Daniel Amsler
							amslerd@globalserve.on.ca
							Tuxedo Dan
							NefCanuck on Undernet #sailormoon


Author's Notes:

Yes, here it is folks! Because you wanted it! (Or at least didn't say 
you *didn't* want it! :P another chapter! 

All comments to:

amslerd@globalserve.on.ca

Copyright Notice:

Sailor Moon is copyright Naoko Tenchi and is being used without 
permission (I hope that no one takes offense!) and I reserve all 
posting rights.

Note:

Sailor Pluto		=	Susan
Sailor Uranus		=	Erica
Sailor Neptune		=	Michelle


Chapter 8 "Whose Reality is Right?" (A Ghost Story and More)

Daniel found himself on a featureless plain. "Oh my God, did I see 
what I thought I saw?" The voice spoke again "Yes you did, you saw 
me!" and the voice stepped from the shadows. It was Daniel! Or at 
least an older version of him. Daniel was dumbstruck "If your..." 
The elder Daniel spoke "Yes I'm dead! Get with the program! The 
Scouts of the past and the King and Queen of Crystal Tokyo need your 
help!"  Daniel's head was swimming "Wait a second here! How did I, I 
mean you, I mean we..." Daniel grabbed his throbbing head.  The 
elder version of Daniel spoke again "Ok, looks like I'm going to 
have to explain things a bit before you blow a gasket.  Sit down" 
Daniel looked around and raised an eyebrow at his elder counterpart 
"Geez, was I *THIS* dense when I was you?" the future version of 
Daniel huffed "We're in *YOUR* mind, anything you want to create 
here you can!" Daniel shrugged his shoulders and created a pair of 
matching chairs, and sat waiting for his elder to do the same.  
"The story begins some time ago..." the elder Daniel began...

It was a beautiful day in Crystal Tokyo, the sky was a flawless 
blue with only the occasional bird flitting across the sky 
offering a break from the beauty.  Daniel however was lost to this 
as he and Mina were enjoying a picnic along one of the many lakes 
that dotted the landscape.  Mina smiled "Here try this, it's a new 
recipe Lita lent me, she said you'd flip for it!"  Daniel took the 
proffered treat "What do I look like? A seal?" he laughed as he bit 
into the treat.  Mina laughed "Oh you big goof! you know what I 
meant!" she smiled good naturedly.  Daniel laughed as he wiped his 
mouth "True, and yes it was delicious"  Mina scowled a bit "Darn, 
she only gave me enough ingredients for one of those, I wanted a 
taste!"  Daniel smiled wickedly "Well, I think we can arrange 
something" and he drew closer to Mina and began to 'share' the treat.  
Mina sighed "delicious" as the two continued 'sharing' the treat.  
Suddenly Daniel was whacked from behind by something and pitched 
forward into Mina "OW! who did that?" Daniel grumbled. "Sorry Uncle 
D, Luna Ball got away from me!" Daniel turned to the speaker, it 
was Reeny, daughter to King Darien & Queen Serena (He only used their 
'formal' names at state gatherings) "Just be careful with it, Ok?" 
Daniel called.  "Okay Uncle" and Reeny skipped off Luna Ball in tow.  
Daniel turned to Mina "Y'know, if I didn't know any better I'd swear 
Amy had that Luna Ball thing set to attack me on sight!" Daniel 
sighed as he turned back to Mina "Oh don't be silly Daniel!" she 
giggled "Just because it came after you ever since Amy let it out of 
the lab. Maybe it likes you!"  Daniel harumphed "Great, a kid's toy 
thinks it's a puppy dog and that I'm a burglar. Now where were we?" 
Daniel turned his attention back to Mina just as their 
communicators went off.  Mina pushed Daniel off "Time for play later 
we'd better see what's up"  Daniel agreed and they answered their 
communicators simultaneously "What's up Rei?" (Rei being in charge 
of security in Crystal Tokyo)  Rei was curt "Come to the throne room 
immediately! There are some people here you two should meet, by the 
way was I interrupting anything?" The years as security chief had 
turned Rei's natural tendency to snoop into a full blown case of the 
gossips.  Daniel answered "Nothing you haven't interrupted before, 
be there a.s.a.p.!" and he cut the channel on his communicator 
before Rei could get a word in edgewise.  Mina giggled "Boy, who got 
up on the wrong side of the planet this morning?"  Daniel shrugged 
"Hey, I just didn't feel like satisfying her curiosity right now, 
besides, I had left instructions that unless there was a catastrophe 
we weren't to be disturbed and since we were..."  Daniel called out 
to Susan "Will you be Ok looking after Reeny while we go check this 
out?"  Susan and Reeny were in the midst of a game of tag and were 
oblivious to his call to them.  Mina shrugged "That's about the best 
answer we'll get out of those two, let's book it!"

In the throne room there was a nervous air of anticipation.  Only 
Rei and the King & Queen knew just who the mysterious visitors were 
leaving the other Scouts & Daniel to wonder just who had arrived.  
Daniel & Mina were warier than the rest, though neither was exactly 
sure why.  Suddenly a fanfare sounded signaling the entrance of the 
Royal Family.  The King spoke first "I'm sure your all wondering 
just why we called you all here today, today is a day of healing as 
our Queen will explain."  The Queen stepped forward and Daniel could 
only wonder where the crybaby klutz they had all come to know and 
love had gone, a small misstep by the Queen reminded Daniel that 
although the klutziness that had been so much of Serena was nearly 
gone, last stubborn traces remained. "Thank you my King.  Yes today 
is a day of healing for our greatest enemies from long ago have come 
to us seeking atonement and peace between our peoples!"  Daniel 
perked up immediately, it couldn't be... but it was! The Royal 
Family of the Darkmoon stepped forward and in behind them their 
advisors, Rubeus and the four sisters including Catsy, one of the 
attacking force in the church during the first attempted wedding of 
Darien & Serena.  Daniel felt his hands clench & unclench 
reflexively and Mina (in her Sailor Venus garb) squeezed his hand 
in sympathy.  Here in their midst were the people who tried to kill 
the King & Queen being welcomed like heroes! Daniel couldn't get a 
look at the other Scouts without being obvious to their guests but 
by the negative emotions each one was giving off in various 
degrees he knew they were as upset with the situation as he was and 
in Rei's case even more upset, what he couldn't figure out for the 
life of him was why? Why agree to meet with these people at all?  
Daniel wanted a word with the King & Queen but found that there 
would be no time as he was assigned as tour guide to Rubeus and the 
Four Sisters along with Sailor Venus.  Daniel put on his best 
diplomatic face "All right then, shall we be on our way?" and the 
group made their way into another section of the palace as the rest 
of the Darkmoon royal family began to conference with the King & 
Queen.

Daniel found his thoughts wandering as he mechanically pointed out 
various points of interest to the visiting dignitaries, one thing he 
had learned long ago was the art of talking about one subject with 
passion, yet leaving part of his mind free to think about other 
subjects, often times he had used that skill to think of Mina while 
attending to something else, but today he used that skill to try and 
piece together why this was happening, as he concentrated on his 
thoughts he found that one particular member of the group was 
looking at him curiously, it was Catsy.  "Can I answer a question 
for you Catsy?" Daniel inquired politely.  "Yes" Catsy replied, 
"Why have you been discussing the royal gardens when we passed them 
several minutes ago?"  Daniel found himself stuck for an answer "Uh, 
I'm sorry, I'm, uh, a bit distracted"  Catsy nodded "I noticed, and 
we're the distraction right?"  Daniel smiled wanly "I never was any 
good at hiding when I was upset. I guess I still haven't learned that 
skill"  Catsy smiled "It's not a nice skill to have sometimes. Listen 
if this is about the wedding chapel, I am truly sorry, though the 
look on your face when I was teleported away was priceless!"  Daniel 
laughed softly "I'll bet, anyway yeah that's probably what's been on 
my mind (a small lie but Daniel felt it better to not let all his 
misgivings be known to Catsy in case she would report back to Rubeus 
on them), we'd best be getting back to the group" and they hurried 
back to where Sailor Venus was just finishing her discussion of the 
memorial statues in the Royal memorial.  After they had escorted the 
group back to their quarters Daniel & Mina met privately.  "Well, 
what do you think?" Daniel asked, "I don't know, I'm getting mixed 
messages from each of them" Mina replied "What about you? You and 
Catsy seemed to have a decent conversation" Daniel nodded "Mostly 
about the fact that I wasn't too good at keeping a neutral face on 
all of this.  Frankly I think we need to talk to the King & Queen as 
soon as possible"  Mina agreed "The Darkmoon party is scheduled to 
leave tomorrow morning, we'll talk to them after their gone Ok?"  
Daniel nodded "I guess, but having them here any longer than 
necessary makes my skin crawl!"  Mina nodded "Agreed, let's get some 
sleep" and the two went their separate ways (Not being married yet 
meant they slept apart by mutual agreement, though Daniel was 
thinking of proposing soon)

That night Daniel slept a fitful sleep with a dream in which the 
Scouts were trapped in some type of crystal prison along with the 
King & Queen and every time Daniel tried to release them he 
perished. The anguished screams of Mina the last thing he heard.  
He awoke after each "death" and after falling back to sleep had the 
same dream yet again, the circumstances were slightly different 
each time but the results were the same, his death and the screams, 
oh gods the screams.  It was a bad nights sleep to be sure.


The Next Day


Daniel dragged himself out of bed with a monster effort on his part, 
even getting his head sat on by Diana, Reeny's playmate and 
offspring of Artemis & Luna wasn't enough to shake him from his 
slumber, it was only after Mina came in and threatened to do a 
Dance of the Seven Veils with only four veils that he finally 
sprang to life! (Not that he wouldn't have wanted to see her follow 
through on her dare, but knowing the snoop Rei was, there would 
probably be a video available to her for blackmail purposes in 
short order)  Daniel got himself together and he and Mina proceeded 
to the throne room (and were met there by the others as they too 
had questions regarding their monarch's behavior.  Rei was the 
first to speak "Ok, since we're *ALL* here (and she glanced 
sidelong at Daniel who didn't look to be all there) let's see how 
we're going to approach this with the monarchs".  Daniel spoke up 
"So I guess asking 'What in the name of the Lunar Sea do you think 
your doing welcoming those vipers into the castle' is out of the 
question?" The others looked at him, they had all wanted to some 
degree to ask that question but even Rei was surprised by the 
blunt way Daniel spoke it.  Amy looked at Daniel "Are you all 
right? You look like you didn't get a wink of sleep last night"  
Daniel smiled wanly "Close enough, two winks worth actually"  
Lita spoke next "Are you sure your up to this Daniel? I mean we've 
known Serena a bit longer than you have and..." Daniel cut her off 
right there "I'm fine! and if you think that knowing Serena & 
Darien for however much longer than I have is going to make the 
slightest bit of difference in this situation I think your very 
much mistaken Lita!"  This last sentence was said with such force 
that the others took it as a sign Daniel would brook no opposition 
(which was his intention)  Mina smiled her peacemaker smile "With 
that issue settled shall we enter our Highness's audience chamber?" 
and the Scouts and Daniel made to go into the chamber.  Daniel 
tensed up "Listen would you all mind if I went in first, I know 
Serena & Darien were your friends first but I'd feel better about 
it" the others looked at him momentarily but agreed.  Daniel didn't 
know why but felt the knot in his stomach that usually signaled 
trouble appear with a vengeance "Once more into the breach I go" 
he muttered to himself.  He knocked on the door in the manner that 
denoted a member of their Inner Court wished to speak to them.  
There was no response. Daniel tried again and this time he noticed 
the faint sparks coming off the door in response to his hand making 
contact "Amy, I think.." but the blue haired genius was already hard 
at work on her microcomputer.  Suddenly she made a small noise "Dark 
Energy is in the chamber and it's growing in power exponentially! We 
have to get in there!"  Daniel said only "In you want, in you've 
*GOT*!" and he slammed the door with the full force of his powers! 
The doors groaned but held, now Daniel was really worried, it would 
take an enormous amount of Dark Energy to hold back the full force of 
his powers unleashed.  Seeing his struggle the other Scouts joined in 
with their powers.  The Dark Energies may have been able to hold back 
one or two Scouts powers, but all five plus the power that Daniel 
brought to bear? Not likely and the door exploded in a shower of wood 
as Daniel switched his beam to a shield for the group with 
milliseconds to spare!

As the dust cleared they could finally see into the chamber, and the 
sight that met their eyes made their blood run varying degrees of 
cold, for King Darien and Queen Serena were trapped in Dark Energy 
crystals that came from what looked like a statue on the table 
between them!  Daniel looked at the statue and then at Rei "Damn Rei 
why didn't your sensors *DETECT* that thing?" Rei seemed flustered 
"It didn't show up on any of our scanners! This is the first I've 
seen of it!" Amy's fingers flew faster than the wind "Guys we have 
to shut that thing down before it kills them!"  Lita had unleashed a 
'Jupiter Thunderclap Zap' at the offending statue in response to 
Amy's comment and found herself being flung to one side by Daniel to 
avoid getting electrocuted with her own attack!  Daniel picked 
himself up off the floor "Looks like they were expecting us to try 
that!" "INDEED" intoned a raspy voice that seemed to come from the 
statue "Who are you?" Mina demanded "and what have you done to the 
King & Queen?" The voice laughed harshly "Your hardly in a position 
to 'demand' Sailor Venus but I will give you the honour of knowing 
who has defeated your pathetic King & Queen so easily! I am Wiseman 
of the Darkmoon and on behalf of the Darkmoon family I have captured 
the King & Queen of Crystal Tokyo" The others were stunned it *HAD* 
been a ruse, that they had fallen into like lambs led to the 
slaughter!  The voice laughed "It was spectacularly easy to convince 
the King & Queen of our 'honest' intentions and leave them with this 
little 'peace' offering. Trusting fools..." Daniel was shaking in 
anger "How *DARE* you speak of our monarch this way! You coward! You 
use deception and treachery and when you think you've *won* you 
haven't even the courage to face us!"  The voice laughed mockingly 
"Pretty words you mistake of nature, had you been born on the 
Darkmoon you'd have never seen your first moonrise! Mistakes like you 
don't DESERVE to live!" Suddenly Daniel made for the statute with a 
mindless yell and grabbed it as if to crush it in his bare hands and 
was flung back *HARD* into the opposite wall!  Sailor Venus rushed 
over to him "Are you all right Daniel?"  Daniel coughed up a splatter 
of blood on his white tuxedo "I've been better, damn I let that 
ghoul's taunts get me mad" Sailor Mercury made her way over with her 
computer "It's pretty bad Daniel, wait what are you doing?"  Daniel 
rose to his feet aided by his ring "First I'm getting up, second I'm 
gonna blast that arrogant slime into the next universe"  The Wiseman 
appeared in his ethereal form "Impressive, most others would have 
been felled by that blow, my congratulations 'Lord Light'" he said 
those last words with a barely concealed veil of contempt.  Daniel 
spoke in a raspy voice "I'd tell you where you could shove that 
'compliment' but there are ladies in this room scuzzbag. What do you 
want to release the King & Queen"  The Wisman's form quivered in 
amusement "Release them? Are you joking? They stay right where they 
are and the Scouts are to go the outside of the city and await my 
forces to surrender to them!" Daniel looked at the Wiseman's form 
with a raised eyebrow "and me?"  The Wiseman's form stopped moving 
"You are to remain here, there's a special fate in store for you! 
You have fifteen minutes to get into position, I suggest you make 
good use of it!" and the Wiseman's form vanished!

After Amy had ensured that the Wiseman was gone the Scouts huddled up 
with Daniel "What do we do?" Lita asked. Rei was defiant "We fight em 
when they come down to 'greet' us!" Amy looked at her computer "Not 
with these readings I'm getting we don't! I'm scanning over 5,000 
ships appearing in the sky at this moment!"  The others could only 
stop and stare at Amy hoping that the genius Scout had somehow made a 
mistake, when no sign was forthcoming Daniel spoke "That settles it, 
we give them what they want!" Mina looked at him as if he had grown 
horns on his head "Are you crazy? Surrender?" the other Scouts nodded 
their agreement.  Daniel raised a hand "Wait, that's not *quite* 
accurate, what I'm thinking of will give the *appearance* of giving 
them what they want but they'll be in for a nasty surprise!" Mina 
looked at him quizzically "What type of surprise?"  Daniel spoke 
"You guys can link your powers to do a Sailor Teleport right? My 
idea is to link your powers into a forceshield around the palace 
just as the attacking force hits!"  Rei spoke up "Okay but what are 
*YOU* going to do?" Daniel spoke bluntly "I'm going to try and open 
at least Serena's Dark Crystal prison, if the Silver Imperium 
Crystal is freed she'll be able to do the rest"  Mina looked ashen 
faced "But look at you, and your ring!" Daniel held his ring up to 
the light, it was charred and blackened!  Daniel spoke softly "I 
see... " To the other Scouts he said "Go, Mina will be joining you 
shortly, time is our enemy right now!" As the other Scouts left the 
room he turned to Mina and kneeled down "Mina, will you take this 
ring, and do me the honour of becoming my wife?" Mina was 
dumbfounded, here it was possibly the end of everything and *NOW* he 
was proposing to her. Mina looked down at him and started crying, 
Daniel stood up as fast as his damaged body would allow and gathered 
the Scout in his arms, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have..." Mina pulled 
away "No it isn't that, I accept your proposal and your ring, it's 
just that I never dreamed of accepting your proposal like this!"  
Daniel smiled wryly "I know and I was thinking of proposing to you in 
the Royal Rose Garden because it looks so beautiful this time of 
year!" Mina chuckled in spite of everything.  Daniel smiled "That's 
better, now go, the others will need you and time's almost up!" and 
Mina dashed for the outer wall of the palace.  

Suddenly Daniel felt a presence, "Hello Sailor Pluto, no chance you 
can tell me how this turns out huh?" The mistress of Time shook her 
head slowly. "I didn't think so but it was worth a shot, listen do 
me a favour, get Reeny out of here! Send her back to the past where 
she has a chance at a peaceful future if this doesn't work out as 
I'm hoping Ok? Promise?"  Sailor Pluto nodded but thought to herself 
"I'm going to send her back, but she's going to get help!"  More 
than anything she too wanted the princess safe and happy and she 
knew that the only way that was going to happen was with her parents 
free.  Daniel turned to the Crystal containing the Queen "Ok, you've 
got to go now, this is going to more than likely 'bring the house 
down' if I'm wrong" and with that Sailor Pluto disappeared.  Daniel 
focused his energies on the Dark Crystal prison of his queen "May 
the moon smile upon me" Daniel spoke this soft prayer he had heard 
spoken by the Princess Reeny.  He began slowly not knowing just how 
much energy he could pour into the crystal without getting painful 
feedback to himself, and as he did so he noticed the Silver Imperium 
Crystal began to glow, it had been completely dull when he started.  
The statue evidently didn't like this as it began firing a dark 
energy at Daniel in response.  The pain was excruciating but still 
Daniel persisted, the Dark Crystal showed no signs of cracking but as 
the statue began to pour more energy into Daniel in an attempt to get 
him to terminate his beam *it* began to smoke!  Daniel was in agony, 
his skin felt like it was on fire and his bones hurt to their core 
but still he persevered, and with a resounding *CRACK* the statue that 
was the cause of the problem shattered! Daniel wasn't aware of his 
victory over the statue as he focused more and more of his energy 
into the Dark Crystal.  A creaking noise above him cause him to jerk 
his head upwards as the roof began collapsing in on him! He was too 
weak to throw up even the most rudimentary of shields and as the roof 
collapsed upon him he broadcast what he thought to be has last words 
to his beloved Mina "I love you Mina, and come what may I *WILL* 
rejoin you I swear!" and the roof crushed his body if not his spirit.


Somewhere outside the palace walls a girl began to weep....


Daniel sat motionless and as the Elder version of him began to wonder 
if he were all right Daniel began to sob "Dear God, what kind of a 
future have I condemned this world to? I *KNEW* I should have tried 
to go home, now everyone's lives are ruined because I stayed!" His 
elder looked to be losing patience even as Daniel seemed to be losing 
his sanity "Excuse me"  the elder tried, "Hey listen" and again he 
was ignored by the now hysterical Daniel.  "I hate to do this but if 
it worked for Rei..." the elder version of Daniel grabbed Daniel by 
the collar and proceeded to deliver a monster slap to Daniel's face!  
Daniel stopped babbling and looked at his counterpart "What was *THAT* 
for?"  His counterpart smiled "Now that I have your attention... You 
must hurry and release the Queen from her crystal prison! But be 
careful! Don't do the expected unless you want to end up like me and 
cause a whole mess of temporal trouble!" and Daniel felt his vision 
cloud again as he left the dreamstate he was in. "Remember everyone is 
counting on you!" was the last thing he heard his older self say.

Daniel made his way into the castle taking care not to disturb 
anything, for the castle looked as though it would fall apart with 
the slightest stress.  He followed the destruction radius inwards to 
the remains of the doors he had seen in his vision.  Slowly, he made 
his way past the doors and into the chamber.  He gazed upon the two 
crystal prisons and noted that the queen's was pierced by a shaft of 
the purest light.  "It must be the Imperium Silver Crystal!" as he 
moved closer he glanced momentarily down... and promptly felt ill as 
he saw the twisted arm that signified where his future self had 
fallen trying to free the queen.  "Ok, now what would I have done 
*normally* in order to free her?" Daniel said to himself as he 
racked his brains, the first solution that cropped into his head 
was simply attacking the Crystal with his power, but that had proven 
to be ineffective as the broken body under the rubble indicated. 
Daniel was frustrated, it seemed to be the only solution but it 
hadn't worked before.  What else could he try?  As he gazed idly at 
the shaft of light coming from the Silver Crystal he began to form 
an idea so wild that he thought it would be the only chance any of 
them had.  What if he were to feed his power not into the Dark 
Crystal prison but into the Silver Crystal?  It seemed like an 
idea that had almost no chance of success, just what he had been 
told to try.... Daniel sat down on the remains of a column and 
breathed deeply "If this doesn't work... No it *HAS* to work! For 
the future, for the Scouts and for Mina & I!" and he began to 
release his energies in a soft beam intersecting with the beam 
from the Silver Crystal.  At first there was nothing and Daniel 
felt his heart sink, perhaps this idea wasn't as strange as it 
first appeared... but suddenly there was a low humming that 
increased in intensity as the power flowed from Daniel.  Daniel 
was only semi conscious but he noted with alarm that the power 
drain on himself was increasing as the Silver Crystal appeared to 
be taking control of the process away from him!  The humming grew 
louder and louder and Daniel was forced to desperately try and cover 
his ears, but between the drain on him and the increasing noise 
level he found any attempts to block the noise were useless.  Just 
as Daniel thought he couldn't take any more energy loss the Crystal 
surrounding the Queen began to shatter and Daniel felt himself 
losing consciousness.  Before he passed out he saw the Queen emerge 
slowly from the crystal and he managed to croak out to her "My 
friends and your daughter have been turned to stone save them!" and 
Daniel felt his consciousness leave him.

Daniel found himself yet again on the featureless plain of his 
mind "I did it The Queen is free!" his older self appeared "Good, 
now my job is done and I must go" Daniel was confused "Go? Go where? 
aren't you going to be saved by the Queen?" His older self looked 
back sadly "No, when I died that was it, every spark of life was 
gone from my body, there's nothing to reattach my soul to. Besides 
I'm tired, I've been alive a hell of a lot longer than I planned to 
be and I think I deserve some rest!"  Daniel shot back "What about 
Mina?" His older self lost his air of composure "I'm sure you'll 
think of something to tell her. I'm sorry" and he began to 
disappear! Daniel tried to go after him and felt himself being 
restrained "You cannot stop him! It is fate" Daniel turned to the 
speaker. It was Sailor Pluto! Daniel spoke "What do you mean 'it's 
fate'? How can you say that knowing how I feel and how he feels 
about Mina?"  Sailor Pluto only said "I'm sorry... " A sudden 
realization dawned on Daniel "He cut a deal with you didn't he? The 
others safety for his life? TELL ME!" Sailor Pluto blanched visibly 
"How did you know? He swore he would tell no one!"  Daniel looked 
her in the eye "Because it's the same thing *I* would have done 
given the chance, you forget he *IS* me!" Sailor Pluto held firm "A 
deal is a deal!" Daniel was furious "Maybe to you but I'll be damned 
if I'm going to let this happen without a fight!" and he broke away 
from Sailor Pluto just as the cloudiness that signified his stay in 
this realm was over came yet again.

Daniel opened his eyes and was greeted by the smiling face of Mina! 
"Mina! Your all right" and he made to hug her. "Yes, after you freed 
the Queen she came and got us all out of the stone traps we were in!" 
"Traps?" Daniel wondered aloud. Suddenly Queen Serena entered the 
chamber "Yes, accept my apologies but once the King and I were '
incapacitated' those last line of defense traps were brought on line 
automatically"  Daniel looked at the Queen "But your majesty, why 
wasn't I affected?"  The Queen laughed with a light and musical sound 
"You forget that your powers are only approached by Sailor Venus! 
anything else just wouldn't do anything to you!"  Daniel smiled "Wait 
a minute where are Serena & Darien?" he had just noticed that they 
were absent from the room. The Queen spoke again "My husband is 
explaining things to them, they were quite shocked to see my husband 
and I"  Daniel smiled "I'll bet. What about the other scouts? Where 
are they?" and a chorus of voices let him know that the others were 
fine.  Suddenly a new group of voices entered the picture and Daniel 
turned to see who they were.  It was the elder Scouts! The Scouts had 
been warned what to expect by the Queen but still stared dumbly at 
their future counterparts.  Daniel shivered knowing what he was going 
to face, the elder Venus entered the room looked at Daniel with Mina 
and where the body of her Daniel lay and started crying anew and 
bolted from the room.  "Mina I should... " Daniel started. Mina 
looked at him "I understand, go, but hurry back" and Mina kissed him 
gently on the cheek.

Making his way to the Royal Garden he found the elder Venus huddled 
under a gigantic oak tree sobbing quietly.  Daniel was unsure how to 
approach her but decided the direct approach was probably best. 
"Excuse me? Venus?"  Venus looked at him briefly before she buried 
her face in her knees "Go away! I don't want to talk to anyone! 
Least of all you!"  Daniel thought about her request to be left 
alone but a moment before he sat down beside her. "You always were 
stubborn when people asked you to do things!" Venus cracked a small 
smile and sniffled.  Daniel smiled "Hmm, I'm gonna have to work on 
that! Listen, I don't know that this means anything to you right now 
but he told me he was sorry for what happened. He just didn't see any 
other way" Venus laughed bitterly "That helps a lot!" she spat out 
angrily.  She looked at Daniel "I'm sorry... this is just a lot to 
take right now" as she moved her hand with the elder Daniel's ring on 
it, it made brief contact with Daniel's ring and Daniel jumped 
backwards! Venus looked at him "Are you all right?" Daniel shook his 
head "I'm not sure, it's as if I felt my counterpart's presence when 
our rings touched... " Suddenly Daniel shot straight up to his feet 
"C'mon we have to get back to the castle!" Venus looked at him 
quizzically "Why?" Daniel looked back at Venus "Because I may have a 
way to bring him back!" and the duo took off towards the castle.

Back at the castle the Royal family and both sets of Scouts were 
surveying the damage to the castle as well as checking for any 
trapped survivors beneath the rubble.  The Scouts saw Daniel come 
back in a highly excited state "Guys! I think I've figured out a way 
to bring my elder self back!" the elder Scouts perked up their ears 
at this "What is your idea?" the elder Mercury queried.  Daniel 
spoke again "I think there is a spark of his life essence trapped 
in his ring! I think if we put it back on his hand I should be able 
to give him enough energy to revive!" the younger Venus looked at 
him "But isn't that dangerous for you? I mean you gave a lot of your 
energy to free the Queen and your still pretty weak"  Daniel shook 
his head "I'm okay besides we don't have time to argue about this. 
Mars?" and both Mars turned to him "Yes?" Daniel smiled "I'm going 
to need both of you to monitor whether my idea is working and his 
spirit is going back into his body. Amy?" and again a pair of voices 
answered "Yes?" Daniel smiled again "What I need you to do is 
monitor my energy level and warn me if it gets too low. Let's get 
this set up fast!" The others looked at him "and what do we do while 
your doing this?" his Mina asked "Pray" was Daniel's only response 
and the preparations were made.

Daniel looked at his counterpart, who had been extracted from the 
rubble and placed on the floor, the ring returned to his finger "I 
sure hope this works otherwise I'm going to be joining you in 
limbo" he mubmled to himself and Daniel began to offer his energy 
into his counterparts body.  For long minutes nothing seemed to be 
happening until Mina shouted "Look!" and sure enough a ghostly 
apparition that looked like Daniel appeared over the body.  But it 
didn't make to go into the body.  The two Amy's spoke as one 
"There's not enough energy guys! and if Daniel offers much more 
he'll perish!" The two Minas looked at each other and nodded 
"That's not going to happen!" they said in unison and they each 
took a hand of their respective Daniels.  It brought the ghost 
closer but it still couldn't enter the body. The elder Rei spoke 
up "I think this is going to take all of us! C'mon!" and the 
Scouts along with the King & Queen moved to either side of the two 
Daniels and offered their energies to the process.  That seemed to 
do the trick as the spirit entered the body. The younger Amy looked 
dully at her computer in alarm. "There's too much power! It's going 
to... " and a sudden explosion rocked the palace yet again!

Daniel climbed out of the rubble "Ooh... anyone get the license 
number of that semi? Guys? Mina? anybody?" and a chorus of groans 
told him that they were alive but in various states of confusion.  
There was a coughing sound that Daniel recognized and Daniel saw 
his counterpart leave the slab on which he had been placed "Didn't 
get the number of the semi but then again I wasn't looking!" and 
Daniel could only laugh "Okay, your me, only my sense of humor is 
that weird! Let's get the others free!" and the two worked as one 
freeing everyone from the places the explosion had trapped them.



After everyone had been freed and checked over it was agreed that 
the Scouts and Daniel should be sent back in time immediately.  
"You'll arrive back about an hour after you left, you should just 
beat Chad back to the cabin" the speaker was the elder Daniel. 
"Before I send you back a word of warning Daniel" Daniel looked 
warily at his elder counterpart "Yes?" the elder Daniel spoke again 
"Be careful, there is a plot being conceived that will involve 
enemies both old & new including one new enemy that will prove to 
be your greatest challenge! Farewell" and he used his ring to 
teleport them back.  The elder Venus looked at him "Do you think 
it was wise tipping him off about the future like that?" the elder 
Daniel spoke "Remember, the future is what you make of it. He'll 
have to take that warning and decide what it means.  Besides I 
think you have something else to worry about right now" Venus 
looked at him oddly "Yes? What?" Daniel grinned "I do believe 
there was a small matter of a wedding to attend to?" and Venus 
laughed as Daniel grabbed her and kissed her passionately.



What awaits Daniel & the Scouts back in the past? 
Tune in for the next chapter of: 

Whose Reality is right 9 (Deal with the devils)