~~~Oh my god...this chapter will be sad. ::sob:: Ok, well then.
I love this chapter soo much. I hope you readers like it too.
	Rated PG-13
	SailorMoon and all other characters belong to Naoko Takeuchi. 
I don't own them. 
	Email me at tuxamy@aol.com if u have comments or 
suggestions. No flames please.

The Guardian of Time and Her Secrets
Chapter 9
by Fairysetsuna

	"No!" she yelled. "How could you kill your own father?!"
	Zodos smirked. "Easily. The old man knew how he would die. He 
was waiting for me to end his suffering."
	Setsuna tightened her fist. "Zodos...damn you."
	He walked to her. "Setsuna, I remember the night you met Orion. 
It hurt me so much, to know that you loved someone else." His 
voice dripped with heavy sarcasm.
	She looked away. "Zodos--"
	"No, let me say something, princess. I know all about you and 
him. You meet him at Princess Neptune's palace everyday. I've 
watched you."	
	The sword that he held in his hands dripped with blood. He looked 
at it and laughed. 
	"Setsuna...as we speak, my father's power is transferring to me. 
I will be able to control time..." he laughed. He had something in 
his palm. He opened his hand.
	There was a little key, a tiny replica of the tall Time Staff 
that Lord Chronos carried.
	Zodos laughed again. "I have the time key...and now I will go 
and wreak havoc with the portals of time. Good bye, Setsuna dear."
	He teleported away.
	Setsuna stood there, helpless. She kneeled down to see Lord 
Chronos. To her amazement, he was still alive. Just barely.
	She could hear him trying to say something..."Lord Chronos, 
what is it?"
	The once powerful lord of time was dying. His energy was 
draining from him. He coughed up blood.
	"Setsuna, you must not let Zodos get control of the Time 
Gates...or all is lost...this is not what fate had wanted to happen
...Zodos disobeyed fate..." He coughed.
	"Setsuna...I will...give you the rest of my power...I'll give 
you what Zodos hasn't already taken from me..."
	Her eyes widened. Chronos' body was surrounded by a white light,
and a beam shot out to her forehead.
	The symbol of Pluto glowed on her forehead, and she waited until
Chronos' white beam finished transferring his energy. The symbol 
faded away, as did the white light.
	Chronos struggled to breath. "Setsuna...take my staff...and 
protect the Gate of Time...please...don't let Zodos maim the 
time portals...promise me..."
	"I promise, Lord Chronos." She took the staff that lay next to 
him. Her eyes were misty as she watched him die.
	"Go now..."
	She nodded and the Time Staff began glowing. The black orb glowed
and it transported her to the Time Gate.
	It looked like a huge, heavy door in the middle of nowhere. The 
gate door was enormous, and made out of a hard stone. There were 
intricate carvings on it.
	"Wow...this is the gate of Time..."she said in awe. 
	"Hello, Setsuna."
	She turned around. Zodos was standing nearby.
	"I will be entering the Time Gate now...you must let me through!"
	"No, Zodos," she said firmly. "You cannot go through these gates
without my permission."
	He laughed. "Setsuna, you must do as I say. I am the lord of 
Time now."
	She glared at him. "Zodos, don't make me use my powers."
	"Go ahead. Let's see what your measly senshi powers can do 
against my godly force!"
	"Pluto Planet Power, Make up!" she yelled, holding up a small 
pen. She transformed into Sailor Pluto.
	Gripping the Time Staff, she was ready to face Zodos. 
	He had a sinister smile on his face, and he looked confident that
he could beat her...
	No way would she let him pass. She had made a promise to Chronos,
that she would protect the Time Gate from Zodos. She would keep her 
promise.
	"Ayahh!" Zodos yelled as he threw a beam of black energy at her. 
She tried holding the staff up to block it, but it hit her in the 
stomach and she keeled over.
	"Agh..." she muttered. She stood back up. "Dead Scream!!" The 
attack managed to shatter the energy orbs that Zodos was holding.
	Zodos laughed, and ran to her, ramming an energy orb straight 
into her. She got slammed against the Gate of Time.
	"Aaaaahhh!" she screamed. Her sailor fuku was getting messier, 
and some of it was torn from the attack. She leaned against the wall 
for support as she tried to stand back up.
	"Zodos..." she took the orb from the staff and threw it at him. 
"Orb Smash!"
	He caught it and threw it back at her with tremendous force, 
and it hit her again. 
	"Oh god..." she whimpered in pain. How was she ever going to 
win...?

	Orion paced in the Fountain Garden. "Where is Setsuna?" he asked
Michiru.
	"I have no idea, Orion. Setsuna is usually never late..."
	Suddenly Orion's body sent off sparks and he was glowing.
	"Orion...?"
	He closed his eyes. "Setsuna...she's in trouble!"
	"What?!"
	"Michiru, call the Sailor Senshi...Setsuna's in the battle of 
her life right now! Tell them to follow me! I need to help her!"
	With that, Orion teleported away from Neptune.
	Michiru dashed back into the palace and turned on her 
communicator. She called Sailor Venus, the leader of the 4 soldiers 
who protected the Moon Princess.
	"Princess Minako! Oh my god, Setsuna's in trouble!"
	"What?! What is it?!" Minako was at the Moon Palace, and in the 
background, Michiru could see the other senshi.
	"Orion said she was in trouble, she was battling someone! Just 
follow him, ok?!"
	Minako nodded. "Ok, Michiru!"
	Princess Neptune turned off the communicator. She sighed. 
*Oh, Setsuna...please be careful...*

	Minako sat down next to Queen and Princess Serenity.
	The tall queen's face was expressionless, but everyone knew 
there was something very wrong. The queen had called a meeting of 
the senshi. Luna and Artemis sat on the table.
	Everyone was there, except Pluto. Her seat was empty.
	Queen Serenity cleared her throat. "My sailors...Lord Chronos 
has died. The Lord of Time is dead, and the new Lord of Time 
is...Zodos." 
	"Zodos has taken the trail of Fate, and disturbed it. Fate had 
a different path, but Zodos changed it. Which is unexcusable. 
This is punishable by death, but as of now, we need to wait and 
see what will happen."
	"What's going on with Pluto?" Sailor Mars asked.
	The queen's face changed from expressionless to worry and fear. 
"I can only hope that Setsuna's powers will hold out and that 
she'll be all right." Queen Serenity bowed her head down. "But..."
	"Apparently, Zodos murdered his father and stole the Time Key. 
And the power was given to him. But Setsuna was given the rest of 
Chronos' power. Chronos gave her the Time Staff and told her to go 
protect the Time Gate. Right now, as we speak, Setsuna is fighting 
Zodos," Luna said.
	"Will she be okay?" Jupiter asked nervously.
	Queen Serenity closed her eyes. "I don't know. Zodos is almost
immortal now...I don't know if she'd be able to stop him."
	"Well then let's go! To the Time Gates!" Venus said.
	"I'm afraid it's not that easy," Sailor Mercury added. "The Time 
Gates can be accessed by someone who has the time key or staff.
Orion shouldn't have gone. He's going to have a tough time getting 
through the portals."
	"So...we can't do anything?" Princess Serenity finally said.
	Mercury shook her head. "Nothing."
	Jupiter slammed her fist down onto the hard wooden table. 
"Damn!"
	"Everyone...let us pray for Setsuna's safety," Luna suggested.
	They were silent for a moment, hoping and praying that Pluto 
would be all right...

	Orion ran, his cape flowing behind him. He had teleported to 
somewhere...a strange place. There was a single pathway, and he 
was running on it now. It seemed like a strange place...it seemed 
to be floating in mid air.	
	Finally, he saw the end of the path. He saw two bright lights at 
a huge giant gate, and he could hear screaming in the distance.
	That was Setsuna's voice!
	He jumped up and flew the rest of the way to the Time gate. He 
saw Zodos and Setsuna fighting each other.
	*Oh my god...* he thought. Setsuna was laying against the giant 
door of the gate, and she had scratches all over her. Her skirt was
torn and the bow was falling apart. 
	He watched as she stood back up and slammed her orb into Zodos.
	"Setsuna!" he cried. He flew down and landed on the ground.
	"Orion!" She ran to him and hugged him tightly. "Orion, you 
shouldn't be here!"
	"Setsuna...I don't want you to be hurt. I'll help you."
	Zodos glared at Orion. "You! How dare you intrude. Just like at 
the ball!"
	Orion let go of Pluto and faced Zodos. "You bastard. How can 
you even think of hurting Setsuna?!"
	Zodos held up his hand and a small energy ball formed. It got 
larger, and he threw it at Orion. It hit him with such force that
the ball smashed on impact and knocked Orion to the ground.
	"Orion!" Setsuna yelled. She ran to where he lay. "Orion, 
please...don't risk your life for me! It's not worth it!"
	Setsuna helped him back up. He steadied himself. "Setsuna, I 
won't let anything happen to you." He hugged her.
	"Ayaaaaghhhh!" Orion was hit again, this time in the back.
He collapsed against Setsuna and she fell to the ground.
	"Orion!" She sat up. "Oh my god! Orion don't do this!"
	His eyes flashed angrily. He stood up and held both of his 
hands together and started collecting energy.
	"Souls of the Underworld...give me your energy!" Beams of light
were everywhere, and Zodos got hit randomly by some of them.
	Finally the beams stopped shooting everywhere. Orion closed his 
eyes...
	He held his hands up and out came a gigantic beam of different 
colors of the rainbow. It hit Zodos, but it didn't stop. It 
continued hitting him so fast that it seemed like it was just one 
continuous beam.
	Zodos shrieked in pain and his eyes turned black. He fell to the 
ground.
	Setsuna jumped up and ran to Orion. She wrapped her amrs around 
him. "Orion, you did it! You did it!"
	They kissed in front of the gate.
	But they were unaware that Zodos wasn't dead. He had been 
weakened tremendously, but he wasn't dead.
	"Aghhh...that stupid asshole..." A long sword appeared in his 
hand. He flew to them so quickly they didn't even notice.
	*And now...to savor this moment...* he thought. He floated in 
the air.
	Setsuna opened her eyes, and she saw Zodos up in the air. 
*Huh?! Is that a mirage?!*
	Her heart skipped a beat. She tried to speak and tell Orion 
of the danger.
	But it was too late. Zodos flew down and he pierced Orion with 
the silver sword.
	Orion's lips broke away from hers and he fell to the ground.
	"ORIOOOOON!!!" she screamed. She collapsed as well, and sat next 
to his body. 
	Blood was soaking his dark shirt. His gloved hands, which had 
held Setsuna just seconds before, were now stained red.
	"Orion...no! Please, no!"
	His eyes were fading to a murky black color. "Setsuna..."
	Sestuna began sobbing. "No, Orion...god, please don't leave me!"
She leaned over him, and her tears fell down to his already soaked
shirt. The necklace Orion had given her came out from beneath her 
shirt.
	Orion touched the Pluto symbol on the necklace. "Setsuna...
I will always love you...and...I will meet you again in the 
Underworld someday..."
	"NOO!" she shook him. "Orion, no!! Stop it! You will live!!"
	He shook his head sadly. "I will always remember you...the 
beautiful lonely princess...you brightened my gloomy life..."
	He smiled sadly. "Setsuna...I love you."
	Orion used the last of his energy to give Setsuna one last 
kiss. Setsuna put her lips to his, until he died.
	His dead body, lying motionlessly. Blood still flowed everywhere.
	Tears flowed down her face. She looked at Time Staff. The 
black orb...was soaked in blood.
	Orion's blood. 
	She picked it up, and tried wiping off the blood of her former 
lover...the blood wouldn't come off. The orb was now a dark reddish 
color.
	"Orion..."
	His body began glowing, and several ghosts appeared. They were 
ghosts from Hades, and they picked up their prince's body and faded 
away.
	Setsuna stood there. She had never felt more alone in her life. 
The one person she had loved more than anything was gone from her.
	She touched the necklace. *I will always remember you, 
Orion...*
	She walked back over to the Gate of Time and stood there. 
Waiting. For an eternity.

TO BE CONTINUED