Hello, everybody. This is the second story I am posting, but though they are
grouped under the general title "Stories of Life", this one is not at all
related to my first story. That one was simply entitled "Makoto", and this 
one is called "Death at D-Point". The rating is G, or PG for those who 
preferred DIC's version of episode 46 where the senshi don't die but only 
lose their memories. Also, the Sailor Saturn in this story is as we first see 
her at the end of SMS, that is, about twelve/thirteen years old and not in 
her younger super form yet. Parts of my story are based on the manga and some
on the anime.

Ajax presents...
Sailor Moon: Stories of Life

Death at D-Point 

***
	The blinding pink light covered everything as she slowly fell down. 
Instinctively, she knew she would die when it reached her. In a few seconds, 
it did and she was falling into what felt like an endless pit. 

	The blackness. Coming closer and closer and closer.

	And just when the complete blackness reached her, a pair of strong
arms yanked her away.

	The blackness receded and dim light entered her vision as she opened
her eyes. There was a sound like that of a door closing as she got up, and
stood there looking dumbfound at the scene before her.

	This was death?!

	She was in a... room, for lack of a better term. It was black, and 
seemed to stretch on forever. Her feet were enveloped in a grey mist. The 
only noticeable feature was a pair of big doors.

	In front of her were two women dressed in fuku. One of them, the
shorter one, was sitting at a table drinking tea. Then there was the tall,
older one. As Sailor Moon stood there and stared, she leaned her staff 
against the table and smiled sadly at her. 
	
	"Hello Serenity. I am Pluto."

			*	*	*	*

	Minako's mind slowly stirred from the blackness it had been plunged 
in as she had died. When she looked down for no particular reason, she saw 
that the pink light had reached her and that her body was no longer there. 
However, she was floating up in the air, away from that, so it must be okay. 
Then her mind caught up with what it was thinking and she let out a scream. 
My body's disappearing?!!! What am I doing out of it????!! Help!

	Oh yeah. I'm dead.

	Another instant of panic was followed by rationalisation. 

	Wait a sec. I'm thinking. That must mean I'm not all dead, right?

	Then she looked at herself. Her body was half transparent, and she
found she could pass her arms through one another. The burnt fuku had been 
replaced with jeans and a white T-shirt. Never one to ponder a problem for 
too long, Minako decided to take action and started walking, for lack of 
anything better to do.
			
			*	*	*	*

Pluto?

	"Sailor Pluto?" The tall woman nodded. Sailor Moon's mind began to
catch up to all that had been happening. Her friends had died, Mamo-chan had
just...died, she had defeated Beryl with her friends, and then she had died
herself. A weariness came over her, and she collapsed in a chair at the 
table the younger senshi was having tea at. 

	"Please where am I? I am so tired and I just died, what am I doing 
here?" The two senshi smiled sympathetically.

	"Cup of tea?" asked the younger one. "It's nice to see you. I am
Sailor Saturn. You should have some, you know. It's good herbal tea, she-"
indicating Pluto, "got it from this Amazon village in China." Sailor Moon
hesitantly accepted the cup. The tea was soothing. As she drank, her uniform
slowly disappeared and she was dressed in her normal clothes again, and the 
crystal, which had been glowing faintly, slowly darkened and disappeared. She 
closed her eyes and a few tears fell out. I'm dead. I can't go back anymore. 
I can't see my mom or my dad or my friends or Mamo-chan I'm dead.

	"Serenity?" Pluto's hand was on her shoulder. Usagi looked up into 
the other woman's eyes and started. There was such pain, such weariness in
the depths of those eyes that it made her crying seem like the behaviour of
a spoiled child.

	"Don't cry. It's all right."

	"WHADDYA MEAN IT'S ALL RIGHT? I'M DEAD AND MY CLOSEST FRIENDS AND 
THE MAN I LOVE ARE DEAD AND INSTEAD OF GOING TO HELL OR HEAVEN OR WHEREVER
I'M IN A WEIRD ROOM WITH YOU TWO AND YOU TELL ME IT'S ALL RIGHT?"

	"Quiet." A single word, spoken in almost a whisper, but that 
commanded incredible power. In the days when she would come to know this 
woman better, Usagi would associate this whispering tone with an attack, a
particularly devastating one, but that would all be in the future. However
right now, the whisper evoked in her a long lost memory. 

	Usagi saw herself, not as Usagi, but as Princess Serenity, in a place 
whose atmosphere reminded her of a winter's night. It was cold, dark, and the 
only light was the glint of the stars reflected off the ice on the barren, 
black ground. Pluto, the memory said.

	I was eight years old, Usagi thought. She could feel the presence of
her mother, but that wasn't foremost in this memory. Her attention was
centered on a tall woman who stood far away from her, a woman with green 
black hair. Wind was blowing, a strong, powerful wind that lifted her hair
and whispered nearly inaudible syllables as it brushed past the child 
Serenity, and she listened enraptured, trying to understand what it was 
telling her. Her eyes were focused on the woman, awed at the power she was
radiating. Pluto, the memory said again. Then she heard the same whisper,
which should have been lost in the winds, but that came as clearly to her as
if it had been a shout, and this time, she understood what the winds 
whispered to her.

	Dead Scream.

	It was at that moment that the woman raised her staff to the heavens,
and slashing it down, let loose hell at the target set up a few meters away.

	That's when the memory ended. 

			*	*	*	*

	Just when it seemed that she had been walking forever, Minako saw a 
dark yellow light up ahead. Determinedly, she continued walking, and found
herself facing... a bar? It was very reminiscent of the pubs she had seen 
when she was living in London. A yellow neon light at the top of the two 
story building informed her that it was named Vino's. In fact the only thing 
setting it apart from the bars in London was that it was surrounded by a 
black void. 

	Shrugging her shoulders, Minako entered the bar. On the inside also,
it looked like a normal bar. There were no customers except a beautiful 
woman with long white hair dressed in an attire that made her Sailor fuku 
seem conservative. She was sitting on a stool at the bar and drinking some 
whisky. And while most other men would have stood gaping at her voluptous 
figure, the barman didn't seem at all interested and was wiping a glass with 
a towel.

	"Hey," the woman slurred at her, "would you be Aino Minako, by any
chance?"

	"Umm, yeah, that's me. And you are..."

	"Urd, Goddess Second Class, Cupid of Love."

	"Goddess? You mean actual goddess like Venus?" Oh boy, what have I
gotten myself into, Minako thought.

	"Yup. Come on honey, have a drink." Minako sat down on a stool and
looked at the numerous bottles arranged on shelves.

	"Uh, I'm not old enough yet..." Urd chuckled. "Vino love, give her a
beer, she can't get drunk that easily..." Still smiling, she rotated her 
glass, making the liquid inside swirl.

	"So you're Sailor Venus." Minako was surprised by the sudden change
of subject. She would have denied it, but she was dead, so what was the 
point?

	"How did you know who I was?"

	"Well, my buddy Venus told me, and she requested that I escort you
to her after you died, otherwise she wouldn't have got the chance to see you
before you were...oops, I'm not supposed to tell you about that part. Anyway,
she wanted to see you, and she couldn't come herself. She doesn't know the
way around these parts, you see. I went out with Pluto sometime ago, so I 
know my way around the underworld."

	"Underworld? You mean I'm truly dead? What you said about Venus, I
need to see the goddess? Is she...You know her?"

	"Yup. Good friends we are. Goddesses of love stick together, ne?"
At this point, Minako gave up trying to understand all the weirdness going 
on.
			*	*	*	*
	
	Usagi's voice was hesitant as she spoke, but her head was clear now,
and she knew who the woman was and worried a little bit that she was with 
her, of all people. 

	"Sailor Pluto?" The warrior bowed to her.

	"Your Highness?"

	"I... I think I remember you. I know who you are and what you do.
But... could you tell me why I am here and what's going to happen to me?"

	"Princess, what you did today was very brave. You saved the world, 
and you are going to have to do it again in the future."

	"Again? I don't want to fight anymore! I just want to be a normal 
girl."

	"Would you really like that," spoke Saturn, "even if you knew the 
price would be not meeting your friends and the man you love? Would you just
let the evil take over the world if you knew you could do something against
it?"

	Usagi's face was laden with guilt, but Pluto pressed on. "Or would 
you still insist childishly on living your normal life?" Those words echoed
in Usagi's head as she thought of all she had gone through. Words of another
woman came to her, a voice whose owner had been dead for thousand years, the
voice of her mother, her queen, who had given her life so that she might live
again. "You are a princess, Serenity," her mother had always told her,"you 
must be dignified. You must be worthy."

	Usagi lifted her face and gazed steadily into Pluto's eyes. "No," she
spoke, "No, I wouldn't."

	"That's good Princess," Pluto smiled warmly. "The world needs you and
your friends. That's why you are going to be reincarnated."

	"Wait a minute, reincarnated? Are you serious?" The only thing Pluto
and Saturn could do when the princess started jumping around the room and
screaming was facefault.

			*	*	*	*

	Urd and Minako were walking, even though it felt like they were 
ascending the stairs that would get them out ot the underworld. Urd had 
fallen silent after they had gotten out of the bar (which Minako had learnt 
was the only one in the area, therefore very popular with the living, or 
rather the undead, of the underworld). Minako was beginning to feel weak. 
What if I'm finally running out of life force, she worried, I am dead after 
all. She felt she was slowly losing her consciousness when Urd's voice 
brought her back from the edge. "Ah, if only Venus had a TV in her place, we 
could go straight in," sighed the goddess.

	"Huh?"

	"Oh, never mind honey. We'll be there soon." True to that word, they
soon arrived at a magnificent castle the walls of which glinted a golden 
color. Suddenly, the watch Urd was wearing beeped and a hologram of a young 
girl with a mallet appeared.

	"Urd, get back here! I can't do everything by myself! Next time I go
visit my friends-" Urd pressed a small button and the hologram disappeared.

	"Oh that brat! Well honey, I gotta go now. Say hi to Venus for me! Ja 
ne!" And she disappeared. 

	Minako stood gazing at the palace, unsure of what to do. As she 
looked, a sense of peacefulness, of familiarity swept over her. A gentle 
breeze stirred the waters of the moat in front of her and caressed her face,
and she was sure she could hear someone laughing happily on the wind. "Home,"
she thought, "this really is my home."

	As if in welcome, the great wooden bridge held up against the wall 
descended slowly to rest over the hedge, and Minako crossed it to enter the
abode of Venus.  
			*	*	*	*	

	"So I didn't really die?" asked Usagi, munching on a cupcake and
sipping her cup of tea with Saturn. 

	"I pulled you back as you were about to. In this place, not even 
death can reach you."

	"So how do I go about getting reincarnated if I'm not dead?"

	"You don't. You simply go out there and pick up your life from where
you left it." Usagi's eyes were shining with hope when an unpleasant thought 
formed in her mind.

	"Will I...will I remember? All this?" A tear made its way down her
cheek as she was reminded of her friends dying one by one. The knowledge
that they were going to come back did nothing to lessen her sadness that they
had gone through so much pain in order to save her. Suddenly a voice spoke,
a grave voice that chilled her to the bone, and it wasn't until she turned
and saw her speak that she realised it was Saturn speaking, Saturn who was 
looking at her with a fierce, piercing gaze.

	"No child of fourteen should have to know death." And her eyes no 
longer had any pupils, they were purple lakes, and in those eyes there was 
an expression of pain, of death and that expression was not meant to be in 
the eyes of any human, no matter how old or young or good or bad. The sharp
blades of Saturn's glaive glowed white as she stood up and lifted it. Usagi
felt helpless, awed and scared by this warrior child whose eyes spoke of 
death as if she was the very bringer of it.

	"By my power and by my will, you shall not remember!" The glaive 
flashed a pure white, weaving its spell of forgetfulness into Usagi, four 
others buried in tombs of ice, and one man lying in a shattered room of rock.
When Usagi had opened her eyes, Saturn was no longer where she had been a 
moment before. Usagi blinked uncomprehendingly.

	"But I still remember!"

	"Princess, remember what I said? Here, out of time, it won't be
effective. You'll forget as soon as you step out these doors."

	"Saturn...What--Who is she?"

	"Do you truly want to know, princess? For it is a burden truly 
terrible to bear and just as bad to know about."

	Usagi thought about the warm smile as the girl offered her tea, and
the grave voice as she spoke, and nodded. "She is a senshi, isn't she?"

	"Come with me, and I'll show you." Pluto raised her staff, causing 
the red orb to glow. The big doors slowly opened until the two women stepped
through and into the garden of the royal palace of the Moon Kingdom. Nobody
seemed to pay attention to two people suddenly appearing out of thin air.
Usagi called out to a gardener, touched him on the shoulder, even waved her
hand in front of his eyes, but he didn't notice.

	"They can't see us princess, for we have only come to observe." With
that, Pluto entered the palace and started climbing the staircase. Past the
groundfloor, with the reception hall and the throne room, the first floor, 
the library and the dining floor, still ascending past the second floor, the
visitors' chambers, and finally the third floor, the chambers of the senshi,
the queen and the princess. Usagi stopped even though Pluto continued to 
climb to the fourth and top floor.

	"Pluto, wait! You can't go up there, it's the forbidden top floor!
Nobody's allowed up there!" Sailor Pluto paid her no attention, so Usagi ran
to catch up with her. She remembered clearly, Queen Serenity had formally 
forbidden everyone to ascend to the fourth floor, and she had been very angry
when she had caught the princess trying to sneak up there. "Pluto wait, we 
can't!" Still, Pluto didn't stop, and Usagi could but follow her.

	The final step brought them in front of a pair of gleaming black
wooden doors, sprinkled here and there with silver dust. The whole effect was
like gazing into space and seeing miniature sparkling galaxies. Taking a key
from the chain around her waist, Pluto turned it in the lock and the doors
swung open silently, to let Usagi gaze upon the Messenger of Death. If one
looked more carefully, one could see that the walls of the room were 
identical to the doors, silver on black, but the powerful presence of Saturn
distracted from that, a presence so strong it overwhelmed even when she was
asleep. The warrior was lying on a slab of white marble, her glaive near her
hand. As Usagi approached, she could see carved into the side of the slab
"Do not approach, for here lies she who must not wake."

	"Princess?" spoke Pluto,"this is Saturn's duty. Her power is so
dangerous that she cannot be kept awake, and she shall sleep until we have 
need of her."

	"Until we have need of her?"

	Pluto's eyes were sad as she gazed at the sleeping figure, and Usagi
was startled to see a tear make its way down her cheek. 

	"She is our ultimate line of defense in the face of an enemy we cannot
defeat. If ever this is the case, she shall be called upon to destroy the
world, and every living thing on it. And here she lies, awaiting the day she
shall have to kill. That is her power. This is her existence. 

	"No child of fourteen should have to know death." the words echoed
loudly in her mind and she sobbed, barely aware of the tears streaming down
her face. "This is her existence. This is her existence." repeated itself in
her mind over and over, but Pluto was still speaking.

	"It is the duty of the senshi to prevent her awakening, for her 
presence signals the end of the world. 

	When the Silver Millenium first came into being, Saturn was the last
planet to be colonised because the rings around it caused some poisonous gas
and prevented easy access. So, when there was finally enough population to 
bring into being a senshi, the only power left for her to take was the power 
of death."
	
	"I can sometimes call her spirit, just her spirit, to me, for a short
while. I seek to ease her duty with my friendship, but she can never stay too
long, and I can't bring her very often."

	"Pluto?

	"Yes?"

	"Who holds the power of life?"

	"You do, Princess."

			*	*	*	*	

	As Minako crossed the bridge, she thought of Venus and tried to 
remember what she knew about her. "I was chosen by her," she thought, "she
gave me my power, and I was trained here."

	When she stepped off the bridge, all she could see was a bright white
light. The walls behind her disappeared and she was standing on nothing, but 
she didn't fall. Slowly, the air in front of her started to shimmer and the 
brightness took the form of a woman.

	To say Venus was beautiful would have been like saying that Everest
was a small mountain. The goddess's loveliness brought tears to the eye. The
gown she wore seemed to be woven of strands of spun gold. And with dismay,
Minako felt something pulling her back, realised that she couldn't stay here
with her. The goddess smiled at her, and then she spoke.

	Her voice was no less lovelier than her appearence. It was the flow 
of water over the rock, the whisper of lover into the ear of the loved, the 
sound of rain falling onto a desert, bringing life, love and joy.

	"My child, I am so proud of you. I wanted to see you, just once,
before you go back." Venus whispered, and Minako clung to the voice, tried in 
vain to resist the pull. "You have to go, for you will live again. Smile for 
me Minako, be happy." As Minako was pulled further back, the goddess called 
to her again.

	"Oh, and I have a gift for you!" and Minako felt the goddess reach 
out to her, give her some of her light, make her more powerful. As she was 
pulled out the castle, she found there was no longer a bridge and fell into 
the waters of the moat. The waters enveloped her body lovingly, cleansing 
her, and the last thing she heard before she faded into unconsciousness was a 
laugh that sounded like the tinkling of windchimes.
			*	*	*	*	

	It took Pluto quite awhile to calm down the crying princess once they
had stepped out of time again. Bit by bit, she managed to turn to the
conversation back to Usagi herself. 

	"So how do I go about getting reincarnated?" Usagi asked, still 
sniffling a bit.

	"I'll handle it princess, all you have to do is step out those doors."

	"Pluto...Will I ever see you again?"

	At this, Pluto smiled warmly before replying. "I doubt not, princess."
	
	"Then...Then I hope it is in better conditions." With that, she got
up and walked towards the doors, waiting for Pluto to open them. The red orb
started glowing and the doors parted to reveal the Tsukino home. At this 
sight, Usagi broke into a run, turning only on the very threshold to Pluto,
her hair flying behind her and she smiled to the senshi and giving a cry of
joy, plunged back into the world of living.

*****************************************************************************	


Author's notes:
Finally! I can't believe how long it took me to finish this, and looking over
the result, I think it turned out pretty pointless. Oh well. I am VERY 
anxious to know what people think about this story, so drop me a line at 
breaker@technologist.com

Just in case anyone is confused, the Saturn in this story is not Hotaru Tomoe,
only the part of her that's Saturn which is still dormant at this point in 
the Sailor Moon timeline.

I want to thank everyone who wrote to me about my first story. I didn't 
recieve any bad comments, and all those e-mails saying "I loved your story" 
were very encouraging and made me very happy.

Until next time, love and thanks for reading.
Ajax








30.8.1998