Chapter # 9: Peril

The room filled with shrieks and cries as the windows exploded in on them. Glass rained down on the startled guests who immediately began to panic and run for the exits. Fear clenched Usagi’s heart as she watched her family and friends racing towards certain death. Throwing herself in front of the doorway, she called upon the queen who lay dormant within her soul.

“Friends!” she called out, her voice calm and steady. “Please, stay inside the hotel. I know you are all afraid, but we do not know what is going on out there. It is probably more dangerous to leave right now.” Her words were punctuated by the sound of another explosion in the distance. “We need to get away from this glass. Please, let’s move into an inside room where we will be more sheltered.” Taking a cue from their princess, the other senshi began to help herd the guests into the smaller ballroom on the other side of the hotel. This room had a few windows, but they were smaller and still intact.

When everyone had been gathered into the smaller room, Mamoru pulled the door shut behind them. Just as the exit clicked shut, the lights went out. The guests began to panic once again, but Usagi’s smooth voice quickly brought order to the room once again. At least temporarily. There was a moment of panic as the room was filled with soft thuds from every corner.

Rei quickly felt for a candle and quietly called fire down on it, lighting the wick with the snap of her fingers. She needn’t have been so subtle though; one sweep of the candle around the room showed that every guest lay unconscious on the floor. Just Usagi, Mamoru, Ami, Makoto, Minako, Michiru, Haruka, Hotaru, Setsuna, herself, and Motoki stood around the candle. Wait, Motoki? Nine pairs of female eyes bored into Motoki from every side.

Usagi noticed that Mamoru looked only a little shocked by Motoki’s presence it their circle, and took the opportunity to stare deep into her new husband’s eyes. “Mamo-chan,” she said in a sickly sweet voice. “Is there something I should know? Something that perhaps you would like to explain?”

Taking a deep breath, Mamoru looked from Usagi to Motoki and back. “He knows.”

“He what? Excuse me, it sounded like you said ‘he knows’ but it’s not possible that you would say that. Could you please repeat yourself?” Usagi was talking a mile a minute, trying to make sense of the strange and unexpected new development.

Mamoru took another deep breath. “He knows. Yesterday Motoki took me out into the mountains and demanded that I explain myself before he would stand up as my best man. So I told him who I am, and who you are. He guessed the rest by himself.” His gaze swept over the other 8 women in the circle, indicating that Motoki indeed knew of every one of their secret identities. “But what I don’t understand is why it makes a difference. Why does knowing our identities keep him conscious?”

Motoki was standing silently, looking back and forth between Usagi and Mamoru, and occasionally glancing around at the other senshi. They were talking as though he wasn’t in the room.

Suddenly, Usagi put her hands to her chest, clutching her golden locket. In an instant, she was clothed in the soft and flowing dress of Princess Serenity. Mamoru took the cue to transform into Prince Endymion, and the senshi all followed suit. The group reconvened, all looking expectantly towards Serenity.

With a pensive look, she held her hands out and called the ginzuishou out of her locket to rest above her cupped hands. After a moment, it began to glow, and Serenity stared at it in shock. “You,” she sputtered, looking up at Motoki in surprise. “You will be Endymion’s knight,” she finished. Looking into the ginzuishou’s depths again, Serenity’s brow wrinkled. “Say ‘Golden Crystal Protect’” she said, her voice hesitant.

Everyone stared at Motoki expectantly as he muttered the words with an unpracticed tongue. Nothing happened. “I don’t understand,” he questioned. “Shouldn’t I transform or something?”

The girls were all gathered closely around Motoki, watching for some change when Endymion cleared his throat and motioned towards his hands. He held a shining golden watch out to Motoki and whispered, “Try this.” Motoki started to question his friend who simply shrugged and pressed the watch into his hand, repeating, “Just try it.”

Fastening the mysterious watch onto his wrist, he repeated the words, “Golden Crystal Protect.” The instant he spoke the last word, a shining golden light surrounded him and he was transformed into a knight with bright golden armor. Looking himself over with wide eyes, Motoki muttered, “I—I’m a knight.” Dropping to his knees before Endymion, he looked up at his friend, a sense of duty evident in his eyes. “Endymion, my prince, I pledge to serve and protect you with my life.”

With a nod and a tender smile, Endymion extended his hand to Motoki and helped him to his feet. “Thank you my friend; I could not ask for a more loyal protector.”

When Motoki stepped back from Endymion and stretched out an arm to inspect his armor again, Makoto approached him and ran a tentative finger along the shoulder of the armor. Though he could not feel her touch through the heavy metal, the electric spark he experienced reminded him that she was indeed the goddess of the storm. A quick glance at her eyes betrayed the storm taking place within her.

While everyone’s attention was focused on Motoki’s incredible new discovery, Princess Serenity moved away from the group, seeking solitude to discern her next move. A warmth began to grow within her as she realized what her next step should be. Moving back towards the chatting circle of her friends, she discreetly gained their attention with a quiet cough.

“It is time, my friends. I love you and I will see you in one thousand years.” Raising the ginzuishou over her head, she spoke with quiet poise, “Ginzuishou, grant my wishes: Selene, protect your people.” While she spoke, the crystal began to glow and it’s light filled the whole room. As the glow began to focus back towards the crystal, her friends bodies began to relax, and one by one, they fell softly to the ground.

But when the light narrowed down to cover just herself and Endymion, Serenity gasped and lowered the crystal suddenly. Endymion’s arms were wrapped around his wife in an instant and he spoke fearfully, “Usako, what’s wrong? Can’t the ginzuishou protect us as well? Are you out of strength?”

This appeared to be the case as Serenity’s legs grew weak and she began to slide towards the floor. Tightening his grip on her, Endymion swept his wife up into his arms and looked down at her face which had been transformed from an expression of shock to one of joy. “Mamo-chan, she’s here! I heard her. I heard our precious Chibi-usa. She said, ‘Mama, I’m here now; I’ll see you soon.’ Mamo-chan, I’m pregnant!”

Endymion crushed Serenity to his chest as they celebrated the new life. His medical training made him want to disbelieve that she could know about a pregnancy after less than a week, but then again, what was ever normal about their lives?

Everything was silent and the building had already been sealed by the power of the ginzuishou. The royal couple saw no reason to hurry along their own sleep, and so they retreated to a private corner of the room and celebrated their pregnancy with a quick, but passionate second honeymoon.

Serenity lay peacefully in Endymion’s arms for nearly an hour before the sounds of conflict resumed outside the hotel. With a sigh, she pulled away from her husband and struggled to stand. As the future rulers of Crystal Tokyo, she understood that their safety was crucial. They had risked enough; it was time to complete the final seal around the building and submit to sleep themselves.

Checking each other’s appearance carefully to be sure they would be decent when Crystal Tokyo met their queen, Endymion warily settled his wife on the floor, padding her head with the greatest of care. Lying down beside her, he wrapped his arms around Serenity and laid a protective hand on her abdomen. “I’ll see you two soon,” he sighed.

“We’ll dream of you.”

Serenity grasped the ginzuishou once again, holding it a few inches above her breast and spoke softly, “Ginzuishou, grant my wishes; Selene, protect your people.” Then, as the crystal’s glow enveloped them, Serenity turned to his her husband and they fell asleep entwined in a lover’s embrace.

As the first wave of conflict died down, all of Tokyo became still and quiet, covered by a blanket of darkness. The only light was the faint glow of the mystical crystal, held gently in the hands of the sleeping princess.