Episode 10: Divided We Stand

An eerie silence befell the moons of Palmina. Mei’s death was to be honored, even though she was not of their dimension, much less their system. There was no silence on the asteroid, however. Hikari’s wrenching sobs saturated the second floor. Maplus, Violetta, and Rosetta were arguing on the ground floor over the use of their time powers. In the basement, Sailor Marina and the rest of her senshi were asking questions and getting answers.

“I still don’t understand why only they disappeared,” Sailor Seraphim said monotonously.

“It is really quite simple,” Seresha said. She draped her long gloves over the unlit stub of a candle and turned toward the senshi. They could see calluses and blisters covering her hands and forearms. This made some of the senshi cringe. “Hikari and the child were located directly behind me, where the effects were not reaching. Your team was shielded because you are of this dimension and therefore are most strongly tied down. Sailor Uranus was behind Aether and therefore exempt in the same manner as Hikari and the child. Aether and I, as the suppliers of the energy, were also exempt.”

“But where have they gone?” Sailor Seoul asked. “Are they-” She gulped and went silent.

“Are they dead, too?” Sari asked meekly.

“No, they are not,” Seresha said. She looked knowingly to the large pair of double doors. “Their starseeds did not come here, and therefore wherever they are, they are yet alive.”

“But then, where are they?” Marina asked.

“Another world, another dimension,” Charel and Charpina said together. Everyone looked at them in surprise, but no one more than Seresha.

“What? Where, how do you know?” she asked.

“We are the senshi of fate,” Charel said. “We’d seen the fate of all involved prior to the altercation.”

“We know where they are, and we have a general idea as to their company,” Charpina finished.

“You-You knew?” Seresha looked up to the stairs were Hikari, eyes red, stood in front of the three upset time senshi. Violetta was fuming, Rosetta was teary-eyed, and Maplus looked incredibly fearful. “You knew Mei was going to die… and you did nothing?!”

“Simply because we know fate does not mean we can change it,” Charel said. “We are the hands of fate. We see what must come, and if it is necessary, we must see it through. In this case, Mei had to die, and we had to make sure it happened by not saying anything to anyone.” Hikari’s face was white, either by rage or by being stunned.

“That… That is horrible,” she said softly. “You two… You are useless as senshi!” Now Hikari’s anger had returned. “You are as useless as she who couldn’t go back and stop it!” She stuck her thumb over her shoulder at the three time senshi.

“They can’t do anything without our approval,” Charpina said. “Their powers are tied to us, and grave consequences would befall them in the event that they went against our will.”

Hikari opened her mouth to shout again, but Seresha cut her off. “Hikari, please,” she said gently, rubbing her blisters hands together. “This was a risk you and Mei took when you became senshi in the first place. It is the risk we all take. Besides, now is not the time. We must recollect our missing comrads.” Seresha turned to retrieve her gloves, but they were gone. Baffled, she looked around the floor.

“The child,” Charpina said, seeing Seresha’s confusion. Seresha looked at Charpina, who pointed to the double doors. Seresha’s gloves were on the child’s thin arms.

“Little one, come away from there,” Seresha said. Tum-Tum didn’t respond as suddenly the doors opened. “What? How- No!” Seresha ran at the door, but Tum-Tum quickly slipped in and the doors closed, locking Seresha out. She beat her hands on the doors, ignoring the throbbing pain from the blisters. “Tum-Tum, come out here this instant!” she shouted. “Come out!”

“What is back there?” Marina asked as she joined her. Seresha turned to respond, but couldn’t before she lurched forward and landed on her stomach. The other senshi were thrown around as well as the asteroid jerked in every direction. Then, in a wash of white light, everything disappeared.

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“Um, hi,” Nebula said, breaking the silence between the white-haired woman and them.

“Who are you and where did you come from?” the woman asked. This raised Tucana’s and Ixtab’s eyebrows.

“Well, you certainly get straight to the point,” Tucana said. “Well, I’m Sailor Tucana, this is Nebula, and-” Ixtab smacked the back of Tucana’s head.

“Fool, we don’t trust everyone we meet on a whim,” she said.

“Since when?” Nebula asked. “That seemed to be our normal procedure in the other dimensions.” An instant flash of light had Tucana and Nebula snap their attention to the woman, who now donned a sailor uniform and a spear with a very pointy tip that made the two senshi jump back. Noticing their movement and the charged feeling in the air, Ixtab sighed.

“A senshi, I presume,” she said. She didn’t wait for an answer before stepping forward, holding her hands up in a harmless fashion. “We mean no harm, we are simply lost. I am Sailor Ixtab of the IPI senshi.”

“IPI?” the unidentified senshi questioned. “What is that?”

“Interdimensional Police Investigators,” Ixtab replied. “We go from dimension to dimension to protect them from threats that are multidimensional. We are currently chasing an enemy that steals the weapons and treasures of other senshi for a reason we’ve yet to discover. I assure you, we mean no harm to you or to your dimension.”

The woman stared hard at Ixtab before seeming to let her guard down. She touched the bottom of the staff to the ground and stood tall. “An enemy stealing from multiple dimensions... How?”

“Can we trust you?” Tucana asked.

“Tucana don't be stupid,” Ixtab said. “Leave this to me.” Tucana rolled her eyes. “To your question, they have a sort of bottle that is covered in jewels. We assume that it is responsible for this ability. It was probably stolen from a senshi.”

“No such senshi item exists,” the senshi said.

“But how do you know?” Nebula asked. The senshi tilted her head.

“I am the guardian of the World Gate, the pathway to the multitude of dimensions,” she said. “It is my job to know.”

“A gate,” Ixtab said. “A gate of the Fourth Dimension?” It was the senshi's turn to have a surprised expression. “I have heard tell of a place where gates connect different places, different times, different worlds... A gate of time, for example.” Ixtab rolled her shoulders. “No, now is not the time for curiosity. If you can control this gate of dimensions, then we need your help to get back to our companions. The Collectors are stealing these items for a purpose, and it can't be anything good. The longer we go without picking up their trail, the harder it will be to locate them.”

“You have still not proven I can trust you,” the senshi said. She lifted her spear and pointed it at Ixtab. Tucana and Nebula went ridged but Ixtab, oblivious to the pointy object in her face, did not move. “You have no fear?” the senshi asked.

“I have a hard time fearing visual cues when I cannot see them,” Ixtab said. She lifted her head, allowing the senshi a better look at her glistening white glass eyes. “As for proof, I do not know how I am supposed to prove anything.”

“Then you shall have no assistance from me,” the senshi said.

“Then we had better hope my teammates and our other companions can track Uranus and Aether without my help,” Ixtab said, feeling slightly testy. “Or better yet, we had better hope they aren't all dead from the effects of Seresha and Aether combining their attacks.”

“Explain your enemies,” the senshi said.

“Well, there's the creepy little kid, Sailor Aether,” Tucana said. “Though, I think she's too psychotic to really be a kid...

“She has the ability to warp or bend space,” Ixtab said, interrupting Tucana. “She incapacitated the lot of us on planet Tae all by herself. Then there is the new addition, Sailor Uranus, though her uniform is not one we have seen in our travels yet.” The senshi straightened up again and set her spear upright.

“So, we seek a common problem,” she said. “I have noticed that someone has been bypassing the World Gate, but I haven't been able to stop it, or to catch those responsible.” The senshi sighed. “I am Sailor Dis, and I shall personally take you back to where you came from. I must see this problem through.”

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“More than one dimension, eh?” the black-haired girl said, scratching her head. “That sounds a little unbelievable, personally.” She looked down from her bed at her uninvited guests as the female helped the male with his coat.

“Well, it’s true,” Geb said shortly as she gently pulled the coat from his shoulder. “It’s as true as we are lost.” Sebastian groaned as the coat dropped away. Geb didn’t have to remove his shirt to see some of the damage.

“Oh, my,” the girl said, her eyes widening at the sight of the blood and his purple-bruised wrists and neck.

“What was your name?” Geb asked the girl.

“Uh, Moshi,” she replied.

“Moshi, he is badly hurt, as you can see,” Geb said. “He needs help, but I can only do so much. Will you help?”

“Um, yeah!” Moshi said, jumping off her bed. “I’ll get Mamoru, he’ll help!” She then ran out of the room. Geb looked at Sebastian.

“Mamoru… as in Tuxedo Kamen?” Geb asked. Sebastian shrugged.

“None of this seems to really surprise her,” he said. “She may be a senshi.” Geb nodded, and then removed his hat and mask. They smiled at each other, but Geb’s smile faded fast at the sight of a matted red spot on his head. She sighed. “You know,” Sebastian then said, “You didn’t tell her how I got injured.”

“It’s really none of her business,” she said.

“I never told you how I got injured,” Sebastian said matter-of-factly. Geb smiled.

“I know,” she said. “I know.”

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“D you think it hurt?” Zhuancha lifted her head and looked at the child named Medousa. She then looked at Enapay, who was still in Hotah’s mindset.

“I imagine dying hurts," Zhuancha said to the child. "Though, whether or not Mei felt anything...”

"Was her death special?" Medousa asked.

Zhuancha shook her head and looked at Enapay. "I don't know. What do you think, Hotah?"

Enapay shrugged. “You are the keeper of those beads,” she said. “If you don’t know, how should I?”

“Well, I’ve never killed anyone,” she said. “At least, not with the beads. I don’t know how it is…”

"You've killed someone?" Medousa asked. Zhuancha looked up at her and shook her head.

"I'd rather not talk about that," she said softly.

"Well, you DID bring it up," Enapay said. Her voice trailed, not offering anyone to continue it. They fell into silence again for a few moments before Daichi and their white-haired host returned to the room. Daichi nodded at them each once, letting them know she had tended to Mei’s body. They both sat down, and Enapay spoke instantly.

“So, Sailor Wan,” she said, “Ca-”

“Mahal,” the white-haired woman corrected. “My name is Mahal here.”

“Sorry, Mahal,” Enapay tried again. “Do you think you two will be able to help us?”

“All this talk of other dimensions makes my head spin,” Medousa said.

“I don’t know how I could help," Mahal replied. "I mean, you don’t even know how you got here in the first place. How can you expect us to know anything?”

“We don’t expect anything,” Zhuancha said, feeling a little testy. “We just asked if you could think of anything.”

“Zhuancha, watch your temper,” Daichi snapped suddenly. “We need what help we can get and I won’t have you ruining anything.” Zhuancha went silent. Enapay then looked at Mahal and Medousa with a smile.

“We appreciate what you’ve done for us thus far,” she said in a sugary voice. “We would greatly appreciate any further assistance.” Mahal stared at Enapay, and then nodded. Enapay smiled at Zhuancha and Daichi, who also gave her a nod. “Well, I’m glad that’s settled! Now, what do we do?” Everyone looked at each other, none knowing what to say. Enapay sighed. Then, she gasped, causing the others to jump.

“What is it?” Daichi asked.

“We don’t need anything!” Enapay shouted, jumping up. She ran to the window and looked outside. The others followed. Then a bright streak came across the sky.

“A shooting star?” Medousa asked. “That’s it? A wish?”

“No, not a star!” Enapay shouted. She ran to the door, running out of the door without her shoes. The others followed, but stopped to get their shoes.

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Seresha groaned as the darkness seemed to lift. She lifted her heavy eyes and found two pairs of brilliant blue eyes staring back at her. “She’s awake!” Seoul shouted as she jumped up and ran off.

“You don’t need to be so loud,” Sari said.

“What happened?” Seresha asked. Sailor Marina appeared over her and offered a hand. However, Seresha refused it. “My gloves,” she said. Marina turned and Tum-Tum appeared. “Little one, I wear the gloves for a reason. My skin is very easily agitated by, well, everything.” Tum-Tum frowned and slipped off the gloves.

“But, Tum like them,” the girl said. Seresha gasped.

“You can talk?” Tum-Tum nodded as Seresha slipped on her gloves and them took Marina’s hand. “But, how?”

“Tum learn,” the girl said. “Tum not speak best, but speak some.” Seresha’s eyes shrunk down to normal size.

“Well then, perhaps you can answer for what you did,” Seresha said. Then she looked up. “Um, just what DID you do?”

“Tum move big rock to big girls,” Tum-Tum said. Seresha lifted her eyebrow at Tum-Tum. “Tum have power and used to move big rock to big girls.”

“You mean, the senshi?” Seresha asked. Tum-Tum nodded.

“Yes, big girls! Bigger than Tum!” Seresha grinned.

“There truly is something mysterious about you,” she said. “We shall have to learn your secrets, but for now, let’s see where we are.”

“Tum find scary big girl,” Tum-Tum said as she followed Seresha up the stairs. They were met at the top by Charel and Charpina.

“Scary…” Seresha didn’t finish her sentence. She walked outside in silence. The sight that met her gave her relief. It was Earth, but was it the dimension that the senshi were in? “Tum-Tum, which girl is the scary girl?” she asked, looking at the child. Tum-Tum responded by pulled her hair up and making it messy.

“Scary big girl,” she said, pointing at her hair.

“Anog Ite,” Seresha said. Tum-Tum shook her hair down while Marina stepped up to Seresha’s side.

“Do you have a way to get to the planet to look for her?” Marina asked.

“At the moment, no,” Seresha said. “Only Ixtab has that power. We will have to find another way. At least we know one of them is down there.”

“With all due respect, do you even know you can trust this girl?” Maplus asked. Seresha thought about it, and then shook her head.

“I don’t know, I just feel that I can,” Seresha said. “That is enough for me.”

“Golden Gate!” The senshi spun around at Hikari’s sudden shout. She held her staff in front of her as a glowing, golden disc appeared in front of her. “I’m going to look,” she said shortly. She then stepped through the portal, disappearing from sight.

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“Wow, that is one big door,” Tucana said, her eyes wide as she stared at the huge set of double doors. Sailor Dis had taken them to the World Gate, the 'official' portal to other dimensions.

“I have the path that you took to get here,” Dis said. “Once there, I shall confront these collectors and confiscate this 'jeweled bottle' of theirs.”

“I told you, we need to get to their leader, first,” Ixtab said. “We have to figure out why they are doing this in the first place.”

“Um maybe we should focus on getting back to Palmina first,” Nebula said. “Sailor Dis, how does the door open?” Nebula tilted her mace forward to tap the door, but Dis swung up her spear, knocking the mace and the senshi back into Tucana.

“Touch nothing,” Dis said. She held up her staff and the senshi watched as the doors opened. “Brace yourselves.” She had no sooner said it when all of the sudden they felt as though they were being pulled forward very sharply. Then just as suddenly, it was over, and they found themselves standing on the cold surface of one of Palmina's moons. “Now, find your people.”

“They aren't here.” Tucana and Nebula gasped and looked at Ixtab. Her eyes were closed and her hands where pressed together. “I can't feel their presences, I can't feel the asteroid. They aren't here. They've moved on.”

“But how did they do it without you?” Tucana asked.

“I don't know, I just know they did.”

“Very well, I shall track the residual trail of this asteroid,” Dis said. She sighed and returned them to the World Gate. She closed her eyes in concentration.

“Does she even know what the trail looks like?” Nebula asked.

“Quiet,” Dis snapped. Nebula bit her lip and looked down. Tucana shook her head and crossed her arms, expecting a lengthy wait.

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“Rotten little red-headed rat,” Haruka muttered under her breath. She sighed as she stormed down the quiet Juuban street. “A little backstabber, that’s what she is. ‘Oi Haruka, let’s split up!’ Sure, let’s split up, if there’s two bottles. Little bugger will probably leave me stranded on this God forsaken-”

“Haruka?” The blond titan stopped suddenly in her tracks at the sound of her name being spoken by that voice, her voice… She turned slowly, her face pale as her eyes rested upon the teal-haired beauty behind her. “I was wondering when I would see you today,” the woman said. “What in the world are you wearing?” She laughed, never imagining Haruka wearing such a low-cut shirt beneath her jacket. She then noticed Haruka’s expression “Are you all right?”

“Michiru…” Haruka whispered. Her voice left a haunted impression on Michiru. She tensed a little as Haruka reach for her in a longing manner.

“Haruka, what is wrong?” Michiru asked. Haruka’s hand stopped, and then Michiru heard her communicator sound. She hesitated taking her eyes off of Haruka before looking to her communicator. A little image of Luna appeared.

“Girls, I need all of you to report to the temple right away,” Luna said. “We have an immediate threat on our hands.” Michiru nodded and looked up at Haruka, but to her surprise, there was no one there.

“Haruka?” Michiru whispered. “Haruka!”

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“There are two of them. They are both very powerful, and they have a undoubtedly grand arsenal of senshi weapons they have already stolen,” Tale told her audience. Moshi had been quick to collect the senshi after the situation was explained to her. “They have already killed one of our companions with a stolen item.”

Michiru looked at Tale and Sebastian, wondering who they were, as she approached the group. She has just stepped up behind Setsuna when Sebastian began speaking. “One of the Collectors is Komoka, but if you see her she'll be Sailor Aether. She has the ability to bend space, and it can be devastating. She is short like a child with bright red hair, but her child-like appearance is only an appearance. She has been partnered up with Sailor Uranus from the Tenkaino Dimension.” He looked right at Haruka. “She looks just like you until she transforms, so be careful.” Michiru looked off to the side, lost in thought, before looking back at the others and making her presence known.

“No, she doesn't look like our Haruka,” she said. Everyone looked at her. “She dresses differently, in a way our Haruka would not.”

“You've already seen her?” Tale asked, jumping to her feet. Michiru nodded. Tale looked at Sebastian.

“If Haruka is here, so is Komoka,” Sebastian said. “We had better be on our guard.”