.
• Note: For more information about the Sailor Moon franchise, check out its Wikipedia entry here. Another helpful resource for Sailor Moon information is WikiMoon.org.

[hr]

[center]Chapter Eight: Confrontation[/center]

”Why is it always me that seems to get knocked unconscious?”

This was the first thing to cross Amy’s mind as she came to, shaking her head to clear the fog from her mind, and becoming aware of the fact that her lower body was in pain. Grimacing in pain, she turned her head to find that her right leg was trapped under a chunk of debris that had until moments before been a part of the wall behind her.

Turning her head to look around, Amy came to discover a new revelation about her recent experience. ”Ah. Not only knocked unconscious, but also trapped in a burning building and nearly exploded, too. Great.”

From her prone position, Amy found herself staring directly at the counter, noticing that one of the employees was still around. Unfortunately, the young woman was sprawled against the soda machine, no doubt blown back there by the force of the explosion. The impact was strong enough to shatter the machine, causing its contents to spill onto the floor. It was also sufficiently strong enough to cause the body to contort itself into a position that no human form should ever be able to pull off. It left little doubt that the young woman was dead.

”Just like I’ll be if I don’t find a way to get out of here,” she thought, grunting with effort as she bent over and tried to free her leg from the weight being pressed down against it. Collapsing as her first effort failed, she wondered for a moment what the pain she felt was coming from. If it was because of the rock holding her down, she could probably find a way to free herself, assuming she could get it off of her. If, on the other hand, the pain she felt was because her leg had gotten broken...well, she would have to deal with that problem if and when that proved to be true.

But Amy knew that even if she were completely paralyzed from the waist down, she would do anything she could to get out of here. Nothing in this world was about to keep her here longer than she had to.

Heaving with all of her strength, Amy tried once again to free her leg, and once again came up short. Letting out a frustrated groan that morphed into a choked cry and dissolved into barely restrained sobs, she collapsed to the floor once again, slamming a clenched fist on the ground, oblivious to the fact that doing so brought it dangerously close to the shattered remains of the window she had been sitting beside.

Through her tears, Amy could see someone enter the Doublemeat through the hole that had been blown in the wall. At first relieved that someone had apparently noticed the explosion, called the police and was coming into the ruined building to look for survivors, her spirits immediately dissolved when the form resolved itself into the shape of a young man in a strange red uniform holding a sword, the tip of which was pointed in her direction.

The newcomer chuckled. “I had hoped that there were some of you that were foolish enough to stay, but I hoped that you would have been unfettered, as I do so enjoy an opportunity to hunt my prey.” He raised the sword high, preparing to bring it down on her neck. “Not that I don’t like it this way, of course, but I would have preferred you put up more of a fight.”

Amy sobbed, her reaction a mixture of the pain she still felt, but also including her knowledge of her impending fate at the hands of this person, and the fact that there was nothing she could do about it.

And that was when she heard the voice from across the room, a voice that she couldn’t recognize, but one that promised hope and freedom from this situation.

“Leave her alone!”

**

Angelus watched with barely contained amusement as the vehicles made their way towards him, the only things in the immediate vicinity to be approaching him; all others swiftly making themselves scarce. He wasn’t aware of who the people were inside those vehicles, but his experience as a warrior had led him to conclude that there were only two types of people who would approach him in this manner: the truly brave and courageous, or the stupidly foolish with a wish to die.

They certainly were brave and courageous to confront him in this manner; now it was time to see if they were stupidly foolish.

The vehicles came to a stop a few feet away and formed a loose blockade, uniformed men emerging from them. Angelus smiled broadly at this display of force, confirming to him that these men were indeed stupidly foolish. They were certainly that if they could believe even for one moment that those pitiful devices could stop him.

Still, there was a humorous element to all of this, and he was fully prepared to indulge them…if only for a moment.

“All right, buddy!” one of the men, obviously the leader of the group, said, his weapon directly pointed at Angelus’ head. “Put your weapon down!”

Looking down at the sword he held in his right hand, Angelus gave it a quick heft, more out of a desire to see the ones before him startled at his movement than anything else, and did as he was told. After all, these fools had no way of knowing that this wasn’t his only weapon.

“Now get your hands on your head where I can see them,” the same man continued.

”This is too easy,” Angelus thought as he brought his hands up towards his head in compliance with the man’s wishes. He watched as two of the other men stepped forward from under the cover of their vehicles, one of them moving to remove something from his belt.

And with a swiftness that caught them and the others off guard, he brought his hands down and sent a massive bolt of energy directly at them.

The men in the immediate path of the projectile scattered immediately, running as fast as they could away from the area. Their comrades held their composure, however, and at their leader’s command began to discharge their weapons.

Angelus watched as the small silver specks made their way towards them, bringing one hand up to stop the incoming fire. They slowed down, came to a dead stop and, bereft of their forward momentum, clattered to the snowy ground.

The others chose that moment to withdraw, any hints of containing the situation having fallen with their spent firepower. Angelus watched them go, laughing as they showed their true colors.

And that was when he heard the voices from behind; voices belonging to those whom he knew would be of more sport than those who had just tried to attack him.

The smile on Angelus’ face widened further as he reached down to pick up his fallen sword. Yes, Faith may have taken Sailor Mercury, but now that the others were here, they had granted him the opportunity to do whatever he wished to them.

And what he wished more than anything else in the world at that moment was to see them dead by his own hand.

**

“Supreme Thunder!”

“Fire Soul!”

Buffy and Cordelia sent their attacks, a condensed ball of lightning and sphere of fire respectively, at the enemy the police had distracted. Having seen one of the enemy head into the ruins of the Doublemeat, and knowing that they couldn’t afford to wait forever for Willow and Anya to show up, they had decided that then was the best time to come out into the open, hoping to take them out before they could cause any more trouble, even though the three to two odds weren’t that better than four to two.

But their hopes were dashed when they watched their opponent bend down to retrieve his sword and bring it up to block their attacks. It surprised them how fast he had been able to do that, though they didn’t allow their surprise to show, though the look on his face indicated that, were they a few seconds earlier, their combined attack would have worked.

It pained Buffy to realize this, though she consoled herself by being glad that the police had scattered, making their job all the easier. ”The less people that are around, the better it is for us.” She gave a look at Cordelia, then to herself, adding, ”Not to mention that we’d have a hell of a time trying to explain this to anyone who might recognize us.”

“Too slow,” came the expected retort from their adversary, a smile on his lips that took the bulk of Buffy’s and Cordelia’s patience to resist wiping off. “And too late. Our leader has your friend under her power, and nothing you can do will save her.”

“That doesn’t mean we won’t try anyway,” Cordelia snapped back.

“Oh, I certainly wish you to try,” was the reply, the man spreading his arms out as if to dare Cordelia to advance. “Though I wouldn’t hold your breath to succeed, and even if you do, I highly doubt you’ll be able to breathe at all by the time I’m done with you.”

That broke through Cordelia’s calm, and before Buffy could warn her, she was rushing forward to strike that smug look of calm satisfaction off his face. She never made it, however, as a few feet into her stride, she was knocked off balance by a blast impact directly in front of her which sent her sprawling into the snowy concrete.

Buffy snapped her head around and found the source of Cordelia’s distress nearby, not entirely surprised to find it coming from one of their opponent’s comrades. This one, the one in white with platinum blond locks, she knew to be the most dangerous of the four.

“You’re too easily amused,” Angelus,” this one said, obviously directed to the one Buffy and Cordelia had been facing. “I’ve told you before about the foolishness of taking the slow approach when dealing with our enemies. It leaves you too open to ambush.”

If Angelus was offended by these words, he didn’t show it, at least not by his facial expression. But from the way his body had suddenly become more rigid and stiff, Buffy knew that the words had deeply struck him, and knew that she and Cordelia had only a few seconds to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to them here.

She looked down at Cordy, who had gotten to her knees, and nodded. Cordy nodded back and moved to get up when a scream came from within the Doublemeat. Buffy turned towards the ruined building at the noise, Cordy doing likewise. This, however, left them open to attack by the two men who, noticing their split second distraction, took advantage of the opportunity to blast them backward.

Falling to the ground and managing to turn it into a shoulder roll at the last possible moment, Buffy saw Willow and Anya out of the corner of her eye. Despite the pain from her fall, she allowed herself to smile.

”Odds are a bit more even now.”

**

Tara blocked the strike to her side with her walking cane, the effort of doing so causing her to wince. For a fleeting moment, she wondered in surprise how much this was beginning to tire her. Never before had she felt this way when facing off against the enemy.

It suddenly came to her why she was behaving this way: her mind wasn’t focused on the matter at hand, but on the words Willow had spoken to her earlier in the day. Her best attempts to keep her mind on the fight certainly weren’t helped by the fact that the person she had to rescue was Willow’s best friend, who several seconds earlier had let out a shriek of pure terror as part of the ceiling above her collapsed, striking the ground dangerously close to where she was trapped.

Tara knew that she couldn’t have her attention divided as much as it was for much longer, but knew also that she couldn’t focus exclusively on one at the expense of the other. If she devoted her time to defending herself against her opponent, Amy would be left defenseless, and no doubt would be killed. If, however, she let her guard down for even a moment to rescue her, Tara would be leaving herself vulnerable, and would doubtlessly be killed herself.

It wasn’t that great of a choice, and it reminded Tara of the fact that, regardless of what happened, it was to be her last fight. It had been a painful decision for her to come to, but she knew that she had no other choice; she couldn’t knowingly put herself in danger night after night to protect Willow, not when she was doing the same thing to protect her. Of course, Willow was unaware of the fact that Tara had done this, and Tara was going to make sure that she would never know.

”I can’t continue to do this, especially since I’m a princess,” Tara thought, allowing herself to smile faintly as that thought crossed her mind. ”I never really thought that I was a princess, but if I am, I guess I have to start acting the part. No acting like Xena for me. I’ve got to start being all dignified, refined and feminine like.”

Blocking another blow and forcing her opponent back, Tara’s grin widened. “In other words, exactly the opposite of how I truly am. I mean look at me. I’m wearing a man’s tuxedo. How butch is that?”

Sword impacted against walking cane once more, and Tara gave her enemy an icy stare. She knew that she had to do something in the next few moments to save both herself and Amy; otherwise the building would collapse around them. Looking around, she began to conceive a plan that, while dangerous, would fulfill both goals if she were to pull it off.

Allowing herself to get knocked to the floor, Tara twisted her body, leaving her back exposed and letting go of her cane, letting it clatter to the floor beside her. As she heard footfalls behind her, she looked ahead and saw the battered remains of one of the molded plastic chairs in front of her. Reaching out, she grabbed onto the back of the chair as she heard the male speak.

“It’s so typical of women. You always think you can best a male stronger and faster than you are.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Tara commented absently as her gloved fingers tightened around the chair. “I think women have one advantage over men.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

Getting to one knee, Tara twisted her upper body around, bringing the chair she held around with all her strength to slam it against his side, sending them stumbling to the countertop. Leaping to her feet, Tara moved to take advantage of her opponent’s momentary lapse in judgment. Grabbing him by the scruff of his neck, she tossed him through the ruined doors nearby and out onto the parking lot beyond.

“We can always coerce big, dumb men to be where we want them to be,” she muttered under her breath, taking a few moments to compose herself before moving over to Amy. “Are you OK?”

“Oh, I’m fine,” Amy replied, her response so dripping in sarcasm it wasn’t impossible for Tara to imagine it being a doughnut she could dunk into her morning coffee. “I’m pinned down in a burning building with a possibly broken leg, fighting the urge to pass out while a woman in a tuxedo battles some strange guy who wanted to take my head. It’s a shocking event for most people, but just your average day for me.”

Tara bit her lip and chose to ignore Amy’s comment, lest any rebuttal on her part accidentally give Amy a clue as to the identity of her rescuer. Instead, she moved to the debris pinning Amy’s leg down and, after working her cane into a gap between her leg and the debris, bore down to lift it off Amy’s leg. Tara watched as Amy crawled away and, as soon as she saw her safely away, released her hold on the debris.

Moving over to Amy, Tara helped her to her feet. “Can you walk?”

Amy winced as her weight shifted. “My leg. I think it’s broken.”

“Don’t worry,” Tara reassured her. “I’ll get you out of here.”

As Tara and Amy made their way towards the exit opposite the one that Tara had thrown her opponent out of, Tara gave a glance back towards the hole blown in the wall on the opposite side of the building. And saw through it a familiar blonde pigtail form, along with three others, confronting the other three men outside.

”No!”

**

Faith stared intently at the rose, whose petals had finished their shift from white to black. A smile faintly appeared on her lips as she snapped her fingers, the rose disappearing with her gesture.

Everything was going according to plan.

_________________
Avatar Images Courtesy of Kirari-PGSM.net
The Star Witches Saga | Under the Sea | The Moonlight Densetsu Chronicles | Going the Distance | Slippery When Wet | Short Fics by Sith

Whoo! Dibs. This never happens to me.

Awesome. I used to love Sailor Moon back in the day. I was having a hard time mapping the different worlds onto each other, but you make the transition even easier by sticking to the first set of storylines for Sailor Moon that I could recall from the TV series. Whew! That must have been a lot of work.

So far, I'm very intrigued.

Large with the butch!



Heheh!



,,,and now I'm thinking of Faith as the Emperor (hey, she'd sure look better than Palpy! ).

I like this chapter, esp. the "I can't fight anymore" Tara angst.

I don't know what to say...*stares at screen in bewilderment*

WTF just happened?