Disclaimer: The following story is based on the Anime series Sailor Moon. All characters are the property of Naoko Taeuchi and DIC. The character of Sailor Minerva is mine.

by LPrior

Chapter five :

Iriko awoke with a groan. "Oh, my head." She sat up and looked around. She hadn't seen one of these cells in a long time. These were rarely used. Mostly Beryl would either drain those who broke her laws or encase them in crystal like she had with Jadeite. That Beryl planned on draining her didn't enter her mind. She knew the fate of the other Minervans who had been captured over the long years that she had been under cover. Tears came to her eyes as she remembered the fate of one of her cousins. "That won't happen to me."

She got up off the floor where she had been dropped and looked about the cell. It was a small room with just one way in or out. There were no windows and the door was a set of bars. She walked to the bars and looked out. Just at the edge of her vision she could see another cell. There was a shadow of movement. "So, she does still use these," she thought. "Interesting." She closed her eyes and reaches with her powers. It wasn't easy but she could feel that there were three other minds with in this hall. The surface thoughts she could reach showed that they were all mad. They must have been in those cells for a long time.

She turned, walked to the cot and sat. There were times, like now that she wished she had powers more like the other scouts. All of her attacks were mind based and there was no way she could blast her way out of the cell. If she had a power like Mars she could melt the bars. As she pondered her situation she heard a commotion outside the cells. Once again she concentrated. There was something big going on. She could mind hear the surprise and the anger at what was going on. Suddenly her eyes widened and she rushed to the back of the cell. She ducked down and covered her head just as a massive explosion rocked the hallway. She looked up to see the bars to her cell hanging open. With a cry of Minerva power she transformed back into Sailor Minerva, then stepped out of the powerblocking cell and then she disappeared in a swirl of smoke.

She reappeared outside of the room that the Prince had been using. Carefully she peeked into the room. He wasn't there! "Come on, Iriko, think. Where would she have taken him?"

Iriko could tell that things were coming to a head quickly. She could feel the tension in the air like a slap in the face. Beryl knew now that someone had been blocking her work on the prince's mind. A smal part of her mind was still in contact with Endymoin and there was little that she recognised in his mind. Beryl had wiped much of his memory. And if she didn't reach his side quickly the prince of Earth would soon be no more, replaced by a dark kingdom warrior.

Once more smoke swirled about her as she headed toward the prince. She came into view inside the large main hall. She quickly ducked behind a drape, hoping that she hadn't been spotted. All she needed right now was one of the youma to attack her. From her vantage spot she could clearly se the confrontation going on between Beryl and the Princess. She closed her eyes when she saw Endymion kneeling at Beryl's feet and kissing her hand. It was worse than she had feared. At Beryl's command he rose and attacked the Princess.

Minerva leapt into action. Just what she thought she was doing she had no idea. But she ran toward the entraced Beryl. The Queen's attention was focused on the fight between the prince and Serena. Maybe, just maygbe she could break the Queen's control over the Prince.

She came up behind the Queen and slapped her hands to Beryl's head, calling out, "Minerva Mind Blast!"

Beryl's laughter stopped short as she felt the blast rip into her mind. She staggered forward and then spun about. Her eyes widened in surprise whe she saw who had the gaul to attack her. "You! How did you get loose!"

Minerva just smiled. "Got lucky."

"Well, we shall see, Minerva!" Beryl's eyes narrowed as she pulled her power about her. She had to swat the Minervan fly before the Princess got through her spell on Endymion's mind.

The cloud of Nega-Energy Beryl gathered was chokingly intense. It surrounded Minerva and solidified, elongated, and turned into a shimmering jet black snake. "Let's see if your luck holds out, girl," Beryl called from outside the cloud. The Nega-Python swung side-to-side, waiting for the right moment to strike. Although not as immediate as a direct Nega-Blast, nor as strong in the short run, it would keep Minerva occupied.

Minerva knew that. As she skipped aside, jumped, ducked and otherwise avoided the Nega-Python, she tripped over its body. "Smart snake," she mused, noticing how it had led her to do that exact thing. The Nega-Python reared back, its eyes gleaming with Beryl's gloating gaze.

"THAT'S IT!!" Minerva thought. Everything went into slow motion. "If I just..."

The snake sprang forward like an arrow, and Minerva stayed right where she was. As it latched onto her, she slapped her hands onto its "head." "MINERVA MIND BLAST!!" She shouted, sending lavender energy coiling through the Nega-Python, into the cloud, and- hopefully -into Beryl's mind. It took all of her concentration to stay conscious and continue the barrage against Beryl's mind, and she wished that person behind her would stop screaming, not aware the screaming came from her own throat. As she collapsed, she saw the cloud dissipate and Beryl clutching her head. She saw Princess Serenity and Prince Endimyon embrace. With the last of her energy, she whispered, "Long live the Queen."

Somewhere else, outside of time.

Her soul slipped out of the husk of her body and flew outward, toward her people, her family but she was held back. Looking about in the haze of the other world she spotted a glowing form and her eyes widened. Somehow, without a body to bow, she did. "Your Magesty."

Before Iriko stood the one person who knew her for what she had always been. Queen Serenity, the princess's mother. The queen reached out and put a hand on Iriko's head. "Thank you, my child. You fufilled your task. More than filled it."

Iriko looked up slowly and smiled. It lit up her pale and tired face. She was glad. All she had wanted to do was serve. And now she all she wanted was to rest.

The etheral queen pondered this quiet senshi before her. Though this one senshi deserved rest more than all the others she knew that her work wasn't over. "Iriko, child, I don't have much time. Serena has defeated Beryl." With that Iriko's face lit up. Finally the Dark Kingdom had fallen. Seeing that elation Serenity almost didn't speak again but she had to let the girl decide. "Iriko, Serenity is calling on the power of the crystal to bring back her court. To be ordinary humans until they are needed again." She watched the Minervan's face. The girl looked surprised.

"You mean that we will be brought back?" The tired look on her face was slowly erased.

Serenity debated for a moment and then spotting a shadowy figure behind Iriko she nodded. "Yes, but you will come back with no memories. You will be just a normal teenager."

Iriko smiled. "That will be a pleasant change, your magesty."

Serenity smiled back and watched as her daughter's spell took effect and the young woman before her was pulled away and deposited into a young gardener that tended the grounds of Serena's school. That was the perfect place of the young Minervan. She was too old to be a student really but still very young inside when it came to dealing with people. She had always been shy. Maybe now she would blossum like one of her flowers.

She looked up as the shadowy figure became clear. "Will she, will they all get a rest, Pluto?"

The tall and mysterious Sailor Senshi looked out into the future and she nodded shortly. "For a bit."

"Good." The two figures then faded back into a sparkle of light.