Title: Old Foes Name: Agent Anderson E-mail: eppinger@fmi.uni-passau.de Chapter: 1 Rating: R (I think) --------------------------------------------------------------------- Up front a word from the author: All I wanted to say up front is that this is my first Fan- Fiction, so if you find some irritating or confusing don?t act rash and hit me with something heavy. Thank you. The next thing I wanted to mention is that english is not my mother tongue and there might be mistakes in grammar or spelling. If you find such mistakes please mail me and tell me where you found that particular mistake. If you want to complain about my style mail me too. I?ll try to improve. My mail-address is at the end of this script. Disclaimer: I do not own the characters I?m using in the story. They belong to who ever invented them or has claims on them. The same goes for any ideas I?m using unintentionally. In this particular case the charaters have been invented by Naoko Takeuchi and belong to the companies who have a rightful claim on them. If this fiction hurts the intentions that the inventor of these characters had planned, I?d like to apologize. THIS FICTION CONTAINS VIOLENT LANGUAGE AND SOME VIOLENCE (Just to make sure that I peak yor interest :) Probably true anyways, so I rate it: R. Can?t be too careful nowadays ,can you?) Old Foes by Agent Anderson Chapter 1 It was a fairly normal day for the people floating through the streets of Tokyo. But in the Juuban district there was a slight distrubance in the flow. People were knocked over, bumped into or simply ran over. The disturbance was a young girl around the age of fourteen. The girl ran at break-neck speed through the masses leaving cries of pain and muttered appologies in her wake. At a cross walk she came to a stop. Her blond tails passing her in the process for a second before swinging back in place. Impatiently she waited for the light to change. Nervously she shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Come on, come on. Change!" She chanted under her breath, then continued to mutter to herself. "Oh man. Rei-chan is going to jump all over me for being late again." She contiuned in the same manner but having much darker thoughts as she waited for the light to change. When it finally did, she took off again at top speed. To save herself time she took a short cut through the local park. She was already near the exit when some light appeared. It was so bright that it darkend the sun for a second. When it died down, screams could be heard all around the area. She sighed and open her watch with a flick of her wrist. The monitor inside came to life imidiately. "Usagi, what's up?" a worried voice came from the small device. "Buisness as usual. In the park." Usagi answered. "We'll be right over." Usagi asked herself for millonth time. Usagi nodded and closed the channel. Taking a brief look around she reached for her brooch. He was standing in the shadows, observing. He has received a warning call that someone was about to cross over. He was slightly annoyed due to the fact that he was standing here for at least one hour. He had noticed that she had run by a couple of moments ago. he reflected. He snorted softly. He looked at his watch as another minute ticked away he thought. As soon as he had finished that thought, something happened. A bright light flashed on. He immidiately adjusted to the new illumination. He was the only one that was able to see the form that fell out of the light. It was an eight feet tall fur covered humanoid. Just then the light died down. The people all around the figure took one look at it and began screaming. Scattering in all direction the area was soon cleared. He was about to step into the light when he heard a voice booming all over the place. "You... How dare you scare the living daylights out of people. I am Sailor Moon. Champion of Justice. I'll right wrongs and triumph over evil. In the name of the Moon I'll punish you." He grinned. He settled back down and enjoyed the action that was about to begin. The humanoid growled at the approaching figure of Sailor Moon. He took aim and jumped in her direction wanting to crush her with his body. He didn't count that his target would dodge out of the harm?s way. Sailor gave a yelp and jumped to the right. She was about to grab her tiara when the humanoid lashed out with his arm and caught her side. The blow knocked the wind from her and threw her into a nearby tree. The impact rendered Sailor Moon unconcious. Again the humaniod jumped into close combat range. He lifted his arm to deliver the final blow. Again he was about to annonce his existance and rescue Sailor Moon when the humanoid was struck by several rings of fire. The other Sailors had arrived. He thought as he looked on. It seemed that they weren't doing better. And in fact they didn't. Their leader was out cold, and their own attacks didn't present any real danger to the humanoid. Venus got slammed into a trunk as she powered up for another attack. Mars and Jupiter were thrown into a nearby fountain, unluckily it happened at the time Jupiter had charged up for her attack. Both of them got electroluced as they hit the water. Mercury was the last one up, and looking around her she calculated that she didn't stand a chance against this beast and the others won't either. Even if they were still standing. He saw the defeated look on her face. And he knew why she looked that way. He stepped out of the shadows. Mercury looked up from her palmtop now with confusion on her face, and looked around. Her gaze fell on him. He saw her eyes widen under her visor. He smiled. He thought, his smile getting wider. That's when he saw a movement. The humanoid meanwhile noticed his prey's distraction and took the oppotunity to make his move. He leveled his arm and charged her. Mercury saw the humanoid charging at her but couldn?t move a muscle. Then she saw another movement. Her eyes grew wide as she saw the stranger jumping her direction. That?s when she first took a good long look at him. He was dressed in a black uniform of sorts. It looked like he wore a shirt, jeans, socks and shoes. But on the other hand it also looked as if the whole uniform was made of one piece. Also he wore a black cape and cowl, last one shadowing his features. His face was a single shadow. As he sailed through the air his cape fluttered lively behind him. As the attacker was just a few feet away from Mercury th stranger made contact with the beast. His foot hit the base of its neck driving it to the ground, and right into it too. Never fully losing contact the stranger landed on the neck with his full weight and momentum of the jump. The cruel sound of a neck breaking echoed through the park as well as through Mercury?s brain. She shuddered involuntarily. She heard the air escapeing the now unmoving lips. It sounded like the creatures soul was escaping them. With accusing eyes she looked into the darkness underneat the hood. He didn?t had to kill it, rendering it unconscious would have been enough. Then they could have helped the creature. They always tried to help first. Most of the time. She was about to say something but then a movement cut her short. The stranger reached under his cape and removed something from his belt. He held it in one hand then flicked it towards the body. She saw a coin shaped object flying through the air and landing on the humanoid?s body. She blinked as her visor went wild. It began flickering and producing impossible data. Suddenly the body began to glow. Faint at first but gaining brightness as she watched. As the light became nearly unbearable there was a even brighter flash. Mercury had to shield her eyes. As she cast a precautious look around her hand she had held up protectively in front of her eyes, she saw it. That is, she didn?t see it. The body of the humanoid was gone, with no sign where it could have been gone and how. Mercury turned to the stranger with a curious look. After all he was the only one that could have had something to do with the disappearance of the humanoid. She was about to ask as she saw that the blackness where he hid his face was turned directly at her. With the utter blackness?s gaze pointed directly at her, the words were caught in her throat. He lifted his arm, tugged his hood and began to flicker. The next moment he was gone leaving a flabbergasted Mercury with her jaw tangling beneath her knees. When she slowly picked it up her eyes glazed over, as if her mind went out or lunch and found no replacement for the meantime. She was still standing there that way when her friends regained consciousness. "Oh, my head..." Venus groaned as she stood up. "What happened?" She asked without looking up. As no one answered she looked up and saw only Ami standing there. "Merc, what happened?" Again she received no answer. She walked over to her friend and waved a hand in front of her eyes. "Hellooo, anybody home?" Again there was no response. She was about to try again when a finger tapped her on the shoulder. "HYAAAAA!!" She cried out surprised. Her head snapped back and connected with something. "Ouch!" The last remark was echoed by someone standing behind her. She whirled around to see Tuxedo Mask standing there, holding his forehead. "Thanks alot, Venus." He said sarcastically. Regaining his composture he asked, "What happened here? I felt Sailor Moon get hurt, so I rushed here. Now I see you and Mercury standing while everbody else is down and out." "Well, let me tell you." Venus began, and taking a deep breath she continued. "We arrived here as that big monster, who isn?t around anymore and I don?t know what happened to it, slammed Sailor Moon into a tree, which must have been the blow you must have felt, and was going in for the kill, when Sailor Mars attacked it with her ?Fire Surround?, which didn?t much than annoy it, and it went to attack us, or me to be exact, and it slammed me into another tree and the world went black, until I came to again and saw only Merc standing there like she had seen a ghost or something and I wondered what happened while I was out, so I thought I should ask Merc what had happened, but she wasn?t replying and then you came and scared the wits out off me." As she finished she took a deep breath and looked at Tuxedo Mask again. He was standing there tying to catch his breath. Venus blinked confused. "What?s wrong?" "Your talking." He answered curtly. "You should try and take a breath or two every ten words. You will cause someone to die due to lack of air while he?s listening to you." "Hey!" Venus shouted. "I?m not that bad!" "No, you?re worse." came a voice from the fountain. Venus and Tuxedo Mask turned. There Jupiter and Mars were trying to stand properly. Tuxedo Mask moved over to help them. Just in time to keep a staggering Jupiter from falling. Mars groaned as her world kept on spinning at a faster pace than her brain. "Anyone got the number of that truck?" Jupiter groaned. Mars eyed her suspiciously and was about to comment but another dizzy spell made her think twice about it. When it was over Mars asked the question. "What happened?" "Don?t look at me." Tuxedo Mask said defensively. "I?ve just arrived here." "And I was out cold just like you." Venus added before they could even ask. "So nobody knows, right?" Jupiter asked miffed. "Well," Venus hesitated. "Merc might know something, but..." She trailed off indicating the statue-like Mercury. Mars staggered over to Venus still slightly dizzy. She grabbed her shoulder to steady herself. "I say, we get Mercury out of that trance she?s in and we wake Sailor Moon up." The last was directed at Tuxedo Mask. "Right!" "Then let?s get to it." With that Venus, Jupiter and Mars moved towards Mercury while Tuxedo Mask moved to his beloved. He looked down at his sleeping princess and sighed. This was going to take a long time. He knelt down and shock her gently while speaking softly in her ear. "Usako. Time to wake up." Sailor Moon in response rolled over and mumbled incoherently, "NntnnwMmm." Which vaguely translated into, "Not now, Mom." He tried to give her a treat to bribe her into waking up. "It?s your Mamo-chan waiting for a kiss from his princess." Again she rolled over and mumbled. "?noth?r f?ve m?nut?s, L?na." "That didn?t work too well." He muttered to himself. Then an idea struck him. "Breakfast is ready, dear." Her head came up a bit and she tried to open her eyes. "Br?kf?st? Be r?ght down." she mumbled more understandably before her head slumped back and she was asleep again. "Damn! Almost had her." Tuxedo Mask muttered. "Okay, last try before getting physical." He took a breath and braced himself. "Usagi, you?re late for school!" "Aaaaah!! I?m laate!!" Sailor Moon scream as she sat up, legs and arms flying around wildly. Meanwhile the the rest of the Senshi were trying to reach Mercury in her trance, to no avail. They have tried everything they could think of, nothing did the trick. Mercury showed no sign of waking up. That is she showed no sign of waking up until Sailor Moon began to scream. With a start Mercury snapped out of the shock state she was in. The first impression she got was that a furious Sailor Moon was trying to introduce a slightly paniced Tuxedo Mask with her fist. "What?s the big idea telling me that I?m late when it?s friday in the afternoon?" Sailor Moon screamed at him. Tuxedo Mask held up his hands as a defense, for all the good that it would do when it came down to using this defense, and slowly backed away from the angered Senshi. "Um,er... Well, you see... I thought,... Maybe,..." He stuttered unable to find a useful explanation that would safe him from the wrath of his beloved. Luckily for him Mars intervened. "Oh, calm down already. If you weren?t able to sleep through an earthquake he wouldn?t have needed to." Mars said exasperated. Then added in a rub-it-in kind of voice. "Besides you were late for the meeting anyways. So he was right after all." Sailor Moon turned to her. "MAARS!" she whined. Tuxedo Mask thanked all the gods and goddesses, and of corse Mars for the intervention. "Mars! Sailor Moon! We have no time for that." Jupiter intervened before the two could really get into it. "We gotta get out of here!" Jupiter had just finished when they heard sirenes coming closer. The Police and the Press would be getting there any minute now. Mars and Moon shared a last mean look before bounding off to the roofs and away from the officials. When the Police arrived all they found was an impression in the ground and a small amount of blood in it. At the Hikawa Shrine Luna and Artemis were waiting for the girls to return. They were left behind when the girls had to answer a call from Usagi. Luna was pacing worriedly in front of the temple. "I don?t know what it could be, Artemis." She thought aloud. "I haven?t gotten any vibes lately. None at all! So what could it be?" Artemis, who had been the audience for as long as the girls had left, was looking rather annoyed. He knew that Luna could be a pain sometime but this display was driving him over the edge. Even though he himself was getting worried, Luna?s constant rampling got on his nerves. Finally he was fed up. "Oh, for crying out loud." He muttered before he yelled at her, eyes flaring, "SHUT UP!!" Luna was shocked that he raised his voice at her. "Artemis!" she shouted indigniatly. But before she could go on he continued, stalking her. "I?ve had it up to here with you and your lousy attitude!" He shouted at her, indicating with his paw. "You are always whining about Usagi not being the princess or warrior she ought to be, and if it ain?t that you?re jammering about her doing badly at school." "But..." Luna tried to say. "I?m not finished!" he griped out. "Mostly it?s both. ?N? every time she?s afightin? ya?re howlin? ?bout da dangers she takes. But wha? takes da top?s ya?re always complainin? ?bout my f?ckin?-?down-da-drain?-attitude. I?ms always ta pessimistics, always drawin? thin?s ta dark. But whens it comes down ta it ya?re goin? jabberin? ev?ry stinkin? times da girls?re off ta battle." "But..." Luna tried again. "SHUT DA F?CK UP, BITCH!" He yelled her down. "But worst of all ya?re always showin? of yar precious, incestous f?ckin? nobles fam?ly, dat can?t ev?n f?ck straight. Ya?re da one dat makes ?em great plans, ya?re da great strategic mind ain?tcha. Tell me, noble puss, who?se da one dat made all tha plans dat work. TELL ME!" Artemis yelled, Luna?s mouth was working but no loud was uttered. "It?s dat dirty ol? alley cat, dat stupid ol? tom dat doesn?t know nothin? ?bout manners, dat?s only dere so ya can show yar pissy noble arse off ?n? tell ?im dat how mercyful ya?re. I?ms tellin? ya somethin?, noble puss, dat alley cat ain?t doin? no backin? down. Dere?s no more nobles ?round ?ere, dere?s no more system dat?s goin? ta help ya, little pussy. Dere?s me ?n? dere?s ya. Dere?s no more classes, dere?s only cats. Alley cats. So ya can take yar f?ckin? stuck up attitude ?n? stick it up yar arse, noble pussy." He would have went on but a voice behind him cut him short. "Artemis?!" "WHA??!" He yelled as he turned around. Standing there were the Senshi in their civil clothes plus Mamoru. He was too angry and too busy backing Luna into a corner that he didn?t hear them arrive. Now they were all standing behind him having wide eyes, mouths agape and some wearing a deep red blush on their cheeks. "What is going on here?" Minako asked her feline compagnion with a stern look on her face. "Nothin? special, girl." Artemis replied, slowly comming back out of the slang he had just used. "I?ms just telling Luna here what I think of her." He looked at the group and realized for the first time Mamoru was with them. A seldom face to see after a fight. "Why is Mamoru here? What happened at the fight?" Luna who had been trying to get control over herself, was thankful for the distraction from herself and from her own thoughts about this incident. But the look she got from Usagi told her that she had to talk about soon. Very soon. But meanwhile, "That?s right why are you here Mamoru?" "I only here because nobody tells me what had happened." Mamoru said somewhat exasperated. "When I arrived at the battleground Sailor Moon was out cold under a tree, Mars and Jupiter were unconscious in a nearby fountain, Mercury was standing there like a statue and Venus was in front of her speaking to her." "I?ve just woke up and wanted to know what happened but Merc was in a trance." Minako explained. She turned to Ami. "So Ami what had happened?" Ami felt everyone staring at her. She murmured to herself, "what had happend..." Suddenly her mind flooded with pictures of the fight. The cloaked figures foot connecting with the base of the creatures neck. The sound of the broken neck. The crunch of the neck being broken. The air coming out of the creatures mouth. Coming out like his soul. The eyes. The eyes looking at her. Through her. And the sound of the air. And then... "NOOOOOOO!!" Ami clapped her hands to the sides of her head burrying it between her arms. She fell to her knees and down on the floor rolling herself up in a fetal position. All the while muttering under her breath, "nonononononononono..." "Ami!" Usagi cried as she ran to her side gathering the sobbing girl in her arms. The others gathered around the pair as Usgai tried to calm Ami down. "Easy Ami. What?s wrong? Tell me what?s wrong." Usagi softly whispered in her ear. Ami began to tell Usagi what she saw. Interrupted by her own sobs and sometimes even total breakdowns, and the soothing and also the crying from Usagi?s part. The rest of the team couldn?t hear a word of this exchange but the crying Usagi gave off, wasn?t her usual wail. Everyone was chilled to the bone about what only the report did to Usagi. After minutes that felt like hours the sobs from Ami subsided and her breath got more even. Usagi looked up with a tear streaked face and murmured, "She?s asleep. Rei, can we put her in your bedroom?" Rei nodded. She didn?t even put an argument up, she was too shaken from the scene she had witnessed. "Sure thing. Follow me." With a surprising display of strength Usagi stood up carrying Ami in her arms and followed Rei into the shrine. The rest of the team stood there still under the spell of the image of a distraught Ami. Finally they got over that shock and followed the trio into the shrine. Inside they saw Rei and Usagi standing in front of Rei?s room. Rei was holding a weeping Usagi trying to calm her down. Seeing the others standing in the hallway she whispered to her friend, "Usagi, the others are here." "Huh?" Usagi looked up surprised somehow. She stared at the newcomers with tearfilled eyes. Wiping the tears out of her eyes she said, "Ami told me what happened." This statement brought a curious look into everyone?s eyes. "I?ll tell you in the kitchen. I need something to drink." She moved down the hallway and into the kitchen closely followed by everyone else. After she downed a glass of water she turned to her audience. "At the fight, after we all went down the creature we had been fighting turned to Ami. She knew she didn?t stood a chance against it, not after it took us out so easily. She was about to run when her palm-top suddenly noticed an strange bio- wave nearby. She was caught by surprise by this and thus failed to see that the creature moved in for an attack." Usagi made a pause to drink, then continued, "The bio-wave reading she got came from a strange guy dressed in an all-black outfit. She wasn?t able to see his face, because he also wore a cape and cowl. Then she saw the creature was charging her, she stiffened in shock. The strange guy jumped and his foot connected with the creatures neck driving it into the ground and breaking its neck. Just a few feet away from Ami. She heard the sound of the neck being broken and saw the creatures eyes when it died. She heard the sound of the air coming out from its lifeless lips. She thought it was its soul coming out." Usagi shuddered and she heaved a heavy sob. After she calmed down a bit she pick up her tale again. "She was still in shock so it didn?t affect her at that time all that much, I think. What happened then apparently threw her into that trance like state you found her in. The strange guy flipped a coin-shaped object onto the creatues body and it vanished in a bright light. When she looked at the stranger she saw him flicker and also vanish right before her eyes after that she doesn?t remember anything until we got her out of that trance state." After Usagi had finished the rest thought about they have just heard. They shuddered at the image of seeing someone die in front of them a death like that. It wasn?t something they wanted to see. The thoughts of the two lunar cats weren?t quite in that direction. They looked intently at Usagi before Luna asked, "Usagi, that guy you mentioned what was he wearing?" Usagi looked at her cat in surprise she didn?t expect that question. "Huh? Why do you ask me that?" With a wary look at Artemis she said, "We think we know him." Usagi looked suspisciously at her cat before answering. "It looked like he wore a black shirt with black pants and shoes, but Ami got the impression that it was a one-piece suit." She looked inquisitive at the two cats. "Who could it be?" Artemis nodded. "I thought as much," he stated. "The guy that helped you in the park is none other than the bodyguard of your mother, the Queen." Makoto looked at them, remembering that her folk was supposed to be the backbone of the royal guard back then and also that her people were usually in the position as a bodyguard for high- ranking people. "He?s a survivor from my people, then?" Luna looked a bit uncomfortable at that. She smiled shily. "Er... No, he isn?t a survivior of your people, Makoto. In fact he isn?t even from the Silver Alliance." Artemis took over at that point. "He is from a organisation that controls the inter-universal travel. From what I know he was on vacation, when he took the job of protecting the Queen." "Inter-universal travel?" "He was on vacation and took a job as a bodyguard?" "Huh?" "How old is he anyhow?" Artemis waited until the unslaught of questions subsided before he said, "I can?t answer these questions. Only he can answer these questions." Artemis paused. "If Ami could remember her past life she also would be able to bring some light into all of this." "I do and I can." Ami woke up shortly after Usagi had laid her down in Rei?s bed. She sat up and looked around in surprise. she thought puzzled. Then she remembered, she broke down when Minako asked her what had happened. She stood up and moved to the window. Looking at the skyline of Tokyo from the Hikawa shrine she reflected on the reasons that made her break down in the first place. She saw someone die. She saw someone kill someone. She saw someone murder someone, and then vanish like ghosts. "A short-time trauma perhaps," she reasoned. "But why didn?t I break down imidiately?" she asked herself. "And what happened during my trance?" Ami turned back to the room and started walking towards the door while she answered her first question. She didn?t break down imidiately because the trauma was nearly as great as the other in her life the experience of her own death. That brought up another question. She stopped in midstride, "Why didn?t I break down after I remembered?" She answered almost imidiately, "Because my subconcious mind, had already worked and dealed with this trauma at that point." That also gave an answer to an older problem she was working on. Their memory of the Silver Millenium. Then with the suddenness of a lighting the answer to her second question came to her. The trance, during it she remembered her life during the Silver Millenium. She now remembered most of her past life. But there were still some shadows in her memory of some times. She suddenly snapped to attention when she heard a commotion through the door in front of her. While she had been reflecting on her situation her body led her on autopilot to her friends. She came here in time to hear Artemis say, "I can?t answer these questions. Only he can answer these questions. If Ami could remember her past life she would be able to bring some light into all of this." She open the door quietly and said, "I do and I can." Everybody in the kitchen turned in surprise to Ami. Usagi voiced the question that echoed everybody?s sentiments. "Ami, are you alright?" Ami smiled reassuringly. "Yes, Usagi. I?m quite alright." Then Rei registered what Ami had said. "What do you mean you do and you can?" she asked. Then realisation hit her. "You mean you remember the Millenium? Tell us!" Ami laughed lightly. "Easy girl. Down." She teased the fiery priestess. Rei had always been eager to learn about their past lifes. "I?ll tell you what you want to know but first we should remain focused on our recent problem." She smiled at the two lunar cats. "You think I should clean up the mess we got on Andie, right?" The two cats nodded eagerly. "I think that would be for the best." Luna clarified. Minako and Makoto shared a glance before smiling sweetly at Ami. "Andie?" They chorused. "Elmar Anderson," Ami explained with a smirk. "is not only taken, not by myself mind you, but also powerful enough to take every single one of us down. He?s a top agent of an organization called the Dimensional Police Department, or DPD for short. The DPD regulates the travel between the universes. It also acts, as the names says, as a police that deals with the crimes done against the single universe or a cluster for that matter. It is the reigning power in the universes and cluster it is allied to or it has consumed. But most importantly it is the most powerful organization that is known to man in many clusters. "Andie, as a person, is as a top agent, a walking one man army." She paused and saw the amused face of Makoto. "I mean that literally, Mako!" Her face showed that she really meant it dead serious. Makoto gulped. "?He?s a force that you want on your side at Armageddon!? Quote from an Admiral of the ?Jovian? army." Again she pinned Makoto with her stare. "Alright already. I believe you." Makoto waved to calm Ami down. Ami nodded in satisfaction as she continued her report. "About his age, he was about 1500 years old when I last saw him during the Millenium. How old he?s now is hard to tell, my guess would be 3000 years." Ignoring the stares she was getting from her friends she continued. "However his biological ages is 25 years. That means that he looks like he?s only a few years older than Mamoru here. If you think he only looks like it," She spared Makoto a look again. "His body is also in that state." She fixed Makoto and Minako with a stare. "Don?t forget he?s taken." Ami paused for a moment, considering what she remembered. "He had a close relationship with a mercurian noble-woman, and he stays taken until you hear different. Did you two get that?" Ami?s eyes promised serious pain for any answer besides ?yes?. Minako and Makoto nodded in perfect synchronisation. Ami smiled satisfied. "Good. Now I?ll answer your questions." And with that the girls practically jumped Ami. It was far into the evening when Mamoru, Makoto, Minako and Artemis excused themselves and headed home. Ami, Usagi and Luna remained behind. The two girls had decided that they would spend the night at Rei?s. Ami didn?t want to face her mother imidiately after regaining her memory of the past, Usagi had decided that Ami would need the friends that knew a bit better than the others after what had happened today. The four where sitting in Rei?s bedroom, the girls already in their pyjamas. They were just trying to get comfortable when Usagi remembered what had happened this afternoon when they arrived at the shrine. "Luna," she turned to her guardian. "What happened between you and Artemis when we had arrived from the fight?" That suddenly got Rei and Ami imidiately. "Yeah, what was going on there?" Rei asked. "And what was that slang Artemis was using?" Luna blushed guiltily. "Well," she said hesitating. "He kind of told me his opinion at large." Usagi wasn?t convinced with that, she knew Luna long enough to see that her cat was hiding something. "Luna out with the whole story!" she demanded in a strict tone. Luna sighed. "He told me that he couldn?t stand it anymore that I always made it sound like I was better than him. That I showed off my birth when you weren?t around. That I treated him like the dirt he was born in." She broke off, but before any of the girls was able to get a word she continued. "You saw that he had me cornered. I don?t like to think about what would have happened if you didn?t show up. Perhaps he would just had slapped me, perhaps he would have did something worse." Luna fell silent, curled up in Usagi?s lap and shuddered violently. Rei and Usagi looked inquiring at Ami. Ami sighed. Again she needed to explain one of the many misteries that surrounded them and their past. "In the Silver Millenium," she began yet another explanation. "Threre had been two classes among the lunar cats. The nobles and the commonfolk. The nobles had been living with and advisoring humans in high positions and filling such positions themselves. The commonfolk were living also with humans but mostly they were what we would call alley-cats. The nobles always thought they were better than the commonfolk." At that Luna made a guilty start. Usagi soothed her by petting her fur. Gradually Luna calmed down again. Ami returned to the filling in Rei and Usagi about the lunar cats situation on the Moon. "So that?s the basic outline. There?s another thing about their behaviour, their fur color. Black fur is regarded as the finest among the lunar cats whereas white fur is a disgrace no matter what class you are. Artemis is an outcast from his own folk. Only his intergration into the ranks of the advisors by Andie earned him the recognition of his people." She made a short pause. "Before you ask, the crescent moon marking on their heads is artificial. It?s a sign of the cats that are part of the court of Queen. Generals, advisors, scientists, the list is endless." Ami paused for another second before saying, "Luna, there?s no proof for the statement that Artemis is from the commonfolk." Luna looked up in surprise. "He could be born as a noble and his parents threw him onto the streets because of his fur." Luna nodded slowly. "Can you excuse me for a moment, girls? I need some fresh air." With that she stood up and walked out of the bedroom-door. The girls watched her go with head and tail hanging down almost dragged along on the ground. Usagi waited for a few seconds before she followed her feline friend outside. Rei sighed. "I hope she can brighten her up." Ami laughed. "Usagi never had a problem with that subject." Rei snorted. "Yeah, but that?s the only thing she good at." The two of them shared a laugh before settling down in their respective beds. "Rei?" Ami suddenly asked. "Hm?" Rei pushed herself up to her elbows. "What?s up Ami?" "You have been the most interrested of us in the knowledge of the Millenium." Ami stated. After Rei?s somewhat cautious nod she continued. "Then why didn?t you ask me one single question the whole evening?" "One word: Mamoru!" Rei said just above a whisper. "Oh." Ami didn?t seem surprised. "I wanted to know if there would have been a chance..." Rei trailed off. "How our relationship in the past was like." A heavy silence settled in the room. "He was a cousin of yours, second degree I think." Ami broken the silence and the tension in room. "Oh?" Rei was surprised that he had been related to her. "Surprised?" Ami looked at her. "But you had a crush on him anyway." The look Rei sported now was priceless. Ami managed not to laugh but she grinned wide enough. Usagi and Luna chose that moment to enter. Usagi looked at the grinning Ami then at Rei whose jaw had hit the floor. She looked at Luna and shrugged. "Don?t ask me," she said defensively at Luna?s accusing look. "They never let me in on a joke." Shortly after midnight a shadow entered the shrine and headed for the room the girls were sleeping in. The shadow entered and after a few seconds he left again. The shrine was once again left alone in the peace of the night. The next days light found its ways through Rei?s bedroom-window and Rei?s face. Rei groaned as the light penetrated her eye-lids. Slowly she began to wake up. Still half asleep she sat up and looked at the alarm clock. 6:30 a.m. She streched the sleep from her body she had to get up and get ready for duty. She looked at the sleeping figures of her friends with a soft smile on her face. Then she left the room to get ready for the new day. Ami woke up shortly after Rei had left the room. She streched still lying in bed. She stopped her strech as she noticed that she was holding something in her hand. It was a envelope addressed to her. She opened it and took the folded letter out. The fold had been holding something heavy. As Ami took the paper out it fell to the floor. It was a coin. She took the coin between her thumb and index finger and examined it. It was a pure silver coin, it ported the symbol of mercury on one side, and the other side showed her face. She took a look at the letter. It was a one word message. "Sorry." Ami smiled as tears crept down her cheeks. Rei came back at that moment, dressed in her priestess outfit. She looked at her blue haired friend and saw the tears. "Ami what?s wrong?" She asked as she moved to her side. When she got no answer she snatched the paper from her friend?s hand. "Huh?" Rei?s eyes got wide at the message. "Sorry?" "He apologized." Ami said with a soft smile. "He?" Rei asked, not comprehending the situation. "Who do you mean..." Rei trailed off as realization struck. "Anderson? How do you know it?s him?" Ami showed Rei the coin that came with the message. Rei took a close look at it and gasped. "That?s you, isn?t it?" Rei asked incredulously. Ami just nodded. "I gave him that coin during the Silver Millenium. He said he would only return it if he would hurt me." Rei looked at Ami for a long moment. "Well," she finally said. "He made his point." All long pause followed. In a brighter tone Rei asked, "Want some breakfast?" Before Ami could answer in any way, the other sleeping figure stirred. Usagi rolled over, waking up Luna in the process. "Brkfst," she mumbled. "Saf? som? fo? me." Ami and Rei shared a look before Rei shrugged. "It?s Usagi. Go fig?." After breakfast Ami left the shrine, and left it to Rei to wake up their Princess. She was two blocks away from the shrine when a scream ripped through the tranquillity of the morning. Ami had to smile at Usagi?s morning behaviour. "Many thing change, but even more remain the same." She murmured looking back over her shoulder. She walked down another block. When she rounded the corner she bumped into someone. "Moin, Ami." Ami looked up. But even before she saw the face of the person standing before her she knew who he was. "Morning, Andie." END OF CHAPTER ONE CONTINUED IN CHAPTER TWO I hope you?ve enjoyed it. Tell me how much you,... ... liked it. ... hated it. ... cursed about the dumb author for writing such a piece of shit. You can also tell me if you think at a certain point I have left something out. Or if I missed something vital for the Sailor Moon Timeline. Or if you didn?t understood a certain passage or a character?s behaviour. COMMENTS/CRITICS/QUESTIONS mail to: Agent Anderson (a.k.a. Armin Eppinger) eppinger@fmi.uni-passau.de Thanks for reading. BYE