View source for 1480/Dimension Past: Prop Hunt

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2024/04/24
|Location=Silver Millennium
|Synopsis=Trapped in the past but seeking advantages, Sailor Pluto walks the aftermath of a tragedy on the hunt for those items most useful to the Senshi of the Present. CW: description of fatal injury, death.
|Cast of Characters=43,95
|Tinyplot=Operation: Past
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>The battle is over, and the war is lost. Mare Serenitatis and the Capital City nestled within it are enveloped in smoke, the dome providing the city's survivable atmosphere struggling to filter the sheer amount of smoke and ash in the air. Buildings still stand, but many lie in ruin, only their stone nature preventing them from burning to ruin. In the distance, the Moon Palace stands, the epicenter of an eerie after-echo of magic. The Queen has fallen, and the world with her. All that remain are the scattered and frightened remnants of civilians cowering, the last remains of soldiers fighting, even now, and the moans of the wounded and dying. <br><br>Sailor Pluto emerges from the portal alone, near where it all started: facing the eastern gate of the Capital City, where Sailor Mars made a stand. <br><br>Sailor Mars is no longer making a stand - there is no stand to be made. The gates have fallen, the stone melted from impossibly conjured walls of flame, the charred and broken bodies of those who were pinned trapped in the cooling stone. <br><br>Sailor Pluto is on the other side of that gate - and many of the objects she seeks are sure to be within the city, not outside of it.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>As Sailor Pluto emerges from the portal and sees that it FINALLY has led her to the part of the echo she's been looking for...she still takes a moment to stop and close her eyes.<br><br>While what she's about to do is useful and NECESSARY...<br><br>...she's fairly certain the images she's about to subject herself are going to feature rather prominently into her nightmares for a LONG while to come.<br><br>Taking one last long look at the ruins around her, she takes a deep breath, then spends about a minute swearing in several dead languages.<br><br>The general gist is '**** you Beryl and your entire lineage for making me have to do this.'<br><br>Finally, she nods to herself and leaps through the shattered gates towards the rough area where she saw Mars earlier.<br><br>If she didn't fall there...well, given that this is MARS, it won't be hard to figure out where she fell back to.<br><br>One will merely need to follow the burn marks.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>The image she is about to see will most certainly be burned into her mind. On the other side of the shattered, half-melted gate is the aftermath of a warzone. <br><br>What had once been a receiving square, filled with market stalls and buildings is now a charnel house - blackened, carbonized goo has been seared to walls, bodies lie in piles, limbs and torsos and heads seared - and for some, seared entirely away. They are dressed in armor, some of them, but far more are civilians, are farmers and merchants and boys and old men in common garb, are nobles in all their finery, now burned away. <br><br>They are the remnants of a people consumed with hatred, and intermixed, are the Lunar Guard, the peacekeepers of the Capital City, and they are dead, and dying. Some few wheeze out their last breaths, but far more are surrounded by the enemy dead, trampled under foot, fallen. <br><br>In the distance are civilians, and they too, have fallen. <br><br>But among the bodies, alone, is the body of Sailor Mars, slumped against the wall of a building directly facing the gate. She is wounded in more ways than one, and her eyes are still open, her bow clenched in her fists, still brilliant and beautiful, even covered in blood. The bow string, violet as her bows, is stained with blood. Her gloves have burnt away under the heat of her own flames, and her fingertips are cut to ribbons - she had fired so many times it wore through her skin. <br><br>She is gone. The light of her life has left her, this wounded guardian, but she still watches.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Sailor Pluto walks through the square, heels clacking on flagstones as she picks her way through the carnage.<br><br>With every step she has to silently remind herself that none of this is real. ALL of it happened LONG LONG ago and this is a mere echo...and despite how DESPERATELY she wishes she could just ignore it all, she cannot.<br><br>For this echo...this moment that Beryl wished to use to torment those who oppose her contained more than just trauma and fear...it contained something crucial.<br><br>It contained INFORMATION.<br><br>And as a character from an admittedly cheesy adaptation cartoon once said, 'Information is ammunition.'<br><br>And Time willing...if the hopeful fruits of this exploration indeed help turn the tide?<br><br>Well, Pluto isn't above some righteous gloating at the expense of that redheaded bint.<br><br><br><br>Unfortunately, that DOES mean she still has to deal with the torment such scenes will cause her in the here and now.<br><br>Thus, she picks her way across the square, following the obvious trail towards where Mars gave her last.<br><br>Once there, Pluto kneels next to her...and even though this is an echo and not real...<br><br>...she feels a compulsion she has not felt in a very, very long time.<br><br>She carefully eases Mars' body to the ground, folds her fellow senshi's arms across her body, fingertips touching opposite shoulders...and finally reaches up to gently close Mars' eyes as she softly says, "...sleep now, brave Soldier. Your duty in the present is done. Sleep. Sleep until your Princess has need of you. Til then, dream of her, dream of peace, and dream of happier times."<br><br>Parting words said, Pluto stares down at Mars for a few moments before standing up once more.<br><br>Reaching out to grasp the Garnet Rod that is there when her hand closes around it, the Senshi of Time spins it around and uses the keylike flanges on it's side to sight down it's length at three seperate stars...marking their exact positions and committing their co-ordinates to her memory.<br><br>Then, without a further glance, she dismisses the Garnet Rod once more and leaps towards the nearest roof that will take her in the direction that she remembered hearing thunder from when she first arrived...Jupiter would have HAD to reasonably near wherever THAT was.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Mars' body is still, colder than living flesh but not yet without warmth. Rigor mortis hasn't yet set in, her death still too recent. The blood on her body is still tacky, and trapped air wheezes free as she's moved, as her limbs are carefully positioned, her eyes closed. <br><br>The bow rests beside her, and there is not one in the city that will take it from this place. There is nothing left. <br><br>After all, as Setsuna knows well - the Silence is coming. <br><br>As she heads through the city, the damage from fire begins to fade - instead there is the damage from blunt force, from weapons and fists and monstrous strikes. Fewer people had made it this far, but fewer is not none. There are the bodies of guards, the bodies of invaders, and far more, the bodies of the helpless, caught between, slain. <br><br>There are buildings haphazardly boarded up and blockaded, and the bodies of invaders who tried to tear through these defenses. Many more buildings bear the results of trying and failing to build defenses - broken down doors, shattered windows, pools of blood, fallen corpses. <br><br>As Sailor Pluto crosses the city westward, getting closer to the western gate, she'll see the fallen bodies of invaders with lightning burns, with blast wounds, entangled in roots and strangling plants, stretching out, grasping, breaking, churning the earth with their force... <br><br>And then she'll find Nephrite, his body still smoldering. He lies on his front, having collapsed. One arm is outstretched, pointing at a space where buildings have collapsed across an entire city block.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>As she roof runs towards where Jupiter made her stand, Pluto does her best to not see the broken in doors, the assaulted and shattered strongpoints, the hastily-built overrun defenses, the dozens and dozens of final stands of defenders.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(She fails miserably)<br><br>As she sees more of the telltale signs of Lichtenberg Branching in some of the burns, she knows she's heading in the right direction.<br><br>Until she eventually comes to find Nephrite. The ratio of skin to carbon on him makes it obvious that his end was due to getting hit with a fulminatingly large stroke of lightning...but Jupiter isn't to be seen.<br><br>...until she notices the outstretched arm.<br><br>Shifting around, she stands near Nephrite's fallen form, then leans over and sights down the outstretched arm...before heading directly down that vector towards the collapsed block, hoping she won't have to do TOO much digging.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>There are patches where Sailor Pluto will have to watch her step, as she follows the path Nephrite has left - because the sandy stone has turned to solid glass from the force and heat of the lightning strikes. But once she's made it far enough? <br><br>Well, as it turns out, once she makes it over the collapsed ruins? <br><br>There's no need to dig at all. The buildings have collapsed in a radius surrounding a crater - a crater where the was not one before, here in city limits. <br><br>The ground has caved fully beneath these buildings, the foundations shattered, and that's what brought these buildings down - the utter force that was brought to bear by the sky itself. <br><br>But before she can begin trying to descend it (if she tries to descend it), is a tree. <br><br>It's an enormous wild oak, no leaves, only branches, and trunk, twisting, enormous roots tearing up the earth and soil. It's alive but dead, a tree without leaves or flowers, grown for one, obvious purpose: <br><br>Killing one man. <br><br>One leg hangs free. The other leg, and the majority of the torso, are swallowed by the twisting branches that make up the trunk - but swallow makes it sound so ''simple'', so ''clean''. The tree has grown through him, tearing it's way through flesh and bone and muscle, blood watering the plant, helping it grow. The material of his uniform is torn to shreds by the rapid growth, and a branch has sprouted through his left shoulder, dislocating the majority of that shoulder. His face is exposed, but the skull damaged heavily on the sides, a branch growing up and out the top, bone-white hair forming a facsimile of flowering bodies. <br><br>The face is untouched, which means Sailor Pluto can identify Kunzite easily. <br><br>Beyond the tree is the slope of the crater itself, also solid glass, the sloping walls utterly smooth. Down in the center, held upright by force, is Sailor Jupiter, held up not by her own will, but the roots and branches of a tree forcibly grown up and through the glass for the sole purpose of steadying her for the final battle. The white of her fuku is crimson and brown with blood. <br><br>On her head, glitters the Leaves of Oak.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Pluto leaps forwards towards that obvious landmark...and from the upper edges of the site, she can see what she needs to see.<br><br>This is close enough.<br><br>She COULD take her readings from here and be gone.<br><br>But that, somehow, feels wrong.<br><br>As she picks her way down into the depression, she pauses close enough to Kunzite that she's able to look him over...and all she can think of is the moment from the beginning of the new Casino Royale when Dryden asked of his contact, '...how did he die?' and Bond's succinct answer, '...not well.'<br><br>With a shake of her head, she descends the rest of the way down, then slowly walks over to Jupiter's final rest.<br><br>Once more, her bindings...the very Concepts she is bound to give a ghostly tug to the woman.<br><br>For these are only echoes...but that does not mean the righteous fallen do not deserve their moment.<br><br>Once more, the arms are folded across her chest and a brush is done across the face to close open eyes, "...sleep now, resolute Guardian. The battle for now is Passed. Sleep. Sleep util the Princess calls. Till then, dream of her, of joyful memories, and of an end to battle."<br><br>A moment is taken as she lets her hand rest on Jupiter's crossed wrists...then Pluto lets out a soft sigh and turns to walk away.<br><br>As she heads for a clear spot she'd noted earlier, she mentally counts her steps...then when she gets to one of the very few spots with an unobstructed path straight up, she leaps directly to the lip of the crater, where the Garnet Rod appears in her hand once more.<br><br>And once again, she sights several stars, committing their positions to memory...at which point she looks for the tallest bit of stable-ish looking remains and, dismissing the Rod, she leaps for the vantage point.<br><br>She is unsure of where Mercury fell...but given that the whole AREA should be nigh COVERED by highly-reflective ice...she imagines that spotting it won't be TOO hard if she can get a good enough vantage point.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Sailor Jupiter, too, is still soft with only recently-lost life. The battle has been over for less than an hour, and she is easy to move, once the branches are broken. Her body, once positioned, does not move out of it's final resting place, and the glittering of the circle on her head, under the dim light of the stars, follows Sailor Pluto as she goes. <br><br>Deeper into the city, up to higher vantage points, but the buildings here in the Capital City are only a few stories tall, at the most, the city having been built with the hope of not obscuring the view of the stars, or the palace above. <br><br>There are no fields of ice, surprisingly enough... <br><br>But there is a wing within the Moon Castle, off in the distance, that features - an outpouring of ice, frozen into the open air, from a tower.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Pluto had wanted to hold off moving that way until last...because she knows the things she'll see there...and she REALLY doesn't want to see them again.<br><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;(She knows Fate is going to force her to see them again.)<br><br>Still, she has to make the most of this opportunity while she can...and she's unsure of how long she has before the Silence arrives.<br><br>She really wasn't in any state to observe how fast the wave of Silence propagated the first time around.<br><br>Thus, with a heavy heart, Sailor Pluto starts leaping towards the distant tower, moving as quickly as she dares to find a way in and to the attempted glacier.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Despite the glacier, once Sailor Pluto makes her way, there's an opening in the window, where she can get through. It's a battered and shattered opening, clearly formed by ice that shattered, but the glacier itself isn't melting at all. <br><br>Inside the tower is one of the nerve centers of the Capital City, the defenses that operate from the castle, computers and systems still active, though some have been shattered. Bodies are frozen in ice, fallen to pieces where they were attacked after, stabbed, ''burned'' - <br><br>Burned? <br><br>Yes, burned. There are two bodies here at the center, not one, and there's no sign they were fighting ''each other''. <br><br>One belongs to Zoisite, and he is still entangled in death with the enemy that stole him from life. The other, still slumped over a computer, is Sailor Mercury. Her head is low, her eyes closed, and her body perforated by bladed weapons - <br><br>The computer program is still running. A defensive barrier, trying to seal off the Moon from the corrupt magic of the invaders.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>As Pluto makes her way inside, she looks over the wreckage.<br><br>Part of her mourns for all that is lost.<br><br>Fortunately, that is a part of her and a pain that she dealt with a LONG time ago...only an echo to match the echo she finds herself within.<br><br>A newer feeling is a tiny bit of pride.<br><br>For even in this devastation, amongst proof of someone trying to destroy them, at least some of the things her people built manage to function still.<br><br>As she makes her way over to where Zoisite and Mercury ended, she shakes her head.<br><br>Unsure of precisely what happened...and willing to give the Shittenou the benefit of the doubt for Endymion's sake, if nothing else, she gently disentangles the General and lies him down, crossing his arms as well and symbolically closing his eyes, "...sleep. Sleep until called by your Prince. Sleep and dream of a world without hate."<br><br>Then she walks over to Mercury. Before she turns to the woman herself, Pluto looks over at the screens...and quickly frowns as she realizes that the level of magical and computational theory and the intracacies of how they were pulled together to interact are beyond her.<br><br>But she DOES know the basics of how Silver Millenium computers work...and she checks to see if, perhaps, the output of this might have been saved to the Mercury Computer.<br><br>If so, a bit of digging through the archives of the real one should produce something that can be worked on to help in the future.<br><br>If not, perhaps Ami will get a chance to pass through this sub echo before they manage to escape.<br><br>Either way, there's little aught she can do on that front, so she then turns to look about for the Mercury Aqua Harp.<br><br>Given the sheer amount of ice evident in the area, she's hopeful that it's somewhere near about.<br><br>Once she's located it or assured herself it's not here, Pluto finally turns to Mercury herself.<br><br>As with the others, she gently lies Mercury down and lies her arms across her chest, then symbolically closes her eyes and softly says, "...sleep now, Brilliant Warrior. Your Duty, for now, is done. Sleep. Sleep until the Princess has need of you. Till then, dream of her, of happy stories, and of endless libraries."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>The Mercury Computer is to Mercury's side, and it is plugged into one of the still functioning computers, flush with data on the circumstances. It's possible that in the future - the present - this data may have been corrupted, but, at one point, it was here. Information, on strategies Silver Millennium used to try and prevent whole scale invasion. <br><br>Strategies that ultimately did fail, but which may provide helpful insight, in the future. <br><br>Zoisite's body is easy to move - he's lost a lot of blood, and thus a portion of weight, and his eyes were already conveniently closed. He rests among his fellows, the only human laid to rest peaceful here. <br><br>Mercury's harp - the Sage's Lyre - rests against one of the computers, facing the glacier. It's freezing cold to the touch. <br><br>Sailor Mercury, her spirit fled this plane, is colder than the others - the chill of ice has stiffened her more thoroughly, but she is still able to be respectfully positioned. <br><br>And now there is only one place to go.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Once her ministrations are complete, Pluto closes her eyes and takes a few moments to steel herself, then she nods, and with one final look at Mercury, she ducks through the window and moves to the highest point of the tower.<br>Hersgain her hand closes on the Garnet Rod which is there when she grips it, several stars are sighted...and then she dismisses the Rod and orients herself on where the final confrontation took place.<br><br>She knows roughly where the final battle took place, after all.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>She knows roughly wheere the final battle took place, and when Sailor Pluto makes her way to that final battle sight, she will find, for the first time - that she is not alone, the sole living being moving through a graveyard. In the corner of the palace where the final battle was fought, Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity lie together, having already been poisition neatly, carefully, by loving hands. Beryl lies near them, impaled on the Holy Sword of the Silver Millennium, and slumped beside her is Sailor Venus, kept upright by the sword her hands still grasp. Her eyes are empty and unfocused, drying in death, and her long hair falls into her face. At her side sits Artemis, the Mau still alive, mourning. <br><br>Nearby, resting against a broken pillar, lies the corpse of Queen Serenity, eyes open, empty. The Moon Stick is grasped loosely in her fingers, extended in it's scepter form, but the Silver Crystal has gone. At ''her'' side is Luna, sitting a lonely vigil. Unlike the pair of the present, here, these two are adults, fully grown cats whose normally sleek fur is streaked with ash and blood, evidence of fighting. <br><br>If she wishes, she can break their lonely vigil, their wait for the end.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Pluto looks upon the scene that DID feature fairly heavily in her nightmares for a very long time.<br><br>Uncertainty did, after all, cause many a sleepless night.<br><br>Conflicting issues cause conflicting desires.<br><br>Where to start?<br><br>Where to end?<br><br>Finally, she shrugs. She has something to do...but that can wait.<br><br>For the moment, she has something else to do.<br><br>For as she's proceeded through this waking nightmare, she's come to realize that that little impulse that has been driving her to lay the Senshi to rest...while driven by the Concepts she's attatched to...the very act of doing so has been...something of a balm for her.<br><br>It has helped her insulate herself a little from the torment that Beryl wanted to lay upon her as she has finally had the chance to say things she would have said had she not been bound at the Gates the first time around.<br><br>How different would things have been?<br><br>Truth told, she is unsure.<br><br>She feels Fate and Destiny too strongly around much of these events. While she knows things would have played out DIFFERENTLY had she and the other Outers been there...she's come to the conclusion that their presence would not have made things BETTER.<br><br>Thus, she steps over to her fallen Queen...and with a shake of her head, she kneels down and quietly arranges the Queen, folding her arms and brushing a hand over her eyes, "...rest, My Queen. Your spell succeeded. Rest, and know that your Daughter becomes all you could have dreamed her to be."<br><br>She then looks over at Luna, curious how the advisor will react now that she has inserted herself into awareness of those in the echo by her actions.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Too far from the scene, captured by his own grief, Artemis notices nothing. <br><br>But Luna, enveloped in her own grief, waiting, and watching - Luna watches with wide eyes as Sailor Pluto comes into focus beside her, reaching out for their queen, settling her as only another humanoid can. <br><br>"Pluto," she says softly, finally, eyes wide and fixed on the Soldier of Time. "Have you... have you already found Uranus and Neptune? Or did you... did you come here first?" <br><br>There's the hoarseness of grief in her voice, weighing her down. She is ''exhausted'', truly and fully and completely, aching with loss, with injury, and there is still grief to be had, grief for what is still yet to come. <br><br>There's the Silence, after all. <br><br>"I am sorry that this is your homecoming. Thank you.. thank you for giving her spirit comfort." <br><br>She does not, cannot imagine what Sailor Pluto truly is, but does she need to?<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Pluto looks at the ever loyal, ever dutiful Mau...grieving horribly but standing one final vigil as she waits for Silence to fall.<br><br>How indeed to explain to Luna that this merely an echo of what Was when, due to it's very nature, for Luna, it is what IS?<br><br>After a moment's thought, she glances up at the sky for a moment, then down to Luna and decides to couch things in partial truths, "The process to awaken Saturn has already begun..."<br><br>She then turns to look at the battlefield, "...but, though I am barred from STOPPING time or TRAVELLING in it by the Queen's Taboos..."<br><br>A deep breath is taken, "...on certain rare occasions, I can play around in the margins, so to speak."<br><br>She gently reaches out to the mau, silently asking permission and then picking her up carefully if allowed, "...there were a few things yet to be done...and this is a thing that should happen."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Luna nods silently, unsurprised. Of course the process to awaken Saturn has begun. Of course, the Silence shall fall and the end be beckoned. It's the only thing left that could come to pass. Her eyes trail to her queen's face, her friend, her comrade, the woman she has advised for so many years now, so much of her lifespan. The woman she has seen die, and who she now stands vigil for. <br><br>There is a moment, where she thinks of sharing old regrets, old fears, long trusted to her, but she does not. Serenity's words are Serenity's alone, and she will not betray her trust, even now. <br><br>Besides. What is, is. It's over, now. The spell has been cast, the enemy sealed, all that's left is for them to be reborn, together, again. <br><br>Permission is silently asked for, and just as silently granted. At this, the end of all things, who is Luna to deny the comfort of touch? <br><br>"She sealed the demon away," she says quietly. "And cast a working such that those who fell here shall be returned in time, together. She... I think she could have restricted it, but not if she wished for the prince - no, the King, to be returned with her. I hope... with that demon sealed away, it can be... a peaceful time..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Once she has permission, Pluto picks up Luna and gives her a gentle hug...the comfort is as much a balm for her soul as she hopes that it is for this Luna.<br><br>Still, there are a few final tasks to be done...so Pluto carefully sets Luna over her shoulder in the way that she has seen Usagi do several times in the future, then walks over to where Artemis stands watch near Venus.<br><br>As she has with all the others, Pluto gently lies her down, folds her arms over her chest, and closes her eyes.<br><br>As with the others, she speaks some final words, "...sleep now, Stalwart Defender. The Foe, for now, is Slain. Sleep. Sleep until the Princess needs guarding once more. Till then, dream of her, of brigher days, and of being with those you love."<br><br>Another quick sighting is done, then she looks to see if Artemis will react, or if the poor mau is too far gone in his shock and grief.<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Luna leans into Pluto's hug, nuzzling against her for the moment, and when she is lifted to Pluto's shoulder, she settles into place, watching and waiting and - <br><br>A little noise, in her throat, as Venus is approached, enough to catch Artemis' attention. He lifts his head slowly, ears flicked in their direction, but he does not protest or speak as Venus is gently, carefully, laid to her final rest. <br><br>When he does meet Pluto's eyes, his own blue ones are dull and tired. He had cared for Venus as fiercely as though she were his own child, taken pride in her victories, reveled in her successes. To outlive her is torture. All the laughter has gone out of him, all the good humor. There's only the emptiness that is his grief. <br><br>Still, he speaks. <br><br>"Thank you, Pluto," a rasp, smoke-damaged. He had come through fire and ash to reach this place, and it shows in the marks on his once-fine white fur. <br><br>"Have you come to spend the end with us?"<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>With permission, Pluto picks up Artemis as well, but she doesn't go very far with him...only over to the Prince and Princess.<br><br>Once there, she carefully sets first Artemis, then Luna down.<br><br>At which point she spends a few moments fussing over the royal couple. They may require no repositioning...but she takes a few moments to make sure all is arranged properly before passing a hand over Endymion's face, "...sleep now, fair Prince. Sleep until the future, when you and the Princess can be together again. Until then, dream of Her, and a love that transcends Time."<br><br>She then turns to the Princess...and after a long moment, she reaches out and symbolically closes her eyes as well.<br><br>When she speaks, her voice is...strained. It's that strain of someone on the edge of crying, but using sheer willpower to NOT.<br><br>In a very gentle voice she says, "...sleep, My Princess. This phase of your life is ended. Sleep until Destiny pulls you from the dream. Sleep knowing that the this shadow has, for the moment, passed. Sleep and know you will be reborn to become an even greater woman than the queen. Sleep and know that you are loved...and that there is one who stands the lonely vigil awaiting your return. Sleep and dream of your Prince and friends."<br><br>She then kisses her fingers and touches them to the crescent on the Princess' forehead...then slowly stands, "I can stay with you...but I must leave before the final moment."<br><br>She then drops down to sit seiza near the two mau...and she gives a sad little smile before looking around as if checking to see if anyone's listening, then says to the two, "...hoowever...given the circumnstances, I can share a few secrets."<br><br>She leans forward a little, "...the spell worked. They will all be reborn, and you will see them all again. You will all be together again...and in many ways, all of them will be BETTER than they were. There will be perils and challenges...but they will have ALLIES where before there were none."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:43|Usagi Tsukino (43)}} has posed:'''<br>Silent tears are shed as the Prince and Princess are given their final words. They are so young, and so small, at the end. The larger than life presence of youthful optimism, youthful stubbornness, has vanished, leaving only the roundness of features never grown to adulthood, the awkward lankiness of adolescence. <br><br>The Holy Sword, for the moment, rests in this, the final battleground, where the Sage Beryl was slain by Sailor Venus. <br><br>Artemis and Luna are shadows of themselves, but they stay with Pluto, balancing carefully to avoid scratching while still maintaining position. <br><br>"Of course," Luna says quietly, "You should be with the others, when the final moment comes." <br><br>Uranus and Neptune. Saturn, even, if that child has not wandered far. <br><br>And then - <br><br>And then there is hope, faintly blossoming, because who would know of the future better, than the guardian of the Gates of Time? There is a faint spark, a gleam of life, in blue and red eyes, as Luna and Artemis absorb her words. <br><br>"Thank you," Artemis manages, choked, "Pluto, thank you -" <br><br>"They will live," Luna breathes, then - "Pluto... will you be with them?" <br><br>Time passes, the smoke shifts, the sky, gradually, clears. It isn't long before the light begins to change, the echo of something stirring in the distance. <br><br>A pale light, as a portal opens by the balcony. <br><br>"It's almost time," Artemis says quietly. "It's like thank you are the only two words I know, but - thank you. To know it worked..."<br> <br>

:'''{{#var:95|Sailor Pluto (95)}} has posed:'''<br>Pluto notes the portal opening, and heaves a little sigh.<br><br>She then gently lifts first Artemis, then Luna.<br><br>As she does, she gives them each a kiss on their moon mark, "I will. I will be with them to guide them. Though in some ways the Princess will guide me as much as I her."<br><br>She looks off into the distance, and knows the Silence is about to fall...but she says one final thing to both of them, "...until we meet again. And I can promise you...we WILL meet again."<br><br>And with those words said, she takes a deep breath...and strides quickly to proceed through the portal before the Silence wave washes through.<br> <br>
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