Chapter 12: The Last Word

From the diary of Amy Anderson, aka Sailor Mercury. Dated September 8th.

Hello, Kitty.

I never thought I'd see this day. The city is finally free of oppression. When the bomb fell on the creature, it was fragmented into several pieces, which then scattered throughout. We decided not to search for them, since it would probably result in a lot of dead ends and red herrings. However, we did find a baby girl near where the creature had stood. We knew it was Sailor Saturn, somehow reduced once more to infancy. As soon as we are done rebuilding, Amara and her friend Michelle have volunteered to take her in. Without the creature to maintain them, his servants crumbled to dust, leaving nothing but the gems on their foreheads. From what some of the combatants described, some of them were Mistress 9's witches; Eugeal, Telulu, Byruit and Cyprine/Ptilol. Even considering how bad they were, none of them deserved that fate.

Our next order of business was accounting for the aftermath of the conflict. Tuxedo Mask - Darien - explained the story of his survival. The shard that Zoicite had stabbed him with had hit him in an area where, half an inch either way, the wound would have been fatal. After that, he had gone into hiding with the help of a mysterious woman, posing as the man at the temple. We had all assumed this was Chad, the former rockstar who had become an apprentice after his career ended. But now it appears that he was Heart-snatched at maglev station, obviously trying to flee town. /ememWhen Raye was attacked by the heart snatcher Mikusi, Darien had been tasked with preserving her life until he had the power to fully revive her. This power had appeared suddenly during the final battle. We theorise that this has something to do with the Golden Crystal, which seems to have disappeared from Nehelenia's Sector around the same time. Perhaps this had something to do with the attack by the shadow creature and his cloaked servant, as described by eyewitnesses.

Talking of Nehelenia, you may be wondering what happened to her and the Amazon Scouts. It seems that they retreated within the mirror that the Queen was trapped in by Queen Serenity 1000 years ago. When we tried asking her why she did this, she only repeated the words "Never doubt the dreams of beautiful dreamers" over and over again. Her servants claimed that she began ageing rapidly as her power dissolved and retreated to the mirror to remain young forever. However, we cannot verify that what they said was true. But we decided to ensure she could never be disturbed again, by sending her mirror to the one place where the light of an eclipse would never reach it; the bottom of the Mariana Trench, where little sunlight can reach her at all. However, given the fact that no time passes in the world of the mirror, I wonder how humane this really is, or considering the horrible things her servants did to many people, including Mina, what she deserves.

One negative thing to come from this aftermath are the disappearances. First, the little girl from the alternate universe, Usagi, vanished completely without a trace. We are assuming her deceased from the blast created by the bomb exploding. Another disappearance, more distressing than the little girl, was Serena. It appears that she had vanished around the time that Raye and Darien made their return. As we began to worry, a green-haired woman appeared from a strange portal.

"My name is Trista Meioh, but otherwise I am known as Sailor Pluto", the woman said to us. "You shouldn't worry about your friend, the princess Serena.", she assured us "She is in a safe place where she is training to fulfil her destiny." She told us that she had come to take Prince Darien with her, so that he too could fulfil this destiny. Of the three remaining original Sailor Scouts (myself, Raye and Lita), Raye was the saddest to see him go. I'd almost forgotten they were in a relationship at one point. Sailor Pluto assured us that we would see Serena and Darien again, when the time was right for them to return. Until then, we shall have to keep defending the world in their name.

And finally, we come to the big question: what next? Well, we intend to find the remaining Youma who weren't "liberated" by Malachite's life energy. Then we can take them somewhere secure until we can find a cure for their condition. The ones that helped us, like Greg, intend to return to their normal lives. But for now, the people are going to rebuild the city. And we, the Sailor Scouts intend to continue the fight against evil. In memory of Molly, Melvin, Malachite and everyone who died trying to liberate Tokyo from evil. And less importantly, we intend to find that little girl, so we can return her to her correct universe, safe and sound.

With Regards.
A.

She had only just managed to crawl away from the blast. The Phantom had been shattered into pieces of black crystal and scattered across the cosmos. But he had survived. And he would return someday to wreak his plans of universal genocide on the Earth. She had seen it before, or at least a version of it. Before his untimely defeat, she had remembered something she had forgotten. How her parents had neglected her and left her to fend for herself. How her so-called friends forgot her birthday. How she was forced to go back in time to stay with people who at best tolerated her. Here, with nothing about the future written, she could get her revenge on them, even if it was their counterparts. Thanks to the Wiseman, she was no longer small and no longer weak.

She was the Black Lady. And she would conquer the world, in the name of all that is evil.

To Be Continued!