When I wrote the first draft of this chapter in Fall of 1998, I didn't know the name of the region.
I just knew I needed a location a little north of Greece, on the verge of war-prone central Europe.
Unfortunately, we have all since learned that the region just beyond Macedonia is Kosovo.
This is a sad coincidence, and not in any way an attempt to use this human tragedy for my own purposes.-Nightman
A Back Road in Southern Macedonia, Crystal Era
En Route Toward Bulgaria
The jeep leapt several feet in the air as the front wheels cleared the
mound of dirt and stones in the corner of the narrow track that was all
that served as a road. The passenger yelped in surprise, and perhaps
terror as well. He was a tall man, with a scar that nearly divided his
face in half; long, curly black hair except for a shock of white from
the brow near his scarline. He wore an old fashioned suit and a
Victorian rain cape. He was a doctor, and he even carried a little black
bag. Surgeons are known for the agility of their fingers; this one was
using raw strength to hold onto the jeep's foam-wrapped roll bars.
In the front seat, the other passenger took it all in stride. For her,
it might as well have been a rollercoaster ride. Her features were
serene and demure; she had a motherly face for someone so young. The
pink bow that tied up her turquoise hair kept her features youthful and
the look suggested a young newlywed, ready to move into a new house. In
sharp contrast to that peaceful image, she had a Red Cross-issued flak
jacket clinging to her by the shoulders.
The driver was another matter. Short sandy blond hair, forest green
eyes, she wore a short-sleeved blouse, jeans, and a leather vest. Most
people would have mistaken her for a man--or a pretty youth rather. Not
the doctor though; he noticed the details others glossed over.
"Haruka," laughed Michiru. "I think you're scaring the doctor to death!"
The driver growled.
"That detour around the washed out gully cost us a lot of time!" she
called over her shoulder. "Just hang on Doc, I'm the best driver there
is, just don't let yourself get thrown and we'll be all right!"
"If we had medicine you wouldn't be able to drive like this!" he yelled
into the wind.
Haruka paused a moment before answering with more yelling. "True! But we
don't! And we do have a little boy who's going to die without that
operation! I just hope they've got the right supplies at the camp!"
The doctor nodded, and they drove on in silence for a while.
Eventually, the jeep rolled to a stop. Haruka stood up. "Ok, fifteen
minutes to stretch and what not. I'm going to check under the hood, then
climb up that hill, see what the terrain looks like ahead of us. Stay
close Doc. " He nodded his assent.
The other passenger, the red-cross worker, got into the back and took
out a violin case. "I'll check the hill, Haruka," she said. "I think the
acoustics might be . . . interesting." Then she blithely climbed the
slopes of the nearby rise Haruka had nodded her head at; the land around
them showed signs of great blasting sometime in the past and there were
many ridges and spurs of earth and stone. That one seemed reasonably
climbable and offered a decent vantage of the terrain before them.
The doctor wondered as she took out a violin and began playing a sad
sweet melody that stunned him with its power. As the world's foremost
surgeon, he'd been an extremely wealthy man. He'd partaken of cultural
events around the world and he never forgot talent like that.
"Kai'oh Michiru," he breathed. "The Japanese virtuoso. She retired from
the public spotlight in . . . nineteen nintey-six?" he mumbled to
himself.
"Ninety-seven," corrected Haruka from under the hood. "After a sold out
farewell performance." She slammed the hood closed and wiped her hands
on a rag. Michiru's music still floated down upon them with a soft touch
like snowflakes or feathers drifting on the wind. "We decided to duck
out of the public eye for a while. And then things started changing so
fast. . ."
The doctor shot another look at Haruka and thought for a moment. "Ten'oh
Haruka, isn't it? Hah, I see. The papers usually referred to you as
being male." She grinned and tossed the rag back into a small toolkit
she had sitting on the ground next to her.
"It's not like it was some big secret. They just never thought to ask."
"Don't ask, don't tell."
"Ah, you're quoting from that Bond film?" The doctor smirked slightly.
"As it, in turn, was."
Haruka laughed, an easy thing. "The world's gone through some changes;
and we're not the people we used to be. " She sighed as she put the
toolkit into the back of the jeep and looked up at Michiru. She'd
launched into "Summer" from Vivaldi's Four Seasons. "Once upon a time I
wanted to run away from everything. Then one day I ran smack dab into a
brick wall called 'responsibility' and it was Michiru who picked me up
from it. Then when I'd accepted that responsibility, it was taken away
from me and we set out to . . ." she trailed off, looking up at Michiru,
who was standing atop the hill like an angel with her eyes closed, lost
in her music.
"To find yourselves? To make a life?" prompted the doctor after the
pause lengthened into silence. She nodded once, absently.
"Yes. And damn if we didn't volunteer to take on new responsibilities to
replace the ones we were released from." She chuckled. "Still, I'd like
to enter the European racing circuit one of these days, when we put
everything back together. I think I've still got what it takes."
"Tell me if you enter anything cross country," the doctor replied with a
smile. "I'll bet on you to win; it'll make me a fortune." Haruka smiled
again.
"You bet I would. HEY! MICHIRU! We've GOTTA GO NOW!!!" she yelled up at
her partner. Michiru broke off her playing, put the instrument
carefully back in the case. She spent a moment scanning the horizon
before she began to pick her way back down the hillside.
Haruka looked the surgeon right in the eye. "But right now we've got a
more important race to run, ne, Doctor Black Jack?" He blinked once in
startlement, then nodded in agreement.
[Roll Credits: "You're Still the One," Lucy Lawless version]
[Night falls and the image of the city of Crystal Tokyo
begin to dim ... Xena (Lucy Lawless) begins to sing; the
Mythic Senshi are the backing vocalists]
(humming in tune to the opening of the song...)
Looks like we made it
[Crystal Tokyo lights up! A glittering fairyland!] (The
images fade softly, each into the next fairly quickly)
Look how far we've come my baby
[Neo-Queen Serenity places her hand into King
Endymion's grasp]
We mighta took the long way
[Image pans by, of Ami, Rei, Makoto and Minako on the
day they graduated from High School]
We knew we'd get there someday
[In turn, the adult Sailors Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and
Venus turn around and smile to the camera; Venus also
flashes a V-sign and winks.]
They said, "I bet, they'll never make it..."
[Image of Haruna-sensei holding her head and shaking it
while tutoring Usagi very late after school.]
But just look at us holding on
[Image of Osaka Naru and Umino Gurio on their
Western-style wedding day, Usagi and Yamagi as
bridesmaids; the inner senshi are sitting far back and
gushing.]
We're still together still going strong
[Scene of Tsukino Kenji and Tsukino Ikukko smiling and
hugging outside a church; they are also wearing formal
clothes and the girls are wearing familiar bridesmaid
dresses and look a few years older.]
(You're still the one)
[Superimposed against the backdrop of Crystal Tokyo a
handsome, sandy-haired young man in a guard's formal
uniform looks up and smiles]
You're still the one I run to
[Chibi-usa runs toward her parents the King and Queen]
The one that I belong to
[Artemis and Luna snuggle, with their kitten Diana]
You're the one I want for life
[Makoto in street clothes getting hearts in her eyes
after some cute guy; Rei and Minako look on, Rei
sweatdropping, Minako encouraging. Amy walks up and
shows her diamond engagement ring, practically shoves
it in their faces, causing severe facefaults]
(You're still the one)
[In front of the Fountain of Trevi in Rome, Michiru
throws a coin in and Haruka embraces her from behind,
both of them smiling]
You're still the one that I love
[Happy people are walking around downtown Crystal
Tokyo. Rei bumps into very well-groomed Yuuichriu in a
snappy suit, and frowns. He opens his mouth as he is
about to say something, a horde of screaming teenage
girls run up and drag him off. Rei looks relieved.]
The only one I dream of
[Someone jostles Makoto as she leaves the store and she
drops some groceries - a handsome blond guy stops to
help her pick them up and there's something about the
way they look at each other...]
You're still the one I kiss good night
[An adult Usagi and Mamoru having dinner with her
parents]
Ain't nothin' better
We beat the odds together
[Flashback to all the senshi reassembling after the
defeat of Galaxia]
I'm glad we didn't listen
Look at what we would be missin'
[Setsuna is standing at a podium in a college gown. Her
tassels mark her as valedictorian of the graduating
class, and all the senshi, still wearing High School
outfits, are sitting in the audience applauding along
with the rest of the audience at her speech]
They said, "I bet, they'll never make it"
But just look at us holding on
[Professor Tomoe and a stunning, adult Hotaru waving
goodbye as their cruise ship departs Tokyo Harbor]
We're still together still going strong
[Images of the adult senshi helping people out of
underground shelters. Around them, Crystal Tokyo looks
a bit battered but not too bad.]
(You're still the one)
You're still the one I run to
The one that I belong to
You're the one I want for life
[In Paris, with the Eifel tower visible not too far
away, a door on a balcony opens. A striking girl with
long greenish-blond hair walks out proudly. A guy with
a resemblance to Rubious, except with hot paink hair
follows after her; then twins with red and brown hair.
They smile evilly and the sign of the Dark Moon
appears on all their foreheads.]
(You're still the one)
You're still the one that I love
The only one I dream of
You're still the one I kiss good night
[An image of Planet Nemesis; in the royal hallway a
handsome blond man man wearing an ornate military
uniform receives a shocking message. He turns and
dashes away.]
I'm so glad we made it
[In the shadows of ancient greek ruins, two red eyes
gleam ferally from the shadows and darkness grows]
Look how far we've come my baby
[Wistfully smiling, Minako looks out off a balcony and
thinks of her absent friend Xena; the final image has
her face appearing next to Minako's.]
[You're Still the One, written by Shania Twain &
Jeff "Mutt" Lange, originally recorded by Shania Twain.]
Episode Three
Mission of Mercy! The Return of Haruka and Michiru
Deep Space, the Eridani Corridor, Crystal Era
Nemesite Light Cruiser 'Pasha'
She moaned in the darkness. It was a weak effort, and she was
unsatisfied. She tried again. It was a much stronger moan, louder, more
anguished. "By my ancestors," Hino Rei gasped as she drew breath into
her lungs deeply, feeling pain as if her chest was one giant bruise. "I
hurt too much to be dead."
There was a weak gasp, a shuddering intake of breath. "I . . . I know
the feeling," came Topaz' voice from somewhere.
"Where are you?" Rei asked, her voice ringing strangely in the confined
space of the starship bridge. A weak, watery blue glow sprang up perhaps
ten feet away. As her eyes adjusted to the miniscule light she could
tell it was a faint aura around the Nemesite. She could see a little
now, and pushed the chair off her. She'd been so numbed she didn't
really know what was making the difficulty of her breathing. She
staggered to her feet, needles lancing into her nearly everywhere. She
couldn't tell if it was serious or not, yet. "Can you stan--er, are you,
ah, all right?"
"I think my left leg is broken. Maybe a dislocated shoulder. I remember
getting flung out of my chair and into the corner back here. I don't
feel any bones poking through the skin though," he finished weakly.
More light blossomed, three spheres the size of oranges, each one a
different one of the three primary colors of light: green, red, or blue.
They wobbled.
"Nice trick, you have light powers I take it?" asked Rei musingly.
Topaz made general noise.
"What? I couldn't understand you," she prodded, her face half grin half
grimace.
"What's so funny?" Topaz asked as he saw her face.
"I have no idea, I think I'm about to go hysterical." The Nemesite
gulped.
"Could you please try not to? The are some combustables onboard and we
MIGHT just be able to make it out of this mess."
Rei grinned, her teeth clenched tightly. She would not break. No, she
was strong. If someone was going to start laughing like a hyeana in a
situation like this it would certainly be Minako-- Rei shook herself to
clear her wild train of thoughts. "What happened? Did we misjump?"
"No, I don't think so," Topaz replied as he tried shifting. Rei came
over and started examinging his firm, muscular leg. "I think someone
saboutaged the jump drive. I had this ship custom-modified with an
auxiliary drive; it's only capable of a microjump but it comes online if
there's engine damge, such as stress damage after a battle that was
undetected."
"You've fought others in space before!" Rei exclaimed. Topaz nodded
levelly. "A few. I guess you could call them 'border skirmishes.'
Anyway, the auxiliary kicked in and eased us back into normal space when
the main drive failed. But where we are . . . it seems like we've
crashed."
"Doesn't feel like a planetary gravity," Rei said with a frown. She went
to the locker marked 'Emergency' and took out a first aid kit. Inside
she found a self-inflating splint and some choice medications. "If we
got, say, halfway through the Eridani Corridor, we might be in a space
debris field." Topaz began to nod his assent but broke off with a gasp
as Rei straightened his leg and then wrapped the plastic cast around his
lower leg and up past his knee. She broke the inflation tab and a
chemical reaction inflated the cast and solidified it moments later.
"Don't try to move for at least five minutes. That thing has to harden
in place." His teeth gritted, Topaz agreed.
Rei got up and started looking at the instrumentation panels. Topaz
directed her to the damage control station and she brought the auxiliary
controls online. Lights around the bridge began to glow faintly and she
sighed with relief. The ship wasn't totally powerless; the main system
power had just cut out like a tripped circuit breaker. She brought up
the ship's hull integrity display and groaned.
Quite clearly, the large round shape sticking into the hull was NOT
supposed to be there. "Kamis," she muttered. "We've hit an asteroid."
Topaz moaned, and not from his leg injury.
The Palace of Neo-Queen Serenity, Crystal Tokyo, Crystal Era
Inside The Queen's Crystal Pinnacle Garden
"MAMORU!" screamed Neo-Queen Serenity as she started to crumple toward
the sitting bench. King Endymion leapt to her side from where he had
been tending one of his rosebushes, and caught her before she fell to
the ground. He gritted his teeth as he felt the sensation of something
tearing at the sudden movement. He hadn't been out of bed long, in fact
he still had a touch of frost on the hair at his temples from the
physical strain his body had been under.
He was somewhat relieved to have discovered that his hair had NOT turned
lavender with age; it had simply been a color distortion effect of his
astrally projected state. Though he did have that fancy lavender Tuxedo
he sometimes wore for Sunday walks in the park. Chibi-Usa loved it but
he, personally, preferred black. Still, he could wear it now and then to
make his daughter happy.
"Usako!" he hissed under his breath. Even here, they kept up the façade
of "Endymion" and "Serenity." With publicity, their birth and pet names
for each other had become powerfully intimate. As he held her in his
arms, he saw that her pupils were nearly fully dialated; it was as if
she was looking beyond him. His breath nearly caught in his throat. He
didn't know what had caused this but he was ready to try his healing
powers to save her, if need be. But just as suddenly as the attack came
on, her eyes began to return to normal.
"Mamo-chan," she whispered in his ear, "Just now, I felt something, it
almost felt like it was coming through the link I share with the senshi.
Something dark and evil suddenly struck, like a coiled viper. I almost
missed it but . . . I don't know what it was Mamo-chan, but there's
danger again. Now. Pluto warned me. . ."
The quiet hiss of the elevator door heralded the arrival of a palace
servant. Endymion bent down and pressed his lips against Serenity's. He
heard a tray dropped the and the elevator button being pushed
repeatedly. Let the palace think that the King and Queen had lost all
decorum in the wake of the King's long immobility. Better that than to
even suspect that the Queen might have been struck at again, or gain a
hint of a new crisis before Serenity was ready to announce it.
Serenity, however, appeared to like the idea and returned his kiss with
ardor. It soon had him thinking a common musing of his: formalwear took
too long to take off. However, he dismissed the thought and commanded
the lawn to grow into a soft cushion of grass beneath them. Likewise,
dozens of new roses rapidly grew into existence and filled the air with
the perfumed scent of the flower of passion.
Some time later a glowing Serenity sat up. "Wow. You've been waiting for
this haven't you, dear?" she said. Her husband had the good grace to
look slightly bashful as he grinned. Around them the small, terrarium-
like garden was now a riotous jungle of color as every plant had gone
wild in the wake of their passion. She looked around. "People think *I*
did a lot to regenerate the biosphere but they have NO idea how much you
added to the healing of the Earth. "
He smiled. "It's in the legends. Kings are tied to their lands, its
health is their health and vice-versa. "
She nodded and grinned. "I'm lucky I married a king," she said, "or I'd
just be a princess with a lot of cold dry real estate for a kingdom."
"Somehow I *doubt* that," he said drily. She smiled at him, in sort of a
bemused agreement. "And speaking of such things, dear, I must say I feel
a LOT better. Your love must be the medicine I needed." She smiled at
him.
"Well, then let's get you fully back on your feet!" she said. "But not
QUITE yet. . ." she pounced at him, rolling him over. He laughed
easily.
"But my queen!" he protested in mock seriousness as she began to kiss
his face. "There's no room for the plants to grow any more." She
silenced him with more kisses. They would begin working on dealing with
this new crisis soon. Soon. But not this moment. This moment they were
taking for themselves, as if it was the last they would have.
And the roses began to bloom again . . .
On the Macedonian border, Crystal Era
A Nameless Refugee Encampment
"We did good today, Haruka," said Michiru, smiling at her. The way she
said we clearly meant 'you.' Haruka smiled back.
"The doctor's really the one who deserves the credit." Haruka said with
a shrug.
Michiru smiled her secretive smile and shrugged one shoulder. "Let's see
if there's a little something to eat at the main tent," she suggested.
"I am getting a bit hungry." Haruka frowned. Supplies were tight, yes,
but they needed to keep their strengths up. If Michiru was shorting
herself basic rations. . . she'd have to stop that. The two of them set
off, Michiru stopping to toss her purse over her shoulder. Among other
things, she kept a gun and some spare ammo in it--Just in case. She was
never without the purse now, not ever.
They weren't quite halfway the length of the camp before the sounds of
gunfire broke out--automatic rifles, like the Earth Resistance Forces
used. Everyone stood stock still, listening. Moments later the high-
pitched whine of energy weapons discharge rang into the air and the
frozen workers scattered, running in all directions.
"Damn the Black Moon!" cursed Haruka as she and Michiru set off at a run
*toward* the sounds of gunfire. "This isn't even an army camp! The
butchers!" Michiru just looked grim as she followed. There'd been some
close shaves before, both in regard to encountering the Black Moon and
also in regard to the local strife that the greater conflict had touched
off, but they'd never had it come right into their midst.
Haruka began to outdistance Michiru of course, and headed in a beeline
toward the main tent. The gunfire was a bit off to the side, but it and
the sound of the energy discharges -- the air now was being lit by
flashes of darkly colored energy bolts--were getting closer. Haruka
charged into the tent and started looking around for a weapon, any
weapon, but there wasn't anything to be seen. Either the few UN soldiers
acting as guards for the camp took all of them or they were *that* low
on munitions. Outside, Michiru waited, her gaze steady as she watched
the approaching raiders. There seemed to only be a half-dozen Nemesite
shock troops coming over a nearby rise, but there were only three UN
guards left standing. Slowly, deliberately, she reached her hand down
and toward her purse. Her expression was cold as an ancient stone
statue.
"Michiru! I couldn't find anything!" Haruka ran up beside her. She
scowled at the fighting only 30 meters or so away from them. They were
out in the open and they needed to move.
Michiru suddenly turned and looked her in the eye. "I'm sorry Haruka,"
she said, her hand fully in her purse now. Haruka opened her mouth to
say something when she saw something out of the corner of her eye that
drew her attention. Michiru whirled to look, following her gaze. "What
the. . .?" she gaped.
A huge ball of energy, looking for all the world like a giant snowball,
came streaking over the hill from the right and sped directly at the
Nemesites who scrambled to get out of its way. The part that really got
her attention was the way the sphere glittered and shone much in the
same way as the energy spheres that Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto
had used as attacks. When there had been Sailors Uranus, Neptune, and
Pluto, that is; before the Chaos-posessed Sailor Galaxia destroyed their
powers, and those of their teammate Sailor Saturn.
"It couldn't be!" gasped Michiru, her eyes wide and disbelieving even as
the silvery ball crashed into the ground where the Nemesite troops had
stood a moment before, detonated, and sent streamers of supercooled
water and clouds of snow every which way.
"It has to be her," said Haruka, equally astonished.
A figure came over the rise and stood for just a moment, surveying the
fight that had suddenly turned with her intervention. The lovers gaped
in shock again. The girl was NOT the person they expected to see. She
was tall and leggy, with silver hair in a form of pageboy cut. She wore
a toga and skirt, gathered at both shoulders with the hint of a collar
about her neck, and a bright blue scarf-like sash fluttered in the
breeze at her side. As she leapt into action they could see that her
footwear was a pair of bright blue sandals with laces that wrapped up
her ankles.
The Nemesite troops regathered in front of the snowbank created by her
attack and began firing at her with their energy rifles. The UN troops
were still shocked by the attack; Michiru had whipped her hand out of
her purse as if she was touching something hot enough to burn.
This new figure raced down the hillside with speed that would have done
Haruka proud, dodging back and forth as the Nemesites sent a barrage of
fire at her. Whether she actually dodged the blasts or simply wove back
and forth to the point that the shock troops couldn't draw a bead on her
didn't matter. They didn't touch her. Before she got to the bottom of
the incline, she leapt into the air and somersaulted forward, landing
firmly at least ten feet forward from the bottom of the hill.
She put her hands in front of her chest, holding the palms facing. Wisps
of mist trickled between her fingers and swirled together into a sphere
hovering between her hands. The sphere cleared, showing within it a
single huge, perfect snowflake. Then swirls of what might be taken for
mist -- but which were actually tiny streams of snowflakes -- swirled
within the globe as the snowflake began to rotate on one of its points.
Similar streams of snow began to swirl and arise around her in time with
the sphere of power in her hands.
"Shine . . . Snow . . . MIRAGE!" she called out as she pushed the sphere
and the ice storm surrounding it away from her and streaking at her
targets. At this close range, the shocktroops didn't have a chance to
scatter before her comet/micro-blizzard engulfed them all, blasting them
with freezing cold, engulfing them in ice as it formed, burying them
within a pile of hard-frozen snow.
"WHO THE HELL ARE *YOU??*" roared Haruka, shocked at what she'd
witnessed. The blue stone in the stranger's tiara was glowing faintly,
Haruka noticed as the woman strode forward toward the duo.
"I'm the Sailor-God Warrior, Mercury," she said, with a slight Latin
accent. All the color drained from Haruka and Michiru's faces. "Sailor
Mercury for short. And do either of you know of a woman named Minako? I
believe she lives in a country called Japan?"
Haruka and Michiru exchanged a startled glance. "We do know her. We can
put you in touch with the people you need to talk to," said Haruka as
she turned to Sailor Mercury. "But we, ourselves would rather stay out
of it." Michiru nodded in confirmation.
The Free City of Paris, Crystal Era
Rive Gauche District
Peridot walked briskly through the light rain. She had a short raincoat
that barely dropped below her waist tied off with a stylish belt that
accentuated her slender figure. A large, fairly handsome man moved
into step with her. She looked askance at him; black leather pants and
boots weren't so unusual in Paris; the black, metal-studded leather vest
with big shoulder flares wasn't even *that* odd. However, the sword he
wore at his side, one hand resting lightly on its hilt, now that was
*definitely* odd.
Peridot was weighing her options when he spoke. "You and your people
have come a long way to conquer Earth. I respect that."
She stopped and whirled on him, white-faced, reaching for her power
already. What stopped her was the look on his face. It was gleeful and
brutal, and definitely NOT the look of anyone in the Earth government
who might be opposed to them. 'A traitor?' she thought to herself.
"I believe the world needs to have order imposed on it. The order of the
strong hand of a conquerer, guided by me, of course, to conquer Earth
and then to conquer the stars. The Daughter of the Moon is weak and
soft-hearted," he scoffed, "the world must be seized and shaped to the
will of the conqueror, not kissed and coddled. And perhaps your people
are the ones to do it." He moved closer to her, ignoring the drizzle
around them in the evening. "Are YOU the one to do it?"
"Who are you Earther?" Peri finally spat. "Why would I need your help?"
she demanded. He smiled, the smile an invitation and a mocking of her
at the same time.
"I am Ares! The god of WAR!" he proclaimed, half-snarling, half-yelling
in exultation.
Peridot rolled her eyes, covered her forehead with her hands and
revealed her Black Moon symbol. "You're deluded!" she spat and unleashed
a blast of poisonous green light from her aura. The glow surrounded both
her and the raving man next to her and entered his mind, twisting . . .
it entered his mind it . . . it simply rolled off him like rain on
teflon.
She gaped, speechless. Some few had resisted her power of compulsion but
to simply shrug it off as if it were nothing? Was the man actually a
robot? But no, she vaguely felt his mind when her mental attack first
touched him. He was just so strong, he resisted it. Impossible, but
true.
Peridot began to get very, very worried and considered calling upon the
physical portion of her powers right then and there. Ares reached out
with his free hand and touched her shoulder.
In a blast of steel gray light they vanished.
End of Episode Three
(roll credits...)
More Than This - Written by Jules Shear, originally recorded by 10,000
Maniacs; this (shorter) version peformed by Kino Makoto with guest
violin soloist Kai'oh Michiru.]
The dark screen fades up, an aqua-haired woman looks over her shoulder,
flashes a smile and spins away as she plays a strain of notes on her
violin; the music swells and a brown-haired woman positions herself in
the left half of the screen. The right becomes a frame in which images
form.
[Makoto smiles as a manga-style image of the Mythic senshi in a casual
group fades into the frame; Pluto is somewhat prominent.]
I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
[image of Melissa dressed as a girl of Sparta in athletic event clothing
and holding a Javelin passes from the right, then as Mythic Jupiter
bearing her oak leaf sword from the left]
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they're blowing
[image of a battered Callista just after surviving the burning of the
village Cirra from the left, then an image of her as a confident Mythic
Mars from the right]
As free as the wind
And hopefully learning
[image of Amica dressed as a very serious young noblewoman of Rome,
holding an abacus in one hand and a scroll in the other passes from the
right, then from the left an image of Mythic Mercury, partly turned away
from the camera but looking over her shoulder with a free-spirited smile.]
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
[image of Eriæ dressed in Athenian clothing, holding a basket and
standing on a dock, smiling, her hair very curly as she passes from the
left, then as Mythic Venus with "crimped" hair, and reaching out from
the right. ]
More than this - you know there's nothing
[Images of Serenity looking pensive in the palace on the Moon]
More than this - tell me one thing
[Images of a more mature Joxer surveying the door to a hillside shrine]
More than this - you know there's nothing
[Images of Hades and Aphrodite exchanging meaningful, concerned looks]
It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
[Moment, with black hair, dressed in her simple village attire moves by
the frame from the left; Sailor Pluto wearing a mysterious smile moves
by the right]
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we're going
[Image of Xena as a snarling warlord moves by from the right and then as
a calm, cooly smiling heroine holding a glaive from the left]
No care in the world
Maybe I'm learning
[Princess Serenity, posed regally but with a hint of surprise passes
from the left; a moment later Mythic Sailor Moon looking earnest and
ready to fight passes from the right]
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning
[Makoto looks at the frame to her left approvingly as the various Mythic
Senshi take up their places around Queen Selene, who is holding the
Silver Crystal.]
More than this - you know there's nothing
[Mokoto faces the screen smiling as she sings; the frame fades]
More than this - tell me one thing
[Michiru playing the violin appears standing next to her.]
More than this - you know there's nothing
[As the music fades Haruka appears and puts her hand gently on Michiru's
elbow; Makoto smiles warmly at her old friends and then winks at the
camera as the scene fades out.]
Next time, on Mythic Sailor Moon:
Densetsu no Senshi! Mahboroshi Seera Muun
(Soldier of Legend! Mythical Sailor Moon)
Image: in the streets of Crystal Tokyo, the grim reaper faces . . .
Sailor Moon.
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to hear from my readers.
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