To Part A

"Yamiko," Tokimo said, "Kane is here, and he has some stuff to say to you."

Her face fizzled out abruptly. By "here" she sort of had to assume Kane's house, which Tokimo had announced her intention to find earlier in the day. Where that was, she wasn't entirely sure. She pulled out her cell phone and navigated to the internet phone book, punching Kane's name into the search bar. A short wait caused his name to pop up on the screen, address and corresponding map right below it.

It took awhile to navigate through the streets and find Kane's house. It was a strange house; it looked almost like a gothic building from Germany had been picked up and supplanted into Crystal Tokyo. She nervously knocked on the door.

"Come in!" Tokimo loudly shouted. Yamiko walked into the house and looked around confusedly.

"This way," Kouken said, running up to Yamiko. As soon as she saw him, he turned back and made his way into the mansion. Yamiko followed quickly behind.

She was surprised and not a little alarmed to see Tokimo had transformed into Sailor Charon; she seemed to be sustaining a space-time blast, and as Yamiko approached closer, she could see that Kane was in a nearby bathroom, bent over a toilet, and apparently sick out of his mind.

"Charon!" Yamiko shouted, glancing angrily at her as she ran to Kane's side. "What in Serenity's name were you thinking?"

"Oh, there you are," she said from where she was standing in the hallway. The attack dissolved. "Now you can talk it out with Kane."

Before Yamiko could utter a word, Kane was wrenched off of the floor and into the air. A tall man materialized in the bathtub in front of her and held Kane in the air by his collar. The man's hair was deep blue, and his clothes were a light blue, almost periwinkle color. They were not unlike Helios' vestments; he wore a tailcoat with translucent sleeves and a high, formal collar. The front of his jacket was studded with insignias shaped like the symbol of Mercury. He also had a teardrop on his forehead, but it pointed downward. Yamiko did not take that as a good sign.

"Run, Yamiko!" Kane shouted.

"Are you crazy, Kane?" She said. "I won't run away any longer. Especially not from the people I care about. Phoebe prism power, make up!" As Yamiko was enveloped in shadow, she transformed into Sailor Phoebe.

The man laughed. "Oh, Kane," he said with sarcastic emphasis. "How well things have gone for you. I have to apologize; I was quite derisive toward you, but I will give you this. You have made her fall for you. Mauros!"

"Yes, brother?" a placid voice replied. Behind Charon appeared another priest with exceedingly long hair; it streamed around his shoulders and down his back, past his knees. He wore a long, almost trench-coat like robe of dark gray that was closed from the top of his high collar to its bottom by his ankles; his jacket, too, was studded with insignia, this time that of Pluto.

"Get rid of all this...stuff," he said indicating their surroundings. "It's in my way. I can't make things properly dramatic in such a tight space."

Charon frowned, looking toward the blue-haired man. "I'm gonna cut your show short, Megaman! Space Time Blast!" A bubble formed around him, but the blue-haired man had barely begun to pale before Mauros mumbled a few words to himself and the attack dissipated.

"Your attack is that of space-time," he remarked with some interest. "As fellow of Pluto, your attacks are easy for me to stop--and, they have no effect on me whatsoever."

"Oh yeah?" Charon said. "I bet this'll have an effect on you!" She turned around and swiped her naginata toward him. Mauros teleported again to the other side of Charon, standing in the doorway behind Phoebe.

"We can play soon," Mauros said. "First I have to do what brother says." He held out a hand and a huge war scythe appeared in his hands. He teleported further out into the hallway and swung the scythe around him; rather than being stopped by the building, the building dissolved around his blade. Soon the whole building was sinking into the ground. The bizarre thing was that it was almost like it was detached from reality; the floors and walls and furniture all moved through their bodies, past them, and into the ground. After only a few moments, the house was gone completely, leaving behind only a garden of roses and a large patch of dirt.

"Good job, Mauros," blue-haired said. "Now, where was I?"

"Please, Yamiko," Kane pleaded. "Please go. I'm begging you!"

"Oh yes!" The blue haired man said abruptly. "Kane. Sorry to say, Yamiko, you affection for Kane is a little misplaced. See," he said, throwing Kane into the ground, "The truth is, Kane isn't a real person at all."

"What?" Phoebe backed up clumsily, confused.

"Run away!" Kane said. He ran toward Pheobe, spreading his arms as if to grab her torso. Coeus held out his hand and Kane slumped unceremoniously to the ground once more. He struggled, as if trying to lift himself off the ground, but his efforts seemed to be futile.

"You're not going anywhere," he said. "Your girlfriend gets to find out the truth, whether you like it or not. Now where was I? Oh yes. The fact of the matter is," he continued, "Kane is just an identity that Eros assumed." Kane features dissolved; his wavy platinum hair melted into a straight burnished gold. His dark clothing became the priestly garments of Venus; and his once deep blue eyes turned a bright, saturated orange. "Really, there is no Kane at all. Eros was using you, planning to betray you all along, and then use the negative energy from his betrayal as power."

"You're lying!" Phoebe said. "This isn't Kane at all. You're just in this with Eros, trying to trick me into thinking Kane's betrayed me."

The blue-haired man looked a little dumbfounded. Then he laughed. "Oh! I wasn't expecting that. It's a good theory, I have to say. Almost more compelling than the truth, eh Eros?"

"Weren't you supposed to kill me?" he said bitterly. His face was a mask of misery. "Please, Phoebe, just get out of here."

"Hm," Coeus said. " This puts me in a bit of--"

"Coeus is telling the truth, Yamiko," Eros interrupted. "I am--was--really Kane. I was there when I went to you house, when we went to that grand party, even when--even when you let me sleep at your house overnight. You're probably better off believing that Kane was a real person, and that what Coeus said was a lie, but I've lied enough to you already. You deserve to know the truth."

"Why thank you, Eros," Coeus said happily. "You've saved me quite a lot of trouble."

"Go to hell," Eros sobbed. "Now please, just go, Yamiko. Leave, before he hurts you."

Sailor Phoebe was dumbfounded. She felt totally numb. Her sailor fuku dissolved as she was overwhelmed with a feeling of loss and confusion.

"Anyway," Coeus said, "Now that that's over with."

"Chaos Compass!" Charon shouted. Mauros' eyes widened and as Charon appeared next to Coeus--ready to strike--he appeared just behind her. He grabbed her roughly, hooking his arms in front of hers and hosting her in the air. Her naginata slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground. Sailor Charon didn't bother transporting it back to her hand--it wouldn't do her much good right now.

"Brother doesn't like to play," he said.

"Let me go!" Charon shouted, struggling, but Mauros was deaf to her cries. With her arms bound, even Charon could not use her power. Coeus waved his hand and a huge, bizarre mechanical dog appeared next to Yamiko. Steam hissed from its joints and a mishmash of gears and pistons were visible throughout its body, making it look like someone had neglected to put the animal's skin on.

"Cage," Coeus said, and the dog rapidly deconstructed itself and formed a bizarre, bird cage-like structure around the catatonic Yamiko.

"What are you doing to Yamiko?!" Charon shouted. The cage began to hiss and steam even more than the dog had been, and Yamiko flopped onto the ground.

"Yamiko!" Eros shouted. "Charon, you have to do something! Save her! Coeus will drain the kakon out of her--if it keeps up at this rate, she'll die!"

"I can't! He has me pinned!" Charon shouted. She was still struggling desperately against Mauros' grasp. He was stronger than Charon would have expected.

"That reminds me," Coeus said. "Better take away your powers, too. We could use that Kakon back. Eros, priest of Aphrodite," he announced, "You have broken the contract of Nemesis by refusing to generate kakon, by protecting the Sailor Senshi of Phoebe from harm, and by generating agathon alongside her. You are hereby revoked of your power and privileges."

Eros said nothing as tears streamed down his cheeks. Slowly, a dark, curling smoke leaked from Eros' chest and curled up and around his body. "Charon," he whispered. "Please, please save her." As the last wisp of smoke left Eros' body and curled into the air above, he brought himself into an almost fetal position. "No..." he groaned. His body became vague and blurry, and soon where Eros stood was the huge figure of a swan. The only thing that identified him as the priest of Venus was the orange teardrop on his forehead and his eerie, bright orange eyes. He spread his wings, a huge span of eight feet, and then flopped over on the ground helplessly.

"Well," Coeus said, turning to Mauros, "You can play with Sailor Charon, now."

"Pink ladies freezing kiss!" Coeus jumped in shock as ice quickly overcame his body, freezing him in place. Sailor Luna stood before them, along with the Quartet, Helios, and Saturn. There was another Senshi as well, one Charon didn't recognize.

"Who are you?" Charon asked.

"Sailor Ariel," she replied. "You know me from school. You know, uh...the one you haven't seen transformed."

Coeus shattered the ice encasing him, sending it flying. "Using an ice attack on the Priest of Mercury...really, that's just plain stupid," he said.

"Boreal tempest!" Ariel shouted, bringing her arms together and twisting them so that they interlocked. A spiral of ice-cold air flew at Coeus. He cursed as his body was covered in bloody lacerations. His blue vestments were soaked with red in several places, and his clothing took on an odd, stiff appearance as the blood froze into his clothing and body.

"Perhaps you spoke a little too soon," Saturn remarked.

Mauros looked at his brother, alarmed and confused. "Brother, what should I do? You're hurt."

Charon knew an opportunity when she saw one. Mauros had slackened his grip ever so slightly while his attention was arrested. Hooking her own arms around the back of Mauros', she shifted her weight and slammed him in the stomach with her butt. As he began to keel over in discomfort, she braced her feet against the ground and her body against him and flipped him over her, slamming him into the ground. "Yeah!" she said triumphantly. "I kicked your ass, Charon-style!" Then she summoned her naginata once more, brandishing it at Mauros' fallen figure.

"Brother," Mauros said, "I will play with the sailor senshi. You don't want to, so you can go home, okay?"

"I think I shall," he said, and he disappeared. Mauros disappeared after him, but quickly reappeared, standing, in the midst of the sailor senshi; they seemed on edge and not entirely sure what to expect.

"There's a lot of you," Mauros remarked. "But it's okay. I brought plenty of friends to play." He held out his hand and the shadows of the Moon Senshi spiraled into a circle. In the center of the circle, a ring of shadow people appeared, faceless and formless, like a ring of cut paper dolls. Each of them had a very simplistic, almost stick-figure like expression on their face; a smile, a frown, a teary face...each one was a little different.

"Catch us if you can!" the one with a smiling face said jubilantly.

Sailor Saturn raised her glaive. "Death reborn revolution!" she cried, and countless ribbons streamed from her glaive and toward the shadow figures. The blade-like ribbons swept through the shadows, ripping apart their limbs and sliding through their bodies.

They quickly reformed, becoming whole once more; the holes mended, the limbs reattached. A wickedly smiling faced shadow turned toward Saturn. "Not so easy, we're quite tough--even strong attacks are not enough."

"Great," Juno said, "A rhyming youma. Feral charge!" Spears of bronze spiraled toward another shadow doll, but they, too, did nothing; the spears ripped through them but the shadow-doll quickly reformed.

This time, a smiling face turned toward Juno. "You'll have to try a different tack. Please give the game another crack!"

"Okay, new tactic!" Charon announced. Ignoring the youma, she ran toward Mauros and stabbed her naginata toward him.

Mauros deftly parried with his war scythe, smiling. "You can't get me," he said. "Brother says I'm the best."

"Maybe with one against you," Saturn replied, running behind him and swinging her glaive, "but is that still so with two?"

An angry face turned toward Charon and Saturn. "We won't let you hurt our father. We'll make ourselves a bloody bother!"

Two of the shadow dolls dropped from their ring in the center of the yard and into the ground, behaving in an entirely more shadow-like manner, slithering along the ground like a smooth, black snake.

"Saturn!" Sailor Luna cried. The shadow was quickly moving toward Saturn's own shadow, and one of the youma had already begun to overtake Charon's. "Shimmering crescent!" she cried, sending a volley of crescent-moon shaped blades flying into the ground at the shadow moving toward Hotaru. The shadow screamed and shredded into thousands of pieces, which blew up into the air like a tornado of black confetti.

"Ah!" Mauros cried in sorrow. "A friend is broken."

"Our fallen friend we will avenge; Charon's pain is our new pledge!" As the second shadow blended into Charon's own, it flew up into the air with innumerable burr-like hooks. The hooks fastened around Charon's body and pulled downward, pinning her to the ground. She screamed, writhing and twisting in pain.

A flurry of dark, iron rings flew through the air and landed into the shadow that held down Charon. The shadow let out a metallic scream and the burrs retreated into the darkness. Charon groaned as she crawled out of the shadow, which was struggling against the iron rings, trying to free itself. It was almost like an insect pinned to a display, or a postcard on a cork board.

"Are you okay, Charon?" the Crimson Eagle asked, holding an iron ring in one hand and resting the other on his sword's pommel. Ikkoku was silently perched in the trees nearby.

"No!" she said, pulling herself up with her naginata. Her body was covered in deep cuts. "That hurt!"

Helios kneeled and began to pray. A white mist brushed across Charon's body, and her wounds, though still visible, were little more than scratches.

"Thanks!" Tokimo said.

"Just doing my duty," Helios replied modestly.

"Boreal tempest!" Ariel cried. A cold gust of wind flew at the shadow; it stopped struggling for a moment, and then was torn apart into innumerable pieces.

"Another friend!" Mauros appeared upset. "It's not fair. I'm losing this g--" his words were broken off as Saturn swung her glaive at his face. Surprised, he blocked it with the handle of his war scythe. "You can't beat me, Sailor Saturn. I'm a better player at this game than you."

"You underestimate me!" she replied, parrying him as he aimed at her stomach.

"Daddy!" A shadow said, turning toward Mauros with a shocked expression plastered on it's face.

"Keep playing with the other Senshi," Mauros said, blocking another swipe from Saturn. "I'm playing with Saturn."

"We'll have to pick someone to kill; no matter who, it's quite a thrill!" the shadows spun around like a zoetrope until they faced Sailor Ceres. "We know you have a dark confession; share your pain or feel our aggression!"

"What?" Ceres said, confused.

"Confess! Confess! Confess!" A shadow cried, it's face a contorted mask of guilt and regret. It swooped into Ceres shadow and sent burrs around her. She screamed. "Your pretty self is all your care for! Others' needs you do abhor!"

"Ceres!" Pallas shouted. She looked momentarily panicked, but soon her face was filled with a calm certainty. "Arachne's lament!" she cried. A network of thin, blue threads reached out from her fingers and criss-crossed over the shadow youma. She pulled her hand backward and the youma was pulled from Ceres like a fish caught in a net.

"Shimmering crescent!" Sailor Luna cried; the shadow was torn into numberless pieces and dissolved. Sailor Ceres was covered in cuts, which were oozing blood.

"There's still four left," Helios remarked miserably.

"Catch us, catch us, if you can! You'd better make a better plan!"

"And that rhyming is so damn annoying!" Juno added.

"We're gonna have to rip 'em up completely for the attack to have a effect," Pallas remarked, frustrated.

"Freezing kiss," Vesta said. "It'll shatter them, and it's a big attack."

"I'll lend you all my power," Helios said.

"Can you handle it, Ceres?" Juno asked.

Ceres looked dismissive. "Of course I can." She winced a little as she said it.

"Pink ladies freezing kiss!" the five shouted. The shadow figures were encased in ice; as the last bit of them froze, they shattered into hundreds of pieces.

"No!" Mauros cried. "My friends! I've lost! They're all gone!" He turned away from Saturn and toward the dead shadow youma; Saturn ran up and swooped her glaive around Mauros' body, holding it up to his chin.

"Don't move," she said calmly. "We need to talk."

"I don't want to talk!" he said. "I want to win." he pouted. "I'll have to play some other time." With those words, he disappeared.

"Ceres," Helios said, "let me heal you." He murmured words of prayer to himself and her wounds, like Charon's, were reduced to scratches.

"We have to get Yamiko out of there," Ceres remarked.

"Feral charge!" Juno cried. Sharply pointed, bronze-colored blades twisted around each other and hurdled toward the cage. They ripped apart the front of the cage as easily as if it were made of tin and disappeared before hitting Yamiko's slumped over form. Juno ran over to the cage and gingerly lifted her limp figure through the hole she had made in the metal bars. "She needs to be healed," Juno said. "Poor kid. I think we all know what it's like to be played for a sucker by some asshole of a villain." She glanced over at the swan.

"Asshole or not, we have to save him," Ceres replied. "The Queen's orders."

"I'll teleport him," Helios said. "Sailor Luna, you should come with me. He'll need to be healed enough to be functioning before we can get the three powers together."

"Right," she said. "First, though, we need to heal Yamiko." She held her hands above her and the pink crystal appeared between them. "Moon healing escalation!"

Yamiko groaned and opened her eyes. "What happened?"

"Come on, Yamiko," Charon said, her sailor fuku dissolving around her. "Let's get you home."

"I'll go with you," Kouken said, jumping out of the rose bushes and following behind Tokimo.

Yamiko said nothing as Tokimo led her along. She just silently sobbed. The sorrow that filled her overwhelmed even her sense of propriety.

Eros groaned as he opened his eyes. He slowly stood up, stretching his wings and craning his neck to see around him. He was in a long, wide room with a huge crystal chandelier; the walls were bright and translucent, and around him stood the Planetary Senshi, along with Queen Serenity, Sailor Luna, Helios, Endymion and the Sailor Quartet. The cats were there as well.

And, he realized, he was still a swan. A feeling of darkness crept over him as he remembered what had happened, where he had been. "Yamiko!" he shouted. It was a hollow, echoing version of his voice that came more from his soul than his mouth. "Is Yamiko all right?"

"That depends on how you define 'all right,'" Princess Juno replied. "She's alive and in one piece. But her heart has been broken into a billion pieces by some asshole."

"Not necessary," Sailor Luna interjected.

"Is bringing me here in aid of anything?" Eros interjected. "Otherwise, allow me to fulfill my intention of ending my miserable and useless life."

"Let me handle this," Princess Venus said. "He's my priest, so he's my problem. Get out!" she said, motioning to the others.

Endymion looked a little taken back. "But Minako--"

"Out!" she repeated. "Except for you, Artemis. You can stay. Just don't interrupt too much."

"Thanks," he said dryly.

"Let her talk to him alone," Sailor Luna said. "She's right. Eros is the priest of Venus' holy land, so now that he's in one piece, it's up to her to make things right."

"Come on," Sailor Saturn said, and she walked off without further ado. The rest of them reluctantly look her lead.

"So," Minako said. "Um...." she paused. "Nice to meet you. I'm Princess Venus. But you can call me Minako, because Princess Venus sounds sort of weird. I always sort of thought it was kind of awkward when people called me that." Eros just stared at her. "Ahem. And you're, uh...?"

"I was sort of planning on killing myself, so if you don't mind...."

"What? Why?"

"I used the only person I ever really loved, and, as Juno so poetically put it, broke her heart into a billion pieces. I doubt there is anything which I could do to repair the damage I've done."

Minako sat down on the floor. "Tell me about it."

"It's a long and ugly story," he said.

"We're patient," Artemis replied.

Eros paused. He took a deep breath. "Very well. I suppose, as the senshi of Venus, you have a right to know; and I suppose it is fitting I should tell my story before I end it. During the Rainbow Millennium--you do know what that is, right?"

"We've been informed," Artemis said. "Both about Neherenia's prophecy, and how that doomed the three powers of the rest of Sol."

"At that time, I was a priest on Venus. Without the three powers together, my body reverted to it's cursed form. It may not surprise you terribly to know I was a very vain person, as well as quite fixated on finding my true love, a quest that hadn't been going very successfully. I had had....numerous lovers, but things always ended badly."

"Gee, I don't know anyone like--"

"Shut up, Artemis," Minako interjected. "Continue, Eros."

"Bitter that my life had been cut short and that I was to spend the remainder of my days as a bird, I spent my days moping around Aphrodite. At that time, a very strange sailor senshi appeared to me. She called herself Sailor Nemesis."

"What is she like?" Minako asked. "Sailor Nemesis."

Eros paused. "She is taller than any man or woman on Earth, or anyone at anytime in Sol. Her fuku looks like a shroud of darkness, and her hair is inky black. She has the wings of a demon, and a polearm with a dozen blades that shift and bend like snakes."

"She sounds frightful," Artemis remarked.

"She has a terrible beauty," Eros replied, "But yes, she is frightful. She told me that if I came and worked for her, I could have my human form back, a new chance at life--if I were lucky, love, even."

"And you said yes? You must have known you were as good as selling your soul," Artemis said.

"Don't be so hard on him, Artemis," she replied. "Can you blame him? He was alone, afraid, miserable. Haven't we all felt like quitting in a moment of weakness?"

"That's no excuse," Eros said. "I did it because I was selfish. I was afraid of dying and afraid of being alone. So, I accepted her offer, and we were put to sleep as stone statues. I woke up 3000 years later, with the directive to cause suffering, which would give Nemesis energy--she called it 'kakon.' Good energy, she explained, was called 'agathon,' and wherever we found that energy, we were supposed to thwart it."

"How terrible," Minako remarked. "It must have been a hollow existence, living to cause pain in other people.

"It...how can I explain it? Living like that changes you. Things you thought once were reprehensible become ordinary and even acceptable. I had sworn to Nemesis to do her bidding, and even if I was selfish, I was a man of my word. I decided to collect kakon the way I knew best. I would seduce someone, preferably someone already miserable and distrustful, since those people are the most likely to be vulnerable when they finally open up."

"Oh...how awful..." Minako said. "And that was--her name, what was it?"

"Yamiko. At first I was doing as I had planned, slowly letting her put her trust in me--" He broke off.

"Did it work?" Minako asked.

"It worked--too well. I was a fool. I have ever fallen in love easily, only to have my heart broken. I fell for Yamiko, too. But Yamiko was different. In the past, my lovers may have courted me for my appearance or my fortune, but they never loved me. Yamiko loved me. There was a joy I had never felt before in bringing light to a life that was lived in darkness. I realized that I couldn't complete my devil's bargain too late. Now Yamiko knows me for the swine I am."

"That's so sad," Minako said with deep sincerity. "But you shouldn't give up--you regret your crimes. I'm sure there's an opportunity to heal the wounds you've made."

"Even if I could convince Yamiko that I regretted my actions--that I was a changed man--still, It would be a hideous thing to ask for the love of someone who I had used. There are certain crimes that can never be undone. What I did to her--it was vile."

"But you made her love and trust again. I think that's beautiful, even if you did it for the wrong reasons at first. And you redeemed yourself with your love. You love Yamiko, now, right?"

"Of course!" Eros replied. "But what good does that do now?"

"It's love," she said. "It creates good wherever it goes."

"That's not even a sensible reply," Eros snapped. "It just sounds pointlessly optimistic."

"You sure are a crappy Priest of Venus," Minako retorted. "You don't even believe in the message of your Holy Land--er, what was it called?"

"Aphrodite," Eros replied.

"Right. Venusians are about love and beauty. How can you just ignore something that's in your nature?"

"It's not in my nature any more than it is anyone elses'," he said. "I may be from Venus, but at the end of the day I am a person more than a Venusian."

Minako sighed. She had had her share of disillusionment in love as well, so she had to admit that Eros had her there. "What if Yamiko came to you with words of forgiveness? Would you accept her love?"

Eros paused, arching his neck thoughtfully. "If Yamiko came to me, saying that she forgave me and that she was happiest by my side, then--only then--would I return to her." He looked through the brilliantly shining facets of the crystal palace wistfully. "But why present me with such a dream, when I know that such things cannot be? Yamiko will be devastated by what I've done. I'll be lucky if she doesn't try to harm herself. I can only pray that she won't."

"You can't if you kill yourself," Artemis snarkily replied.

"Artemis!" Minako said with disgust. "But he's right. If you kill yourself, you can't protect her--who knows if that might be necessary? And what if she decided to forgive you--however unlikely you think that might be--only to find out that her one true love had ended his life because of her? If only to prevent that possibility, please, don't kill yourself!"

Eros sighed. "I suppose."

"Anyway, now that Venus has her priest back, it would be a shame if you killed yourself," Artemis added.

Eros paused. "In light of that, I fear you are right. It wouldn't be fair to Venus, Eosphorus and Hesperus."

"Who?" she asked.

"The two moons of Venus."

"Venus has moons?" Artemis said, surprised.

"It did," Eros replied, "before they were destroyed. But if I summon the three powers to Aphrodite, I could bring their moons back."

"Are they alive--Hesperus and Eosphorus?"

"Yes," Eros replied.

"You can tell?" Artemis said.

"Of course," Eros said. "It's my duty to serve them. I can find them at any time. I can summon them, too, if the occasion calls for it."

"Could you summon them right now?" Minako asked.

Before another word was uttered, Minako found herself on a barren wasteland. A great mansion was spread before them, as opulent as the Versailles, but it was ruined and crumbling. Nearby were two other people. One, a woman, was dressed in an opulent gown of vivid purple adorned with pink-orange lace. The other was was a man; he wore armor of milky gold. A wide, flat blade hung at his belt, and he had a long cape of a bright, sunrise colored hue.

"Hmm. Look who's come crawling back. You've seen better days, Eros," she said playfully.

"I'm in no mood, Princess Psyche," he said somberly.

She raised an interested eyebrow, but said nothing. Meanwhile, the man knelt down and kissed Princess Venus demurely on the hand. "Princess Venus...or should I say Queen Venus now? Your beauty is far more overwhelming in person than in any photograph."

Minako giggled. "Why thank you," she said. "And your name...?"

"Prince Altan," he said. "A pleasure."

"Since we're all getting on so fabulously," Eros said bitterly, "Let's just get on with it." An orange halo surrounded Eros and spread to envelope them. "The fates of three are the fate of one. As we live, so do we die. As we thrive, so do we wither. Do you accept?"

"Yes," Psyche replied.

"Of course," Altan said.

"What am I accepting?" Minako asked.

"Do you want your crystal and for the three powers to be united again?" Altan asked her.

"Oh! Yes, of course," she said.

"It is done, and the curse is no more," Eros said. He spread his wings wide and, as light enveloped him, resumed the form of a man. The light spread from Eros and moved across the barren landscape; vegetation sprouted from the earth; there were flowers and trees in brilliant bloom, and the crumbled buildings became grand castles once more. The sky lit up and glowed like a brilliant sunset. It reminded Minako of when Sailor Moon had defeated Metallia, and the Moon Kingdom had been resurrected--it captured just that feeling, of seeing something long-forgotten remembered again in all of its glory.

Minako felt a warm feeling in her chest. She held out her hands as the warm glow expanded outward and materialized into a crystal, its facets shining with a coppery luster; it was shaped like a delicate flower. Looking around her, she saw that the other two had similar crystals, though those were of different hues.

"This is...?" she said in amazement.

"The copper crystal of Venus," Eros said. "Use it wisely. As you might imagine, it is very, very, very powerful in the hands of one who can use it."

The Queen of Venus held it to her chest and the crystal became a part of her once more.

"I'll return you home, now," Eros said.

"Wait," Minako interrupted. "Eros...remember what we talked about. I promise you, this isn't the end for you and Yamiko."

"You can't know that, Minako," he said. "Time is not your realm." He clasped his hands and muttered something inaudibly, and they were gone.

Sayoko gasped when she heard the doorbell ring. Yamiko was not home yet; and she worried what that lateness could mean, given her sister's rather unsafe double life. She hoped that the doorbell ringing just meant that Yamiko had lost her key.

As she opened the door, she realized that her fears, not her hopes, were closer to reality. Tokimo stood in the doorway, her face uncharacteristically somber. She held Yamiko by the hand, who was crying. Those two gross breaches of character were enough to seriously concern Sayoko. Between them scurried a very uncomfortable-looking Kouken. "What happened?" she asked, alarmed. Tokimo looked uncertain of what to say. "Well, come in," Sayoko said, opening the door. Tokimo lead Yamiko through the door and to the couch. Sayoko sat beside her sister. "Please," she said. "Whatever happened, just tell me."

"Kane was really Eros," Tokimo said. "The priest of Aphrodite. He...he was using Yamiko. Coeus, who showed us who Kane really was, said that he was planning on betraying her all along to further Nemesis' evil plans. Eros seemed to regret what he had done--he begged me to save Yamiko from Coeus--but it doesn't change the past, I guess."

Sayoko looked shocked. "Kane?" she said. "But...I was so certain he was the real thing."

"He loved her, if that's what you mean," Tokimo said. "But if he really cared about her, he woulda stopped working for the bad guys before Coeus made him!"

"Yamiko," Sayoko said, embracing her sister. "It'll be okay."

Yamiko laid her head against her sister's shoulder and sobbed. "I-I m-must be cursed, Sayoko," she said. "That's all the only...the only reason I-I can think of for all this m-misery."

"Oh, Yamiko," she said, rubbing her sister's back comfortingly. "You're not cursed. Look, if anyone's cursed, it's your big sis. Think about how many guys I've been through, and they're not even villainous masterminds. They're just regular assholes."

"Hey, since Eros was a villain, maybe we can just kill him," Tokimo said. "No one would miss him."

If anything, Yamiko began crying more. "Was a villain? Did he defect?" Sayoko said.

"At the end, he was pleading for Yamiko's life to be saved," Kouken replied. "Not exactly a villainous act...and after he reverted to his cursed form--a swan--the royal family took him off to heal him. If he hasn't decided to leave Nemesis' employ already, I'm sure they will either convince him, or, as a last resort, purify him."

"Well, you probably shouldn't kill him then, Tokimo. Anyway, Toki, why don't you go get some hot cocoa? Do you think you can figure that out?"

Tokimo looked a little insulted. "Why does everyone think I'm totally stupid?"

Sayoko ignored her. "So what's this about a swan?" she asked, troubled.

"Eros lost his protection under Nemesis, so he reverted to his cursed form. When Priests have their three powers broken, they turn into a sort of emblematic beast to conserve what little energy they have left. It's a sort of...spiritual form, which takes less energy for them to maintain."

"Huh," she replied.

"W-why couldn't he have just k-killed me before I found out?" she sobbed. "I'd be happier s-stupid and dead."

"Oh, Yamiko," she said mournfully. "Don't say that. You'll always have your big sister." Yamiko continued to bawl, but Sayoko let her. Before her sister could even hope to heal, she had to shed these tears.

Ariel's uniform dissolved around her, and she became Kazeko once more. She looked at her hands confusedly, and then at the ground.

"Are you all right?" the Crimson Eagle asked, turning toward Kazeko.

Kazeko was quiet for a moment. "I've finally decided to embrace my fate as a Tuatha de Dannann--as a god on earth. But I don't feel any different. I don't feel any more divine."

"Were you expecting to?" the Crimson Eagle asked.

"I..." she dropped her hands. "I don't know. Perhaps I've always felt more divine than most people, without realizing it. I suppose if I'm a Moon Senshi, divinity is the norm and not the exception."

Erik mulled her words over in his head. "I suppose it's possible that we are fundamentally different as human beings than normal people," he said. "But I think it's unlikely. If the behavior if every sailor senshi I've thus encountered is in any way representative, I'd say that senshi are no more divine than anyone else. There are senshi who seem to have the patience and love of goddesses, like Serenity; but there are senshi who are deeply flawed, like Miranda. More than one senshi has become evil in their time and lived to become good again."

"It's not that I necessarily thought that the senshi were more perfect than normal people..." she trailed off. "Maybe sometimes I felt that way because I admired them so, but I knew better--had been taught better. More than perfection...I just expected to feel different somehow. More than just having more powers. I expected to feel...I don't know...a knowledge of past and future. Of what I should be doing, and why, whether it was right or not. A sense of purpose."

The Crimson Eagle sighed. "Well, trust me, as a knight, my sense of purpose has never been clear to me. There's the Knight's Code, of course...that much purpose is clear. But that was handed to me in my training, and it keep it because of my honor...I'm not held to it in a supernatural sense."

"Although you'd think it, the way he sticks to it," Ikkoku interjected.

"You were being so blissfully quiet before," he said, irked. "Anyway, and just look at Seisui--she certainly isn't moving through life with a sense of purpose. The farther along she goes, the more purpose seems to be snatched away from her."

"She's lost," Kazeko said. "We can do what we will to help her, but only she can find her way back to herself."

The Crimson Eagle frowned as he thought of her. But there was no point in that line of thought; that was a problem for later, and not something he could solve by dwelling on it. "Anyway, there's only one thing I can think of that makes Sailor Senshi more divine than normal humans, outside of their superhuman abilities," he said at last.

"What's that?"

"Second chances."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Queen Beryl, Wiseman, Professor Tomoe, Queen Neherenia...they were all 'normal' humans who became seduced by Chaos and later, destroyed. But even when they succeeded in destroying or corrupting the senshi, the senshi were reborn again from the ashes, given a second chance at a life. For them, however, the one chance they lost was enough; and the people they killed are gone forever."

Kazeko looked at his darkly masked face thoughtfully. "Then maybe the nature of our divinity is that we are always given the chance to perfect ourselves," she said. "No matter how long it takes."

"If that's true," he replied, "then it's just as well if we have eternity. That's how long it will take to succeed at such an enterprise."

"Seisui," Erik said. She looked up at him, mildly surprised. The path to Goban from her house and his bus stop intersected; Seisui's senshi presence, though weaker than most, could still be felt as she neared him. Now was as good a time as any to follow up on their earlier conversation, so he waited for her to catch up to him.

"Yeah?" she asked. "Were you following me?" she added.

"No," he said. "You were moving in my direction, so I decided to wait for you. Have you decided?"

"Decided what?" she asked.

"If you want to train with me."

"Oh!" she said. "Well...I suppose I have nothing to lose from it. It's not like I can fall any farther."

"Seisui...." he said. "You have a lot of strength. Don't sell yourself short."

Seisui smiled weakly. "I can imagine you're all very sick of my complaining."

"I'm not sick of your complaining," Erik said. "I'm just sick of your being so unhappy."

Seisui looked a little astonished, then smirked. "You and Tokimo both," she said at last.

"You should spend more time with Tokimo," he said. "You mean a lot to her, Seisui."

"How would you know?" Seisui said evasively.

"Isn't it obvious?" he said. "You know, Seisui, I..." he paused, sighing. "You say that everyone is pushing you away, but I think you're pushing other people away just as much...because you're--"

"If you say 'because you're afraid of getting hurt', so help me, I will slap you," she interjected.

"No," he persisted, "because you're afraid of changing."

"I'm not afraid of changing," she said. "I'm trying to change. It's proving to be difficult."

"Because it's painful, and you don't want to face the things about yourself that you know might be wrong!"

"Do I look like a person who's having trouble thinking badly of myself to you?" Seisui asked, turning toward him accusingly.

"You look like a person who's trying to think badly of themselves for all the wrong reasons," he replied.

"You've got a lot of balls to say that to me," she said. "Everyone knows that you'd be twice the man you are if you stopped worrying about your stupid code and started caring about someone because you were genuine about it! Talk about thinking badly of yourself for the wrong reasons!"

"This isn't about me!" he said.

"Why not?" she said. "Usually, when I'm talking to someone, it's pretty apparent that they're sick of hearing me talk about myself. You ought to be glad of the change of pace!"

"...Who said that?" Erik said.

"It doesn't matter," Seisui mumbled.

They were silent for what seemed like an eternity. Crows cawed in the trees set against the darkening sky. "Seisui," Erik said at last. "What do you think is wrong with you?"

"I don't know," she said.

"That's not an honest answer," he replied. "At least I don't think so. I think you do know what you've done wrong, but you can't face it."

"And that is?"

"My telling you isn't going to make you change your mind," he said. "It'll just make you even more defensive, which is the last thing you need."

"Defensive about what?" she pressed.

"Do you want to train with me or not?" he asked, changing the subject.

"I already said yes," she replied. "I haven't changed my mind in the time we've been talking."

"I'll meet you after class tomorrow, then," he replied. "Okay?"

"Okay," she replied.

Ikkoku giggled as she flew from the trees and landed on Erik's shoulder. Seisui had since turned down her street and toward her house, leaving Erik alone. "She got you good," she said.

"I don't know what you mean," he said.

"She's right," Ikkoku continued. "You should stop worrying about the code and start worrying about people. Of course, I shouldn't give you a hard time, since you're taking that advice to heart at last."

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"With Seisui," Ikkoku said. "There's a connection between you. I'm happy to see that you're nuturing it, instead of kicking it away like a flea-ridden rat."

Erik looked disgusted. "You aren't suggesting--"

"I'm not suggesting anything," Ikkoku interjected. "You're just helping her out. We both know you'd never take advantage of someone."

"For a minute, I thought--"

"If, however, the ball came from the other court, so to speak..."

"That does not make it okay!" Erik protested.

"You should be more open-minded," Ikkoku said. "Like I said, we both know you'd never take advantage of someone."

"I want to help Seisui," he said. "That's my duty."

"Is it just your duty?" she asked. "Look, put aside my double entendres for a second. I think you think of Seisui as more than your duty...at the very least, I think she's special to you--a friend, or maybe a ward."

"If she's a ward, that makes your insinuations a lot more creepy," Erik replied.

"Well, you get what I'm saying! My point is, you do want to help her because you care about her, right? Even if you don't care about her like that." He was silent for a long time. "Well?" Ikkoku prompted him.

"I do care about her," he said. "I suppose I have already broken the Knight's Code, at least in spirit."

"Pish posh," she said. "'A knight must protect all possessors of a sailor crystal in Sol.' How have you broken that directive? You still protect everyone. Last I checked, you weren't defending Seisui to the exclusion of anyone else."

"But..." he said, "the spirit of that rule is that I shouldn't preference them, even in my personal relationships."

"Why not? What harm is there in caring for another human being?" Ikkoku asked.

"What if there were two youma, and one was attacking Charon, and the other Titan--how could I trust myself to not to protect Titan first?"

"Honestly, assuming they're both at full power, I doubt either one of them would need protecting. Frankly, when they're in command of themselves, both of them could probably kick your ass."

"Thanks," Erik said dryly.

"Seriously," Ikkoku continued, "does it matter who you protect in that situation? Either way, you have to choose. If there's no way you can protect both of them, it hardly matters if you pick the one who means more to you."

"Somehow that doesn't seem satisfactory," he replied.

"Can you come up with an answer that satisfies you?"

"No," he replied. "I can't."

"Hmph," she said. "Then maybe you have even more in common with Seisui than I thought."

"What do you mean?" he replied.

"Maybe it's not that you don't know the answer to the question," she said. "Maybe it's that you do, but you just can't face it."

Erik gasped.

"M-mother..."

Her breath came in slow, labored gasps. As he ran to her and held her frail body, she smiled at him.

"How could I, I--"

"No one could blame you, Arutha," she said weakly. "Listen, Arutha. You must not dwell on what's happened. You must forgive yourself and move on."

"But I--"

"Arutha," she continued. "Forgive yourself. And if you're given another chance...choose your happiness, not your duty." She breathed her last. She breathed her last, and he could not heal her.

And in the midst of him, the dead bodies of Neptune's Moon Senshi...

Fallen by his sword.

~EPISODE SIXTEEN: FIN~

Kokoro kareteru you ni asu ga kuraku naru kara
Koe ga kurushiku kasureru hodo sakebitai
Donna toki mo kimi no ibasho sagashite
Setsunai omoide mo mune ni motte
Sorazorashii wake no kage ni kakureteru boku mo iru

Sadame wo kowaseba mirai nante aru ka na
Demo maketaku nai kara akiramenai yo donna aite demo
Sadame to iu mono ha michi wo kimeru dakedo
Kaiki gesshoku demo kimi wo me ni suru
Kimi ha umarekawattemo boku no Radiance dakara

Because, as if my heart's withering, tomorrow will get darker
I want to scream until I get painfully hoarse
Searching for where you are no matter when it is
And holding painful memories in my chest
There is also a me who's hiding behind empty reasons

If I destroy predestination, will there be a future at all?
But because I don't want to lose, I won't give up, no matter who my opponent is
That which is called predestination decides our paths, but
Even during a total lunar eclipse, I'll remember you
Because, even though reborn, you are my radiance

NEXT EPISODE:

Sayoko: Eros, you've hurt the dearest thing in the world to me. For that you'll pay. But when I see Yamiko, It kills me to know that you're her only salvation.

Minako: Where love is concerned, my own history is spotted. But where others are concerned, I refuse to see love wither when I know it can flourish.

Yamiko: I once had a heart. Then you stole it, and ate it, and buried it.

Mauros: There is a sound, a sound that's warm but hurts me...Mayumi, who are you?

Tokimo: Hey, if it worked with Eros, it can work again. If they can get seduced to the darkness--I bet Tokimo can seduce them to the light!

Natsuko: How am I supposed to find myself if Akiko won't let me? How am I supposed to be proud of myself when she steals my accomplishments from me?

Haruko: What is finding yourself, but abandoning me? I don't want to be left in the darkness again...

Fuyuko: Kazeko, you're as much a puzzle as any game. What brought you here? What are you afraid of? Who are you hiding from? If only you trusted me enough to tell.

Seisui: Erik--you're...that vonDarkmoor...?

Next time, on MOON SENSHI: UNMEI NO KODOMO--

"The Panacea"

Mayumi: Everyone needs a little forgiveness.