"Between the Darkness and the Light" Written by: DQBunny Edited by: Meara DISCLAIMER: Sailormoon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi. If you feel like coming after my money, by all means do! I'll gladly give you the three cents to my name. Chapter 3 "It shouldn't matter that we may never come back," a quiet voice spoke up. Everyone in Rei's room shifted their attention to Usagi. She stood up from her seat, her voice strong and mature as she spoke. "Michiru is a Sailor Senshi. Our loyalty is with her. I can't let one of the Senshi go because I may die trying to help her. Her life comes before mine." "She's right," Rei immediately jumping up as well. "We're all in on this," Makoto added. "We can't just let a Senshi die!" Minako said. "Surely there is some way we can handle this. We've faced down tough opponents before," Ami commented. Setsuna smiled. "Just a warning, but I knew you would react this way. This type of journey can't be made right away. I want to find Haruka, then gather everyone together at Jyuban Park tomorrow morning. We must let Small Lady know, her help is needed as well." "Minna!" Chibi-Usa's voice echoed through the shrine. She ran into Rei's bedroom still dressed in her sailor fuku. Elios was at her heels. She collapsed against the wall, losing her transformation as she tried to regain her breath. "Chibi-Usa, what's wrong?" Usagi moved around the other Senshi to reach her future daughter. Mamoru immediately sprang up from his seat as well and moved over to the two girls. "Sailor Uranus has been taken," Elios informed them. "By who? That Kuro guy?" Minako asked. Elios nodded. "Setsuna-san let us know that he's your brother. Has Kuro always had his mean streak?" Minako wondered. A small smile graced Elios' face. "Just a touch of one." "Well, this is great!" Makoto said, standing up. Rei and Minako stood up as well. "Elios, you can help lead us to Kuro! And, you know what to do so we can stop him from harming the Earth any further." "Will you join us, Elios?" Minako asked, approaching him. "We've worked together before to save the Earth. Surely we can work together again to prevent this from happening while we can." "I refuse to fight him," Elios said, his posture stiffening. "I don't care what he's done. He's my brother. You can fight him all you like, but I refuse to shed his blood." "If you don't do something, the end of the world will occur! This Earth that you've been trying to protect will die! Surely you would give anything to protect it!" Rei protested, her violet eyes like purple fire with anger. "How can you just stand there and let everybody on this planet die?" "I'm not saying to let everyone die!" Elios suddenly shouted at her. Rei took a step back in shock. Everyone else's eyes widened. Chibi-Usa's jaw dropped. No one had ever heard the soft-spoken priest yell before. "Look, I know what Kuro is doing is wrong. But, I refuse to be the hand that kills him. I will help lead you to Pandora. If my memories are still clear of the kingdom, I can take you directly to his temples and the palace he prepared for the Earth Kingdom," Elios's voice dropped back to normal as he spoke. "But, don't ask me to kill him." Usagi approached Elios and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. "I promise, you will not have to harm Kuro," she said in a gentle voice. "We will never force you into a position like that. That decision must come from within you. But, we have to stop him somehow." Elios nodded, turned, and walked out of the temple. Chibi-Usa started to follow him, but Mamoru caught her by her arm. "Let him go, Chibi-Usa, he needs time to himself," he told her. "But, Mamo-chan!" Chibi-Usa protested. "Chibi-Usa, we just pretty much asked him permission to kill his brother," Usagi explained to her. "That's a rough thing to deal with." Chibi-Usa sighed and jerked her arm out of Mamoru's grasp. She shot both of them a dirty glance and started toward the door again. Again, Mamoru was faster than she was and lifted the girl in his arms to prevent her from following Elios. "Are you going to listen, or do I have to embarrass you in front of everyone?" he told her in a slightly annoyed voice, which immediately told Usagi how angry he was at their future daughter for blatantly disobeying them. Chibi-Usa glared at Mamoru for a moment, but he returned the glare with equal measure. Finally, she turned her gaze away from him and he put her back on the ground. She started at the entrance to the temple, as if she was thinking about bolting, then stomped over to Rei's bookshelf, pulled a volume of manga off one of the shelves, sat on the floor, and buried her face in it. Everyone stared at Chibi-Usa, puzzling over the childish way the usually mature Senshi was acting. But, then again, she really was a child. She had just celebrated her 11th birthday not long ago. Then, they turned their attention back to making their plans for the next day. ***** "And recent reports from astronomers at NASA show that a black hole has literally devoured Alpha 17 galaxy, pinpointed to be at least 170 billion light years away from Earth," the TV news announcer read out loud from her copy, her face expressionless. However, Ami looked up from the book she was reading and stared at the TV with interest. Next to her, Luna yawned and looked up at the TV as well. "This is the fifth galaxy astronomers has noticed that seemed to have disappeared from the universe within the past year," the announcer said. "However, until now, no cause has been given for this other than faulty equipment taking poor pictures. NASA officials now say that another galaxy, Beta 10, is in danger of being sucked into this black hole as well. Now, in other news..." Ami flipped off the TV at that point and thought for a moment. "A black hole that eats up galaxies is odd," she said. "Usually nothing that enters them survives, right, Ami-chan?" Luna asked. "There's several theories on the matter. Albert Einstein talked about the exsistance of black holes and now nothing in them can survive, not even light. Stephen Hawkins dicussed how black holes emit radiation back in the 1970s." Ami stood up and walked toward her bedroom. Luna followed on her heels. Ami sat down at her desk and logged onto the Internet while Luna jumped up on the desk next to her. The blue-haired young woman started surfing the Internet, looking for various sights on black holes. Eventually, she came across ones with the information she wanted. "These are pictures taken from the Hubble telescope," Ami told Luna. "This one is of a massive black hole feeding on a smaller galaxy. This is what they were talking about on the news, except it seems to be happening at a much accelerated pace now. But, the pictures we see now are of events taking place at least a thousand years ago. That is an accelerated pace." Luna gazed at the picture and read the information along with it. "This is not common today, is it?" "No, it was more typical from when the universe was first created. The last time anything that happened on this significant of a scale was a little over a thousand years ago...," Ami's voice died off with sudden realization. She and Luna stared at each other. "I remember Queen Serenity saying once that some sort of strange phenomenon was happening at the edge of the universe," Luna said. "Astronomers told her it was consequence of the deed she had done. I knew better than to ask her what had happened." "It must had been when Pandora was cast out to the edge of the universe," Ami guessed. With a few clicks of the mouse, she had opened up another site on black holes and read the information. "Not even light can escape the power of a black hole," she said. "It's odd how Pandora has survived within it." "It could be the way the Black Moon survived on Nemesis for so long," Luna said. "After all, what do astronomers really know? Science is nothing but educated guesses that a majority of the people agrees with." Ami kept reading about black holes. "We have to get past what is known as the event horizon without being compressed into a single point. That's going to be the most immediate danger. If we don't enter Pandora at just the right area, the black hole will instantly destroy us all. You get sucked in at 186,000 miles a second. The point of the black hole is known as the singularity. I guess that's where Pandora actually is within the hole itself." "About how long does it take to get from the event horizon to the singularity?" Luna asked. "I'm guessing somewhere around seven to ten seconds. Not long at all." Ami and Luna kept reading information about black holes, trying to stock up on their knowledge of the mysterious phenomenon to prepare them for the journey. As they read further, a sinking sensation started to fill Ami. Even if we can get it, there is almost no way we can make it out of the black hole alive, she realized. Still, there was a small chance they could make it and bring back knowledge needed to benefit mankind. We must save Haruka-san, Michiru-san, and the Earth, Ami thought with determination. We can overcome any obstacle if we have faith in ourselves. ***** Usagi lay in bed watching the moonlight crawl across the ceiling. She replayed the day's events in her mind starting back at when she received her acceptance letter up to the decision to go to Pandora. After everyone left the shrine, she and Chibi-Usa had spent a quiet evening with her family, trying to make the most out of the evening before they left. Well, it had been a quiet evening for her. For Chibi-Usa, it had been an evening full of angry stares and short one-word responses to questions. Her mood had not gotten better when they had left the temple to find Elios had already left. Luna had taken off for the evening, not telling her where she was going. Chibi- Usa had gone to bed early, but Usagi felt that she was really going off to sulk. Usagi's throat clogged with emotion. She wanted to talk to someone about the confusion she felt inside about the entire trip. Even though Chibi-Usa was there, the younger girl was probably still too angry with her to listen. Usagi closed her eyes and remembered rescuing Chibi-Usa and Elios from Queen Nelehenia and their near death in the aftermath of the battle. That had only been a few weeks earlier. Every battle they fought, no matter how many times she could see and feel death, even died several times, she had hidden her fears about it. Usually, there was no time to fear death. Everything usually happened all at once. But now, they were going into the battle with all but a 100 percent chance of dying or being trapped at the end of the universe forever. Never before had Usagi actually taken the time to think about death. She did not want to die. Tsukino Usagi loved life too much. But, still, she could not leave Michiru alone out there. Haruka as well. They were Sailor Senshi and she had to do whatever it took to bring them home, even if it meant dying for them. She was willing to die for them. She was willing to die for her world. Still, knowing she was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice did not stop the fears from racing through her mind. "Shimatta," Usagi whispered to the ceiling, "We should had gone right away." Usagi turned onto her side and noticed the moonlight reflecting off a picture on her nightstand. She sat up and grabbed the picture off the stand and gazed at it. It was a recent photograph of herself, Mamoru, and Chibi-Usa. Minako had gotten a new camera and wanted to try it out on them. There had been one serious and one funny picture. It was the funny picture they chose to get reprints of. Usagi trailed her finger down Mamoru's face, then Chibi-Usa's. She stared at it for a moment, then placed it back on her nightstand. She threw back the covers and stood up. There was something she had to do before they left for Pandora. ***** Sleep came surprisingly easy to Mamoru that night. It was a dreamless, healing sleep to repair the damage done by the traveling to Elysion earlier in the day along with what he presumed to be Kuro's attack on Elysion. At least, that's what he had guessed it to be after his talk with Elios earlier in the evening. Somehow, Kuro wanted to take revenge on the planet, but he wasn't sure how he was going to do it. He had fallen asleep before he could think of ways Kuro could attack Earth. A soft click quickly drug him from his sleep. He opened his eyes and sat up. He gazed around his bedroom, but noticed nothing out of place. Footsteps came treading toward the door. Mamoru quickly looked around for the nearest weapon he could find, then quickly created a razor-sharp rose and kept it by his side, ready to throw it at a moment's notice. "Mamo-chan?" He quickly dropped the rose on his nightstand and stood up as Usagi entered the room. The cool night air brushed his skin, reminding him he had only worn boxers to bed. He grabbed his robe off the edge of the bed and hastily put it on, loosely belting it. "Usako, what's wrong?" he asked. Usagi hesitated, nearly hugging the doorway. This is stupid, Usagi, she told herself. You're going to be sixteen soon. You've been dating him for more than a year. Kami-sama knows what they did together in their past lives. Still, her mouth felt like she was chewing on a mouth full of cotton balls. She swallowed and stepped into the room, trying to at least look confident. "I...I wanted someone to talk to," Usagi said in a low voice. "Luna's gone and Chibi-Usa still mad at me..." She tore her gaze from Mamoru's and focused on an object sitting on his nightstand. It was the same picture that sat on hers. Suddenly, she ran and threw her arms around him. She held him tightly, burying her face in his chest. Tears welled up in her eyes. She tried to stop them from spilling over, but failed. She felt his arms encircle her waist and one hand move up into her hair. He held her to him, allowing her to cry. He started rocking her slightly, dropping his lips to the top of her head. They remained like that for several minutes until she managed to pull back and stare into his eyes. "I'm afraid," she whispered. "I've never thought about dying before. It's always happened so fast. I know something could happen in just an ordinary battle, but I never thought we wouldn't get out of it okay. I don't mind dying...if we can save the Earth, it's worth it. But, I can't help but be afraid." Mamoru ran his hand through Usagi's bangs, brushing them back out of her eyes, listening intently as she spoke. When she stopped and stared down at the ground, he thought about the significance of what she had said. In all the other battles they had faced together, not even in hindsight had Usagi mentioned a fear of death. She had always looked forward, always looked at the bright side of life. But, he knew enough about fear to know that it was easier to hide it than it was to admit it. "It's okay to be afraid," he told her. "I thought once that if I died, it would be okay, because it was just me...after all, who would miss an orphan?" "But...," Usagi tried to protest, but he laid a finger over her lips. "But, then I met you and realized that someone cared about me. Then I realized I didn't want to die. I don't want to leave you ever again." "Are you scared about us going tomorrow?" "I'm only scared about something happening to you. I couldn't...," his voice broke off, unable to finish his thought. Usagi hugged Mamoru tightly again, this time trying to comfort him. She drug in a breath and decided to initiate what she set out to do. She pressed her lips to his, giving him a deep kiss. His arms tightened around her as he took the kiss deeper. She could feel both of their bodies start to change and respond to the kissing. It scared her, but encouraged her to keep going further. Suddenly, he broke off the kiss and stood up. "I'm going to go make some hot chocolate. Want some?" Mamoru asked, starting to walk out of the room. He clenched his hands into a fist. He knew what she wanted...Kami-sama he had wanted the same thing for so long. Usagi had been fourteen when they started going out, way too young for the type of relationship he had desired with her. Now she was almost sixteen, but sometimes it was easy to see her as the fourteen year old. He didn't want to push her into anything before she was ready, no matter how out of control his own hormones were. He was older, he should know better, he should... Usagi quickly caught his arm, stopping him. "No," she said, determination in her voice. "I don't want hot chocolate, Mamo-chan. I want you." He didn't move, just kept staring at her. His resistance was quickly crumbling when he noticed the look of intense desire in her eyes. She stood up and approached him, loosing the belt of his robe and pushing it off. She then took a couple steps back and took a deep breath before shedding her coat to reveal her nightgown. One quick motion and it laid at his feet along with the robe. He nearly stopped breathing. She did not know what happened next. One minute she was staring at him, daring him to throw aside the gentlemanly tactics drilled into him and give into the passion they had for each other ever since the Silver Millennium, and the next he had done it. Before she could think about it, he swept her into his arms and laid down with her on the bed, his lips crashing down on hers. Her last coherent thought was the intense desire that they could stay like this forever, and knew she would carry the memory of this magical moment deep into the heart of battle.