Rising Darkness

By Sillabub

Chapter Nine - Robbery

“You know nothing of our powers! How could you, when you use your powers to kill
 and destroy while we use ours to protect people?” – Kino Makoto

*****

A month passed. 

December faded into January, and the chilly air of Tokyo remained just as cold 
as ever. There had been no sign of Hecate since her attack on the bridge, and 
the senshi were nervously awaiting another appearance. No one was more anxious 
than Usagi, however; while the growth of her unborn child had not yet become 
noticeable to the others, the hormones from her pregnancy were causing the 
blonde to suffer from moodiness and nausea that was becoming increasingly hard 
to hide. The other senshi noticed her strange behavior, and while they raised 
their eyebrows, they attributed Usagi’s odd behavior to the stress of being the 
target of a mysterious madwoman who was still at large but hadn’t attacked in 
four weeks.

The others also became aware that Setsuna and Chibi-Usa knew something that 
they didn’t. There were times when the two would be caught whispering and 
casting worried looks in Usagi’s direction, but when asked about what they were 
discussing usually Chibi-Usa would giggle nervously and change the subject while 
Setsuna would calmly sit and act as if nothing odd had occurred.

“What I don’t get,” said Haruka to Michiru over lunch one day, “is why Hecate 
hasn’t attacked in a month.”

Michiru sighed heavily and stirred a spoon through her tea. It was something 
they had all been wondering. “Perhaps she’s trying to lure us into a false 
sense of security,” she replied thoughtfully.

“Doubt it,” snorted Haruka, looking out the window. “She’s probably trying to 
make us anxious and scared that she’ll just decide to pop up out of nowhere and 
start killing people again.”

Michiru stared across the table at Haruka, silent for a moment as she watched 
her partner. “It’s a pity she’s doing such a good job of it,” she commented.

Haruka blinked over at her, looking surprised. “What? You’re not scared, are you, 
Michiru?” she asked, her brow furrowing.

Taking a sip of her tea to give her something to do as she thought of how best 
to respond, Michiru finally decided to be honest. “Yes.”

Haruka leaned her tall frame forward, looking closely at the other woman. “You 
are?” she asked softly. “What are you scared of?”

Lowering her head to stare at her hands resting on the table top, Michiru sighed. 
“Terrible things are coming,” she said faintly. “I can feel it . . . I know 
something’s going to happen, but I don’t know what or when.” She raised her 
head. “Can you feel it?”

Haruka had sensed something, but she wanted to remain optimistic. “The winds are 
changing,” she responded carefully. “I know something’s coming, but change can 
be good. They’re nothing to be afraid of.”

“It doesn’t feel right,” said Michiru, shaking her head. “There’s too much 
tension, too much uncertainty . . . and Haruka, I feel something’s wrong with 
our Princess.”

“Koneko-chan? Like what?”

“I don’t know. Just a feeling I get.”

Haruka placed one of her hands atop Michiru’s and smiled in a strained sort of 
way. “It’s a pity you’re usually spot on with your feelings.”

Michiru nodded, gripping Haruka’s hand as she stared down at the table and 
their unfinished lunches. After a moment of silence she whispered, “It’s not 
just Usagi-chan. I’m scared for everyone.”

Haruka sighed and looked out the window once more, squeezing Michiru’s hand in 
a way that communicated what Haruka herself did not want to admit. She was 
scared too.

Their silence lasted for a few moments until the couple decided that their 
lunch was over and they were ready to leave. After paying their tab and putting 
on their coats, they decided to take a walk, despite the chill in the air. 
Neither woman spoke for a while. Both Haruka and Michiru were deep in thought 
as they walked, so much that when they approached a familiar place they hardly 
realized it until Michiru stopped.

“This is where Minako-chan works,” she said, looking a bit confused as to how 
they got there.

Haruka turned to her. “You want to go in and say hello?”

Michiru looked thoughtful. “I suppose just for a moment,” she said. “I don’t 
want to be a bother.”

Haruka chuckled as she held the door open and placed her hand on the small of 
Michiru’s back as they walked in. “You? A bother?” she asked skeptically.

But Michiru didn’t respond; the green-haired woman was staring at the scene 
before her.

Yaten Kou was standing in front of them, warily watching Minako, who was glaring 
at him. Every muscle in her small body seemed tense, and her fists were clenched 
so tightly that they were trembling.

“Minako-chan, I just wanted to talk . . .”

“Not now,” she said angrily. “Not here.”

“Then when, where?” he asked, folding his arms and cocking an eyebrow. “You can’t 
avoid me forever.”

The blonde’s anger was beginning to fade into something smaller and weaker. “I’m 
not avoiding you,” she said. “I just don’t want to talk right now.”

The restaurant wasn’t very crowded, but the people who were dining there were 
watching the exchange either with interest or slight disapproval. Yaten stood 
there for a moment, his expression difficult to read, then he stepped forward.

“You’re never going to want to talk, Minako-chan, but you need to, you know 
that,” he said fiercely. “If not with me, talk to Artemis. That poor cat is 
going out of his mind with worry for you, and you don’t even care!”

“Yaten-kun, that’s enough,” said Minako weakly, glancing around at the customers, 
realizing how crazy Yaten’s words must have sounded as most people would not 
understand having a cat who was worried about them. 

“No, it’s not,” he snapped. “Until you go back to being the old Minako, it’ll 
never be enough!”

Minako looked as if she was on the verge of tears and was about to respond 
again when suddenly another voice spoke the very words she had been wanting to 
say. 

“That’s enough.”

Yaten and Minako looked over at the door as Haruka stepped toward them, her 
brow lined and her jaw squared. Her eyes were focused on Minako, who was very 
pale and looked as if talking to Yaten was the last thing she wanted to do. 
Haruka stared at her, then turned to glare at Yaten, who met her gaze defiantly, 
as if daring her to tell him to leave. There was a moment of silence in which 
Haruka looked from Yaten to Minako and back again, her brow creased as if she 
was dealing with some internal struggle.

Then, abruptly, Haruka turned to Yaten. “Let’s talk.”

Yaten blinked at her for a moment, glanced at Minako uncertainly, then looked 
back at Haruka. “Okay,” he said, as if he was too surprised to think of another 
response.

“Haruka!” said Michiru, stepping forward and looking uneasy.

“We should talk,” said Haruka simply, looking back at her partner. For a brief 
moment her gaze traveled past Michiru and to Minako, who was staring gratefully 
at Haruka. Haruka shrugged; if getting Yaten away from Minako would help her 
out, was worth it. “Besides, we have nothing else to do right now.”

They made to move to one of the tables, and Minako let out a relieved sigh. 
Anxious to occupy herself with work rather than a conversation she was not 
prepared to have, she turned away but hesitated when she noticed Yaten glance 
back at her. She met his eyes and stopped, noticing that his expression was not 
one of anger or disgust like she had expected, but one of gentle concern. The 
worried gaze was gone just as suddenly as it had occurred, and a moment later 
Yaten was sitting across from Haruka and Michiru.

As the three began to talk in low voices, Minako walked far away from their 
table. She didn’t care if they were discussing her odd behavior or not, she was 
just happy not do deal with it. After another heavy sigh, Minako forced a smile 
on her face and went back to work

*****

Ami adjusted her glasses, staring down at the notebook clutched in her hands. 
The genius’s blue eyes gleamed as she squinted down at one of the more 
complicated formulas written inside, and she looked to be so deep in thought 
that her forehead was creased in concentration. After a few minutes of her 
concentrated staring, her gaze shifted to the person across the table. She 
stared at him for a moment, blinked a few times, then squirmed anxiously and 
looked quickly back at the notebook. One second later, her brow was furrowed 
again.

Taiki Kou decided he had never seen anything more adorable.

“What do you think?” he asked quietly, keeping his voice low as they were in 
the library.

Ami looked up at him, flustered. “I . . . I don’t know yet.” And she looked back 
down at the page that had so confused her before moving on to the next one.

Taiki waited patiently as she looked over his notes, watching her as her nose 
crinkled at the sight of a particularly odd diagram.

“That’s where the soil comes into the equation,” he said. Ami stopped and looked 
up at him, and he took that as a sign to continue. “By utilizing soil samples 
from both Kinmoku and Earth, when we build the teleportation devices  . . .”

“If we build them,” interjected Ami.

“. . . it will reinforce the physics behind quantum teleportation by providing 
each device with a core composed of the very particles that make up the soil of 
their destination. The Kinmoku device will have a core of Earth soil, and vice 
versa. If we follow the diagram that you see there,” (and he nodded at the 
notebook in Ami’s hands, still open to the page they had been looking at a 
moment ago) “then there shall exist between our two planets a wormhole, if you 
will, that when entered by a humanoid figure possessing certain powers . . . 
that is, a Sailor Senshi, will transport that person effortlessly from one place 
to the next.”

Ami stared at him skeptically. “A wormhole.”

“Yes.”

Ami removed her glasses and rubbed the bridge of her nose. “But Taiki-san, what 
you’re suggesting defies every concept of the wormhole that physics . . .”

“This is beyond physics,” interrupted Taiki quietly. “We’re going to be utilizing
the energy of our planets and the powers we possess as senshi to accomplish this.
Of course it’s never been attempted or even thought of; we have to be the ones to 
do this.”

Ami pursed her lips for a moment before admitting quietly, “Taiki-san, this is 
brilliant.”

He smiled faintly. “Thank you.”

“However,” said Ami, holding up a hand, and his smile fell, “I still have my 
doubts over whether or not this is plausible.”

He stared at her for a long moment before shifting to lean over the table and 
stare at her. “Are you really the same girl who lectured me about how with 
dreams and romance, anything’s possible?”

She shifted in her seat, looking flustered. “Well, yes, and I still maintain 
that belief.”

“Do you?” he asked in amusement. “Mizuno-kun, look how our roles have reversed 
in the span of six years. Now I’m the one spouting the preposterous theories 
and you’re the one swatting them away with logic.”

She blushed and began to speak when the silence of the library was interrupted 
by several faint screams that sounded as if they were coming from outside. Taiki 
and Ami froze, immediately alert as they looked out the window near their table. 
They saw nothing at first, but then several people ran by the window, screaming 
in panic, and on the street two cars collided head-on.

Without speaking or devising any sort of plan, Taiki and Ami darted from their 
table and sped to the door of the library and into the cold street, forgetting 
their coats completely. The cold air hit their faces and stung their eyes, but 
still they ran, avoiding icy patches in the street as they raced toward the area 
where the screaming people had come from. They didn’t have to wonder why the 
people were screaming because deep down both knew, and it made the blood in 
their veins run as cold as the air around them.

It was Hecate.

They spotted the winged woman from a block away; she was floating in the air 
with her long red hair flowing like a river around her, grinning wickedly around 
as if she was trying to figure out what would be the most enjoyable act of 
destruction. Her evil red eyes settled on a restaurant that looked familiar to 
Ami, who stared in horror as Hecate soared down into the street. With a 
staggering amount of strength Hecate grabbed a newspaper stand and hurled it 
into the window of the restaurant.

Ami let out a horrified sound and ran forward. “No!”

Taiki was started after her. “Mizuno-kun, wait!”

But they had captured Hecate’s attention, and she whipped around to stare at 
them in wicked delight.

“Greetings, Princess Mercury!” she shouted. Laughing madly, she grabbed hold of 
a lamppost, plucked it from the ground as easily as if it were a flower, and 
hurled it at the blue-haired genius.

The lamppost hurtled toward Ami, who screamed just as Taiki darted forward and 
scooped her into his arms, leaping out of the way with Ami clinging to him.

With a mighty flap of her wings, Hecate soared into the air and glared down at 
the two. “Saved by an outsider to the solar system,” she said, glaring at Ami. 
“How lucky.”

“Hecate!” bellowed a new voice.

From the wreckage of the front of the restaurant came Sailor Uranus, followed 
closely by Neptune, Venus, and Healer. Hecate smiled wickedly at them in welcome, 
just as Uranus, making no hesitation, grabbed the air in preparation for attack.

“World Shaking!”

The glowing ball of energy streaked toward Hecate, but she dodged it effortlessly, 
her long black gown swirling around her as she spun to cackle down at Uranus.

“Surely you can do better, Princess Uranus,” taunted Hecate, her red eyes 
glinting evilly. “Or perhaps you’re frightened after what happened last time 
you tried to kill me?”

Uranus bit her teeth together and glared at Hecate, and Neptune put a gentle 
hand of restraint on her partner’s arm. 

“She’s trying to provoke you into attacking,” murmured Neptune, squeezing Uranus’s 
arm briefly. “Keep a cool head.” She could feel Uranus’s arm trembling in barely-
contained fury, and Neptune was very aware of the fact that that her partner was 
practicing a huge amount of self-restraint by staying put. 

Although Uranus made no move to attack, Venus and Healer did.

Working almost in synchronization the two soldiers launched their attacks toward 
Hecate, who was still distracted by Uranus and seemed unprepared for the attack.

“Star Sensitive Inferno!”

“Love and Beauty Shock!”

It became evident at that moment that Hecate’s reflexes were superhuman, almost 
cognitive; the attacks soared toward her, and in midair she suddenly turned to 
avoid the ball of blue lightning that came from Healer’s outstretched hands. As 
Healer’s attack soared past her and into the stratosphere, Hecate swiftly caught 
Venus’s golden attack in one long-fingered, clawed hand. Before Venus and Healer 
could do anything, Hecate launched Venus’s attack back at them.

Healer and Venus had only a second to comprehend what was happening as the attack 
soared toward them, and Healer, acting on instinct, pushed Venus out of the way 
and was hit full-force by the blast of power.

Healer screamed as the attack made direct contact with her stomach and seared her 
skin, and Venus, falling heavily to the ground, sat up and stared in horror at 
Healer. “Healer!”

Venus caught Healer as she collapsed, bleeding, and Hecate cackled madly. It was 
at that moment that Ami took that opportunity to flip open her old wrist 
communicator. “Everyone!” she shouted into it. “We’re in the Azabu district 
outside the subway station! Hecate is here!”

Hecate whirled around to stare at Ami, who was glaring determinedly up at her, 
clutching the communicator in one pale, trembling fist. Instead of looking angry, 
however, Hecate looked immensely pleased as she peered down at Ami. 

“That’s right, Princess Mercury,” she said. “Call them to me.”

*****

An unfamiliar beeping sound echoed dully through the bedroom in Usagi and 
Mamoru’s apartment. Mamoru had the day off, and he and Usagi were nestled 
together in bed, their bare skin dewy with post-coital sweat.

“What’s that?” asked Mamoru lazily.

“Mmm?” asked Usagi, who snuggled deeper into his arms. She wanted to stay that 
way forever. As far as she was concerned, as long as she was in Mamoru’s arms, 
nothing bad could ever happen to her.

Mamoru nudged her gently. “No, Usako, listen,” he said softly.

Usagi winked an eye open as she listened to the faint beeping sound. The sense 
of comfort she had been lulled into suddenly shattered as she registered the 
familiarity of the sound, and clutching a blanket around her body, she scrambled 
out of bed murmuring, “Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

Mamoru sat up and peered at her in worry as the blonde opened a drawer in their 
dresser and removed her old wrist communicator. Dread etched on her pale face, 
Usagi glanced at Mamoru and flipped it open.

Immediately, Ami’s voice echoed from the communicator, “Everyone! We’re in the 
Azabu district outside the subway station! Hecate is here!”

Usagi’s knees buckled, and she gripped the dresser to steady herself. Mamoru had 
risen from bed and approached her, his eyes full of concern but his expression grim.

“We have to go, Usako.”

Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Usagi nodded weakly. She felt nauseated.

About five minutes later Tuxedo Kamen and Sailor Moon arrived to find the senshi 
locked in combat with Hecate. The senshi were struggling to stand their ground,
but it looked as if Hecate was barely making an effort. Attack after attack was 
launched at her, but the winged creature merely spun out of reach of the attacks, 
laughing maniacally at the senshi’s efforts. It was as if they couldn’t touch her.

The senshi looked worse for wear; a bloody Mercury was being supported by Maker, 
and a bruised-looking Chibi-Moon was being tended to by Pluto. Saturn was scrambling 
from soldier to soldier, using her healing powers to help as much as she could while 
avoiding being hit by one of Hecate’s own attacks and the attacks of the senshi 
that the woman continued deflecting toward them.

As Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Kamen ran forward, Hecate let out a victorious laugh. 
Her evil eyes were focused only on Sailor Moon.

“Perfect,” she purred, and she grinned, her ruby lips parting to show her fangs. 
“You’re all here.”

She raised her arms to attack, and a crackling ball of black energy formed in 
her outstretched hands. Cackling, Hecate launched it toward them, but Saturn 
intervened, thrusting her Glaive overhead.

“Silent Wall!”

Saturn’s arms trembled as the attack hit the force-field she created, absorbing 
the shock of the deadly attack and shielding the senshi. After the attack 
dissipated and Saturn weakly lowered her trembling arms, Hecate glowered angrily 
at her.

“Such impudence,” she said lowly. Hecate flapped her wings briefly and descended 
slightly, growing closer to the group of battered senshi, who waited, ready to 
attack. She looked over the group, her eyes filled with hatred, and then she 
looked back at Saturn. “How can a child wield such power?” she hissed.

Saturn glared up at her. “It’s an honor to have this power, and I’m using it for
the sake of my Princess!” she shouted.

Hecate looked down at Sailor Moon as if she was regarding a piece of garbage, 
but Sailor Moon stood her ground and glared back up at her. 

“That creature?” Hecate asked mockingly, and her knee-length hair rippled with 
the movement of her wings as she turned back to Saturn. “She does not deserve 
to have such power dedicated to her.”

“Shut up!” shouted Jupiter angrily. “You know nothing of our powers! How could 
you, when you use your powers to kill and destroy while we use ours to protect 
people?”

Hecate regarded Jupiter with a disdainful look, and there was a long moment of 
silence as the cold wind swirled around the senshi in the street. They watched 
nervously as Hecate stared at Jupiter before saying slowly, “I know more than 
you think, Princess Jupiter.” 

Before the senshi could react, Hecate had raised her arms and crossed them over 
the diamond-shaped, blood-red stone nestled against her forehead. The stone 
glowed, and Hecate glowered down at all of them.

“The powers you possess are toys, and you are children unfit to wield them,” 
she said, her deep voice gathering volume as the stone seemed to gather energy. 
“Let me show you what real power is!” 

She flung apart her arms and energy filled the street and the area around the 
Sailor Senshi.

This was a new type of attack altogether. A massive dome of energy spread out 
over the group, quite similar to Saturn’s protective wall except instead of the 
protection it provided, the atmosphere around the senshi immediately felt evil 
and corrupt. The senshi looked around at their entrapment, looking very wary, 
worried, and a little frightened, but it looked harmless.

That is, until Hecate made a sudden, sharp movement with her arm and the dome 
collapsed upon the group of senshi, drenching them in dark magic.

The Sailor Senshi began to scream.

Agony tore through them; it felt as if they were being burned alive from the 
inside, as if their very souls were being scorched and seared within their 
bodies. Their screams grew louder and more tortured, and it somehow looked as 
if each of their shrieks had a distinct tinge of color.

Suddenly, the pain wasn’t the problem anymore; it was the horror that came with 
the realization that color actually WAS coming from their mouths, streaming 
upward to gather above their heads in a mass of swirling hues. Red power trailed
from Rei’s open mouth, and pink from Chibi-Usa’s; Michiru’s sea-green power 
streamed from out of her throat, and blue came from the screaming Fighter.

Then the senshi collapsed to the ground, exhausted, trembling, and in pain, and 
they could only stare in dull shock at the mass of energy swirling above them. 
Hecate’s laugh, moments ago drowned out from their screams, was now audible, 
and the pulsating rainbow of colors hovering above them condensed, shrank, and 
suddenly streamed upward where it was sucked into the stone on Hecate’s forehead.

The evil energy disappeared, and the transformations of each senshi melted away, 
their fukus fading back into their civilian garb.

A weak voice cried, “Minna!” and Hecate stopped laughing, her eyes narrowing 
dangerously.

The only one still clad in fuku was Sailor Moon, who was staring in horror at 
her friends, tears streaming from her eyes. A silvery-pink shield had grown up 
around her, encasing her in warm power and protecting her from Hecate’s attack, 
but it seemed as if she was barely aware of what had happened that had caused 
her to avoid both the pain and the loss of energy the others had felt. She 
looked around in confusion and terror, wanting to reach out to her friends but 
for some reason rooted to the spot.

“Sailor Moon . . .” moaned Mamoru.

“No,” snarled Hecate. “No!” She glared down at Sailor Moon, loathing gleaming 
in her eyes and revulsion creasing her hateful face as the glow faded from 
around Sailor Moon. “Why you, Serenity? Why do you have this power, that same 
cursed power . . . !”

Hecate’s words became unintelligible as her voice transformed into a scream of 
rage, and she flapped her wings rapidly, looking down at Sailor Moon with a 
look of absolute fury. She looked as if she might attack, but there was 
something else in those narrow, red eyes, something akin to fear, something 
that made Hecate flap her wings until there was a sizeable distance between 
herself and Sailor Moon. The strange look passed quickly, and the snarl on the 
evil woman’s face turned into an ugly sneer.

“It’s time you learned, Serenity,” she called coldly down. “You are a worthless 
creature who cannot survive without the protection of those around you, and soon 
you will realize that. You are weak, and very soon you will die.”

With a flap of her wings, Hecate took off into the air, and within seconds she 
had disappeared.

Sailor Moon dropped to her knees, and her eyes were wide and staring unseeingly 
at the spot where Hecate had just been hovering. All around her the others were 
struggling to sit up, their weak limbs quivering as they fought to stand. No one 
spoke; they were too exhausted, too shocked, too powerless.

The silence was broken by a weak shout; Makoto had taken out her henshin wand 
and was holding it overhead, refusing to accept what had happened.

“Jupiter Crystal Power, Make Up!”

Nothing happened. Still refusing to believe it, Makoto bit her teeth together, 
her green eyes determined but growing glassier by the second.

“Mako-chan,” said Rei weakly, moving toward her. “It won’t do any good. It’s 
gone.”

“Jupiter Crystal Power, Make UP!”

Again, nothing. It seemed to be too much for Makoto to bear, and the others 
watched as her tall frame trembled briefly before folding inward as she 
collapsed in tears, screaming in frustration and beating a fist into the ground.

Sailor Moon’s lower lip quivered, and she weakly got to her feet and moved 
tentatively toward the crying Makoto. “Mako-chan,” she murmured, stretching a 
comforting hand toward her.

Makoto’s tears splashed down her face as she raised her head and, with a 
strangled sob, launched herself at Sailor Moon. Sailor Moon almost toppled over 
from the force of the hug, but she maintained her balance and gently stroked 
Makoto’s back as the brunette cried into her shoulder.

“I promise you, Sailor Moon,” Makoto said, her voice thick with tears. She 
raised her head to stare compellingly up at Sailor Moon. “As long as I live I’m 
going to protect you, with or without my powers!”

Sailor Moon swallowed hard, her face paling slightly, but she still smiled as 
gently as possible and rubbed Makoto’s back reassuringly. “Don’t say such things,” 
she said softly. “It won’t come to that.”

Makoto hiccupped and wiped her eyes, letting go of Sailor Moon to sit up. She 
seemed as if she was about to speak when the sound of approaching sirens made 
everyone look up. It seemed someone had finally called the police.

“We should go,” said Mamoru quietly.

*****

Some hours later, after the senshi had spent a large amount of time weakly 
discussing their options and what they should do in the case of another attack, 
it was decided that there was nothing that could be done at that time. Luna and 
Artemis, who had been absent at the time of attack earlier, were shocked to find 
out what had happened and immediately suggested that Usagi should be accompanied 
at all times, much to Usagi’s chagrin. The others agreed immediately; protecting 
Usagi from Hecate was their top priority.

After several hours of talking, the group decided to go home for the night; there 
was nothing they could say or do that they hadn’t already done, and at that 
point all they could do was wait and pray.

The senshi bade each other goodnight, their faces either pale with worry and 
fear or bearing the smiles of those who were still in so much shock they hadn’t 
quite grasped the severity of the problem at hand. 

“We’re powerless,” said Makoto bitterly as she and Ami walked home together, the 
cold wind blowing around them. “Actually physically powerless.”

Ami shook her head. The whole situation made her feel sick to her stomach; never 
before had their powers been stolen and drained from their bodies. She felt 
useless and unprepared, having never considered such a possibility. As the genius 
of the group, wasn’t it her job to explore every possible option and have an 
emergency plan prepared for any scenario? 

“I can’t believe what’s happened,” she whispered. “Never in a million years 
would I have ever considered we’d lose our powers.”

Makoto sighed heavily. “Me either,” she said softly, crossing her arms and 
shivering. Her green eyes were very weary. “I . . . I don’t know what to do. 
I feel like I’m going crazy.”

“At least Usagi-chan’s powers are intact,” said Ami quietly, pausing to pull her 
scarf more securely around her neck.

Makoto stopped, looking over at Ami. “Yeah . . .” she said, her brow furrowing. 
“Ami-chan, how did Usagi-chan keep her powers?”

Ami stopped walking as well. “I think that Usagi-chan’s powers were protected by 
the Ginzuishou,” she said simply.

Makoto blinked. “Is that possible?”

“It’s the most plausible idea I’ve come up with,” said Ami, and she turned glumly
to Makoto. “Regardless of how it happened, at least Usagi-chan and her powers 
remained safe.”

Makoto nodded, distracted by a spot of cold wetness she felt on the tip of her 
nose. She brushed her gloved fingers against the spot and peered down at the 
dampness.

“It’s snowing,” said Ami softly, looking up at the clouds and watching the white 
flakes begin to float down.

They watched the snow fall for a moment, not speaking as they thought about 
everything that had happened. Makoto sighed. 

“Well,” she said, cocking a half-hearted smile, “I think I’ve had enough bad 
news for the day.”

Ami nodded. “Me too,” she said softly. “I’m ready to go home.”

They walked until they reached Ami’s apartment, and when they reached the door 
Ami turned to look at Makoto. She looked weary, her face pale and her eyes dull, 
but the tall woman was still trying her hardest to smile and look unafraid. Not 
forgetting Makoto’s breakdown earlier, Ami stepped toward her and wrapped the 
brunette in a gentle hug.

“Keep safe, Mako-chan,” she said softly, trying to convey in that hug every bit 
of comfort she could muster.

Makoto nodded into her shoulder, and Ami felt her shiver. “You too,” she murmured.

Ami pulled away, waved in farewell, and went into the apartment building, leaving 

Makoto standing on the sidewalk. Sighing, the tall brunette shoved her hands 
into the pockets of her coat and set off down the sidewalk, the snow falling 
thickly around her.

Makoto walked on for several minutes, and she was had almost reached the small 
apartment that she lived in above her restaurant when she heard two familiar 
voices. Makoto paused as she was rounding the corner and listened carefully, 
then, slowly, she peeked her head around the wall separating her from the 
speakers.

Setsuna and Chibi-Usa were standing together, talking quietly. Makoto had to 
strain to hear what they were saying. 

“It’s just as I feared,” murmured Setsuna. “Everything is far more serious now.” 

Chibi-Usa slipped her small hand into the tall woman’s, her eyes soft with worry. 
“But it’s always been serious, Puu. Ever since Hecate first attacked and Usagi 
decided to keep her pregnancy a secret, it’s been serious.”

Makoto struggled not to make a sound when she heard.

“I know, Small Lady,” said Setsuna quietly. She shook her head and looked down 
at the pink-haired girl. “And no matter how much I disagree with her decisions, 
I still must follow the Princess’ orders.” 

“I guess that’s how it has to be,” murmured Chibi-Usa, her brow furrowed. “But 
Puu . . .  I’m scared.” 

“I know, Small Lady,” replied Setsuna, squeezing the child’s hand. “So am I.”

Makoto didn’t hear Chibi-Usa’s response; her mind reeling in shock, she turned 
and walked away.

*****

End Chapter Nine