Chapter 9 - Eavesdropping

"Then he's okay?" Isabel asked, on the edge of her seat as Psyche de Cucoon completed her report.

"Whole in body and mind. Sailormetal's slipup didn't have the effect she intended. It would have been disastrous if she'd set him off," Psyche replied.

Isabel nodded. "And what about our other problem?"

Psyche's usually stern expression took on a darker cast. "That is definitely not going at all how we intended. They've been isolated for now, but it's only a matter of time before they're thrown together again, if she lives up to her potential."

"Who is she, Psyche?" Isabel asked. "I see him in my dreams sometimes, and she's always there with him."

Psyche grimaced, and Isabel immediately nodded, understanding completely. "I shouldn't have asked, Psyche. The last thing I need you to do is serve two masters, not after all you've done for me already. Is Shizuki feeling better now?"

Psyche shook her head. "She's still a little disoriented. Galaxia took off before she could properly explain what happened to her." Psyche frowned then, but would not speak a word against the leader of the Zero Star senshi.

Isabel, however, was not so kind. "She wasn't so pompous before. If she's not busy, could you bring Shizuki here? It'd be better of she heard this from a familiar face."

****

"Akira did what?!" Sofia snapped, her usually soft and melodious voice cracking.

"Shush!" Renée said, even if there was no one around. "Miaka was supposed to tell you, but she's helping the kids scour the Empire for any cracks in her defenses."

"I thought it was just some random scum that killed Brian," Sofia said, softer this time. "Why did he have him killed?"

"Miaka never told you why she was so adamant about having her kids watch yours, did she?" Renée asked, and Sofia shook her head. "No one knows how he got ahold of it or why, but there's a prophecy concerning one of your daughters. She didn't find out the whole of it, only that one of them is destined to make sure that Chaos never returns. But we never found out which it was."

Sofia's eyes widened. "Did she ever get the exact wording of the prophecy? I could ask Hitomi about it."

Renée shook her head. "No, not that I know of. You could ask her when she gets back, but I think she would have told me if she knew. Besides, I don't know if Hitomi could help you much, not in her state."

"Umino Megami was insane, and look what happened to her," Sofia replied, instantly coming to her former partner's defense. "Her mind's not quite as deteriorated as people are led to believe. Don't count her out just yet."

****

"You mean, we're finally allowed to go to Nemesis?" Midori said, gaping.

"Yes, even if Kanemi still thinks you're woefully inadequate," Eleanor said, grinning roguishly at Kanemi, who looked more peeved than usual.

"There's only so much you can do in practice," Kanemi muttered. She'd had a hell of a morning, arguing with her agent and her publicist, who obviously didn't realize that saving the world came before reading scripts and working on a new album. Those two really needed to learn how to prioritize. "I have faith in you three. Just don't embarrass me in front of Sarah, she's got too big a head about her powers, even if she's an Outer."

"When do we leave?" Midori asked with barely veiled enthusiasm. Izumi and Miyuki, however, were less than pleased.

****

"You didn't even bring me a postcard?" Amalia asked as she arrived at Donovan and Anastacia's apartment.

"Sorry, we were too busy being attacked by crazy senshi," Anastacia replied, before crushing her best friend in an embrace.

"I missed you too," Donovan added when Anastacia finally let Amalia go. While the princess was no longer one of his charges, he was glad to see her safe. As long as he remained on Lusitania, he'd keep an eye on her, even if he'd been dismissed.

"Oh, I'm sure you had your head too full of the Lady Daniella to think of poor me," Amalia replied. She grinned at he flushed slightly, not catching Anastacia's sour frown.

"And I bet she's too busy worrying about Daniel to think about you," Anastacia shot back.

"She's like a father to her," Donovan said. "Even if Queen Minako adopted her. She might have died of exposure if Daniel hadn't found her on Nemesis."

"Donovan, has anyone ever told you how dense you are?" Anastacia said, throwing her hands into the air before stalking away to her room.

"What was that about?" Amalia asked, but all Donovan could do was shrug.

****"

I'm sorry that Galaxia was so short with you, Shizuki-sama," Isabel said, automatically deferring to the girl who was the Queen of the world she'd always know as home. "You deserve an explanation.""Don't call me that, Isabel, you're the only familiar face I've seen since I've become my self again." The former Moon Princess wrinkled her nose. "Cynthia tried explaining to to me, but all she did was confuse me even more."

"She has a habit of doing that. Cynthia tends to be a little... overenthusiastic," Isabel said. "She was so happy to finally meet you, heaving heard about all you've done at her mother's knee.""I feel bad, forgetting about Diana so quickly," Shizuki said. "She came after Isu... I mean Hotaru left, but Tomoe had already filled the gap Diana was supposed to fill. Besides, I've heard from the others that Diana's the best Queen Mau has had since Queen Felicia in the time of the Silver Millennium."

"She learned from the best," Isabel replied. "But that's not what we're here to talk about. You'll have to go back to the Dusk Millennium soon enough, but I think you should know what happened to you. What do you remember from the battle against Master Pharaoh 90?"

Shizuki's eyes went distant as her mind traveled back to that fateful day. "The whole room was filled with light. All my life, the prophecy my mother made about being the Messiah she never could be had hung over my head, but it didn't matter anymore just then. Then there was a woman with white hair and my eyes who touched my forehead. My crescent moon disappeared, and it changed into the symbol of Cosmos. She told me that I was Sailorcosmos now, and then she was gone."

"That woman was probably your great-grandmother, Queen Selenity of the Silver Millennium." Isabel saw Shizuki gasp at that, but she continued with her tale. "I was alive when the story I'm about to tell you happened, but even I don't know it all. I died during all this."

Shizuki gasped again. "You make it sound like nothing at all."

"Well, I came back, didn't I?" Isabel said. "Anyway, I'm digressing. A long time ago, before Selestia's reign, Cosmos and Chaos were allowed human forms. But something happened, and that privelege was taken away by the powers that be. Chaos, jealous of her power, hid in Tau Ceti, making Pharaoh 90 her puppet so that she could still spread her mischief. But Cosmos allowed the mantle of her power to pass through the ages to senshi who'd proven their worth and sacrificed their lives as she did. But now, Chaos and Cosmos walk the starry paths of the Universe once more, and so you're Tsukino Shizuki again."

"But why are they back?" Shizuki asked.

"I wish I knew," Isabel replied.

****

"I'm so afraid," Izumi said as she finished up her last training session with Elysion's Oracle.

"Of leaving, or of something else?" the Oracle asked, gently running a hand through the girl's flaming hair.

"Of both, I guess," Izumi said, sighing. "It's so hard knowing so much and not being able to say anything about it."

"Fate is something best faced unknowing for most. But it is the burden of our Line to know what comes, and to face it unflinching," the Oracle replied. "I have faith in you. I have watched with unmoving eyes as the daughters of our Line have risen and fallen in turn. You may well be the greatest of us all."

"Thank you, Grandmother Rei," Izumi said, looking down at the Shinka. It was a small comfort. She was no Midori, wanting to be the best. She just wanted to live through these times unscathed.

****

"I take it the mistress was none to pleased with your performance," Sailorwater said smugly as Sailorfire stalked out of Chaos's throne room.

"If Stella's coward daughter hadn't remained, we could have crushed those untried children," Fire snapped in return.

"And now I here that Solana's child has ordered all her senshi to guarding Nemesis," Sailorair said. Fire shot her an angry glance at Air. "How in Hell did you hear about that?" she snapped.

Air shrugged. "I overhear things."

****

"Please, don't leave me," Donovan murmured in his sleep, gripping his pillow close. In the room next his, Anastacia heard his pleading. He really did have it bad for the Lady Daniella after all. She gripped her pillow close, biting her lip. She'd let him slip through has hands soon after he'd left for Venus a few years ago during his exchange. She had no right to feel jealous of Daniella. But she was, and there was no mistaking it.