Disclaimer: Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi. Angel Raye created the Chibi Scouts and the Elysian and Crystal Scouts as well. I own none of these characters. I am making no money from this story and am only borrowing the aforementioned characters

Always Me

Chapter One

Ninetysix years in the future of the Chibi Scouts:

"Goodbye mother."

Those were the last words Celine Aino heard her daughter say as Tiffany left the visiting room. No one noticed the tear rolling down Celine's cheek as she was led back to her cell. Not that it would have mattered. For what was a single teardrop compared with the trail of tears behind her?

When she returned to her cell, Celine tried to immerse herself in the routine she had accustomed herself to. If she were able to, she would get drunk right now. She thought. Not that she felt any desire to celebrate or anything... Quite the contrary. It would be a relief to be able to not feel anything at all.

She picked up the journal she kept and prepared to write her entry for that day. But as she stared at the blank page, no words came. She set down her pen and turned to the very first page she had written after having been sentenced here. This was something she had never done before in the six years she had been here. She thumbed through her own words and whereas they had once sustained her and reflected the fire in her core, they now mocked her and lit a terrible emptiness inside her.

'That brat has cost me everything!' Celine's words screamed up from the paper. Suddenly Celine dashed the journal aside and for the first time in decades she cried.

Celine dreamt that night. She found herself walking through a dark tunnel that seemed to grow colder the further she went. Up ahead she could see a light and pushed on toward it. When she reached the opening, she found herself looking up at a bright blue sky which shown down on and reflected off walls of pure ice towering hundreds of feet high. Oddly though, it seemed even colder here than in the tunnel. In the middle of it all, she came face to face with someone very familiar.

"Wh who? Who are you?" She stammered.

"Why I'm you! Of course!" The other answered. "Or maybe you're me." She smirked.

Celine saw that her other self looked much as she had before her powers had been revoked. The only difference was in her uniform: Wearing a black skirt instead of the orange one she had worn. The other seemed to regard her confusion with something akin to amusement and an icy glimmer sparkled in her eyes.

"Where are we?" Celine wanted to know.

"Don't you recognize this place?" The other smiled. "Afterall, We built this! Well... I built this!" She exclaimed. "You built that tunnel over there." The other shook her head. "I don't know why though. You spend so much time hiding in your little tunnel. You really should get out more! Of course with all those wrinkles, I can understand why you wouldn't want anyone to get too good a look at you! I'm glad I don't look like that!" Celine's companion laughed. "But just look at this view! And I couldn't have done it without you."

"What do you mean?" Celine demanded.

"You still don't know where we are, do you?" The other said. "This is the inside of your heart, my dear. Beautiful... Isn't it? Here we have no one to bother us! Just the two of us here for all eternity!"

Celine looked at the other with a growing sense of fear and panic. "No! You're not me! You can't be me!"

"Celine... I'm more you than you are!" The other said with cold satisfaction. "You're weak Celine... You always have been... You're just lucky you've always had me to take care of you." The other said with cold satisfaction.

"No!" Celine shouted. "That's a lie! Tell me who you really are!" She demanded

The other laughed scornfully and her appearance changed as her eyes glowed red and fangs grew pronounced. The nails on her fingers became claws. "I told you... I'm you as you really are Celine. I am your truest self!"

"No!" Celine turned from the other and ran.

"That won't help!" Her dark reflection told her. "You can't outrun me. You can't get away from me! You belong to me Celine! You are mine! And I will never let you go!"

Celine screamed.

Over the next few nights, the same dream repeated itself over and over. Then one night, she was in the tunnel again. Against her will, she found herself once more being drawn to that icy place where the other waited. She knew that no matter what she did, the result would always be the same. She could not run. She could not hide... And she knew without question that she could not fight this thing. This thing that was her. It was true. She admitted to herself. As much as she wanted to deny it, she knew it was true. But this night, the dream was different. When she reached the opening, the other was nowhere to be seen. Celine looked around. There was nothing. Then she heard something... Somewhere she could hear a child crying. Celine searched for the source and finally saw a small figure huddled in the shadow of one of the towering cliffs. She went towards the child; who did not appear to notice her approach and who was continuing to sob uncontrolably.

Tiffany? Her mind wondered. Is this what I did to you? As she got nearer the child, she could see that it was indeed a young girl, though her face was hidden in shadow. She began to reach a hand out to the child.

"Oh stop that worthless crying!" A voice demanded and Celine saw the other standing behind the child. The child flinched and she struggled to bring her tears under control. "Now what do we always say?" The other demanded of the child.

"I'm a worthless fool who is unwanted and unloved and will never mount to anything."

"And don't you EVER forget that!" The other said.

Celine shuddered. there was something so familiar about the child's voice, but it was not Tiffany that she heard. Fear rose inside her as she asked the other. "Who is this child? Why are you doing this to her?"

The Dark Celine smiled cruelly. "Everybody needs a hobby... Now," She said to the child. "Pick that worthless face of yours up and let Celine here have a good look at you." She commanded.

The child slowly lifted her face and Celine felt a growing sense of dread as the face revealed itself: It was her own!

Dark Celine smirked.

By the next night, Celine had reached her decision. As the dream began again, she was determined to face it head on. There was simply no alternative. As she prepared to face herself again, she concentrated for a moment and made a change in her attire. One last time. She thought. Celine stepped out of the darkness and confronted herself.

"Is this a costume party?" Her other mocked as she saw Celine wearing her old uniform. "Anyway, I thought they gave that job to little sister."

"Maybe, but this is my fight. And it seems appropriate somehow."

"Your fight?" The other asked almost in disbelief. "Don't you get it? You can't out run me. You can't hide from me... And you can't BEAT me!"

"You're right." Celine admitted calmly. "There's no way I can escape you."

"Well..." Dark Celine smiled. "I guess I have managed to get through that thick head of your's. Well! Make yourself at home! We're going to be here a while!"

"I don't think so." Celine replied calmly.

"What?" The other asked, smile vanishing.

"I may not be able to escape you, but there is one thing I can do."

"And what's that?"

"I can destroy you." For the first time, Celine smiled. She then walked right past her opponent to the child Celine, who was cowering in fear behind her.

"Stay away from her!" Dark Celine warned and reached to stop her.

Celine grabbed her wrist and twisted it hard. She watched in satisfaction as her opponent grimaced in pain. "How does it feel?" She asked and shoved Dark Celine aside. She knelt down beside the child and gently put a hand on the child's shoulder.

"Don't worry. I promise you'll be free from this place soon. I swear it." As the child looked up at her, Celine felt the first true warmth she had felt in years. Celine stood up and strode towards the exit.

"Where are you going?" The other demanded and Celine could hear a touch of fear in her enemy's voice

.
"To make peace with my maker." Celine said without looking back. "I suggest you do the same."

It took a few days to take care of the necessary preparations. During that time, both her mother Gloria, and her grandmother had come to visit her. She found herself afraid to see them. She was far more afraid of facing her mother than facing Dark Celine. When she was a little girl, she remembered her mother comforting her after a nightmare. How she longed to have her mother comfort her again.

But I gave up the right to that comfort long ago, didn't I... Celine thought. She had sat through those visits saying little and holding herself as expressionless as possible. She knew they would write it off as just Celine being the Ice Queen.

Finally, she was ready. That night she awoke from her cot and looked out her cell window. Outside, the light of a full moon shone in the night sky. It was somehow appropriate, she thought with a smile.

At the Gates of Time, Sailor Pluto sensed something. It took a moment as she focused on it, trying to pinpoint its source. No Celine! She thought. This is not the right way! You must not do this!

Mina awoke to the sound of the telephone on her nightstand. As she groggily reached for the phone, she looked at her alarm clock briefly: 2:17 in the morning. I wonder who that could be? She thought.

"Hello?" She asked.

"Mina, It's Amy."

"Amy?" Mina felt a sudden knot in her stomach.

"Mina, I'm at the palace prison... Celine just tried to hang herself in her cell."

"I'm on my way!"