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come into view.

"You think you can handle him alone?"  One of the other masked
members, another male, asked.

"He's unconscious.  I can carry him in to the Counsule Building."

"He's a Level 4, Nahtan.  You are required to have me and Guod *at
least* to escort him in, in case he wakes up."  The third, female this
time, chime in, and appeared to be trying to peek above the shoulder
of the first masked individual, whom Serena assumed was their leader.

The leader at the moment appeared to be blocking the other two but
had failed miserably because the taller and bulker masked stranger
nodded toward her and Darien.

"What about them?"

"Nothing, I will tend with them as well.  Alone."

"There's something familiar about them." The bulky stranger rubbed
his masked chin.

"What are you hiding Nahtan?"  The shorter female stood on her
tip-toes, her voice taking a threatening edge.

"Short skirts-" The bulky man murmured.

The leader grunted. "Are you questioning my authority, Nire?"

"Tiaras-"

To Serena's surprise the woman ripped her mask off, revealing her
loose strands of amber hair framing her glowering face.  "Why are you
so eager to usher us out?"

Without warning the bulky man shouted.  "By Serenity's ghost!  It's
Sailor V and the Senshi!"

In his excitement, the bulky man shoved his rather lanky leader out
of the way, making his way to Mina.  "I can't believe this."

Nire's eyes followed her fellow soldier as he scampered over to Erica
and Mina and then they fixed on their leader.  "So... "

Their leader only grunted in frustration as he picked himself up.

Serena stole a quick anxious look to Darien who stood closer to her
and placed her slightly behind him.

Meanwhile, Mina tried to gather her wits with her newly acquired and
totally unanticipated fan.  "Excuse me?"

The large soldier gently grasped her hand.  "You must forgive,
Goddess of Love, Sailor Venus, for being impolite.  I did not mean to
call you by your other name."

Mina's nose twitched and Erica smirk with amusement.  "You mean
Sailor V?"

The bulky man held his head low in shame.  "Please forgive me!"

"Um, don't get me wrong, but," the blonde rubbed the back of her
head, "how do you know-"

Mina trailed off as the bulky man's mask began to turn away from her
and zeroed in on Serena.  Suddenly, the man jumped to his feet and
made a beeline to her.  Serena gulped and Darien further blocked the
man's path.

Anxiety filled Serena as she watched the man pulled off his mask and
knelt before them.  His actions were not much unlike Cindy's when she
first met the Traveller on her doorstep.

"I am here to serve you, my Lady Serenity."  The bulky man's curly
light brown hair wavered in the sandy wind.  "I am one of your
children, Guod."

Serena could hear the disbelief in Nire's voice.  "I can't believe
it.  It is her.  She's come back like the Tomes predicted!"

"Uh, no I'm not who you think I am.  Nope."  Serena denied and
chuckled dryly.  It worried her how some of these Travellers held her
in such reverence like they worshipped her or something.  "I'm no one
special; trust me, just a plain ol' school girl who sucks at math.
Nothing worth kneeling over.  Please just get up."

Guod held firm and refused to even lift his head.  "I cannot, my
Lady, for I have taken an oath in your honor."

"But, I-" Serena watched in utter amazement as the woman knelt down
beside her comrade.

"Lady Serenity.  It is a pleasure to finally meet you.  I am one of
your daughters, Nire."

"But, uh," Serena's eyes pleaded for help from Darien, but he still
had yet to close his hanging jaw. Finally, Serena gave up looking for
something to say.  "Who are you?"

"We are servants in your church."  Nire's face crinkled avoiding
Serena's eyes.  Guod only kept his head lowered.  "We are a part of
the order called the Children of Serenity."

"What!?"  Each Sailor Scout announced in chorus.

"Yes, yes, they are members of a wacko cult who seem to forget they
are also Timelords."  Finally, their leader raised his voice, sounding
very annoyed, as he escaped the darkness of the archway.  "But if
you'll excuse us we are here to bring this criminal in for questioning
and not to honor any fictitious gods or goddesses or whatever the hell
she is."

Serena had reeled from the earlier revelation and was still trying to
catch up.   "You're Timelords?"

Guod remained silent while Nire reluctantly replied.  "Yes."

The leader approached Tracer's limp body and kicked it cautiously.
Satisfied that he wasn't getting up any time soon, he addressed the
others.  "These people are foreigners, Nire, and they have no right to
be in the Community.  Counsule law."

Nire shot to her feet and glared at her leader.  "How dare you speak
of the great and mighty Serenity that way!  A foreigner indeed!  You
are fortunate she is kind and forgiving, or else she would have
disintegrated you to dust."

"Now wait-" Serena squeaked.

"Nahtan, we will escort the Queen, Endymion, and her royal court."
Nire announced, brushing aside her auburn hair to keep her hard gaze
fixed on the leader.  "Right Guod?"

The large soldier paused and reverently stood, answering with
confidence.  "Yes."

Their leader, Nahtan, didn't move, or even breathe.  Serena couldn't
tell what was going through his head since his mask covered his face.
After a few moments, he sighed.  "Fine."

A small smile danced across Nire's dainty little cheeks as she gently
grabbed her elbow.  Serena panicked and noticed Darien and the other
Scouts tensed before the woman announced cheerfully.  "This way
Serenity.  We shall escort you in."

As the two Timelords gathered them together, Serena notice Nahtan
place a black pole on Tracer's chest and pressed a button.  The device
hummed and several glowing rings burned to life appearing around
Tracer's body.  The glowing rings tightened, digging him out of the
loose sand.  Nahtan pushed another button on the sleek black spine and
the device hummed louder.  Slowly, Tracer unconscious form lifted off
the sand and hovered next to him.

Serena glanced over at her friends who were wearing neutral
expressions but were following Nire and Guod through the archway.  She
wasn't sure what to make out of all this just yet, her head was still
spinning.  These Timelords that Cindy so despised were members of a
church devoted to Serenity!  How could such violent creatures be
followers of her ideals?  How did they even know what her ideals were?
 Why would they want to follow her ideals?  Just where were they?

As she passed through the archway, she noticed how the interior was
smooth and flowing, like dark chocolate.  Hardly a fitting image for
the gear grinding sounds it emitted earlier.  Just ahead, bright,
unadulterated sunlight beckoned Serena, its illumination entrancing
her to discover what was on the other side of this wall.  Her
curiosity strained to keep her eyes open while the light intensified.

Finally, the strain proved to be too much when reached the end of the
archway's corridor.  For an instant, her eyes fluttered closed and
upon opening them, pure, wholesome white welcomed her.

Lines upon lines of rigid, white buildings with smooth white faces
similar to wall that protected them crowded the white dusty street.
Further down the road a large white dome loomed over all with four
cone pillars that rivaled the Tokyo Tower in height and magnificence.

"This is so wicked cool."  Serena murmured as her other friends
gasped at the sight.

At first, people they passed would look and stare dumbfounded, while
others ran off to locations unknown.  As they progressed further, a
crowd gathered around them, but Nire and Guod kept them at bay.  One
older gentleman in black and green robes tried to approach them, but
only met the stern face of Guod.

"Make room for Lady Serenity!"  The Timelord boomed but the older man
didn't appear to even flinch.

"I must speak with Serenity."  The old gentleman insisted.

"Not now."  With one good shove the older gentleman was brushed
aside, but his eyes bore into Serena.  That intense look bothered
Serena greatly, but she didn't have long to linger on it as they were
swept through the ever growing crowd.

Serena glanced around.  The bigger the crowd became the more her awe
turned to apprehension.  The crowd consisted of people in ragged
clothing to that of people in colorful robes in sequence of blue,
gold, red, yellow, orange, or black.  Some had their young children
hoisted on their shoulders cheering and smiling, and others cried,
begging for a blessing of good fortune.

'Am I a god to these people?'  She reached over for Darien's strong
hand and grasped it, insuring she wouldn't plummet any further into
this insanity.  She almost missed the dark void.  She felt like
leaping into it at the moment anyway.

Serena glanced over at Mina, who was smiling and waving at the crowd,
soaking in their praise and cheers.  Beside her, Erica stood on guard,
her gaze darting from side to side, making sure no one got past their
escorts.  In the back, Serena could barely make out Nahtan in the
crowd as he pulled Tracer along with that odd device, his slumped
posture indicating his foul mood.

Finally, the procession reached the center of the city, at the base
of the white dome, where the crowd spilled forth from the narrow
streets and filled the surrounding square.  Serena waited anxiously,
clutching Darien's hand.

"I'm worried, Darien."

He squeezed and held her close.

A silence rushed over the immense crowd.  An outline of a door
appeared on the surface of the dome and disappeared without a sound.
Slowly and reverently, five elders walked out into the light saturated
city.  The head elder led the way with the others follow behind him,
each donning white robes.  A lump formed in Serena's throat at the
same agonizing speed which the elders approached.  Once the head elder
was a few feet away, the others spread out to either side of him and
stopped.   The head elder peered at Serena in her white dress,
pondered a moment, and, moved forward.

Beneath his thick grey beard, the head elder smiled.  "I, Nairb, Head
Elder of the Counsule, humbly welcome all of you to our home, the
Community."

'The Counsule!'  Serena took a step back, aghast.  'Are these the
people who killed Cindy's family!?  What's going on here?'



***



Cindy watched as the sun slowly crept into view over the tall,
cramped structures of the strange city that loomed over them.

Over those structures the palace towered.  She had seen its
silhouette the night before but now with the sun bringing out the
vibrate colors took her breath away.  Its grandiose design reminded
Cindy of the palaces from Feudal Japan, but she knew inherently that
this couldn't be from that age.  For one thing, some of the buildings
in the city were too tall to be adequately supported by wood alone.
Then there were those strange mannequins in the shops...

As she continued to wrap the cloth strips around her chest in tighter
concentric loops, Cindy looked out towards the distant mountains once
more.  When they first arrived, Cindy could see lightning strikes
beyond them, and feared that rain couldn't be far behind.  In
desperation, with the sleeping child in her arms, she found shelter in
this covered alleyway and waited.  Yet, as the hours passed, no
moisture had yet to descend upon them.

Once she felt confident it wouldn't rain, she wondered around and
found as many loose items she could grab from the shops before the
fleeting rays of sunrise colored the dark sky and expose her crime.

More rays began to creep into the dark crevices of the alleyway.
Reenie stirred when the beams of sunlight danced across her eyes.

"Cindy?"  The child groaned, removing some of the loose strands of
bright pink hair from her jostled pig tails.

Stopping with her wrapping, Cindy smiled at the young girl.  "Good
morning, Reenie."

Removing the heavy cloth draped across her body, and eyeing it with a
tinge of curiosity, Reenie surveyed the alleyway and the outlying
streets of the city.  "Where are we?"

Already in mid-wrap, Cindy winced.  "I'm not sure.  This looks like
feudal Japan, but I doubt that's the case."

Reenie watched, fascinated, as Cindy continued to wrap the cloth
around her chest.  "Where are Darien, Serena, Puu, and the others?"

Cindy's wrapping came to an abrupt halt and unraveled to her waist.
"I don't know Reenie.  I'm not sure where they went.  If that vortex
spit us out here randomly, there's no telling where the others could
be."

 A flood of guilt swept over Cindy when Reenie titled her head down
and her eyes glazed over.  "I'm sorry, Reenie.  I know that they'll
make it back.  The Time Guardian won't allow them to be stranded in
the middle of nowhere.  They're out there, somewhere, waiting for
you."

Reenie perked up at Cindy's words of encouragement and the guilt
abated some.  "Yeah."

Cindy smiled and started anew on her painful venture, while Reenie
watched until her curiosity got the best of her.  "Hey, Cindy."

The blonde Traveller gritted her teeth.  "Yes?"

"Why are you wrapping that cloth around your, uh, around you?"

Reenie's prudence brought a tinge of a smile with the pain as she
finished one more loop.  "It's a general rule for me whenever I end up
in an unknown dimension to hide my=E2=80=A6 femininity before wandering in
public."

Reenie's nose wrinkled.  "Why?"

Another wince, another turn.  "Because, more often times than not,
being a woman is not the choice sex to be."

"Oh."

"Which means, I hate to say, the pigtails must go."

Reenie sighed and once again Cindy felt the weight of guilt resting
on her shoulders.

"Hey Reenie." The child looked up to see the blonde Traveller
finishing her last wrap and wearing a grin that could have eaten a
canary.  She seriously could eat one right now, she was so hungry.
"How about some breakfast!?  What do ya say?"

Reenie practically salivated at the suggestion and her stomach
growled loudly.  "Can we have pancakes?"

Cindy giggled.  "If they have them."

Tugging at her pigtails, Reenie looked down at her own clothing.
"What are we going to do about my outfit?"

Different variations of male clothing slid in and out of Cindy's mind
as she eyed the child.

"Without ruining my favorite dress."  Reenie amended quickly.

Tapping her chin, Cindy pondered for a moment.  "Where did you put
that burlap cloak?"

"You mean this thing?"  Reenie picked up the heavy material from the
dirt road of the alleyway.

"Yep."  Taking the cloth, Cindy draped it over the shoulders of the
pink-haired youth and tied the girl's hair in a way that made her look
more like a boy.  "That should do it.  Let's go."

With Reenie in tow, the blonde Traveller led them out into the early
morning bustle of the strange city.  Vivacious colors of clothing
glowed in the morning sun, the elegance of the robes these people wore
seemed fitting of archaic Japan.  Cindy couldn't help but feel
slightly self-conscious in comparison. She hoped they didn't stick out
too much.

Very cheerful people they were and seemed friendly enough to them, at
least from what Cindy could tell.  They smiled as Reenie skipped about
the road, narrowly missing manually pulled food carts and a few
hovering taxis that zipped by.  Cindy had lost count of the number of
apologies she had said on the child's behalf.  She thanked Serenity
that she knew something about Japanese customs and they seemed to
understand.  All smiles.

Yet, something didn't feel right.  The more they walked, the more
Cindy became acutely aware of a lack of a female presence.  Moving her
head this way and that, Cindy searched, with the hope that they
weren't the only women in this entire city.

'Because the prospect of being the lone women in a city full of men
won't be a pleasant one.'  The Traveller cringed at the horror stories
she heard of female Travellers that ended up in such dimensions.

Finally, a flash of a kimono fluttered into her view, and at once,
Cindy sought it, to slow the tempo of the drumming in her heart.
Unfortunately, the tempo accelerated when Cindy found one of the
placid female mannequins wearing the kimono while obediently following
her male owner.

"No.  This can't be."  The blonde whispered hoarsely.  "This
can't be
Terra 2.  Not a whole planet..."

A tug at her sleeve disentangled Cindy from her shock.

"Where did you get this from?"  Reenie asked as she displayed the
thick cloth currently draping her form.  "I didn't remember seeing
this before we, um, got here."

"While you were asleep I..." Cindy trailed off as she watched another
pale-faced mannequin walked by and returned her attention to the
child, "browsed around in the shops."

A dubious expression crossed the child's face.  "Browse?"

"Well, the ones with the locks I could pick the quickest."  Cindy
smiled nervously.

"YOU STOL-"  Cindy's slender hand shot out and silenced the girl.

"Shhh, Reenie."  Cindy growled between her teeth.  "Last thing we
want is to become criminals in a strange land."

The pink-haired youth struggled free and continued; her hushed voice
resonating with irritation.  "You stole this?!"

The pair continued to move through the crowd in silence; the
Traveller steeled herself and tried to steady her quivering stomach.
"Sometimes it's necessary to do such things in order to survive."
Cindy's hunger was lost to nausea.  "Even if it's wrong."

How did it come to this?  What did she do to deserve this life?  She
was loathing what she was becoming.  She wasn't willing to do such
horrible, terrible things before her family died; the stealing, the
lying, the bribing, the faking, the killing-

'Tracer...'  The grotesque image of the bloody faced Timelord blazed
up from her memories.  She remembered her hands painted with his
silver-laced blood and the look of horror on Serena's face.  Peering
at her hands, she could still see traces of his blood.  It didn't seem
like no matter how many times she'd wash them she was going to get out
those damn spots.  She now had her vengeance, but yet she still felt
empty.

 "Hey Cindy."

Cindy found herself stopped in the middle of the street, staring
intently at her clench fists.  A few droplets were wetting her
fingers.  They were warm on her skin, but she didn't find them very
smoothing.  Regaining her composure, the blonde laughed to herself and
wiped her moist eyes.  Peering down, she gave Reenie her undivided
attention.

Reenie smiled and pulled Cindy's hand.  "Why don't we get some pancakes?"

As Reenie pulled her away, Cindy felt a little lighter.

----------------------------------------------------------------------