Name: The Winds of Fate: Part 6
Author: Black Gryphon
Rating:PG
E-Mail: blackgryphon21@hotmail.com
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					The Winds of Fate: Part 6
						    by
						Black Gryphon

	Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this story, they are the property 
of the people at DIC and all other companies involved in the production and distribution 
of Sailor Moon.
	Because of the abrupt ending to production of the North American version 
of Sailor Moon I decided to take matters into my own hands and write a season of my 
own.  This season is frozen in time between the final battle with the Doom Phantom and 
The opening of Season 4. For the most part, all the previous points apply. Comments are 
welcome, look at the end for my address.
On a separate note, while I am very flattered by some of the fan mail, please note 
that I am a straight male, thank you.
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				Episode 6: A Painful Reality
	

 	"NO!" Luna almost screamed from across Lita's living room, "It wasn't him!"
	"Luna, please." Lita was trying to comfort the guardian cat, but she wasn't 
making it easy, Mina was in the other room getting some small wounds patched up by the 
other girls.  It was just as well, no one needed a temper flare-up right now. "We all saw 
him, he didn't help us and he went through a negaverse gate."
	Luna turned back to the brunette, her eyes were shimmering with tears. "I-it must 
have been another, s-somebody else." She was obviously grasping at straws as she 
stuttered quickly through her speech. "H-he isn't the only one in the world with a black 
cloak." She said looking hopeful.
	The other girls came out and they sat in the chairs and sofa, more listening to the 
conversation than anything else, but, with the exception of Mina who was hurt in the 
fight, they were trying to be sympathetic. Lita tried again, "Luna, there may be others 
with a black cloak, but how many of them have magic?  How many could open that gate 
and send a monster after us?"
	Luna's eyes flared, "My son would never do something so horrible!" The tone in 
her voice made Lita take a step back and the others to shrink in their seats. "He would not 
join forces with the monsters who killed his family! He would never willingly go back 
were I..." Her voice started strong, but it was choked off before she could finish the 
sentence, everyone knew what she was about the say though. She hung her head and 
tried, unsuccessfully to hold back tears.
	 Serena slowly stood up and came forward, "Luna," She began gently, "I know 
you love him, but he's not your son, not your responsibility.  You gave him what he 
needed to survive, but we were in the Negaverse for only an hour or so and, I at least, felt 
what it was starting to do to me." she was trying to soothe the cat, and she softly 
repeated, "He's not your son."
	Luna sighed in a kind of eternal defeat, "I know," She said, barely more than a 
whisper, "but, I'd still give seven years of my life to hear him call to me as his mother."
	Serena nodded sadly, she understood because of her time with Reeny. "I know, 
but please Luna.  We need to fight him, please, help us."
	Luna looked up at the scouts, then to each of their faces in turn, resting longer on 
Serena's; then out the window at the sky.  She turned back to the scouts' leader. "Please, 
I begging you Serena.  Don't make me choose."  Her eyes began to glisten again.
	Serena's heart melted as she looked at the black cat in front of her, "Luna, maybe 
we can heal him like we did for the Four Sisters.  Just tell us how to hold our own.  
Please, I know this is hard, but we need to be able to protect innocent people."
	Luna sat in silence for several minutes, her mind was filled with the all the 
consequences of what she was about to do.  As horrible as it might sound, she was at a 
loss: on one side of the scale lay the lives of everyone on the planet; on the other lay the 
life of the child she would have died to protect so long ago.  With great emotional pain 
she pushed the answer through clenched teeth. "The Book." She said weakly.
	"What?" Raye asked from the couch.
	Luna was not having an easy time, but she did manage to speak, "The Book, its a 
manual of sorts for the Mystics.  I carried a copy as I carried your transformation pens." 
She took a deep breath before continuing, "It holds the secrets to his weaponry.  His 
spells are in there too, though I don't know if he's a full Mystic yet, he would almost 
certainly have made a copy or two.   With the book you may be able to level the playing 
field." Luna was doing a fairly good job of holding herself together, and she almost 
collapsed as she finished.
	Amy perked a little at that, "Maybe we could make some ourselves and equip 
ourselves better to fight other threats." She put in, looking forward to a technical 
challenge.
	"No." Luna was calm, but very stern. "Making those weapons could kill you if 
you aren't ready, I'm not going to lose one of you because of some sword."
	"All right, Luna," Raye said, "Then how do we get that book?"
	"That's where it gets tricky."
					********************

	Sailor Mars looked over at the apartment building opposite the one she now stood 
on.  *How did I manage to get myself talked into doing this?* She wondered silently.  
She sat down over the edge and waited, they were being careful this time.  Amy and Luna 
had spent a fair amount of time planning this, but they'd only get one shot.  
	The minutes passed slowly for the fire scout, she had to wait for the go-ahead. 
She began to silently brief herself, *Remember what Luna said: "Just keep moving, no 
matter what you see, ignore it.  Find either a photocopied or handwritten version of a 
book whose title makes no sense and get out." Stay on track and I'll be okay.* She 
finished and started tapping a beat into the bricks beside where she sat.  
	Her mind continued to wander back to the planning only an hour or two ago. 
*You're the only one with formal martial arts training.  You have the best chance of 
getting through without getting into trouble.* Amy was trying to make it sound simple, 
but she wasn't good at sugarcoating things. *Take this, its a key I made of the scan I got 
last time, I found out it works on the balcony door too.*  Mars drew out the key and 
fingered the jagged edge.  She idly wondered what it would be like to be as smart as 
Amy, but decided it was best not to dwell on it, maybe the young genius wondered the 
same about being a martial artist. 
	Mars put the key away again and scanned the building across from her. The 
curtains were drawn and so she couldn't see anything, but soon she'd be inside and the 
thought both scared and exhilarated her.  Finally her communicator beeped, she quickly 
turned it on and listened. "Mars? Its Serena, I just got the call from Mina, Lita called her 
to tell us that we're all in place.  Amy is the first you'll hear from if something goes 
wrong.  Good luck."
	"Thanks, see you guys soon." Mars answered through the electronic link, as soon 
as she was done she turned it off and backed away from the edge of the roof, readying 
herself to make the long jump.  She ran forward and kicked off from the edge, no human 
could have done it, but as a scout it was relatively easy, a moment later she quietly 
touched down on the balcony.  Mars quickly drew out the small brass key again and took 
a deep breath, "Okay Mars," She told herself gently, "You have four lookouts watching 
your back and Wyvern, just get in and out quickly.  Just because he's a good fighter and 
really strong and the fact that you're so worried you're actually talking to yourself, you'll 
be okay." 
	Before she could start worrying again, she slipped the key in the lock and turned 
it. Almost before the lock clicked she was inside with the door closed.  She looked up 
slowly and couldn't help but gasp again at the beauty of the weapons around her.  She 
walked over to the bladed staff she'd been looking at the other day, she did not know 
why it fascinated her the way it did, but it drew her.  
	She shook her head to clear it and physically pushed herself back from the wall,  
She had a job to do, she couldn't afford to get sidetracked. Mars turned away and walked 
over to a small table placed against the wall, it was only a meter square with one drawer, 
but it looked promising.  She gently slid the drawer out and looked inside, almost like her 
own bedside table, it was filled with small stacks of music.  Picking a CD up Mars 
examined it in the dim light, "Celtic Mysteries," Mars said to herself, "So, you like gentle 
music, do you?  I just wish you made more sense." She put the CD back away, closed the 
drawer and walked into the next room.
	As Mars walked into what almost had to be the main bedroom she was again 
bewildered by their new foe's nature.  Out on the battlefield he was almost a demon, but 
here, in the place he spent his time away from all onlookers, was some of the most 
beautiful stonework Raye had ever seen in her life.  Beside the bed was a four foot high 
sculpture of a small tree, almost alive, but forever young.  On top of an armoire a mother 
wolf cared for her young, not two feet away stood a fawn, gently nuzzled by its mother, 
somehow obviously aware of the wolves, but unafraid.  
	On the wall was an embossed plaque showing all four of the elements coexisting 
as one.  Even the forge was not forgotten in this room, on a large bookcase lay three 
small roses, they were wrought of pure steel, but looked so delicate that she dared not 
touch them.  It seemed oddly fitting that all the men in the lives of the Scouts used roses.  
First red, then black, later white, and now, steel.  What really struck a cord with Mars, 
however, was the fact that there was not a single thing in the room that could be used as a 
weapon.
	She wondered briefly if Luna was right, that maybe it wasn't him that had sent the 
ice monster.  Unfortunately, she couldn't hold that thought for long, she'd watched him 
go through the gate, who else could it have been?  Mars quickly scanned the bookcase, 
there wasn't much to work with: "A book whose title makes no sense." Luna had said.  
	Mars scanned the titles quickly, "The fundamentals..., The basis of...," She 
murmured to herself as she read the spines, "Exorcism, Summoning of..., Banishment, 
Banishment of..., Banishment of..., Banishment of..., Banishment of... What is this 
guy's problem? Here we go, Livre of Zander.  It makes no sense and its photocopied with 
a printed version over there, that's good enough." Mars grabbed the bundle of paper and 
turned to leave.  
	As she neared the door her communicator went off, "Mars, are you there?" A 
voice said from her wrist.  She answered and the caller continued, "It's Mercury. There's 
another of those things, its about halfway between us.  I'm sorry, but its at a car factory, 
lots of people, you'll have to forget the book for now.  We need your help."
	"It's okay Mercury." Mars replied to her friend, "I just found it, I'm on my way." 
After the communicator went dead, Mars added, "This is really going to be a long day."
	As she reached for the handle she turned to look once more into the living room 
of their new enemy, it was a room of deadly beauty, it mirrored her own soul somehow, 
but she could not tell why.  Without even a further thought she walked out onto the 
balcony and darted off to join the waiting battle.					
********************

	Mars cleared the last rooftop quickly, she was ready to face this new monster.  
She somehow knew the others would be there soon and decided to wait on the roof for 
them before rushing in, *Air,* she thought to herself curiously. *What's strong against 
that?  Electricity and water are probably weak, fire burns oxygen so maybe... where's 
Amy when you need her?*  No sooner had she finished the thought, the others came into 
sight.  "What took you?" Mars called to her friends.
	"Sorry," Venus said, "We would have been here sooner, but Sailor Moon here 
was at the boat rental shop."
	Mars shot the leader a look which could have frozen mercury, (the metal, not the 
scout,) "What were you doing there?" 
	Moon countered the look and replied in an annoyed tone, "I was trying to find out 
how much it costs to rent a boat. What else 'IS' there to do at a boat rental stand?" 
Jupiter leaned in and asked something that no one else could hear, however, Sailor Moon 
answered with, "Three bucks an hour."
	Jupiter took a step back with a "Thanks." And let the argument continue between 
the Fire Scout and the Leader.
	"You too Jupiter?" Mars' anger was partially changed to amazement and was now 
pointed at Jupiter as well. "What happens to people's brains when they get into a 
relationship, they melt or something? No, can't say that, Mercury stayed responsible." At 
that Mercury blushed deep crimson and hung her head. Mars blinked for a minute and 
continued. "What did you do?"
	"Well... I kinda." Mercury was tripping her own embarrassment and couldn't 
string more than two words together, but she tried. "You see, I was sorta... um..." At 
which point she gave up and Venus took over.
	"She was actually out of the park because she wanted to get a recipe book for 
Jupiter as a gift, she just happened to be on this side of it." Venus shrugged after, "At 
least she made sure someone was watching her place."
	Mars sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay, I guess we'll have to 
work with this." Then she paused and a look of pure confusion swept over her features. 
"Why are we here again?"
	Sailor Moon raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly at her friend, "The monster, 
remember?"
	"Oh, Yeah!" Mars said slowly. "Any ideas Mercury?" She asked looking to the 
still-blushing girl.
	The blue-haired scout thought for a minute. "Its probably air, so fighting in a 
closed space is probably a bad idea.  We've got to lure it out in the open."
	"How?" Moon asked, lost for suggestions.
	"I don't know, I can't think of any good way of making an air elemental come to 
you."
	"HEY!" They all turned to see Mars shouting down through a skylight. "Yeah! 
You with the rock in you! Put down that poor worker and get up here you stupid 
windbag!  Yeah! Come on!" Her eyes became wide for a moment before she let out a 
weak: "Uh oh." Right before the beast hit her.  The scouts watched, unable to help, as 
their friend flew clear over two rooftops and came down hard on the third.
	Sailor Moon ran to the edge of the roof. "Mars, are you okay?"
	Mars' answer was to jump to her feet and wave Moon to the side, as soon as she 
was clear she cried out: "Mars Celestial Fire, Surround!" The circles of fire shot forward, 
narrowly missing Sailor Moon, who followed them with her eyes.  Just as she turned, The 
blonde leader got her first glimpse of the monster.  It was almost human, however, it 
seemed to be made of mist, slightly darker at the lines where muscles and limbs should 
be.
	Just before the rings would have hit the gem that was where a human heart would 
be, the Air Beast spun, instantly making itself into a whirlwind to protect its heart.  
Before she could react, Sailor Moon arm stung and then it was on fire, literally.  The 
whirlwind did not just stop the attack, it deflected them; one of the flame circles had 
flown and glanced against Sailor Moon's left hand, the glove she wore was on fire and all 
that was protecting her from the magical flame. 
	Mercury was the first to recover from the shock of seeing her leader's hand 
burning.  Her answer to the problem was quick and efficient. "Shine Aqua Illusion!" She 
yelled. The ice flew at her leader, the flame from Mars melted most of it before it 
touched, but enough remained to lightly coat the arm with ice and extinguish the fire.  
The ice broke away quickly, and though Sailor Moon had had no damage done save 
loosing a glove, she was too shaken to further help the battle.
	Mercury tried her ice again, this time aiming for the beast's heart, again it spun 
and deflected the attack.  The ice however, was far more effective than the fire it that its 
weight prevented a complete reflection, it was just pushed to the side where it froze the 
base of a large antenna.  
	Jupiter stepped forward and glared at the beast, she looked into the two dark 
masses of black fog that passed for eyes and continued to do so as she attacked. "Jupiter 
Thunderclap Zap!" She cried out as she threw the ball at the beast, who again became the 
whirlwind and protected itself from the blast.  Jupiter, however, forgot one very 
important aspect of her power: Electrical currents flow along air currents.  In less time 
than it took for a balloon to pop, the scouts were looking at a large cyclone of lightning, 
it would be the second time Jupiter's power would be used against them and no one was 
looking forward to dodging a lightning bolt. 
	The attack was not what anyone expected though.  When the monster stopped 
spinning, the air currents stopped and the energy was left to find its own path.  The four 
scouts on the roof all dove for cover as a thousand small bolts flew in every direction. 
Luckily, no one was harmed, but, a dozen or more bricks, some wires and cable and the 
antenna Mercury, froze fell all about them on the rooftop.  The monster first picked up 
the large, triangular antenna and flung it at Venus, she again dove to the ground as it 
shattered the low wall behind her.  Next a volley of bricks rained down on the other three 
scouts, Sailor Moon having long since been told to retreat by Mars.  The antenna had 
actually been a blessing in disguise, for from her laying position, Venus saw inspiration, 
the wires from the wrecked machinery and walls had strewn all over the rooftop; 
however, as they were being drawn into the swirling mist she saw that they were being 
wrapped into the center.
	She decided to take a chance and jumped to her feet.  As soon as her feet were 
planted she cried out, "Venus Love Chain Encircle!" The sickle, however was aimed at 
Mars, not the beast.  Stunned, Mars froze, but Venus had guessed right, for just inches 
from Mars' face the blade stopped and the entire length of chain began to circle inwards.  
The razor-sharp blade spun outside of the small tornado so fast that no one could follow 
it, gaining speed as it got closer to the center.  As the blade stuck in, the entire beast 
stopped suddenly, its entire body twitching in pain before it began to dissolve slowly into 
shapeless fog. 
With the body, gone the stone fell to the ground and the chain disappeared.  
Mercury took a step forward, she remembered that she had to move quickly to get the 
energy back to the people it belonged.  As her fingers wrapped around the smooth surface 
of the gem, the blue sphere of energy appeared;  the Water Scout quickly placed the 
Heartstone into the energy, however, something odd happened: Instead of half the energy 
flowing back to the original owners, half of it flowed into the crystal and repaired it, the 
rest shot through a gate into the Negaverse. 
Mercury looked at the crystal, confused.  "What did you do?" Mars asked.
"I don't know.  It just happened." Mercury replied, staring at the perfect sphere in 
her hand.
"I'll take that if you don't mind." A voice said behind them. They all turned to see 
a black figure. As soon as her attention was altered, the gem shot out of Mercury's hand 
and flew into the Mystics. "You don't know how much easier it made it for me for you to 
put it in the energy like that."  With that he jumped off the roof and when the Scouts 
reached the edge seconds later he had vanished.  
"He must have used a gate." Venus reasoned. "By the way, did you get the book?" 
She asked to Mars.
"Yeah, but I can't make sense of it."
"Let me try." Mercury said.
				*********************

A few hours later they were standing at Lita's door, Raye, Mina and Serena were 
leaving Luna, Lita and Amy there and heading to Raye's temple to help her grandpa. 
Raye was using a checklist in her head to make sure no one forgot any details, she usually 
left it up to Amy, but she didn't trust her to think of everything after the late arrival 
earlier that day.  "And lastly," Raye said, "Are you sure there are no problems with your 
staying here tonight?"
"Yes." Amy said, "I called my mother already, she agreed pretty readily, but she 
sounded smug for some reason." A confused tone crept into her voice.  Everyone around 
her went tongue in cheek for a moment as she made the connection. "You can't mean my 
mother thought that! I mean..." She realized there was no way out of it and let it slide.
"Don't worry Amy.  At least it proves she trusts you." Mina put in. "Besides, you 
have a chaperone. One you can stuff in a bag to boot!" Mina said in her usual cheery voice.
"Hey!" A voice called up from the floor.
"Deny it." Mina challenged.
Luna stared to say something, but hung her head, defeated, "I'll be in the next 
room until you need me to translate."
"We'll leave you to yourselves then, bye." Serena said as they left.
				***********************

As the last of the girls came up to the temple, Raye's grandpa came up to them, 
angry for some reason.  
"Raye," He said, his tone made it clear that it wasn't Raye's fault he was angry. 
"While you were gone, some guy in a black cloak broke into our private rooms and stole 
a piece of wood from the Sacred Fire!"
"But Grampa, there's plenty of wood in the Fire always, we take some out all the 
time." Raye asked, this day just seemed to get continually worse.
"Maybe so, but this maniac burst through here and even uprooted a tree in his 
rush. He also knocked down a wall saying something about having 'only this last piece 
left.'"
Serena cut in, "He uprooted a tree and broke a wall?" Her voice was amazed.
"Well, the wall was one of those paper ones, and the tree's a dead one I've been 
meaning to cut down for two decades." His voice was a little low, but it picked up 
quickly. "But still its impressive, any chance you know who it is so I can hire him!?"
"Uh... no." Raye said sternly, and walked off to phone the others as to what had 
happened.
				**********************

"All right.  Okay.  I'll tell them, thanks Raye." Lita hung up the phone and turned 
to the two faces looking at her. 
"Well?" Luna asked.  
"This is going to sound odd." She quickly recapped what had happened at Raye's 
and as she finished, Luna burst out a window.  The two girls looked at the path she'd 
taken and blinked a few times.  "Any idea what that was about?"
"None at all." Amy answered just as confused.
				*********************

Luna ran across rooftops all over Tokyo looking for Alex.  Eventually, she found 
him, and just in time.  On a high rooftop he had draw a large Celtic Knot, each loop faces 
a different cardinal point.  In the southern was a stone (It was from Stonehenge, though 
Luna never learned that.) that was set into a steel rose.  To the north was the gem he'd 
taken from Mercury that same day, west was a chunk of Mercury's ice, Luna realized it 
was the one that was inside of the Earth Elemental not so long ago.  Finally, he was 
placing the burning piece of wood from the Sacred Fire in the western loop.  
Luna quoted what she remembered of the Mystic initiation ritual to herself. "The 
initiate shall for a symbol with no beginning and no end.  At the cardinal points he shall 
place an enchanted item symbolizing each element, but he himself cannot enchant it.  
Earth, Air, Fire and Water; placed South, North, West and East.  In that order, no other.  
Then he shall begin the ritual."
She looked down and could hear his words as he stood in the center of the Knot.  
"I call upon my ancestors to aid me in my quest, I call upon the powers that are my 
birthright." He raised his arms into the air, as though he were about to take the sun into 
them.  About him the objects began to glow dimly, changing slightly blue in fire's case. 
"To the Southern Earth, to the Northern Air, to the Eastern Water and the Western Fire." 
A narrow beam came from the direction he had called for each element, green for the 
earth, blue for the water, slightly yellow for air and orangy-red for fire. "From the Earth 
comes the promise of new life!" The green light diffused through the opaque stone to 
bath him in a rich glow. Each element flowed suit after their calling.  "On the winds our 
souls are passed!  In fire, the darkness is turned light! And from the sea, was the first life 
born."  As he finished, the last light diffused and washed over him. Very little visibly 
happened, save a beautiful light show, however, internally he was reaching the next stage 
of power.
Luna smiled to herself, she had often prayed that she would not miss this proud 
day.  She was also pleased for the oath he spoke for fire was one symbolizing good, it 
was shot down however, when she realized that both sides used this oath during the 
Mystic War so long ago.  As she watched the event, she quietly whispered the words, 
"Please be good."
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Please send questions or comments to blackgryphon21@hotmail.com.