AN: So. Start of a new story. This is sooner than I expected to resume work on the series, but it's been nagging at me. A few announcements first: one, prepare to welcome back the other Shitennou. For those that have read 'Reunions and Reactions', you'll know I already did a version in which they return, but I've decided to treat that as a alternate universe of this alternate universe. Starting in this story, they'll be returning one at a time. Right now, Zoisite looks to be first, but it's not officially decided yet, and everyone will be back by the end of the next one. So that's that. Second, this story will likely be seeing more major departures from the original version before. I know I've never stayed too close, but there's no guarantee I'll even return to the classics for major events. Just so you know. I think that wraps up the details I wanted to share.

Disclaimer: As no miracles have occurred since I finished 'Entwined', no, I don't own Sailor Moon or anything related to it.

88888888

It started with nightmares again. Usagi's and Rei's. Past and future.

88888888

It had seemed like a perfectly lovely day. Everyone was going to the botanical gardens on a sort of miniature vacation before Chibiusa would return to Crystal Tokyo. It was normal. But… There was always a but.

The water stopped in the fountains, though at first no one noticed. It was the rising wind that caught the group's attention, then the flower petals that floated on it as if they were snowflakes in a storm. And then there was the man.

He was tall and pale, with sandy hair like Motoki's, and he spoke to Mamoru directly. The dark haired hero didn't seem to recognize him. Tension mounted for several agonizing moments until Usagi in her usual cheery fashion attempted to defuse the situation. She didn't expect the strange man to strike her. The blow threw her to the ground.

He made some comments before vanishing in a twist of petals. The water began to run again.

For a few hours, it seemed that might have been just one strange occurrence. Odd, but nothing to fret over. Luna and Artemis shared concerns regarding an approaching asteroid, but Ami decided it was not large enough to be a problem.

So the night went, and the girls headed out for school. What they found in the streets horrified them. Dozens of people were unconscious, their energy clearly drained away. There was no sign of the culprit.

Minako realized abruptly that there was a distressed signal from Kunzite. About to run after him, a small flower at the base of a tree began to move. Before their eyes, it grew to their height, a woman's torso appearing as the roots became crab-like legs. It charged them, but Rei momentarily repelled it with one of her charms.

To their misfortune, it did little to help. Regrouping, the monster charged at the oh so small and vulnerable Chibiusa. Usagi's reaction was automatic; she grabbed her child and leapt out of the way. They smashed through a restaurant window. Usagi wasn't moving.

The little girl managed to rouse her, but the fight had already started outside. The Senshi worked to contain and destroy the beast, but it resisted their best efforts, even managing to snatch all four of them. It began to drain their energy.

Once awake, Usagi immediately reacted. She henshined and used her tiara to free her friends. The instant the golden circle returned to her hands, she drew the Moon Scepter and used her Halation. The creature was destroyed. And again, there was a man.

He didn't look the same now. The mild and rather unassuming features from before were replaced with an entirely alien countenance, one not to dissimilar from Ali and En. There was a flower against his breast, one that each warrior at once realized was a malevolent being.

He expressed surprise at the existence of the Senshi and that they had managed to best the first blossom. He attacked.

The strength he displayed was a vicious shock. The Guardian Senshi were almost casually hurled across the street. Venus and Mercury impacted with a large window. Mars crumpled against a garage door. Jupiter was hurled into a phone booth, the glass shattering around her. He advanced on the Moon Senshi.

A rose arced between them, unsurprisingly. Tuxedo Kamen could not have failed to notice the commotion, and he gave their opponent a name. Fiore. They had been friends shortly after the accident that left Mamoru an orphan with no memories.

This did nothing to ease Fiore's rage. He viewed Sailor Moon as a threat somehow, as though she might try to interfere with their friendship. He accused her of brainwashing him. Never mind that their love was displayed for the world to see.

Fiore threw a sword at the young woman, who survived only because her faithful Mauan advisors had knocked her to the ground before it could hit. Seeing the failure of that attack, he launched another- his fingernails extended to blades that would take her head.

It wasn't her that took the blow. Tuxedo Kamen had interposed his body between Sailor Moon and harm once more, and the wounds in his stomach were bleeding fiercely. He collapsed into his mate's arms, mask and hat falling away as he did.

She could scarcely believe it. Again, she had been forced to watch the man she loved be harmed to protect her. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she held him close. He was already unconscious, and she wondered if she would be forced to watch him die again as well.

In one instant, he was in her arms as she cried. The next, he was gone, and her heart all but stopped. Fiore had him now, and he was flying away, ignoring Sailor Moon's desperate pleas to return him.

She sank to her knees again even as her Senshi slowly rose and joined her. Chibiusa came from the restaurant and stood with them, unsure of how to reach Sailor Moon when she seemed so… blank.

Venus brought news of Kunzite- the Shitennou's leader had been ambushed that morning as well. When he had henshined to give battle, it had drawn the mysterious Fiore. Realizing the bond that existed between the general and his prince, he had wounded the man enough to keep Kunzite from teleporting or warning the others. He would recover swiftly, she said, as they all did, but the injuries were serious. It was fortunate he had been close enough to his house that she had been able to get him there before the authorities arrived to deal with the other victims.

The looming question was what to do next.

Luna and Artemis had told a story of a flower that controlled the minds of the weak-willed, using them as a tool of destruction as it drained the life from a world before settling in to wait for a new victim. They called it Kisenian.

Finally, it was suggested that they go after him. Mercury had realized that the approaching asteroid had high vegetative readings, readings that were a precise match for the flower that had attacked them. It seemed obvious that Fiore would have carried Tuxedo Kamen there.

Sailor Moon said no.

The others stared at her in surprise, asking how she could just leave him there.

She erupted now. She couldn't bear to lose anyone else, she shouted. Not again, not like every other time they had chosen to follow her. To keep them safe, she wouldn't go. Even if it meant losing Mamoru.

It was Chibiusa that was able to reach Sailor Moon. The girl reminded her of who she was, and what she had done before. She asked if Sailor Moon would forgive herself if Mamoru died, even if the Senshi survived.

It was clear to the Moon Senshi that she had to go, but she maintained that she could handle things alone. She refused to lead them into danger again.

Of course they argued. They were Guardians. More, Sailor Moon had no way to get there without them, and they said so. She couldn't teleport alone, and Kunzite couldn't take her.

She had to give in, though her fears weren't assuaged. They wouldn't listen.

They formed the ring as Chibiusa and Luna watched, and called on their planetary powers. The teleport leapt in a blaze of white into the sky, moving to the asteroid.

Their arrival wasn't welcome. Their circle was blasted as they appeared over its surface, and they were blown apart. Each girl fell into the endless pink blossoms around them.

Fiore confronts them quickly, but Sailor Moon knows Tuxedo Kamen is nearby and healing. He shares his plan to cover the world in the flowers, draining the planet of its energy as revenge against the humans that had made Mamoru lonely. The blossoms around them erupt into more monsters, identical to the ones the Senshi had battled in Tokyo. At first, it goes well- the flowers are not strong enough without energy to stand up to the might of the combined warriors. Massive swathes of them are destroyed with each attack.

The monsters abruptly retreat, but before the Senshi can determine what they are doing, they begin to mass. Forming a massive wave, they crash down over the Guardian Senshi. Mars throws Sailor Moon out of the attack's path before it takes her too.

The Moon Senshi fell down an incline. By the time she returned to the spot, there is no sign of her friends. Fiore laughed, and a vine erupted from the ground. The four girls are wrapped in the strands, and at a word they are struck with an energy attack. They scream in pain as Fiore demands that Sailor Moon give him the Moon Scepter.

Another impossible choice. As a soldier of justice, it was her mission to stop Fiore before he could cover the world in Kisenian blossoms. As a person, she couldn't bear to see her friends hurt again. The Scepter fell from her hand as she cried.

For a moment, Kisenian's control over Fiore weakened, the Senshi falling from their bindings. He was legitimately affected by her pain. It didn't last. The malevolent entity possessed Fiore completely, and he snatched the Moon Senshi and began draining her energy.

Her screams rang over the field of flowers. The Senshi struggled to get to their feet as Fiore claimed she couldn't understand loneliness, of how Mamoru was all he had and she was trying to take it away. Perhaps it was true Usagi constantly had people in her life that loved her, but the others understood. They remembered how it had been before she had run into their lives. How miserably alone they had been.

They begged him to stop, but nothing helped. Drained, he dropped her to the ground, ready to kill her. Until there was another rose.

Tuxedo Kamen was hunched nearby, clearly still feeling his injury, but his eyes were clear when they met Fiore's. Kisenian's possession of him shatters. The flowers melt away around them, but the asteroid continues to fly toward the Earth.

It was easy to see that Fiore felt betrayed by Mamoru. He laughs, saying they will still be destroyed. Sailor Moon finally wakes and stands up. The Ginzuishou removes itself from her henshin broach as her power flares.

The Senshi beg her not to do it. They know how vulnerable she is to the Ginzuishou, and her energy has already been drained to a dangerous level. She only says there is no choice.

Fiore launches himself at her, grabbing the broach and trapping the Ginzuishou against it. Her henshin burst into ribbons, but she remained calm and touches his arm. And they both understand.

Mamoru had been crying alone in a hospital room when a little girl came in, asking why he was so sad. He tells her that his best friend is leaving and he'll be all alone. The little blonde smiles and tells him that her mother is having a baby, which is why she's carrying a bouquet of red roses. She offers him one, telling him that he doesn't have to be alone.

She sees Mamoru giving the rose to the young Fiore as he leaves, and hears the promise to return with a flower in return for the rose.

Fiore steps back, reeling under the knowledge that the rose Mamoru had given him had come first from the younger Usagi. He vanishes, leaving the Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen on the asteroid as it advances on the planet.

She focuses and lifts the Ginzuishou high as her henshin reforms. The Crystal was now in a flower's form. Moments later, the sailor's fuku is replaced with the gown of Princess Serenity, and she faces the impending danger.

Not alone, though. As she begins the arduous task of attempting to alter the asteroid's trajectory, Tuxedo Kamen shifts to his own past identity and kneels at her side, hands on her shoulder. The Senshi form a line behind her, adding their powers to hers.

It is a struggle. How could it not, when the fates of the people she loved hung into balance? The Ginzuishou had never been meant to deal with such things, and they felt the strain. Her arms shook as she fought to hold it steady. With one great final push, a pink light spread across the surface and pushes them away from the edges of Earth's atmosphere. Exhausted, the Crystal shattered, taking its bearer's life with it. She fell back into Endymion's arms as she returns to Sailor Moon.

At first, the others hardly noticed that she had succeeded. They are too distracted by the clear signs of her death. Her broach is destroyed and she is not moving. They scream, and cry, and beg her to come back, but it hardly matters. Without the Ginzuishou's light, she could not return.

Mamoru saw something he couldn't explain. Fiore was next to him, but the others did not seem to notice. In his hands was a flower. Not Kisenian, but one that was scented with magic of life.

It was his life-flower, Fiore explained. Sailor Moon had saved him, as well as Mamoru, and he would return the favor. He told his old friend to take the nectar and give it to her. So Tuxedo Kamen did.

When she came alive again in his arms as he kissed her, his heart nearly stopped with relief. Her friends were crying and laughing at once. He held her tightly, thanking Fiore for that final gift. He doubted that he would ever see him again.

88888888

Usagi woke with a gasp, furiously brushing tears from her cheeks. Her mother stuck her head into the room.

"Usagi, what's wrong?" she asked gently. "You were screaming a little bit ago."

"It's nothing," the teen answered. "Just a bad dream."

"Sweetie, you seemed really scared. Did something happen?"

Usagi shook her head and forced a smile. "Really, it's nothing. I don't even remember what the dream was about."

"If you say so," Ikuko said, uncertain. She left the room and shut the door as Luna leapt onto the bed.

"Usagi-chan, you had the same nightmare again. Did what happened with the Kisenian blossom bother you so much?"

"I don't know, Luna." She rose and stared out the window. "It didn't at first, but this past week I see it every time I close my eyes. I think it's a warning."

"Of what?"

"I had hoped you would know."

88888888

In her room at the Hikawa Jinja, Rei dreamed too.

88888888

She didn't know what, but something was very, very wrong. The sky was dark and the surroundings seemed to be washed with blood. People stood in the streets unmoving. The Sailor Senshi were there as well, petrified.

Rei watched from behind, unknowing how to react. There were three lights, lights she hoped might help. They combined to form something even brighter, and she prayed it would stop the silence from spreading.

Silence. Yes, that was what it was. It was some great heaviness that suppressed sound and life. This brightest light was a Messiah that could save them.

The light flew away and she cried after it, even as the streets began to be torn apart by some force she couldn't identify. Not content with merely harming the landscaping, it began to shatter the people as well. Rei screamed as it destroyed her friends, one after another, until nothing was left.

88888888

Rei woke, as Usagi had, but she didn't gasp. She screamed, the visions too awful to contain. Yuuichiro rushed in within a minute, clearly having been roused from his own bed by the noise.

"Rei-san, are you all right?"

The miko was gasping for air now. "I'm… fine…" she said between clenched teeth. "Go back to bed."

"Rei-san…"

"Not now, Yuuichiro!"

Her grandfather's helper hurried out even as her grandfather himself stepped in. "Rei, he was trying to help."

"I know, jii-chan," she muttered. "I just can't…"

"You saw something. Something that has frightened you."

She looked into his worried eyes. "…Yes. Yes. Jii-chan, it was terrible."

"I know your visions are a burden, but perhaps this is something you are meant to know. Did it mean something to you?"

"I don't know," she said, frustrated. "I understand the basic meaning well enough. There's danger coming. I just don't understand what or why."

"Then it is something that is not yet meant to be revealed. Be patient, Rei. These things become clear with time."

He left, and she stared down at her hands. "What if we don't have time?"

88888888

The girls pretended nothing was bothering them, but it was beginning to show. Usagi lost so much sleep to her nightmares that on an assessment she scored a horrid five percent. Rei was completely distracted by her thoughts and moved through the days mechanically.

Minds elsewhere, it was not too inconceivable that they walked right into each other.

"That's still an awful score," Rei scoffed as Usagi let the fountain's water run over her sore forehead. "Even by your standards."

"Well, excuse me for not being as smart as you, Rei-chan."

"Move over; it's my turn." She brushed her bangs back to let the cool flow ease some of the pain. "You could have studied."

"I did," Usagi said tartly. "I just…"

She glanced up. "Just what? Did something happen?"

The blonde shook her head. "No."

"You're still a terrible liar."

She sighed. "Fine. I've been having nightmares constantly for more than a week. I'm barely sleeping, so I fell asleep during the test. It didn't really help."

"What sort of nightmares?" Rei asked.

"Just remembering the past. I can't get what happened with Fiore out of my head."

The priestess nodded. "It was pretty bizarre that a new enemy would appear so soon after the Death Phantom. And… well… a lot of stuff happened that day. I can understand why it would bother you."

"So why were you acting so strange?"

"Nightmares. Not the same ones, though."

"Predictions?"

"I hope not."

They sat down on the park bench and looked up at the flawless blue sky. A companionable silence settled in until Usagi spoke up.

"Rei, what do you want to do with your life?"

She looked over at the other girl. "Why?"

"Sometimes I wonder, you know? If we manage to have some time to be normal, there has to be a dream you would want to follow."

Rei leaned back, considering. "I'd like to do a lot of things. Singing, song writing, acting, travel. Almost anything, I guess. But most…"

"Most?" Usagi prompted.

"Promise not to laugh?"

"Of course."

"I want to marry someone I love," the miko admitted softly. "I want that brilliant happiness you have with Mamoru-san. I guess it's what everyone really wants, right? Everyone wants that one person that's perfect for them."

Silence fell again as Usagi absently shredded the test paper.

"What about you?" Rei said. "You want to be normal more than any of us. What dream do you want to follow then?"

The blonde smiled faintly. "The same, of course. To marry Mamo-chan and be able to stay together. Everything else doesn't matter."

Rei got to her feet. "You should get home and get your things. We have to meet to study in an hour, and Ami-chan will be unhappy if you're late."

"Those entrance exams are making me miserable, and they're still months away."

The dark-haired girl laughed. "You'll be fine, Usagi."

The other girl waved as she headed off, and Rei walked to the shrine. First, her things were deposited in her room, and she changed to her miko's uniform. Once that was accomplished, she saw to her chairs.

Finally, her work was done, and there was still a little bit of time before the others arrived. She walked to the bells at the front and made a wish, praying for the safety of her friends. She walked to a tree nearby and tied the strip of paper to its branch.

When it erupted under her hand, Rei took several steps back. It formed into a female monster of some sort, and it looked at her hungrily.

It was too public a place, she realized. Anyone coming up the steps would see what was happening, and it might draw her grandfather and Yuuichiro. She had to lead it away so she could henshin and fight it. Rei turned and ran through the trees, heading for the back of the temple.

The creature was too fast. It flew after her and threw her into the side of the shrine. Its hands broke loose, but they turned to wood, holding Rei against the wall so she couldn't lose.

A woman with long red hair appeared. She called the creature a Daimon and ordered it to extract her pure heart- a heart that might be a "Talisman". Once she left, the Daimon bared a black star etched into its chest. A beam of energy flared and struck Rei, and she screamed.

Usagi, who was coming to join the study group, heard it, and she and Luna ran to investigate. Ducking behind a tree, they saw what was happening.

"A new enemy!" Luna hissed. "You have to henshin, Usagi-chan!"

The blonde nodded, pulling her broach out of her pocket. "MOON CRYSTAL POWER, MAKE-UP!"

She was so afraid of what might happen to her best friend in the time it took for her transformation to be complete, but still she noticed a touch of weakness even in her powered form. Sailor Moon brushed it aside and faced the Daimon.

"Stop right there!" Its attack on Rei ceased as the monster turned on the new threat. "An agent of love and justice, pretty Sailor Senshi, Sailor Moon!"

"Sailor Moon?" It repeated.

"I can't forgive you for attacking my pure-hearted friend!" the heroine shouted. "In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!"

"A pure heart! That's what I want!" The Daimon's rope-like hair whipped around, encircling its opponent's legs. "Your fortune today is… very bad luck!"

Sailor Moon was hurled into a wall as the other three ran up.

"What's that monster?" Makoto demanded.

Minako's hands clenched to fists. "Youma?"

"Let's henshin and fight!" Ami said.

They drew their henshin wands, but the monster was faster.

"Your fortune today is…" Several small rods shot from an ornament atop her head, spreading to ropes as they flew at the girls. Each was thrown against a tree as the ropes tied them down, knocking the wands away. "Bad luck!"

That was enough for Sailor Moon. She forced herself back up, aching though the impact had left her. A threat to her friends was more important.

"Hey, annoyance," the Daimon called. "How do you want me to finish you?"

A rose pierced a section of her hair, distracting the creature long enough for the Moon Senshi to regain her composure. Tuxedo Kamen stood at the top of one of the sakura trees nearby.

"Who are you?" it demanded.

"In such pleasing sunshine, you are making trouble like a storm, nasty creature!" Not one of his best efforts. "Go away!"

"Do you want me to do your fortune telling too?" she asked, crumpling the beautiful flower.

The hero leapt down. "Now, Sailor Moon!"

She nodded. "MOON PRINCESS HALATION!"

What happened next was not something she could have anticipated. The Daimon countered with an attack of its own, one that completely obliterated her Halation and threw her Scepter from her hand. Before she could recover and try again, it launched toward her, pinning her against a tree.

Its hands and feet detached to form manacles at her wrists and legs, but that wasn't enough. It bit down on her broach.

Abruptly, the Ginzuishou flared as if desperate before its light faded entirely. Sailor Moon's henshin was torn apart, slowly reforming into her civilian clothing. The broach fell, rolling to a stop not far from her feet, too far to reach while restrained.

"No, it's not possible!" she gasped.

"Sailor Moon…" Rei whispered.

"Usako!"

Another skein of rope caught Tuxedo Kamen in the chest, knocking him from the wall he had settled on after providing his distraction.

"Your fortune today is bad luck!"

"Tuxedo Kamen-sama!"

Luna and Artemis charged the Daimon, but were met with the same treatment. The poor cats laid huddled beneath a tree and didn't get up.

"Luna!"

"Artemis!"

"Any others? Now I can get the pure heart without interference."

She turned on Rei again- Rei, who was barely starting to regain her senses. Rei, who was so undeserving of the attack.

"Stop it!" Usagi yelled as the other girl stopped moving. "REI-CHAN! REI-CHAN! REI-CHAN!"

"Rei-chan!" the others shouted.

The miko was hanging limply against her restraints, and her eyes were blank. A crystal shaped like a many pointed star hovered in front of her.

"Rei-chan, come on, please! Rei-chan! REI-CHAN!"

Usagi struggled, remembering the conversation they had had only an hour before. I'd like to do a lot of things. Singing, song writing, acting, travel. Almost anything, I guess. But most… I want to marry someone I love. I want that brilliant happiness you have with Mamoru-san. I guess it's what everyone really wants, right? Everyone wants that one person that's perfect for them.

The crystal floated away from Rei as she began to cry.

"In this pure heart, there must be a Talisman!" the Daimon declared as it snatched it up.

"Give it back! Give it back to her!" Usagi shrieked. "I won't forgive you…"

"Human beings! What a poor creature…"

A perfect orb of orange light struck, shaking the monster like a rag doll. The earth seemed to split under her feet. A second, this a beautiful blue, consumed it entirely as it screamed.

Moments later, all there was in the Daimon's spot was the tree Rei had watched become a monster. Everyone gasped. A small egg-like form pulled free of the trunk and fell to the ground. When it did, it broke, a small black wisp of smoke flying from it.

The remnants of the creature's attacks- the ropes and manacles- vanished, freeing the heroes. Rei crumpled to the ground.

"Rei-chan! Rei-chan! Are you okay? Rei-chan!" Usagi demanded as she raced to the other girl.

"Rei-chan!" the others shouted.

They never noticed the two figures in the tree, examining the crystal of Rei's pure heart. One threw it back, concluding it wasn't what they were looking for.

The Senshi watched in amazement as its light flared and it reentered Rei's body. Once it had done so, the fiery Senshi's eyes opened.

"You're awake!" Makoto exclaimed.

"I…"

Tears welled in Usagi's eyes. "You got better!"

"Usagi!"

"Do you have any pains?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you having a hard time breathing?"

Only Luna and Artemis saw the mystery heroes leap out of the tree and vanish.

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Do you feel itchy anywhere?"

"No…"

"Do you have anything to eat?"

"You can stop crying!"

Once everything was settled, they stood together to see what they knew of the attack.

"These new enemies seem to aim at those with pure hearts," Luna said.

"They said there was something called a Talisman within," Rei added.

Artemis nodded. "In addition, those mysterious two…"

"Another new war is going to start up again?" Usagi whispered.

88888888

AN: Fairly on par for the course so far. You'll see next chapter the necessity of including the story of the R movie. One last thing- the working title for this piece so far is 'Heartbound', as you can see, but it is a working title only. I'm looking for better ideas. Now for the traditional review-begging: please please please review! You must know by now how much I want to hear your thoughts! Till next time!