Bonding Allure [The Return Book 6 (SM, R.5)]

[Sunshine Temple]

That's right, after 9 months of revisions.... I've got new content.

After Tessa's rampage (and getting a new baby sister), Ranma catches her breath and looks to her family and her relationship with Usagi. In both cases things get more complicated as both Ranma and Usagi begin to be drawn into their extended family and the consequences and legacies of those. Meanwhile time is running short for the Combat Cyborgs and Mistress Mercury is worrying about where all this is going.

( Book 5 can be read here)

The Return Book Six: Bonding Allure
Chapter 1: Invitations and Impositions
Chapter 2: Extending Family
Chapter 3: Persuasive Outreach
Chapter 4: Exploring Options
Chapter 5: Void Filling

 

[Sunshine Temple]

The Return
A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/

Temporary Backup Site.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/


Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C is appreciated.

Book 6: Bonding Allure
Chapter 1: Invitations and Impositions



Agents and officers in grey uniforms slowed to detour around a chuckling redhead in leather pants and matching jacket. Standing in the center of the junction of two hallways, a sheaf of un-folded papers were held in her hand. Much of the foot traffic for this level of the underground facility went through those two major corridors.

The broken tiles had been replaced and most of the bullet holes in the walls had been repaired. A young teen with pastel blue hair helped direct traffic around the redheaded blockage with an apologetic smile. Rapt, her mother hardly noticed. Her shoulders began to quiver, and her wings fluttered a bit.

"You don't have to read the whole thing right now," a third woman, just as unnaturally pale as the other two, but with loose lavender hair, dryly said.

The redhead's daughter sighed and not so subtly tried to nudge the slightly taller woman down one of the hallways.

"This is too rich Cecilia; some guy horned in on our sister's business when she was over here." The redhead laughed. It was a deep chuckling sound.

"And she only found out after looking in the Yellow Pages under wizards, and she's complaining about how his advertisement is a full page ad. With color?"

The lavender-haired woman shook her head. "BlackStone gets to the real problem with... 'Wizard' Samri Balducci later in the letter."

"Oh?" Tail swishing, the redhead flipped to a new page while her youngest daughter shot a glare at Cecilia.

"Ranma, you were headed to the commissary?" Cecilia ventured.

"Yah, but it's not every day I hear from our baby sister. Ah, Doctor Butters' girlfriend helped her. Good, someone sensible enough-"

Cecilia narrowed her eyes and plucked the letter out of the redhead's hand.

The redhead glared; her purple eyes flickering for a second.

"Come on." Cecilia had folded the pages once more and fanned them making a rustling noise.

"Fine, I can finish it later." Pouting, Ranma snatched the letter. "Come along Nabiki."

Nabiki glowered, the expression marring her youthfully adorable face. "I was the one trying to push you out of the way. Did you want to stand there until someone ran into you?"

"Oh, it wouldn't have gone that way."

"Your tail was out and wagging Mom." Nabiki adjusted her periwinkle and silver silk dress. "Did you expect someone to slap you on the butt to get you out of the way?"

Eyeing the letter, Ranma murmured. "Um... I was going on my way to talk to Serenity."

"Oh? Her and not our other guests?" Cecilia chuckled.

"Well, she's fun and her girls are very cute," Ranma allowed as they neared the doors to the commissary.

"Please, Scarlet's hair is a bit overdone for Misako and her dresses are too frilly and sparkly for my tastes. Though I do like their mother's taste in dresses; they are cute, if a bit plain," Nabiki said.

"Firstly, that's not true, Misako loves that girl's hair, and you only object to Scarlet's clothes because you prefer her mate's," the redhead chided.

Nabiki tilted her head causing her pastel powder blue tresses to swing about. "Yes, why would I prefer yukata with snowflake themes to acres of pink frills and black ribbons?"

"You make it sound like you wouldn't happily wear the latter," Cecilia reminded. "There was that one time when... our previous mother..."

Nabiki winced, her face clouded a bit, as did Cecilia's. Both their tails drooped in concert.

Ranma put her arms around both of them and eased them into the commissary. "It's okay, Alexia was a monster but she's gone."

Nabiki shook her head. "No... Cecilia... she's talking about a dress that Alexia-Mom got me... I think... I think she was trying to be nice. She didn't have Eclipse or Aurora force me into it or torment me at all."

Their mom was a monster, but she was still.... Mother.

"It's okay," Ranma assured, she gave Cecilia a look.

The lavender haired woman nodded. "It came up during therapy with Lydia."

"Doctor Du Maurier does help," Nabiki said. The physiologist was a Company agent so she could comprehend their problems; still there were things that were hard to talk to humans about.

Ranma hugged them tighter and focused on giving them feelings of love. She knew she could have said something like: Just because she could be... kind doesn't mean she was not a monster. Or assure them that Alexia was dead.

But the redhead knew they already knew. She did step to the side of the doorway to not block things.

After a few moments, her daughter and sister recovered. Or at least enough that Nabiki was able to pull her mother towards the far end of the commissary where they got in line.

Things were a bit subdued as the trio got their food. A banh mi pork sausage, pickled cucumber, carrots and daikon sandwich with pate and jalapeno mayonnaise for Nabiki, while Cecilia simply got a brownie, and Ranma filled a whole tray with a pair of banh mi, hot and sour seafood soup, rice, dessert, and other odds and ends.

"Are you going to be okay?" Ranma asked Nabiki, while juggling her tray and the letter.

Cecilia deftly took the letter back.

Nabiki nodded. "Nariko and Grandma are waiting for me."

"Ah, inspecting your blades?"

She smiled. "Grandma wants to get some measurements on my knives and ScarletBane."

Ranma smiled. "Right, it just happens that we have another Dantite weapon on base and she wants to compare the blades she and Master Nishina made with a certain demon spear."

"Maybe." Nabiki gave a giggling smirk.

After hugging her, Ranma watched her leave the commissary.

"She'll be okay," Cecilia assured.

Nodding, the redhead scanned the room. It was futile, if the person she was looking for was here, she would have felt her, but some human habits die hard.

Finding a quiet spot in a corner, Ranma sat down at the table and unpacked her laden tray. Idly spooning some of the savory hot and sour soup she resumed reading the letter from her sister.

Cecilia stood a bit behind her.

"You've already read this?" Ranma asked, then chuckled. "A birthday party. She crashed some kid's birthday party?"

"Yes, and yes she did." Cecilia glanced at one of the exits to the commissary. Her tail twitched a bit on sensing her daughter Priscilla.

"And Eve read it," the redhead stated.

"Of course, Lady Pluto delivered it to her."

Ranma snorted. "Eve's the first to read anything regardless. Puu giving it straight to her just saved time all around."

"Oh?" Cecilia frowned. "Does Eve intercept all your inter-dim communications?"

"It's not like I have that many people writing to me from other worlds." Ranma put a bit of chili paste into the seafood soup. "Our sister aside, it's not like Grandma or Sun write all that often."

"Sun? Wait…" Cecilia paced to Ranma's other side. "You don't mean Sailor Sun?"

"Yes, that was before we found you." Ranma tapped the table with her spoon. "Hell, that was before Eve turned. Has it been that long?"

Bending forward to put a hand on her sister's shoulder, Cecilia smirked. "Please, we're still babies by the standards or our extended family. Even our guest is very young and she's been a demon for a few years."

"And Yohko had experience before being turned," Ranma murmured.

Cecilia studied her sister. "This Sun's a version of you, but still human?"

Ranma waggled her hand noncommittally. "She's a Pattern Silver."

"They're close enough to human. Isn't her husband an alien prince anyway?"

"Yeah, that and going back to his family's homeworld and raising their daughter Akiko is keeping her pretty busy."

Cecilia turned and nodded to her waiting daughter. "You know…"

"Yah, I know it's not a coincidence that Yohko's visiting. At least we had a couple months warning."

"But between Battle of Ottawa and Tessa's summoning scheme we've been a bit busy," Cecilia looked about. The Fallen's incursion into the base did not reach the Commissary but there had been plenty of damage.

"At least it accelerated us getting Site C setup."

Cecilia nodded. "Priscilla has been trying to get my attention, and I really should get going."

"I'm fine," the redhead waved off her sister.

The lavender-haired succubus gave her a hug before meeting up with her daughter.

Ranma resumed her lunch and eventually finished the letter. She laughed a few times and felt a tinge of concern. She conceded her baby sister had more experience with the supernatural.

Yellow Pages issues aside, BlackStone had been a professional wizard for far longer than Ranma had been a demonic mercenary. Though if she were going by time in the field, she would have to admit that the Pattern Silvers had more experience.

Please, let's not kid ourselves, while I didn't see how they performed in Ottawa, Eve's girls did. Serenity took out a shoggoth herself. Where I got tackled and blew up my Jammers when I faced one and the Canadians had to use a tank, Ranma thought to herself as she finished a sandwich.

And then there was Serenity and her girls teleporting into Tessa's summoning. The demon's tail curled as she remembered the battle. Specifically, Serenity using her scepter to spear giant nightmare monsters with beams of blinding light.

Ranma smiled, Lady Mars' service also played a part. It was not every day one got to see Amaterasu's will in full display.

"My, the food here must be good," a voice interrupted the redhead's daydream.

Ranma cocked her head and looked over her… she was not sure how they were related. Given the visitor was of House RedStorm's royal line, and the founder of that polity was a daughter of BlackSky there was a blood link.

"It is. One of the perks." Ranma nodded at the lithe brunette. Her hair was braided up in a pair of rings. She wore a flowing silk, black cheongsam with silver trim and little ruby lightning bolts at the collar. A long bundle of red silk over two meters long was carried on a sling over one shoulder.

"Mind if I sit?" Teal eyes studied the redhead.

"Sure, Yohko." She gestured to a chair. "Where are your girls?'

"Sleeping in, they had a late night training."

"More like an early morning." Ranma gave a vicious grin. "How'd they enjoy their first helicopter op?"

Yohko snorted. "You don't train by halves do you?"

"Nah." Ranma paused to have some soup. "This was me taking things slow."

Tilting her head, Yohko sat down.

"I'm serious, ask around about the training my baby sister went through." The redhead gave a low laugh.

"The arcanist?" Yohko asked.

"Wizard."

The brunette murmured. "Still, it was handy that you were able to whistle up air-assets for training."

"You don't work that closely with the Company?"

Yohko glanced about. "I'm not a full-time contractor."

Ranma nodded. "Don't worry, it's not like you've got a bunch of agents babysitting you."

Her teal eyes sparkled. "Please, we both know that all Company visitors, human or non-human, special contractor or no, get escorts. They spy on everything."

The redhead finished her soup. "Certainly, but you don't have to worry about a bunch of agents babysitting you," she repeated, with emphasis.

"Ah." Shaking her head, Yohko gave a sly smile. "Full time has its rewards?"

"A few," the redhead shrugged. "But being independent gives a lot more flexibility."

"Yes, I may settle down as my girls are getting older," Yohko paused. "Maybe go to Silvana or somewhere else in House BlackSky."

"I'd like to visit, maybe when things calm down here."

Yohko tapped the table. "Yeah, you've had a crazy year here." She gave the younger demon a contemplative look. The redhead had a veritable flock of daughters and a clowder of sisters.

It was a bit intimidating to find such a young brood mother with such a large extended family. And one where there was no senior brood mother over the redhead and her sisters.

No wonder DarkStar was Grandmother BlackSky's favorite.

Eyes shifting, the redhead's tail flicked. "I didn't ask for this," she soothingly said.

Yohko smiled. "No, but you did make the best of it," she purred. "You do know how sexy you are?"

Ranma blinked and looked down. "Huh. Yeah, still a succubus."

"Not that." The brunette snorted. "I mean the easy confidence and command, without coming off as some spoiled, prissy princess."

The redhead coughed.

Purring, Yohko's tail swished. "First time being hit on?"

The redhead looked down and flushed. "Well... all the succubae I've ever met are either grandma, daughters, nieces, sisters or... food." She smiled, revealing her fangs.

"Oh."

"Come to think of it... Alexia was my cousin so all those poor minions I ate were first cousin once removed..." Ranma brightened. "Yup, that makes you the most distantly related succubus I've met!"

Leaning forward, Yohko's smile widened. "We might have to do something about that."

"Visiting home, er the Home Plane? That would be nice, but me and my girls will need some time off...." Ranma took a bite out of her second sandwich.

Yohko looked coy. "There are other options."

"Oh?" Ranma met her gaze then turned to the side. "Senny!" She waved.

A tall, almost willowy, woman crossed the room. Her features were pale and statuesque, but not the unnatural succubus pallor, or sharp features of the redhead. Long silver-blonde hair was pulled up into two inter-braided buns on the back of her head before spilling down her shoulders in a pair of long tails.

A silver jacket, just a tinge darker than her tresses, was open over a cream-colored blouse with heavy decolletage in front. A matching silver skirt managed to conceal more of the tops of her stockings than was given by first impression.

She strode closer, white pumps clicking on silver-chased toes and metallic silver heel spikes.

"You were looking for me?" she asked the redhead. Her smile beamed out, complimented by the relatively understated cosmetics that focused on drawing to her eyes and lips.

"Senny?" Yohko asked.

"Yes, that is a.... new one," Serenity's attention went between the two brood mothers. "Ah, your new friend, Ranma?"

"This is Yohko of House RedStorm; she and her daughters are visiting," Ranma said as she motioned for Serenity to take the seat beside her at the table.

Yohko's tail swished at that. "And you're the Lunarian Queen," she bowed her horns to Serenity.

Taking the offered chair, Serenity gave a little sigh. "Am I that obvious?"

"You might not have your calling card on your forehead," Ranma purred. "But you certainly taste that way."

"You two are tasting me?"

Yohko waved. "More like smelling, but saying your odor is recognizable is not exactly complimentary sounding is it?

"It's not a bad smell, it's a very enticing one," Ranma turned so her knees were closer to Serenity's.

The queen smiled and looked at the depleted tray. "And here you are after such a light meal."

Yohko chuckled.

"I do have some experience in managing hungry little demons." Serenity squared her shoulders and was just tall enough to loom over the short, but not petite, redhead.

Ranma put on a faux pout as she snaked her tail over to Serenity.

"You do," Ranma purred. "You all moved into the new place?"

Serenity gave the teal-eyed demon a slight glance. "Yes, Meiou is still getting escape plans setup. I'd say she's paranoid but..."

The redhead nodded. "You know, you could have moved onto my street."

"And put all the Company's high value assets in one place?" The Moon Queen laughed. "Your sister would hit you for suggesting that."

"Eve wouldn't... hit me," Ranma pouted.

"Maybe not, but I know she finds Succubus Street risky enough."

"Succubus Street?" Yohko asked.

"Eve, Cecilia, and their girls live just down the road from where I live with my girls."

The brunette demon nodded. "Right, centralization allows for more efficient defense and access control, but it makes a bigger target."

Sighing a bit, Serenity eyed her. Age was hard to tell with succubae, but the Japanese woman had an air of more maturity and age than the redhead. "Is every succubus an expert in... tradecraft?"

"I have been a contractor for a while, more independent than some, but similar job," Yohko shot Ranma a look. "Though I specialized in Pattern D's who didn't play nice."

"And even those of us who aren't 'on the job' have to live among humans, which requires being able to hide our true nature."

Serenity rolled her eyes. "Ranma, you do the bare minimum to not look blatantly demonic."

"Still!"

Before turning to Yohko, Serenity gave Ranma a smile. "How long have you been a well... demon hunter?"

The brunette gave a fanged smile. "Since before I was turned."

Serenity looked the brunette over. She was not sure on the etiquette here. Was asking how someone was turned a sensitive topic? It could be very traumatic, such as how Ranma, most of her daughters, and Cecilia and all of her daughters got turned. For that matter, Eve's daughters were also turned during battle.

"How'd you get turned?" the redhead blurted out.

Yohko looked a bit embarrassed. "A dumb teenager got in over her head and tried to banish the wrong demoness. My grandmother, my human grandmother was... not happy."

"You attacked a succubus and got turned?" Serenity frowned.

"There was more to it than that. For one Mom's really powerful and... patient," Yohko blushed. "At least my dating life got better, which made both my new and old mother happy."

"Yes, succubae seem to have little problem dating," Serenity glanced to Ranma. "Normal succubae," she teased.

Ranma stuck out her tongue.

"Both were happy?" she then asked Yohko.

"My mother, my human mother, was always... sexual. She gave me a package of condoms when I was sixteen."

Serenity coughed.

"Hey, I was boy crazy back then," Yohko's cheeks tinged and she caught Ranma's eye. "Not... that I am 'boy' crazy now. Also... I obviously wasn't that boy crazy even as a human."

"Obviously?"

Yohko worked her jaw. "Oh. Um... well... how to put this..." Her eyes went to the silk bundle she'd propped up next to her.

"What... did your magical powers only work if you were a virgin?" Serenity blinked at the teal-eyed demon's sheepish nod.

"Oh... no wonder your human grandma was mad."

"Granny Madoka was more than mad. I mean her own daughter, my mom, couldn't be a Devil Hunter because she was pregnant with me. The mantle had to go from my grandmother to me. And now I was a demon, and worse a sex demon? Who ever heard of a virgin succubus?"

Serenity chuckled. "Yes, imagine such a thing."

Ranma blushed.

"So... how bad did it go with Granny Madoka."

Yohko put her hands on the table palm down. "Adopting my friend Azusa helped. It was complicated but..." The demonic hunter bit her lip. "Azusa was training to be a devil hunter and had been... my sidekick. She's the 109th Devil Hunter now."

"I'm sorry." Ranma put her hand on Yohko's.

"Grany Madoka still talks to me. She... um, I'm not the one she blames." Yohko gripped the redhead's fingers. "Funny thing... I should have been, the 109th Devil Hunter."

"But your mother..."

"Yeah, she got pregnant with me too early. Though I don't think I was conceived her first time."

"Oh." Serenity gave a sour expression. "She blames your mother for not being a virgin?"

"She blames both my mothers!" Yohko looked to Ranma and gave a little smile.

"If my human mother had taken up the mantle. And had fought she and grandma could have trained me. I would have been stronger, would have been wiser. And I wouldn't have fallen to some temptress."

Serenity could just feel the wave of sympathy going from the redhead to the brunette.

Yohko gave Ranma's hand a pat. "We can't all be the result of magical reincarnation."

"It's overrated," Ranma and Serenity echoed.

The brunette shook her head. "Magical girls."

"Hey!" Ranma groused.

"Its' not all bad. My human mother loves seeing my girls."

"And given they're succubae, her sexual attitudes probably mean she's the fun grandma," Ranma offered.

"Yes, but as much as my daughters love Granny Sanyoko, she's still only..." Catching Serenity's gaze, Yohko trailed off.

"Human?" Serenity asked.

"There is a gap between our kind and your kind," Yohko awkwardly looked to Ranma for help.

The redhead frowned and finished her soup. "My last relationship was... challenging. That she was human wasn't the only problem, but it... contributed."

Serenity put an arm around the sad succubus's shoulder. The shorter woman leaned on her.

Yohko turned away. "Um, there was another reason why I wanted to talk."

"You didn't just want to flirt?" A bit of a smile crossed Ranma's face

"Well, we got to talking and..." Yohko pulled out a black gilt-edged envelope and placed it on the table.

Recognizing the sigil embossed in wax on the black Ranma tilted her head. "Grandma?" she looked at the surprisingly slim envelope.

"I can guess what it is," Yohko took out her own black envelope.

The redhead was already slicing off the edge and pulling out a cream slip of paper filled with a very neat set of Hiragana characters.

"BlackSky knows Japanese? And calligraphy?" Serenity asked after Ranma handed her the short message.

Yohko gave the silver-haired woman a perplexed gaze. "Grandma BlackSky is the mother of RedStorm, the head of my House. She rules directly or indirectly the better part of a continent."

"She invaded this world." Ranma reminded. "And used my death to destroy a rival and further her dealings with your Mother."

Yohko nodded. "BlackSky is."

Serenity picked at the letter. "And she's inviting herself over for dinner?"

"Oh no, she's just expressing an interest in meeting both of us again, and invites us over to Silvana, but is more than understanding that our busy schedules would not allow us to attend."

"And she just happens to imply that she would not be insulted if you made an offer that was more convenient to you." Serenity shook her head. "I'm Japanese too, we all know about politeness games and saving face."

Ranma snickered.

"Okay, maybe not all of us," Serenity added.

"I can be plenty polite, diplomatic even," Ranma crossed her arms.

Serenity nodded. "Sure."

"I was diplomatic with that scary fae queen, even got a deal out of it."

The moon queen's eyes met Ranma's purple ones and she gave a tiny inquisitive look. The redhead nodded ever so slightly

"You mean when that queen's leg breaker tried to phone home for support and figure out why she-"

"He," Ranma interrupted. "At the time," she added to Yohko.

"Why he had been sent here, when it turned out that another fairy queen sent him over?"

Yohko's hand played against the bundle of red silk she had leaned against the table. "Right, can you summarize what you're talking about?"

"You how over a month ago there was a... gas explosion to the east of Toronto?" Ranma asked.

"You mean when some terrorists angry at Canada's middle eastern meddling prematurely set off an improvised fuel air bomb they had made out of some tanker trucks they had staged near a hospital they had planned to destroy?" Yohko flatly recited

"Hey, I don't write the cover stories. I mean the guys in Public Relations Section make sure to keep me well away from the media."

"They really do," Serenity added. "It's a challenge given all that red hair."

"Says the woman with all the blasts of brilliant glowing light."

Yohko shook her head. "Right... some Pattern F bigwigs sent you an asset to help you kill whatever it was you two blew up in London, Ontario last month."

"It was more than just us," Serenity assured.

"And the asset was a powerful Prime, a full blown wizard."

"And from the pronouns, and that I'm the first succubus you've met not of your brood, you turned him."

Ranma gave a smug smile. "Sister."

"You made a fae queen's wizard asset..."

"Her knight," the redhead corrected.

"Her knight into your sister? And this queen didn't flay you?"

"I'm pretty sure Mab's quite happy with the results."

Serenity shook her head. "She gets insufferable like this."

Yohko blinked. "Oh, her. You did that... to Mab. "

"You've met?"

"My mother told me about her, from her mother." Yohko exhaled. "Okay, that's pretty impressive."

"Don't encourage her," Serenity mock sighed.

"Hey, I was also diplomatic with you."

"Are you talking about the deal to train me or the insurance deal."

"I got better with those," Ranma's tone was sheepish. "But no, I'm talking about how I treated the Ami situation."

Serenity quirked an eyebrow. "You mean how you haven't eaten my friend?"

"Your friend who is playing evil Mistress and doing naughty things in Japan. I've been exceedingly polite with her."

"Dare I ask?" Yohko asked.

"My friend Ami was- is- "Serenity corrected herself with a snarl. "A magical girl. Six months ago, she got corrupted by the same bozo who got this one all demony." She waved to Ranma.

"And she's running around being a dark magical girl?"

"She thinks she's saving me from dark influence, and learning how to make us stronger, better able to fight what's coming." Serenity flexed her right hand and then clenched her fingers.

"Oh... "

The table grew silent for a bit.

Yohko gave the redhead a wistful look then shrugged. "You know, when Grandma visits..."

"You're assuming BlackSky will get her wish and they'll setup a dinner thing?" Serenity asked.

Both demons chuckled. "The brass here want to keep her, and by extension her spawn happy," Yohko said.

"Yeah, not to mention Jacob and Stillwater see this as a way to learn more about the succubus Homeplane," Ranma added.

"I'd bet Eve already knows and is ironing out all the logistics and planning," Ranma chewed her lip. "Picking a location will depend on a lot of things, like how many will show up, and how private it'll have to be."

"Not just that," Yohko gave the redhead a coy smile.

"Oh?"

"It might be best if you brought a date to this dinner; to keep Grandma from meddling." Yohko then pointedly turned to Serenity.

The silver-haired Senshi coughed. "Um..."

Ranma gave her a wry smile.

***************
.

Shaking some snow off her coat, Ranma slipped into the booth in the back of the Red Turtle. She rolled her shoulders as a waiter put down a glass of water and a small glass of scotch. The redhead took a sip and sighed with relief.

The two girls already in the booth exchanged a glance.

"Long day?" the short-haired blonde asked.

"I'm not late," Ranma assumed.

"That's not what Sam meant," her pony-tailed brunette companion said in a sing-song.

The pale redhead put down her glass.

"You're still in work-mode," the brunette continued.

Ranma looked down. "I was in training today. I'm wearing bustier and skirt today. It's been a long time since I wore leathers into combat."

"It's not that," Sam teased. "It's your face."

The demoness blinked.

Sam sipped her hard cider. "You look all 'mom', like you're trying to pass as having teenage daughters."

"Nah, she only looks like late twenties when she does that, she looks older now," Naoko shook her head and idly twirled the glass of mead.

"Oh, that!" Purple eyes widened in realization. And she eased some of the slight wrinkles and age-lines from her face.

The two looked expectant.

"JTF2 had a visitor in this week to augment their Unarmed Combat Instruction. And Major Sifton invited me up to audit." Ranma gave a little smile.

Naoko leaned forward. "Who was it?"

Ranma looked eager. "Grand Master Chae Hung-Jun. He's a primary student of Jun Mu Kwan founder of Lim Chae-Kwan."

"Um?" Sam asked.

Naoko paused then thought for a bit. "That's Hapkido right?"

"Yes! And from a Master in offensive techniques for joint locks and throws. The guy really knows leverage," Ranma said eagerly.

Sam nodded. "Okay, I can see why you'd love to study under someone like that, you are a giant martial arts geek."

Ranma snorted and sipped her drink.

"But that doesn't explain why you look like you're nearing forty," Naoko added.

Sighing, the redhead slumped in her chair. "It's easier that way."

"Easier?"

"People my age don't normally have their own schools, let alone my skill in martial arts. Less questions if it looks like I've had a couple more decades of experience." She looked at her glass with a little frown.

"You also had to hide that you were... you know," Sam gestured to where Ranma's wings would be.

"I wonder if Master Chae knew you were holding back?" Naoko pondered.

Ranma nodded. "A... young female instructor from a very -well- select Japanese school that vanished years ago, who just happens to also be training Canadian special forces? It didn't take much after warm-ups for him to know something was up."

"Gee, it's like you were dealing with a grizzled old martial arts master," Naoko dryly said. "Did you at least pretend to be, not abnormal?"

"I wasn't blatant," the redhead stated. "Sure, my joints are at the... upper limits of human norms, and most pain compliance techniques don't really work on me. Though he did find a nerve that does trigger a reaction. That alone was worth the visits."

"That's good," Sam sipped from her bottle. "Did you bring any of your girls?"

"Not... every day."

"Having a gaggle of female students all with similar... builds would be suspicious?" Naoko asked.

"They are related to her, and their builds aren't all the same. Nariko is willowy, Yuki, well Nabiki, is petite, Misako is more buxom, Akane is more athletic, and Ukyou is more... elegant."

"There's nothing wrong with saying Ucchan's very pretty in a specific way," Ranma grinned.

"Bifauxnen is the Japanese word for when a woman is pretty but in a more androgynous, well, masculine way," Naoko said.

"Like how she wears suits in a more masculine cut?" Sam took another drink.

Ranma smiled. "It's not just bringing in a mess of people. The class wasn't for me, I was a guest. Really, I brought my girls so they could learn a bit... and as demonstration partners," the redhead gave an evil little smirk. "How have things been with you girls?"

"Not that different from the last time we met," Sam said.

"Yeah, not much changed in two weeks. School, hanging out at the weekend, homework." Naoko gave Ranma a contemplative look.

"Dropping out of school didn't make things easier for me. Not like Eve lets us slack off," she murmured.

"Is it dropping out if you're doing it for military stuff?"

"And didn't your sister make you get your GED?" Sam smirked.

"Yeah! Technically that makes you more educated than us."

"Really?" the redhead scoffed. "I attended Furinkan High for, like, half a year. And that was the longest I'd ever been at a single school. Damn Pops." She frowned a bit and sighed. "And sure I was able to cram my way into a passing 783."

"Out of?"

"Eight hundred, but it's not like the test is hard, just long. And that's a better score than my little sister got when she took it."

"This the new one, with the blue hair?" Naoko asked, then narrowed her eyes slightly. "That we never got to meet?"

"Those were a couple of crazy weeks. I mean between Lomar and London -"

Sam patted her friend's hand. "It's okay. But you do know what's a really good score right?"

"It's a GED. You girls are going to get real diplomas and then go onto college."

Naoko rubbed her forehead. "Yeah, but at that level you could apply to have those as college credit."

Ranma gave a little smile. "Yes, Eve told me about the GED College Ready program. And Nariko has shown some interest in it, Nabiki too but..." the demon shook her head. "Heck, you girls could test out, too; get an early jump at university. Sure, Kuno doesn't run a bad school, but the place is weird, and you could get an early start."

"Honestly? After you and Tendos, your other girls, and Tsukino and her friends left the place calmed down a lot."

The redhead played with her drink. "Sure..."

"We don't just mean the big stuff like monster and terrorist attacks," Sam sighed.

"Heck, even that smarmy creep Rod Ferris and that pasty spooky guy.... what was his name?" Sam asked.

"Hikaru Gosunkugi," Naoko supplied.

"The waxy guy with the circles under his eyes? Looks like he never got enough sleep?"

"That's the one, just up and transferred out one day. Maybe he was some type of zombie," Sam offered.

"If he's the guy I'm remembering, he smelled human," Ranma said.

"Doesn't mean he wasn't trouble," Sam said.

"I dunno, maybe he was just some normal awkward geek?" Naoko asked.

Sam scoffed. "Right, he hung out with Rod, and that smarmy guy just rubbed me the wrong way." The blonde looked to the redhead, expectantly.

"What? You expect me to know if my former classmates are secret double agents?" Ranma gave a forced laugh. Janet had been an infiltrator; she had really been Usagi's friend Naru and had been sent, with her similarly altered mother, to try and capture the Moon Princess.

She had ensnared Mercury instead.

"Eve would know," Naoko pointed out.

"But would she tell us?" Sam inquired.

"Other than being quieter how has school been? Maybe you got some new people transferring in?"

Naoko laughed. "From what we heard you're the one with the interesting visitors."

Ranma frowned. "Misako told you?"

"Maybe."

Leaning forward, Sam propped her head up with her elbows. "Tell us about this new succubus in your life."

"Eve's not going to be happy with this."

"If she complains after reviewing tonight's footage she knows where we live," Naoko assured.

Chuckling, Ranma took another sip. "Yohko's nice, has two kids, her girls are very cute, though Ukyou does get twitchy around them. Similar job as me. Past.... not quite as complicated as mine. And it's neat to talk to someone... who is... you know, and isn't closely related to me."

"But?" Sam asked.

"Well, Usagi likes her too."

"Ooooh!" the two girls said simultaneously. "Do you have a little love triangle?" Sam asked.

"Though I suppose it doesn't need to be unrequited, given things," Naoko added.

Ranma gave a long blink. She chewed her lip thoughtfully. "I'm not sure Yohko would go for that... or Usagi for that matter."

The demon's two friends smirked. "So, you two?"

"Nothing, big," Ranma waved. "She's just accompanying me to a family dinner."

"As a date?" Sam asked.

"Which side of your family?" Naoko's question was more pointed.

"Um, the out of town one. The way out of town one."

"Really?"

Ranma nodded. "Eve's spinning a bunch of plates getting things ready. Apparently, one of Grandma's cooks, a Gloria SpringLeaf, and another aide will be coming in a few days to help with the preparations."

"That sounds like more than 'nothing big'," Sam noted.

The redhead shook her head. "No no, this is merely a family dinner with my grandmother, a couple aunts, my family and some guests."

Sam tilted her head. "I'm missing something."

"My grandmother kind of has her own... empire, and hosting an official state visit is a bit beyond the Company's contract with the Canadian government," Ranma quietly admitted.

"Ah... but just a family dinner with your grandmother is fine?" Naoko asked.

"Wait... if your grandmother is an empress, does that make you some kind of princess?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, isn't that two for you?" Naoko nodded.

Ranma downed the last of her drink.

***************


Sergeant Jared Dirac completed his checks, secured the jamming equipment, saluted, and left the office.

Shortly after the lanky agent's exit, Colonel Jacob Edwards leaned forward, undid the clasps of his briefcase and started taking out tools.

At his desk, Commander Stillwater watched with some amusement in his pale blue eyes. "Don't trust the young man?"

"I would hardly have recommended his promotion otherwise," Jacob readied some slightly more... arcane equipment.

"One could point out that people with skill-sets such as those young Mr. Dirac has should be given some extra consideration." Tapping a short memo, Stillwater gave a cool ghost of a smile.

"Provided our counter-intelligence section gives the clear?" Jacob asked as another slight hum began to fill the room. This one prickled against the more regular rhythm of the equipment Dirac had set up.

"And if the head of counter-intelligence is also someone with a 'special' skill-set?"

Closing the briefcase, Jacob eyed his superior's neat desk. "You worry Captain Jarvis' opinion would be biased in this regard?"

"I do not doubt her loyalty to this organization."

"Her," Jacob repeated, idly scratching the scar on the back of his palm.

"Indeed, we crossed that Rubicon half a year ago when we approved the Capitan's change."

"The benefits of giving Miss Saotome a sibling have been quite solid." Jacob stood and went to a side table in his boss' office and filled three glasses with amber liquid. "Imagine the consequences for us if Miss Saotome did not have one of ours as her first sister. The temptation to seek out BlackSky, to seek out family, would be much stronger. It would be done before Miss Saotome had defined herself."

Stillwater accepted a glass. "Does this count as too much success?"

"The family dinner or Major Saotome's proposal?"

The commander took a drink. "Both have their risks. And the former alone is a considerable logistics effort."

Jacob sat back down. "We need allies to survive what is coming." He turned his glass, his expression sober.

"Like the Winter Queen?"

"If I had to choose, I think Pattern Ds are preferable to Pattern F. But we shall see."

"What of Pattern Silvers?"

Jacob sipped. "After Ottawa and London, I am less concerned about Miss Tsukino and her team. However, Miss Mizuno and hers are more of a concern."

"The reports from Tokyo are worrisome." Stillwater put his glass down next to the memo and frowned. "Perhaps we-"

There was a knock on the office's solid door.

Stillwater checked the security feed and nodded to Jacob.

Picking up a slim device, the tall, spare man stood and unlocked the door.

An auburn haired woman in a grey WIC uniform with a white lab coat stepped into the office.

After closing the door, Jacob wanded the humming device over the officer.

Her lips quirked after the inspection finished and she stepped up to the desk and saluted.

"Please, take a seat, Major Saotome," Jacob said after returning the salute.

Nodoka took a chair before the desk.

Jacob handed her the third glass.

She sniffed and gave a quizzical look. Her memo, her request was the only paper on the commander's desk.

"You joined our organization for one reason," Jacob said without preamble.

"To find my child."

"To find your son," Stillwater corrected.

"Technically, the Company did find your ex-husband and your daughter. But a reasonable person could be justified in taking issue with the time it took and the results."

Nodoka took a sip. "On balance, I find reuniting with my daughter more than acceptable."

"And it's not just her," Stillwater said.

"Miss Dresden is alone. Well not alone, but without support who understands her condition."

Nodoka frowned. "Her half-brother is the closest to understanding; they have similar urges."

"Your daughter, your eldest daughter is planning to visit her."

"Yes, Sir." Major Saotome nodded.

Silence entered the room as the three mercenary officers thought. There was the clink of glasses being put down.

"Your proposal is not without risk," Stillwater eventually said.

"I am willing to submit to Dr. Du Maurier for examination," Major Saotome said.

"That is good to know, if not strictly necessary." Jacob allowed. "Captain Lydia Du Maurier's expertise is not... fully applicable here."

"A counter argument could be made, Sir," Nodoka said. "While her research is in NH psychology, Dr. Du Maurier has spent more time helping humans with post battle trauma. Not to mention her direct experience with my family."

"And since she is already read-in she is less of marginal increase in security risk," Stillwater stated.

Nodoka nodded at the commander's subtext. "Like how Captain Jarvis could be brought in?"

The two senior officers exchanged a look. Faded green eyes met pale blue. "Not exactly," Jacob said.

"With the Captain, we could make that decision with our own authority, our inability to do that with your proposal is, for several reasons the main point of contention."

Nodoka finished her glass. "Yes sir, I am well aware that I will have to petition a higher authority to get my request."

***************


Snow beat against the tall windows of the lodge. The long building stood on side of a hill giving a view of a meandering river valley. The interior was rustic, but with polished wooden floors and walls complete with open rafters, a full kitchen, and an adjacent grilling and other outdoor cooking under extended eaves and wind shields.

Wood smoke and the scent of cooking meat wafted into the hall rising and falling with the wind. Nearly a dozen banners periodically rustled whenever someone went in or out the doors.

A redhead in a slit calf-length purple dress stood before the windows, watching snow cover the trees in a fresh layer of fluffy whiteness. Her hair was teased and curled to a customary wild mane, and accented with obsidian earrings in silver settings and matching necklaces.

A statuesque woman with long, tightly plaited, silver hair glided next to her in a tight white gown. "Are you nervous?"

The redhead turned and flashed a cocky grin. "Why would I be?"

"Because you're meeting your grandmother," Serenity's eyes went to one of the dangling banners that had a black field with half a dozen silver four-pointed stars arcing across on the upper half and thin grey lines radiating out from the bottom edge.

"I've already met her."

"And two of her daughters." Serenity turned to a pair of rippling banners. One with burning golden clouds that made burning rivers on black cliffs with silver thread emphasizing the shadows. The other had descending arcs of grey motes falling onto on turbulent ocean. Both banners bore gold trim.

The redhead shrugged. "CloudFire and AshRain sound nice enough."

"Demon names." The silver-haired woman shook her head.

"Really, we're going there, Serenity?"

"Why not? Apparently I warrant a fancy flag."

Ranma turned to study the silver-chased golden crescent moon on a shimmering white background. "It does look nice. Very simple."

Serenity chuckled. "I don't know if Puu pushed for it or if your sister thought it was proper."

"She made sure the Canadian coat of arms was up."

Serenity turned and looked at the banner in the far corner by the entrance. "It's rather... busy." With the lions, unicorns, crowns, flags, maple leaves and spears, the Canadian heraldry was far more complicated than the other banners combined.

The only one that came close was the Company's logo, that was across the hall from the Canadian banner, with its grey globe surrounded by three symbols of warding alternating with the letters W, I, and C on a black background.

Ranma followed her date's gaze. "It's kind of ironic, Grandma and her people speak Latin, well a Latin, but it's the Canadian's that actually has Latin on it. 'A Mari usque ad Mare'."

"Meaning?" Serenity asked watching a group of agents and other... guards organizing tables and setting places.

"From sea to sea."

"Huh, rather manifest destiny of them," Serenity absently said as she studied the two remaining banners. One bore a familiar four pointed purple star outlined in Silver on a field of dark grey

The last bore sleeting red lightning bolts over a grey mountain.

"Where is Yohko?" Serenity asked.

"Helping her girls get dressed," Ranma said, looking towards the kitchen as her tail swished about.

"And your girls?" Serenity asked.

"Ukyou's helping Mother and Gloria SpringLeaf with the cooking. And Gloria's being very patient in letting her practice her Silvan Latin," Ranma added with a smile

"And the others?" Serenity noticed that the redhead was leading her towards the kitchen.

"Nabiki and Nariko are with the librarian who came with Gloria, or maybe SharpSleet."

Serenity raised an eyebrow.

"She's an officer... or maybe a non-com in their military. She's in charge of some of the guards that came over." Ranma gestured towards a group of succubae who were helping organize things.

They wore polished armor of a glossy almost ceramic looking material fashioned in interlocking plates that looked a bit like lorica segmenta. With some extra embellishments and skirting that Serenity found a bit uncomfortably similar to her own Senshi's battle uniforms.

Wings and tails poked out from slits in the back of the armor. And little jeweled pins were set in their hair and earrings dangled in what had to be some sort of display of rank or merit.
Some had slung rifles with long shining wood stocks while others had glaives with oddly gleaming blades.

"They're getting along with your mercenaries?" Serenity asked.

Ranma chuckled. "Seems like it. Though I'll admit the whole idea of the House Guard is a bit weird. I mean it's not like BlackSky needs a bodyguard, even a whole legion."

"I have the Guardian Senshi," Serenity countered.

"Yeah... but they're not just your bodyguards." Ranma took her arm. "And they were very helpful in the beginning."

"Not just then," Serenity admitted.

"And where is Mina?" Ranma asked looking around the room, hand held to her brow.

Serenity shook her head. She knew the redhead could smell if Minako were here or not. "With Puu, watching the arrival site."

Ranma looked up at the banners. "Is that the first impression we want to make?"

"You think your grandmother would be offended by Sailor Pluto lurking about as she teleports in?"

The redhead simply gave the moon queen a look.

"Wait, we?"

Smiling slightly, the redhead tilted her head, angling her horns. It was not quite a bow. "I suppose that's why Puu brought Minako and they'll stand back, more to make sure nothing... breaks when Grandmother and her daughters arrive."

"And why is Eve there?" Serenity did a similar obvious look around the room and pointed out Cecilia with her daughters split between helping the troops set things up and going over to Misako to get their hair and makeup and accessories put in order.

Ranma's cheeks colored a bit. "Protocol."

"Really? And I thought she was there as some sort of trip-wire in case this was a trap and thus some of you could escape or have a counter-attack."

The redhead chuckled. "If BlackSky wanted us gone..."

"Please, you and your mercs have plots to get rid of everyone. You took out a millennia old literal Fallen Angel last month."

"Technically, that was the Fallen's host. And you were a critical part of that plan."

Serenity grinned with a flash of teeth.

"Besides, if things went... wrong. Say it wasn't really grandmother that came, worst case.." The redhead exhaled. "Worse case still wouldn't result in my whole family being wiped out."

"BlackStone?" Serenity asked.

"It's hard having family far away," Ranma's tail curled. "I shouldn't have said things about you leaving your daughter in Japan."

"Well... I have been talking to her more."

The redhead nodded. "You head-butting Lartessa was something else." She then resumed taking her towards the kitchen.

Serenity saw Doctor Saotome, apron over her formal black and grey WIC uniform, step into the kitchen from outside in a flurry of snowflakes. The older woman gave a restrained smile at the two.

'"Flatterer," Serenity told the redhead.

End Chapter 1

And here we go, the first new Return stuff after Blood Debts. And it's now all inline with the "revision standard".

There's also work on some BlackStone one shots that document her life and trials.
I'm currently working on: "Invisible Hand", "Our Sister, the Idiot" and "Family Business".

There's also been a mess of new art for this story (and other art that's not for this story) on my Deviant Art account.

I'd like to thank. DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, J.St.C.Patrick, Henry Stickman, and Toxinvictoria. They were very helpful from the spelling and grammar, to World Building, to Continuity, to Characterization. They've been helping me with this project for a long time. Some of them since the very beginning.

I'd also like to thank all the other prereaders I've had in the past for their contributions, and everyone who has commented and enjoyed my stories.

Thanks all.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

The Return
A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/

Temporary Backup Site.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/


Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C is appreciated.

Book 6: Bonding Allure
Chapter 2: Extending Family


Serenity stared at the bodies as flakes fluttered onto her gown's shoulders. Limbs splayed, skin flayed, each was racked on a metal frame. Empty eyes stared at her as the corpses hung over a slow, smoldering fire.

There was a ratcheting noise as the racks rotated from horizontal to vertical. Skin crackled but flesh did not burn. No, the demonic cook, a tall green-haired woman with red skin and silver eyes, worked the racks and the coals with consummate, patient skill. It would not do to... ruin the meat.

Serenity inhaled. The smell was enticing. Everything succubae touched was tempting, and this was one of BlackSky's personal chefs. She wore a practical dark grey dress and black apron, which were still tailored in a rather complimentary manner.

"Oooh, are they ready?" Ranma leaned forward towards one of the bodies. She inhaled deeply nose to... snout.

"It's a whole pig."

"And a cow," Ukyou said, putting a brush into a bucket of sauce.

"And a whole one of those." Serenity stepped around the racks. The metal structures were immense.

The windbreaks and the sheltering roof helped keep most of the snow away, but they were still outside.

"There's a very similar style of cooking on your world." The green-haired demon bowing her head to present her horns. "Vaca Entera."

"Argentinean, I think it means 'entire cow'," Ukyou smirked.

Standing next to her mother, Ranma laughed. "Accurate enough."

Looking to her fellow cook, Ukyou said something incomprehensible to Serenity who dully nodded.

The green-haired demoness smiled then answered in the same language.

"What's wrong?" Ranma asked. "Her pronunciation isn't that bad."

The chef's silver eyes widened slightly. "No... not much, given neither of you have spoken with native speakers," she allowed, switching to English.

"I didn't think you knew Silvan Latin," Ranma looked to Serenity.

Serenity blinked.

Nodoka gave her daughter a look.

"You could put people in there," Serenity mumbled.

The demoness shook her head. "Different body shape, your Highness. Especially when you cut down the sternum and butterfly along the spine."

Serenity's mood lifted as she inspected the racks. "Ah yes! Um, Gloria?"

"Yes, Gloria SpringLeaf," she bowed again. "Racks to fit humanoids are more historical curiosities."

"Oh? Like in a museum?" Serenity had heard of museums of old torture equipment.

"In the central kitchen of the Upper Palace's main storage room," Gloria shrugged as she went back to tending the meat. "Getting cuts like those, whole and with enough time to cook them? That's rare, even at BlackSky's court."

Serenity looked a bit green.

"It's supply and demand. Do you know how expensive it is to get an entire body?" Gloria pointed to Ranma. "How many of your kills did you save off the battle field? Uneaten, whole. And then cook?"

"None." The redhead coughed then gave Serenity a bashful smile.

"It does smell wonderful," Nodoka said.

"Ukyou has been a great help," Gloria assured, her gaze going to each of them.

Serenity met the direct eye contact, then nodded respectfully.

"Ah, they're over here!" exclaimed a chipper voice. A woman with amber-colored hair cut into a neat pageboy stepped out through the kitchen door. She wore a prim charcoal-colored suit with a black bustier instead of a blouse.

In addition to the red tail and dark horns curling up back from her brow, her skin had a slight purple tinge that was decidedly not human. Slim glasses were perched on her nose and red eyes darted about alert and amused.

She wore a sable choker with silver edging, several intricate dangling earrings, and slim silver rings on all her fingers. A pair of delicate, tiny tattoos that were vaguely evocative of comets were high on her cheekbones.

"Ah, hello, I'm... Queen Serenity. And you are?" The silver haired woman blinked. "I'm sorry, that sounds presumptuous."

"Oh, no offense, it comes up with my job." Adjusting her glasses, the red-eyed demoness smiled. "I'm Mira HeartWood, aide and personal librarian to BlackSky. Pleasure to meet you."

"Librarian?" Serenity asked after the two exchanged bows. She was never big on bowing, but after a year in Canada, she had come to miss the ritualized politeness. Sure, the succubae bowed more with their necks and their rules of etiquette were slightly different but there was a commonality.

"BlackSky is a patron of the arts, and gives generously to the Silvan public library system, ensuring everyone has library cards. And the rest of the empire too. Not to mention her personal collections," Mira brightly said.

Serenity paused and let her brow furrow a bit as she pursed her lips. "Of course," she eventually stated.

"We could talk books later but..." Mira gave an apologetic look as the trio of women she had been guiding followed in after her.

Wearing a gold-trimmed red cheongsam Yohko stepped in, one arm around each of her daughters.

Both girls were pale, demure, and draped in frippery. The girl on the left looked a bit more delicate and wore knee-length flounced pink dress with black ruffles and bows. A set of pink stockings complimented shiny white heels. Her pale purple hair was swept back by a ruffled black hairband, while pink jewelry and pearls sparkled on her ears and neck. She clutched a porcelain doll clad in an equally frilly and pink outfit in one hand.

Ranma, who still remembered the weapons her daughter Misako used when she was a human acolyte of the Assembly of Man, noted with interest the pink parasol with its thick lacquered handle the girl in pink carried in her right hand.

The other young succubus wore a lavender kimono with a silver obi. Both had a subtle snowflake pattern. Her pink hair was tied up with black ribbons and dangled in curled spirals. Her makeup was more subdued, but a bit more elegant than her companion's.

Ukyou looked between the two. Puzzlement and apprehension flicked over the platinum blonde woman's face.

"You girls are lovely," Ranma said as she guided Serenity towards them.

"Wow, yeah, they are," Serenity admitted as they exchanged greetings.

Yohko beamed. "Everyone this is ScarletWings and Kon-"

Ukyou stared at the plum-haired demoness in her pink finery. "Tsubasa? You got turned into a demon, and a girl?"

Pink eyes blinked in mock surprise. "Why yes, Ucchan. It took you long enough," she said in a shy voice.

"You know her?" Nodoka asked.

"Both of them, but Konatsu, right?" Ukyou asked, and the demoness in the kimono nodded. " Konatsu only in passing. She," the blonde succubus pointed to Tsubasa. "Was... well... it doesn't matter, but she did pester me a lot when we were... both human."

Scarlet's cheeks tinged pink. "I had a crush and wanted you to like me and I thought you'd appreciate me dressing up."

"Dressing up?" Ranma asked.

"Long story." Ukyou shook her head.

Yohko stepped forward and Konatsu comforted her mate.

"You do look cute, both of you."

"Her style is a bit similar to Misako's," Ranma said.

Ukyou coughed.

"The girl with the orange hair and green eyes?" Mira asked. "She was doing an excellent job getting everyone ready." She then glanced at a silver-banded watch on her wrist.

Brushing off a bit of snow, Nodoka gave the librarian an appraising look. She was close to BlackSky, and would know more about the demon empress' moods.

"We should talk more during dinner!" Scarlet chirped.

"You and Misako could swap hair care tips," Ukyou offered as her tail flicked.

"That would be delightful."

A few steps away Ranma and Yohko exchanged a look.

"They are a handful," the redhead said.

"Very much," the brunette agreed.

Moving closer to Ranma than Yohko was, Serenity looked out at the snowy valley beyond. Flakes continued to fall in billowing sheets.

"How's the meat look?" Ranma asked the green-haired demon. "I mean the smell alone..."

"Oh, we'll make it in time." Gloria smiled.

Yohko gave a slightly apprehensive look as she turned back to her daughters.


"Nervous?" Serenity asked. "About BlackSky?"

Yohko shook her head. "My girls and I have met Grandma BlackSky, it's just... well it's..." Teal eyes went between the silver queen and the redhead. "It a bit more formal today."

Ranma snorted. "But this is just a family dinner."

Rolling her eyes, Serenity turned back to watch the valley. The white-trimmed trees were peaceful as more crystalline precipitation floated down.

Then her blue eyes narrowed.

The snow had stopped.

There was no tapering off or even a sudden halt; the flakes froze in midair.

Serenity stared at a sky full of stilled crystals. An instant later, the snow resumed falling.

Glancing back, she saw the demons, tails straighter, had tilted their heads. BlackSky had arrived.

***************


Galina watched the heavy, wet flakes cling to her gloved hand. Making a fist, the snow sloughed off her fingers. A mottled, pale hood was up covering her dark brown hair as she crouched in the backside of a forest slope.

A scarf with the same pattern as her hooded mantle and bodysuit wrapped around her mouth and lips. Each measured exhale went into the cloth and transported the warmer air down towards her back. It did more to hide the visual cloud of exhaled breath than the thermal bloom, but it helped with the latter as well.

The wind and snowfall gave a constant, if soft, counterpoint to the rustling of the bare deciduous and evergreen trees. For a moment, Galina let her tension and focus slip. The decades of aimless surviving, of grubby mercenary work to snatch enough currency to purchase the parts needed to buy another year of life in their cobbled-together bodies weighted down on her.

Comrade Scarlatti had been a visionary. Galina and her sisters were better than human, but in their own way, they were just as mortal. The rulers behind the Party had betrayed them, betrayed the Motherland. In the end, the Checkists had won.

Their nation was no more. It was small consolation that the West was also falling into depravity, indolence, and decay. The West had been destroying itself for a century, there was no great victory in watching a rival's self-inflicted long-term rot.

Arisha, her number two, still believed, still hoped. But Galina was just weary.

Finally, she indulged in letting her mind ease off the mission: this disheartening, decimating mission. They had lost more of their number, more combat cyborgs, going up against this blonde, self declared queen and her flunkies than in any other mission. Over half of those who remained had been mauled by the demons.

Which cost more precious, hard to source, parts. Between that and the expense of retaining their Bulgarian subcontractors for months, Galina knew they needed to finish this contract and collect in full.

But finances were the first worry she put aside.

Instead, she looked across the slope and enjoyed the scenery. Not as places to set an ambush or beware of one. Not in terms of defense or reconnaissance or even how the loose, but heavy, snow would affect even her ability to run.

Dim memories of before, when she had been just a human, when she had still believed, came to her. Family. A twinge of jealousy flittered in her heart, or maybe the spherical armored nuclear battery just below.

There was the tiniest displacement of air to her side. It all washed away as her attention, her systems, came back into sharp focus.

A diminutive, but lithe, woman with pixie-cut hair wreathed in snow flowed up from the ground to appear next to her.

"The perimeter, Shest?" Galina transmitted to the woman.

"I would not recommend approaching any closer; in any direction." Shest shivered. "There are things in that dacha. You didn't see the snow stop."

"Explain." Galina slowly shifted her position. It would be too dangerous to have direct line of sight with the large "cabin" where the demon, their client/target and others had sequestered themselves.

"Things... things like that redheaded Tvar, but more. Vaster than her, older perhaps. For a moment the snowfall... halted." Shest exhaled.

"Older... demons?" Galina frowned.

"It is a feeling, I did not get closer once I sensed them."

Galina nodded. Her orders had been clear. Any reconnaissance would be limited in the attempt to avoid detection.

Shest paused.

The taller cyborg felt her apprehension and nodded for the woman to continue.

"We need more assets and knowledge with these things. Our current resources are limited, not trustworthy. Dve'nadtsat can only do so much research. She has made progress with the books our last sub-contractor had gathered but..."

Galina had to keep from chuckling. Shest was addressing Mal de Veste. The cultist they had hired with... dubious results. Arisha still complained that the punishment Galina meted out on him was nowhere near severe enough, given the mess he had created in Ottawa.

Shest gathered herself. Galina had shot down this idea before, but perhaps things were different now. "There are other... experts in this city. Ones not affiliated with these mercenaries nor our target. One is a young man, he should be more pliant than our last... consultant."

"Perhaps." Galina exhaled. "But our time is limited."


***************


Setsuna and Minako moved up to flank Serenity. The diminutive, green-haired Senshi nodded to her queen and gave a quick bow in her black, iridescent-accented seifuku. Minako's uniform was golden. She bore a massive sword held in a tooled, engraved scabbard on her hip. She smiled at her queen and took position.

Ranma and her daughters stood further down the aisle closer to the double doors. Nodoka, in her dress uniform, hovered a bit behind her. By her side were Cecilia and her girls all in dresses and gowns a bit less revealing but a bit more ornamental than Ranma's brood.

Eve and her three daughters entered through the double doors at the entrance to the hall. Morgan, still carrying her sniper rifle, was quickly brushing snow off the suit she had changed into. The Palace Guard actually gave the immense weapon some attention while Misako groused about not being able to bring her gun.

Morgan's sisters were similarly geared up and also freshly clad in dark suit-coats, blouses and skirts. Exchanging a glance with her sisters, Eve went to Mira.

The librarian stepped up the aisle along the middle of the double line of tables. The two women had a quick conversation and then Eve and her girls took position near Ranma.

The pressure built. Serenity felt the same sensation when the snowfall froze for a beat, but it was closer more... familiar. She was reminded of Ranma's presence. The magical girl swallowed.

Every demon in the hall went to one knee. Serenity felt the pull for a moment, but Setsuna squeezed her hand and the sensation eased. Taking an almost rigid stance, they gave a fractional bow to their heads.

Doctor Saotome was the only one who hesitated, for a moment it looked like she would take a knee, but instead she remained standing.

The doors opened.

A quartet of succubae entered.

Serenity stared. Power washed over her.

First was a woman with slim black horns and cobalt blue hair tied in a heavy French braid. The fins to her tail and membranes to her wings were deep blue. Glossy black boots rang over the floor. She was dressed in a military uniform with fitted black pants, a blouse with gilt braid and a handful of ribbons and awards on her chest. There were oak wreaths rendered in gold, and embossed silver disks, but the most prominent seemed to be a ruby emblem set in silver pinned just below her neck.

A sword was belted at her right hip. Sheathed in a scabbard with gilt accents, it had a basket hilt and a silver wire-wrapped grip. On her opposite side was an onyx-hilted dagger.

There was little makeup on her blue-tinged, sharp, almost crisp, features. Serenity was a bit surprised at the jeweled hair pins above one ear. They seemed oddly flashy given the relative lack of adornment the demoness had.

She walked with a plain confidence and she stopped a few paces within the hall.

Mira raised her head. "Daughter of BlackSky, House Legate AshRain."

Serenity's eye went to the gold-trimmed banner with grey motes falling into a turbulent ocean.

Grey eyes, that same shade, studied the room and, Serenity observed, immediately went to Ranma.

As one, the Alpinum Guard tilted their heads and then, with their left pointer and middle fingers extended, tapped their exposed necks. AshRain bent her neck and mirrored the salute.

After blinking at that bit of ritual, the Moon queen's attention went to the next arrival.

Where the first was understated to the point of stark elegance, this demon was luxuriously indulgent. Her makeup was artistically applied and was just a hair under being too heavy. In layered shades of red to orange and yellow, her hair was teased and fluffed into an enflamed coiffure. That her tresses gently wafted about heightened the illusion. Six silver horns curled up around the "flames" of her hair.

Her figure was voluptuous with bulging curves that reminded Serenity of taut, slightly-overripe fruit. Marring these haughty statuesque features was a chin-line that seemed a bit strong as her jaw jutted a bit.

And that her eyes glowed like miniature furnaces.

Golden jewelry flashed at her neck, her brow, her ears and down her arms.

She wore a flowing ruby dress that clung to generous curves. Scale-like obsidian accents adorned the clothing in accents and edging. Her be-ringed hands were demurely held forward revealing long silver talons. A heavy crimson tail weighed with an abundance of jewelry and elaborately gilt orange fins swished behind her.

On her arm was another demoness. A sparkly silver gown clung to glossy ruby skin. Silvery hair was sculpted into a sweeping bun and a pair of ivory horns arced out from her forehead. Her makeup and ornamentation was a bit more elaborate than the flame-haired demoness'.

Sauntering forward on gleaming golden hooves, the flame-haired demoness smiled, revealing a maw of gleaming fangs. Her ruby-skinned companion also walked on polished hooves, daringly marbled gold and silver, and had a bit more of a sway to her step.

"Daughter of BlackSky, Censor CoudFire and her mate Liviana," the librarian announced.

Noting the gold-edged banner with burning golden clouds, Serenity exhaled. More than being much more overtly demonic, she could feel yet more power radiating off of CloudFire.

Serenity kept her composure. Of the daughters AshRain felt almost... normal. The power roiling from her was akin to the confident, martial aggression that roiled off of Ranma. But CouldFire seemed to revel in her nature.

Then BlackSky arrived.

Shining black hair tumbled down slim shoulders. The tall demoness imperiously strode in. Her black gown was the pinnacle of sleek elegance with a few twists of fabric and silver accents, that, along with intricate silver diadem, necklace and earrings, raised the whole ensemble to new heights.

Cool blue eyes took in the room and she seemed to make eye contact with each individual person at the same time.

This time Mira simply stood and bowed her head.

I guess she doesn't need announcing, Serenity thought to herself. Where AshRain was a focused blade of power, and CloudFire was an indulgent inferno, BlackSky simply... was. It was like suddenly finding you were in the presence of a mountain, something so vast that it, she, defined the landscape. Her power seemed to be... higher than CloudFire's, but other than that, Serenity was at a loss on how to quantify it.

The doors closing behind her, BlackSky's heels clicked as she stepped forward. "Please, no need to be so formal," she assured.

The succubae rose up and the mercenaries assumed a more relaxed stance.

BlackSky continued to stride into the hall. Her daughters fell behind her. Serenity watched as the broods coalesced around the dark-haired empress. "Yohko, Ranma, how wonderful to see you and your daughters again."

She leaned over to hug each of the women in turn before going to their daughters.

While CloudFire and AshRain introduced themselves to Ranma and Yohko, the ancient demoness then turned to Eve and Cecilia's broods. "Captain Eve Jarvis, when we first met you were not part of our Family, but I was impressed. So good of you to have joined us, and such lovely girls."

Eve bowed and then introduced her daughters. AshRain nodded with interest, giving particular attention to Morgan's rifle.

After she had finished with Eve's branch of the family, BlackSky turned to Cecilia.

Sadness fluttered over her pale features. She pointedly met Cecilia's eye, then took in each of the lavender-haired demon's daughters before adding Akane, Nabiki, and Misako.

"All of you, I am sorry." BlackSky bowed her head presenting her horns then bent further at the waist. "My mistaken judgment brought you all so much pain."

She nodded to Eve. "Not to mention the life of Agent Aram Kowalski and countless others who died by Alexia's callow claws."

Returning to Cecilia, BlackSky held out her hand behind her.

AshRain's features paled to a slightly lighter shade of blue, but she wordlessly unbuckled her sword and put it in her mother's waiting fingers.

CloudFire's tail stilled and Serenity looked around. The tension in the hall had suddenly spiked. The mercenaries, the brood, even BlackSky's aides, Gloria and Mira, were taken aback.

The Palace Guard, in their gleaming ceramic composite uniforms with silver accents and gold insignia with crossed spears over a snow-covered peak, had gone still. Their hands hovering over their weapons.

BlackSky drew the sword. A silver blade shone as she offered the wire-wrapped hilt. "Cecilia you are of my Family, twice by my measure. By my actions, offense has been given." She went to her knees.

The lavender-haired demon swallowed. The sword felt nearly weightless in her hand. Looked down the nearly luminous edge, she recalled the Silva Succubus books. Many dealt with biology, birds and the bees and the like, but others talked of protocol and etiquette.

Tail curling, she closed her eyes. She could not lie. Alexia had been a monster, one loosed by the demon before her. "Offense has been taken, Grandmother."

Yohko and Eve both shifted their stances as CloudFire's eyes began to burn a shade brighter.

BlackSky remained kneeling. "Do you require my Apology?"

Cecilia quivered. Not since the monster that had murdered her sisters and her mother had found her house and threatened her daughters had she felt so much anxiety and fear churning her chest. Knowing Desiree had been disemboweled was a close second, but she had only seen her daughter after the fact, after that knight doctor had saved her girl's life.

The daughter of Alexia knew there was only one answer that protocol demanded. The blade felt right in her hand. Its balance felt even better than the pieces Doctor Saotome had made with Master Nishina. Her niece's katana, ScarletBane was a masterpiece, but this was another level.

She opened her eyes. "Yes."

Cecilia was not surprised to find the blade had drifted closer to BlackSky.

The empress nodded. A slight feeling of satisfaction emanated from her.

"Left hand. Pinky out. Tip up," Cecilia stated.

BlackSky complied, maneuvering her fingers as if she were reaching for a cup of tea. Cecilia's grip tightened.

All eyes were on her.

The blade lowered. The edge kissed the end of BlackSky's finger. For a moment even the luminal silver edge was held at bay, but it bit in and a brilliantly deep bead of ruby blood welled out.

Another bead formed and the first drop of blood ran down BlackSky's pinky.

Forcing herself to breathe, Cecilia lifted the blade and offered the sword to BlackSky's daughters.

CloudFire stared at the streak of blood running down one side of the edge, while her younger sister snatched up her sword.

"Really? You've seen me bleed before," BlackSky chuckled as she rose up.

"Not in a long time, Mother," CloudFire whispered.

"This hardly counts," BlackSky wiped the blood from her fingertip. The cut had already healed but a tiny white line crossed her pinky.

She smiled at the crowd and briefly dipped her head. "Pardon that family business. It was vital that I addressed it." Inhaling, the black-haired demoness clapped her hands. "Now that protocol is out of the way, I can smell that Gloria and Ukyou have some wonderful dinner for us."

BlackSky gave a slight gesture with her hands and the attention became less focused on her and chatter started to grow. Mira and Gloria went about their business, while CloudFire and her mate had started to mingle. AshRain hovered at her mother's side and sheathed her cleaned sword.

"You didn't have to do that," Cecilia said when BlackSky turned back to her. There was far less pressure, and, despite still being in a room full of people, the interaction felt a bit more intimate.

"She did." Ranma slipped up next her sister and gave Cecilia a hug.

Joining the group, Eve handed out stout balloon glasses each filled with a dark mahogany colored, slightly carbonated lager. "You are too kind Grandmother." She gave a glass with a bow of her horns.

BlackSky accepted the compliment and took a sip. "Oh, delightful. Malty, hint of caramel, touch of raisin." She swirled before having another sip. "There is a town near the summer holding of my daughter Felisia's that brews something similar, a doppelbock I believe you would call it?"

Eve bowed her head again. "Samichlaus, a brewery in Vorchdorf upper Austria makes it, once a year."

Releasing Cecilia from her hug, Ranma gave Eve a knowing smile.

Nodding amiably, BlackSky looked around her granddaughter and inclined her head to Nodoka. "A pleasure to see you again. I see my trust in you with my granddaughter was well merited."

Major Saotome gave a slight bow. "Allow me to give the apologies of my youngest. Dame BlackStone was unable to attend and she sends her deepest regrets."

Ranma almost kept in her snort. "That's not exactly what Dresden said."

BlackSky sipped. "Pity. We will have to make arrangements, but I know how difficult scheduling can be." She nodded to Nodoka. "I was only able to bring two of my daughters."

"But our sisters are quite jealous of us," CloudFire smirked as she returned flashing her fangs. Liviana was at her side carrying a steel platter and the two started giving out sliced samples of freshly cooked meat on little saucers.

"DawnStrike was quite put out," AshRain agreed.

"Like she has room, given her standing in the Old Game," CloudFire sniffed.

BlackSky's expression turned ever so slightly disapproving.

"She very much did want to come." AshRain coughed. "But there was a summit with House Andromache about House Luxon's incursions into their territory. And not just DawnStrike, our other sisters wanted to come as well."

"Though I would not be shocked if they also talked about House Elena's growing boldness," CloudFire grumbled.

Ranma sampled some beef and nodded. "Oh? She sounds familiar. Pretty tall, slicked-back black hair. Green eyes?" she ventured.

"Yes that's her! DawnStrike is our eldest sister," CloudFire said.

AshRain gave a skeptical look but held her tongue.

"She's so fond because she's already met you. Before," BlackSky said.

The redhead blinked. "Oh, you mean in my past life. During the Invasion."

Nodding, BlackSky helped herself to one of the pastries that were also on the platter.

Nodoka exhaled. She knew that BlackSky was old enough to have been around during the height of the Silver Millennium. She also knew, intellectually, that BlackSky had daughters, and legions during that time. DarkStar's demonic mother Lilith was an example. But to know that at least one of BlackSky's daughters was still around, was daunting.

"However, I believe she was not Praetor Peregrinus back then," Pluto stated as she and Venus approached at Serenity's side.

The two Senshi bowed. Though Pluto had to remind her queen.

"Ah, the Lunarians," BlackSky inclined her horns. "I knew your mother." She looked the statuesque silver-haired woman over. "Good," she said, seemingly satisfied with her evaluation.

"Thank you?" Serenity blinked as CloudFire handed her a glass. She eyed the very decadent and very demonic woman.

BlackSky gave a small smile. "Something bothers you?"

"Uh..." she looked to Pluto. "Yeah? What are all the titles? I mean House Legate, Censor, and now Praetor Peregrinus?"

AshRain gave a somewhat stiff smile. "House Legate is a senior general officer. In my case, I command eight legions with attached arcane, fleet, forward scout, air assets, and even a couple cohorts of the Alpinum Guard when on Field Secondment."

"And that is?" Serenity asked.

CloudFire looked around at the succubae troops in their polished armor. "Instead of spending all their time patrolling the Palace corridors and marching on the parade grounds, the Alpinum Guard gets to spend some time helping various Legates add strength to their legions. Before they were mountain troops before they were Mother's personal guard, and they still excel at that."

Serenity nodded. "But air assets? You're succubae. Don't you all fly?"

CloudFire chuckled. "Some of us fly better, others can use some special equipment."

The Rubenesque elder demon looked to her more slender sister.

AshRain shook her head. "Regardless. Censor CloudFire is in charge of the imperial census, hence the Latin root, finances, and gauging public morale. Hence the latter colloquial connotation."

CloudFire gave little a salute with her glass. "Where our big sister, the Praetor Peregrinus is mother's head diplomat and Foreign Minister. She oversees all those clerks and diplomats who make sure we don't get into the wrong wars."

"And your clerks make sure we can afford it," AshRain mildly said.

"Ah," Serenity took a tentative sip. She was not sure what she had expected from House BlackSky, but governmental positions and what sounded like bureaucracy was not it.

"You should visit. Silvana is a lovely city," CloudFire said.

"We have trees and, how do you call them, funiculars?" AshRain offered.

"What?" Serenity blinked.

"Inclined railways," Pluto explained. And nodded to the others. "Pardon, but English is not the native language for any of us."

"Those are the things you mention to entice her to visit?" CloudFire scoffed. "Not the opera houses or the theaters or the museums. Maybe she'd like to visit the Arcana Academy? The Domum Venari Silva Palace itself can take weeks to explore and that's only the highlights of the orchards, theaters, libraries, museums and restaurants."

"That's your mother's palace?" Serenity politely asked.

"Yes, translates to 'House in the Forest for the Hunt'," CloudFire waved her hand. "Mother founded Silvana on the Palace grounds as a hunting lodge. But that was a long time ago."

Serenity absently nodded.

"The Phlegethon river does bisect the city as it meanders down from the Romwell Alps. There are some lovely boat tours. Maybe go upstream of the city, on one of the tributaries with less trade use and visit a spa or a retreat?" AshRain offered.

"Phlegethon?" Serenity asked.

"One of the five rivers of Greek mythology, a stream of fire that empties into Tartarus," Eve explained. "I'm guessing the original surveyors named it after the Greek myth? Or was it the other way around?"

"The former," CloudFire nodded. "While our river is not on fire, but the first spring snowmelt often has enough mineral content to turn the river red. Hence the name."

"And why upstream?" Serenity asked.

AshRain looked a bit embarrassed. "Silvana is hemmed in by the Kinitou spur of the Romwell Alps. The city itself is built on levels, downstream it flattens out, but that's where the Phlegethon forms a river delta before emptying onto the Acheon."

"Another underworld river, or a lake in some myths," Eve supplied.

"The latter, well, more of an inland sea. In fair weather it is easy to travel, but in winter or in storms it is quite dangerous," CloudFire explained.

"The delta and the spreading lands makes that area of Silvana a natural seaport. Which is where our stockyards, storage faculties, and our rail hub are placed. Important but not exactly a picturesque vacation spot," AshRain affected a shrug.

"You have an open invitation to visit," BlackSky met everyone's eyes one by one, ending at Nodoka, to whom she gave a slight nod.

"It's not just stuffy museums, stockyards and sylvan glens." CloudFire smirked and appraised her glass before sipping. "This is a city of half a million succubae, and a tithe in humans and another tithe in other species. The fashion houses alone should tempt, whatever your taste."

"Thank you, for the generous offer," Serenity bowed her head. "Hopefully, one day the crises here will allow me to spare the time."

"Ami isn't that pressing of a threat?" Venus quietly asked.

"Clothes shopping? Really?" Pluto asked.

The golden-haired Senshi shrugged. "She didn't take everything away."

BlackSky gave an intrigued look but did not pry.

CloudFire studied the blonde. "Is this Ami responsible for your, well, condition?"

Venus gave a very deliberate exhale.

"Miss Ami Mizuno was one of Queen Serenity's associates; it is a delicate issue," Eve said.

"She was turned evil, tried capturing her friends and experimented with making them 'better'," Ranma bluntly stated.

"It was her and my oldest friend. They both went bad," Serenity's fingers tightened on the stem of her glass. "I trusted Ami, she was the smartest of us, and Naru was smarter than I ever knew. They both were turned. Right. Under. My. Nose."

Venus put an arm around her queen. "They're victims too. You know she's not in her right mind."

Flexing her fingers, BlackSky gave a single nod. "You cared for them, your love for those close to you blinded you to the dangers to what was happening." She looked at the scar across the tip of her pinky. "None of us are perfect."

CloudFire and her mate looked a bit uncomfortable at that, while AshRain was more contemplative.

Serenity felt her mouth go a bit dry. She finished her glass. "What did you do?"

"Which time? When I lost my favored granddaughter during the Invasion, I blamed myself and killed an entire House. When my leniency to another granddaughter resulted in much pain, death, and a violation of all of my values... by the time I arrived she was already dead. What could I do but make Appology?"

Her silver-blue eye looked distance. "And in the early days, before Silvana, before the Invasion, DawnStrike's older sisters..."

The ancient demon shook her head. "I ended things before things, before they got too far." She nodded to Yohko. "And not all was lost. House RedStorm has grown into a treasured ally."

Yohko bowed her head while her daughters listened with rapt attention.

BlackSky bowed to Serenity. "I wish you the best in reforming your wayward friends, before this Mizuno with her conceited cleverness causes-" she nodded to Venus. "-further distress."

Taking a new glass, Serenity muttered her thanks. She was still stunned at the idea of a demon queen hoping against corruption. She had other questions, including a couple about BlackSky's daughters, but she was still a guest here.

Yes, she was the guest of the favored Granddaughter, but she was still an outsider.

She sipped her drink and followed the conversation as it shifted to lighter subjects. BlackSky asked where that nice Colonel was, and took the answer that he had a meeting with the host government with good grace.

By now, Gloria, Ukyou, and a small group of helpers, including several of Cecilia's daughters, had finished sectioning the carcasses they had pulled from the rack, slicing all of the meat, and filling heaping platters. The scent was heavy, savory, and salivatory.

Ranma took a pair of plates and got some for herself and Serenity. She noted her date's inquiring look at her aunt and nodded.

"Legate AshRain, there's something different about you," the redhead asked as she took a seat at the central table. BlackSky sat across from them, flanked by her daughters.

"Oh?" AshRain glanced at the somber uniform she wore versus the gowns the rest of the Family members wore.

"You seem, well," the redhead paused to bite through a sweet-roll. "I mean, no offense is intended, but you seem closer to well... me than your older sister."

"Ah, that is correct. She is the older sister, they all are." AshRain's sharp features shifted to self-depreciating humor. "I am the youngest. The baby daughter, at a mere four centuries."

The redhead gave a glassy nod. "That would explain it. Though I feel a bit awkward comparing us, since I've been a demon for what... it's been at least a year."

"Fifteen months," both Eve and Nodoka replied.

Yohko shook her head. "It does show we've got a long way, eh Ranma?"

The redhead nodded.

"Don't let your youth get you down." CloudFire said as she spooned some soup. "You're both quite mature, with broods of your own."

"That is what marks a succubus as being an adult?" Nodoka asked.

"Quite so. There are loopholes such as Adoptio. That's a civil adoption. Where a succubus takes a daughter but only in the legal sense," CloudFire shrugged.

"Most times the brood mother merely formally takes the demoness into her brood," AshRain added.

"Still, I'm confident in time all of you will find mates and start making daughters the slow way, the fun way," CloudFire smiled.

Serenity found the demon's attention a bit disquieting; the flaming eyes were only part of it, the sheer presumption in her attitude did not help a bit.

"Young broodlings make all the difference," Liviana looked to CloudFire with a dreamy expression. "We were only able to visit because Drusa was willing to stay home and watch our three youngest."

"Drusa? A nanny?" Serenity asked.

"Our Mistress," CloudFire corrected with a saucy smirk.

Serenity chewed some steak. "Right... succubae. But a mistress and a mate?"

CloudFire chuckled.

The lunar queen waved her hands. "I'm not questioning the ethics, merely what the difference is."

"A mate is the one you are fully bonded to, complete commitment, a part of you," AshRain's tone became bittersweet. "A Mistress is close but there is some... separation. Not as much as, say, a concubine however."

"There are also social considerations. A mate has certain obligations social and carnal." CloudFire gave Liviana a blatantly wanton grin. "And for succubae of our position, Family concerns may have to be weighted."

BlackSky tilted her head a tiny, tiny bit.

"Where a mistress has more flexibility," CloudFire continued.

"But the children?" Venus asked.

"I have had three daughters with Drusa, and they are just as legitimate as the ones with Liviana or the ones I have turned," CloudFire's voice had a tiny edge.

"Wow, how many kids have you had?" Ranma leaned forward.

CloudFire waved the question away. "Fewer than you'd think, we tend to space them out." She gave her younger sister a pointed look.

"I'm still mourning Sunder," AhsRain's tone was frosty as she tapped the hilt to her sword. "Mother understands."

"She does," CloudFire agreed, glancing to their mother.

BlackSky smiled. "Don't mind me girls. I was just ruminating on how wonderful our hosts have been." She turned to look out the sweeping windows. "Such a picturesque location. So quiet, without bothersome interruptions." Her gaze went far away, as if she were looking through the forest and her little smile grew fractionally.

Keeping her perfect poise and composure, she relaxed just a bit and resumed her meal. The conversation was pleasant and she was proud of her granddaughters, direct and honorary.

The humans, both true and honorary, were fascinating. As a Queen, Serenity the First had reached untold heights, but as a mother...

BlackSky put a wry edge to her smile.

The conversation had eased as the meal progressed. Gloria and Ukyou had made sure to have specific courses based on the tenderness of the various cuts of meat.

"Really, you have your own armored flight systems?" Nodoka asked.

"The armor aspect is only part of it," AshRain stated. "The ritual plate also supports the arcane systems for propulsion, scrying, and weapons."

"What combat roles?" Eve asked. "Ground attack, reconnaissance, air superiority, bombing? If it is a personal armor system, I doubt transport or cargo."

"Quite so," AshRain grinned. "There are specialized suits for various roles. The primary advantage is that the bonded Zephyr allows a succubus to fly much faster."

"How much faster?" Ranma asked.

"With the right... aero shell is the term?" AshRain asked. "With the right shield, the speed of sound can be breached.

"It is possible to go further, but the increase in motive force and protection for the pilot reduces capabilities in other areas."

"Quite the propulsion system. Zephyr... some type of spirit?" Eve ventured.

CloudFire clapped. "Clever."

"After our youngest sister left, we did brush up on our mythology," Cecilia said.

"Yes, much of the ritual plate works by bonding wind spirits to it and harnessing their desires. Which is a limiting factor as a certain arcane aptitude is required to use such a suit." AshRain shrugged.

"Armored flight suits that use spirits to fly above mach one and can dogfight and do all sorts of combat stuff?" Ranma smirked. "Yeah, BlackStone is going to be so pouty that she missed this. She loves this magical nerd stuff."

The amber-haired librarian gave an approving nod.

"But what are the suits made out of?" Nodoka asked. "Weight is clearly an issue. I doubt they'd be steel. Do you have industrial aluminum production? Or titanium? The latter can be difficult to machine without the right technology."

Still smiling, AshRain's expression got a little bit guarded. "Are we exchanging military technology, Doctor Saotome?"

Nodoka bowed her head slightly. "Pardon if I intruded. As a materials scientist, and given my employer, I do know the exact composition of armor is extremely closely guarded information. I was merely asking in generalities."

"I am used to such inquiries from Mira," AshRain waved off. "Frankly, I'm a bit surprised you're not picking her brain."

The amber haired librarian adjusted her glasses and nodded respectfully. "I did not want to dominate the conversation, Legate."

AshRain shook her head. "The question is if you are asking as an officer of your mercenary company," she gestured to Eve. "Or as one of DarkStar's blood relatives," again she gestured to Eve.

"What armored suits do you have?" Venus asked.

CloudFire gave a belly laugh. "Oh, golden one. We're daughters of BlackSky; we don't need suits."

Venus nodded.

"Not that you'd need such things, given your own powers," AshRain said, soothingly.

Serenity coughed. "Ah, yes, a bulky armored Senshi suit, how silly."

Ranma patted her on the hand and gave the mildly put-out Venus a sympathetic look.

"Maybe if we learn from the demons, we can make something better," Venus' tone was a tad waspish.

"That has potential," CloudFire offered.

Nodoka make a thoughtful noise.

BlackSky looked up from her meal. She took a few bites and lowered her fork. "I would offer my full support to whatever you require."

Serenity felt the weight of the demon's gaze before BlackSky's eyes went to Nodoka and then Ranma and her sisters.

"To any of you," BlackSky continued. "But I'm well aware of how that would sound." She made a vague gesture that took in her daughters, the banners, her servants, and the guard. "Even casual help is not without entanglements."

"Fewer strings than Dresden's boss," Ranma said.

"Dame BlackStone services the Winter Court, directly," BlackSky said with a pointed sliver of pride. "Family, has a different set of obligations."

Serenity squeezed back Ranma's hand, but she saw the redhead's attention was on her mother.

BlackSky bowed her horns. "You have excellent judgment in expanding your branch of the Family, Granddaughter."

"Yeah, well, it's not like Dresden had a clue what he, she, was getting into. Poor, dumb Harry."

"You gave him a fair explanation and choice, no?" BlackSky's tone was mild but the entire table felt the undertow trembling beneath.

Ranma snorted. "I made him beg me, made him convince a Knight of the Sword to give him permission."

"Which Sword?" AshRain asked.

"Kusanagi." Ranma paused. "Also known as Fidelacchius."

Making a pleasantly surprised noise, the cobalt blue-haired demoness nodded.

"It is not just your youngest sister that I approve of," BlackSky stated

Seeing the pleasure on the brood's faces, Serenity leaned back. Then seeing their tails swishing, she had to put hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.

"Fidelacchius? That would be impressive to see." AshRain idly tapped her own sword.

"It was," Ranma nodded.

"I'm sure BlackStone will visit again, and she may bring Doctor Butters," Eve said.

"A doctor and a Knight? Impressive," CloudFire purred. The flames to her eyes flickered and she sniffed the air. "Is it dessert? Already?"

Ranma smiled. "Ukyou knows her way around a griddle and batter."

"Something sweeter would be lovely," BlackSky bowed to Ranma, Serenity, and after a moment, Nodoka.

***************


"It's a question of priorities, Flavia," BlackSky told a purple-haired Alpinum guard with golden eyes. They both stood near the kitchen with Mira.

The demonic empress took a sip from a steaming cup. "I know you love Linda, and you have two beautiful daughters, but they are getting ready for the academy themselves. The time may be right."

Flavia bowed her head. "Pardon the forwardness, my Imperatrix. What would you have me do?"

"Oh, I couldn't possibly tell you what to do, my Decanus." BlackSky smirked and tapped the book before her. "That is in this specific case. I would hate to see you go, but talk it over with your mate, let her know there are options available. There is plenty of room in the Palace or a Secondment is available, you could teach at the War College"

The Decanus bowed her head. "Thank you."

"The thanks are mine." BlackSky smiled. Putting a few tiny marshmallows into her mug. "I still owe you for your actions at the Vorian Salient."

"It was nothing, my Imperatrix." Decanus Flavia assured, giving a blush.

"You spotted her Veil and wounded her while I was busy stopping the Cocytus river. Do not make me heap more praise upon you."

"Yes, my Imperatrix," Flavia nodded.

"Now, I know your contubernium are well-fed, but check with Sinma and Anvis' squads, they may not have been eating. Also keep an eye on SharpSleet, she does want to look good for her mother. Oh, and do mix a bit more with the human mercenaries, we have much we can learn from them, and I do not want our language lessons to go to waste."

Tapping her fingers to her neck, Flavia saluted and spun on her heel once BlackSky returned the gesture, dismissing the mountain troop in her polished armor.

BlackSky went back to her book. She sensed Mira's mild amusement, but her librarian stayed silent. After a few minutes, she felt others approach.

"Yes?" she asked, handing the slim volume to Mira before taking a sip of her hot cocoa.

Yohko looked to Misako. The coiffed girl rolled her green eyes at the brunette then quickly bowed to BlackSky. "Um... Great Grandmother, we would like to request your help."

"It's a minor matter," Yohko assured.

"But worthy of my attention?" BlackSky's smile brought some levity.

"It's about DarkStar." Yohko pointed to the far end of the hall where the redhead, in her purple dress, stood alone looking out a window.

"She's not with her date." BlackSky observed.

"Lady Venus caught up to her before she went to the restroom," Yohko said.

"She's still in there, powdering her nose," Misako's own cosmetically accented features smirked.

BlackSky inclined an obsidian brow. "Ah. I see." She handed the mug to Mira. "Apologize for the others that I'll be a tad late for the next reading."

She then strode straight towards her granddaughter with Yohko and Misako in her wake. BlackSky put an arm around the redhead who nearly spilled her drink in surprise at the embrace.

"You seem pensive, Granddaughter," BlackSky stated.

"Oh, just waiting," Ranma purred as her tail swished out.

"I know," BlackSky leaned over the shorter demoness. "Would you like a bit of help?" she whispered.

"For?"

"I can guess what she wants." BlackSky gave a wicked smile. "Or what will floor her. We have a bit of time."

Ranma looked at their reflection in the glass. Licking her lips, her hand trembled.

Misako deftly plucked the glass out of her mother's hand.

The redhead nodded.

"Lovely."

And there was a rumbling that at first Ranma thought was a small earthquake but then realized it was BlackSky's purring. One of the empress' hands slipped around the redhead's hip and cupped along her side and gave a gentle pressure that caused fabric and flesh to shift. Her other hand came up and with claws extending went through the teased crimson mane.

Hips broadened and skirting tightened around her legs as the purple dress' slit sealed up and ruffles flounced the lower hem and the curve of her backside while bows blossomed on her hips. Her stance shifted as feet shifted to gleaming silver hooves that just peeked out of her gown's growing hemline.

After giving her backside and skirt a final shape and appraising caress, BlackSky moved her attention higher up. While her other hand still worked the redhead's coiffure, she crafted a plunging lace-top violet bodice with silver accents and white ribbons.

Shoulders fluttered out to billowy tuffs as the redhead's fingers shifted to elegant talons and more jewelry formed about her wrists, ears, plunging neckline, atop her brow in a heavy silver tiara, draped over her folded wings and spiraled near the end of her tail.

DarkStar's hair piled up in a glossy ruby sculpt adorned with ivory and jet colored pearls. Two smaller knots of hair were tied behind her horns and bejeweled twin crimson tresses dangled just in front of her ears.

Accented features gave a dreamy contented look, while Misako clapped over subtle shifts in makeup that heightened the impact of the redhead's appearance.


"Good luck," BlackSky leaned down and gave her granddaughter a quick hug and a kiss.

Purring Ranma returned the gesture.

The hug broke apart and the redhead exhaled and took a step. A little frown marred her face, but after a couple of steps she got used to the combination of hooves and tight skirting. There was more swish to the gait than she was used to, but Ranma was optimistic towards the effect.

Flanked by CloudFire's ringing hooves and Venus' deliberate gold-booted stride, Serenity seemed to glide into the room. Moving smoothly, almost effortlessly a shimmering golden gown clung to her and almost seemed to flow with every swaying step. White trim edged the flowing gold and starched white bows were held behind her waist and in front of her chest.

DarkStar gasped and stared.

White gloves with golden accents and little crescent moons went to her upper arms. A pair of feathery white wings were folded on her backless gown. Her silver hair was still tightly plaited, but that was not why DarkStar was staring.

A woven golden headdress was mounted atop Serenity, lines of golden threads bearing the planets in cupped hands symbols of Unification and the Lunar court netted over her hair a shimmering mesh holding back most of her silver hair. Jeweled odangos escaped on either side, but the crowning glory curved out from the top.

Sculpted from the same glistening golden material was a pair of delicate, pointed horns.

The two neared and continued to stare.

"Wow, you look like a princess," Serenity said with a small smile. She knew Ranma was royalty, and had seen her glam up before, had even had the redhead sit in her lap while dressed to the nines, but this was more... natural.

"And you..." Ranma tilted her head. "Venus helped with the horns?"

The golden Senshi nodded.

"You're not offended?" Serenity glanced over. "CloudFire said it was okay."

"It was her idea," Venus confided.

"Nah, you look great," Ranma purred slipping up towards her.

Serenity gave a somewhat bashful smile and ran her gloved hands down her dress.

"Now kiss!" Venus teased, as she nudged the redhead into her queen.

Even with the hooves and restrictive dress, the redhead was agile enough to keep her balance, thus it was deliberate indent that she fell into Serenity's arms and leaned on the taller queen's torso.

Serenity leaned down and, after a slight hesitation, gently kissed one of the redhead's curving horns.

Ranma cooed and her tail wrapped around Serenity's legs.

"Ah, how sweet," CloudFire smirked.

BlackSky's own grin was far more reserved.

Beaming, Misako clapped. She circled around her mother and flashed a broad smile at BlackSky as her tail curled and swished.

"I'll find a nice table to the side for them to share some dessert," Yohko offered, giving Ranma a slightly regretful look.

Pluto came out of the kitchen carrying a platter with a collection of small pastries and cakes and sorbets and practically baited her queen and the redheaded demon by tempting and staying just out of reach.

CloudFire went to Misako as Yohko started maneuvering Serenity, while the queen adjusted her hold on the redhead.

"Mother does know what she's doing," the flame-haired elder demon assured. "And you do have lovely hair."

Misako's grin grew.

Encompassing her Family and guests, BlackSky gave a contend look and pulled back her deep, infrasonic rumbling purr. Turning, she found Mira waiting by her side.

The amber-haired woman handed back the cup of cocoa and adjusted her glasses. "That was lovely."

"It is nice to help. Did they mind waiting?" BlackSky asked as they went back to the other end of the hall where a semi-circle of chairs had been arranged to one side

"Of course not." Mira gave her empress a polite smile.

***************


Clutching a leather folder, Eve waited for her grandmother. Between worries over her offering and Major Saotome's concerns, Eve had to actually concentrate on maintaining her composure.

BlackSky neared. Mira HeartWood followed at her side, looking prim and unobtrusive.

Eve smiled. She had played that role to the Colonel and the Commander. Miss HeatWood even wore a charcoal suit, albeit with a bustier instead of a blouse. But that garment, like the delicate tattoos on her cheeks or academic earrings, were normal in the society Miss HeartWood came from.

From what Eve had managed to glean, all that made her look every part the dutiful, if very bright and credentialed, librarian and aide. Naturally, that raised Miss HeartWood in Eve's estimation. Like Gloria SpringLeaf being evidence that not just anyone would be the empress' personal chef, BlackSky's personal librarian was another position of great trust and perhaps indirect power.

"Ah, Eve," BlackSky bowed her head. "Are you here to join in?" she gestured to the arc of seats. Cecilia and the bulk of her daughters were there. Additionally, Nabiki, Akane, Nariko, and a slightly awkward-looking Sophie sat at one end.

Eve sent a bit of reassurance to her youngest before returning the bow. "Yes, I'm sorry if I missed the first parts."

"The books are short." BlackSky waved that away. "But you did arrive at a particularly good one."

Mira handed her a thin book entitled: Silva Succubus and the Museum of Art.

Eve eyed the cover. There was a familiar adorably cartoonish succubus bounding up the steps of a somber marble building with elegant sweeping pillars.

"This one has pirates," Mira said.

"In art museum?"

BlackSky leaned in and theatrically lowered her voice. "They are robbing it."

"That does sound like it has much potential."

"There is a battle on a zeppelin with teleporting ninjas," BlackSky added.

Mira gave a demure cough. "Technically they are not ninjas, but members of a stealthy, close combat order trained in a remote mountain monastery." The librarian hesitated. "Also while the text is vague, the illustrations clearly show the frame of the airship is not rigid enough to quality as a..."

She trailed off and took a step back.

BlackSky waved her hand in placation. "She is right. The book is Silvan and thus neither ninja nor zeppelin appear."

"The book seems very adventurous. It is good that the Silva Succubus books grow in complexity as they go on."

"But?" BlackSky asked.

Eve steeled herself. The being before her was her grandmother as much as she was Ranma's. "I have a gift of my own." She handed the leather folder over.

"Do tell?" BlackSky opened it and her cool blue eyes lit up. Inside was an even thinner book. A rotund puppy pranced on the cover. "The Pokey Little Puppy?"

"I had a... challenging childhood." Eve kept down her blush. "When I had my daughters I wanted to make sure I did right to them, and reading them this helped."

BlackSky opened and started to read, her eyes scanning the pictures, her smile grew.

"I translated it into Silvan Latin and had it reprinted, I hope I was correct." Her tail flicked.

"Yes, you were" BlackSky closed the book and placed a hand over it. "This will do. After everyone gets a bit more dessert." She glanced over.

Pleased Eve turned.

Ukyou and Gloria approached carrying a pair of platters full of shallow oval, flat-bottomed bowls. Peaks of light golden-brown souffle rose out of each dish. Powdered sugar capped the crenulated pastry tops in a bit of snowy decadence.

"Kinitou nockerl?" BlackSky asked.

Gloria SpringLeaf nodded. "Ukyou wanted to make something traditional," she said putting her platter down and starting to serve out the dishes.

"Nockerl?" Eve inspected the dessert and took a bite. It was light and fluffy but there was a savory and almost cinnamon taste that made it different from the version she was more familiar with. "And Kinitou because the pastry resembles the mountain chain?"

BlackSky chuckled and took a dainty bite of her own.

"We also wanted something that you might enjoy," Ukyou said.

"My sister has a sweet tooth?" Ranma asked slipping up to table behind the circle of chairs.


Making sure the taller queen's arm was around her waist, she leaned on Serenity's side. Little gold crescent moon earrings dangled from Ranma's ears as she gave a sharp smile. Serenity seemed a bit more comfortable, especially when she took a seat and positioned Ranma close to her.

The Moon queen casually checked her headdress and faux horns to make sure they were straight before adjusting the redhead's own hair ornamentation and bodice. Ranma accepted one of the dishes and nuzzled Serenity before taking a fork to the pastry.

Bearing a little smile, BlackSky watched the two for a moment. She then went to the seat in front of the circle of chairs. Pulling one of the front row seats closer to her, she sat down and opened the book. "Next we'll be reading something Eve, who will be helping us read got for us. Everyone please take a moment to get a refreshment and settle in before we start."

The dark-haired elder demon watched as Ukyou and Gloria finished giving out the desserts. She bowed her head to Doctor Saotome who waited a couple steps behind the impromptu reading area. BlackSky's tail swished to one side then back.

She then motioned for Eve to take the chair next to her.

Tail swishing, the blonde slowly sat down.

Running her fingers over the large blue fins, BlackSky maneuvered her granddaughter's tail so that it draped over her legs. Then using it as an impromptu stand she opened the book, resting the slim volume on an angle.

Eve coughed a bit.

BlackSky gave a regal smile. "Next we have The Pokey Little Puppy by Lowrey, illustrated by Tenggren and translated by Eve." Leaning forward she flipped the open book around so the audience could see the pages.

As she began to read the story of curious, but naughty puppies, holes under fences, harried mother dogs, custards, shortcakes and other desserts, BlackSky noted Doctor Saotome taking a chair that was between Cecilia and Ranma
`
The story finished and she handed the book back to her granddaughter. "It was a good translation."

Eve bowed her head.

Sensing her emotions, BlackSky patted the blonde's tail. "I can see why the book appeals to you."

Considering her response, Captain Jarvis paused. Eventually she simply nodded.

"All the desserts in the book did encourage the broodlings to eat their fill," BlackSky slowly stood.

"Will you read another?"

"Perhaps that Silva succubus story. It does have blimps and ninjas, but someone has been very patient," BlackSky gave her granddaughter a hug. Then said a few words to the other demons as she made her way down the hall.

DarkStar's youngest daughter waited, all pastel ribbons and ruffles and glossy hair. She held the copy of BlackSky's diary. "Have you enjoyed it?" BlackSky asked in Silvan Latin.

"It has been... informative." Nabiki slowly said as she tried to find the right words. "I did not expect so much... tragedy in the early days."

"Neither did I," BlackSky knelt down and hugged her. "But it gets better." She rose.

Nabiki blushed.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it, I'll have Mira give you some more books before we leave tonight," BlackSky said before resuming her walk.

The woman who had waited for her had stood up and adjusted her grey uniform.

"Major Saotome," BlackSky bowed her horns to the human.

"Imperatrix," Nodoka bowed at her waist.

She gazed down at the officer. "You wish to speak with me."

"I have a request." Nodoka met her eye. "One that will serve both our interests."

BlackSky put a finger to her lip. She then nodded. "Do tell?" the dark-haired demon asked as they walked to the far end of the hall. On the way she grabbed a pair of small tulip-shaped glasses filled with a clear apricot liquor and handed one to the Major.

Looking out the window, Nodoka sipped. Snowflakes fell in swirling waves.

The succubus stood next to the scientist.

"It's about my daughter... my daughters."

BlackSky lifted her glass. She turned somber. "Lilith, my daughter she named her daughter DarkStar in part after my own mother, StarFall."

Nodoka waited for the demonic empress' expression to become less remote. "I love them, I am there for them, but there is still more that I can do." Nodoka flexed her free hand.

"What holds you back?"

Nodoka laughed. "Logistics."

"Oh?"

Staring at her reflection in the glass, Nodoka steeled herself. She downed the glass. "A succubus can create a daughter, she can help make a sister, a mate, but she cannot make a mother."

Exhaling, BlackSky let a bit of her poise slip as her posture became a bit less formal. "Meanwhile I am your daughter's grandmother."

"That... that presents an opportunity."

BlackSky sipped delicately. "You realize what you ask? The consequences?"

"Not in full, no." Nodoka rotated the empty glass by the stem. She looked up at the taller woman. "That is where I trust you would inform me, before I commit to anything. And there will be a contract."

"Daring." BlackSky appraised the woman. "You ask for much."

Her eye went to AshRain who was quietly chatting with Eve and CloudFire, who was with her mate, and Misako who was being far more boisterous. "Given what I would become? What you would gain?"

BlackSky took another sip. "A daughter."

Nodoka exhaled. "For Ranma, for DarkStar, for her sisters. But I would need to be more than... I would also need to be their mother."

The elder demon's tail slowly swished. "Ask."

Major Saotome squared her shoulders. Her brown eyes met BlackSky's cold blue.

The demoness gave a slight nod.

"Imperatrix BlackSky would you be willing to take me as a daughter?"

BlackSky's smile grew showing a hint of her fangs. She bowed her head. "I would be honored. For our mutual family, I hope we can come to an agreement."

End Chapter 2

And here's the Return (sorry) of BlackSky. Congrats to all who guessed what Nodoka was up to in the previous chapter, and previous books.

Thanks to DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, Henry Stickman, and Toxinvictoria. Special thanks to , J.St.C.Patrick for putting a rush on doing some detailed grammar and structure reaching so this chapter could be posted for Xmas.

Also, my DeviantArt page has some especially cool art of Ranma and all her three sisters by Cheaplymade.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

The Return
A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/

Temporary Backup Site.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/


Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C is appreciated.

Book 6: Bonding Allure
Chapter 3: Persuasive Outreach


It was not long after sleet began to pound the bus shelter's roof that Hikaru Gosunkugi's luck ran out. Shivering slightly, the pale, almost sickly-looking, young man looked out into the twilight gloom.

Wrist heating up, he pulled his puffy, threadbare coat in closer. Hooded eyes glanced down at the bulging backpack at his feet. Most of his tools were packed away, or were bulky and... suspicious enough to require shipping ahead of time.

He was alone; that gave him... some options. Though, by the time the bus arrived...

A grey, vaguely human shape resolved itself out of the gloom into a lean woman who strode ever closer. Sleet bounced off her short brown hair and long grey leather duster. She paid the winter cold no mind. A small part of him was relieved to see steam exiting her mouth when she exhaled.

The braided metal and silk around his wrist had started to become uncomfortably hot. The charm's reaction made it obvious what kind of magic the lean woman had. Fingers found a smooth hilt in his coat pocket.

The brunette's eyes were flat as she studied him. Traffic was light and she did not have to break stride as she crossed the street, her boots crunching on the salt and precipitation.

Unlike Hikaru, she was not wearing street-clothes under her coat. The dark grey and red bodysuit she wore might have passed as motorcycle armor or a fitted snowmobile suit, at least on casual glance.

Then again, on casual glance she would pass as human.

Gritting his teeth, Hikaru flipped up his hood and stepped out into the sleet.

Straight white teeth flashed in response as the brunette grinned.
"Do you really want to get into a duet of blades? With me?" she swept her coat a bit back revealing one of the swords belted at her hip.

Hikaru tilted his head. Not so much at the question, but at the way she asked it. Her Japanese was a bit stiff, but more than understandable; her accent was not even that thick.

Keeping his right hand on the athame, he sighed. "I just wanted to leave this damn city. Quietly, without fuss. Did Incognito sell me out? Or did Ferris have one final joke?"

The woman gave a cold, robotic smile. "Yes, it is unfortunate when a mission fails. When it gets... complicated."

The heat was causing a dull ache in his arm and down his fingers. At least this was giving time to put more energy into his blade, for what good that could do.

The patchwork woman stepped closer.

Hikaru exhaled, giving a billow of steam.

That cold smile defrosted a bit on the woman's face. "I am Arisha Dva."

"Of Doctor Scarlatti's New Soviet Man project," the young man blurted.

"Ah, so you are at least basically informed. That makes my... proposition more palatable," she said, with distaste.

Hikaru narrowed his eyes.

"Please little cultist. Our terms are quite generous, more than enough to match your avaricious desires."

"Some of us aren't motivated by money."

"Normally." Eyes flat, Arisha's lip quirked. "Normally, I would appreciate that sentiment. But we've already dealt with one of your kind who cares more for... ideology than money. We will not have a repeat of that."

"I just want to get out." Hikaru hissed his hand flexing on his blade's hilt.

"Do you?' Arisha glanced over his scrawny frame. "You wish to return to your fellows, empty-handed, in failure?"

"Better a living failure than the valiant dead." Hikaru spat.

"You don't believe that," Arisha's eyes flashed and genuine emotion formed on her face. "Otherwise you'd have dropped that knife and pulled off your warding bracelet." She took two steps closer. "You're still thinking of a final act of defiance."

"I'm not, not really." Chuckling, Hikaru's shoulders sagged. With a resigned sigh, he lifted his arms and showed his palms. "What do you want from me?"

Arisha's eyes went to his wrist; the curling smoke was starting to fade out into wisps. "We need someone with your expertise."

"After Ottawa? I'd guess so," Hikaru murmured.

The cyborg shot the young man a glare. "Yes, exactly," she spat. "You will be watched... closely, but if you do this job for us, we'll be more than forthcoming with payment."

Wincing a bit at the sleet hitting his fingers, Hikaru Gosunkugi lowered his hands. "I just wanted to get out before things got too crazy... it might only buy us... me some time, but, well... I'd rather not be at ground zero."

The Russian gave a genuine smile. "Then you'll be amply motivated to complete these tasks for us, and to do so without dawdling, unlike our last associate. Are you familiar with the Path of the Will?"

Hikaru's response was automatic. "Organization founded by university book restorer Carl Kronecker, who absconded with a good chunk of his employer's rare book collection. Apparently one of them gave him the mad-prophet bug and drove him and his followers up here." He eyed the woman. "Things did not go well for him."

"No, they did not. We have learned from such mistakes."

Looking around at the quiet street and up at the grey sky, the pale cultist nodded. "Right. Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"Assemble some jamming equipment. We have all the parts, including some upgrades." Arisha's grin became calculating and flat again. "Your predecessor ensured that much at least.

***************


Serenity thrust her staff forward. The demon twisted away from the tip and put one hand on shaft and lunged closer.

Dropping her hips, Serenity stepped outside and flicked the staff end over end in an arc ripping it out of the demon's grip and bringing it down on the demon's left arm.

Favoring that bruised wrist, the demoness nimbly bounded back, but Serenity used her greater size and reach to her advantage.

Serenity gave an upward swing and the redhead's tail went up and tried to intercept. Gritting her teeth Serenity rolled her wrists, turned in and, with the demon still grappling with the staff, punched forward.

The redhead blocked the jab and wrenched Serenity's arm putting her into a lock. Gasping, Serenity launched herself forward and tried to sweep the redhead's legs.

She almost got the demoness on the ground, but the redhead pulled away. Then, gritting her teeth in frustration, Serenity pulled the staff still ensnared by the demons' tail and, tugging her hyper-extended elbow, let her knees bend.

The taller woman pitched forward and took the smaller demon with her as both fell onto the mat in a disorganized heap.

Purple eyes blinked in a bit of surprise as Serenity smirked and using her arm's newfound freedom of movement tried to pin the short succubus.

Gasping, the redhead blocked another strike with the staff. Serenity twisted and pressed it against the redhead's neck.

Putting a hand up to ease the pressure, the demon's tail wrapped around Serenity's leg and pulled her off her knees. Serenity fell even further, bringing her body against the redhead's. "Uh.... Ranma...."

The redhead smirked as her tail went up the leg of Serenity's silver leotard. "I haven't tapped out yet."

Serenity rolled her eyes and put two fingers to the redhead's forehead. Silver light sparked between them.

"You'd have better effect on the dorsal base below the bridge of my nose, less bone there, and a straight shot to the lower brain-meats," Ranma squirmed a bit so her body was even closer to Serenity's. "You're looking to kill your enemy, not remove their ability to appreciate poetry."

Sighing, Serenity, with her free hand, slammed her staff onto the redhead's neck "And the choking and teaseling?"

Wriggling, Ranma arched her back and coughed. She then tapped Serenity's shoulder twice. "Well... next time remember that the front of the neck cuts off breathing, where going to the sides cuts off blood flow. Now you might not always get a choice of targets but..." The succubus winked. "Pressing the sides ends the fun a lot quicker, unless you want to draw things out."

Serenity blinked. "Really?"

"Yes, that's biologically correct."

Idly brushing back a few strands of hair that had come loose of her braids, Serenity shook her head. "I mean the teasing."

"If I wanted to tease you I'd ask if Princess Serenity was going to punish the naughty demon she just defeated." The succubus purred.

Blushing, Serenity smiled.

"We do have some privacy in the dojo."

"Do you have to be so tempting?"

"Well, succubus," Ranma's eyes brightened. "And you find me tempting?" she purred.

Serenity shifted her staff so it was not quite as restricting. "You are a succubus."

"I thought you magical girls were immune?"

"Ha!" Serenity snorted. "I should tell you about Countess Rose and the ballroom dance classes she taught, and how hard her final exam was."

"She get turned into a Youma?"

"Yes."

"And you didn't pass that exam?"

Serenity clenched her fist. "Rei and Mina didn't either. Mako-chan and Ami did... and how Ami looked at the Countess..."

"Ahh...." Ranma winced. "We can do more training."

"I have you pinned."

The redhead's eyes smoldered. "And? We can do more ground-work. Fights often devolve to wraslin' in the mud. Or we can do more staff-work. I think bayonet drill really suits your style. Especially when you've got that scepter stuck in the end."

"That could be fun." Serenity lifted the staff and rolled over. "It was a help against that little mantis demon."

"Fallen," Ranma pedantically said as she ran a finger down Serenity's side.

Serenity pulled up the redhead so she sat next to her. Flashing a brief smile, she gave the demon a guarded look.

"Yes?" Ranma coyly asked.

"This is more low-key."

"The Tendo dojo can't exactly take us throwing fireballs and magical particle beams." Ranma idly twirled the staff. "Besides, this lets us focus on your close quarters stuff." She tossed the staff so it rolled to the far side of the dojo, just in front of the shrine. "Maybe we can switch to pure hand to hand."

"That could come up, I guess," Serenity frowned. Assuming she could count on her magic all the time would invite just the sort of enemy who could counter her magic. "But did I have to wear the lycra bodysuit?"

"What? It looks good on you. And they're proper training garments." Ranma arched her shoulders showing off her own purple getup.

"Only because you say so."

Ranma preened. "My School, my rules."

"Handy."

The redhead tilted her head. "It can be."

Serenity laughed. "You just want me as a student."

"You have great promise."

"You only said that after I fought one Fallen Angel."

"I didn't see you blow up that shoggoth." Ranma exhaled.

Serenity put her hand over Ranma's. "Something wrong?"

"You got time for a list?"

"Are we including the various cults and assassins that want me dead?"

"We've have to include the magical orders corrupting your friends and killing your fiances."

Serenity squeezed the demon's hand.

The redhead made an appreciative noise. "It's about my mom."

"Ah." Serenity put her hands in her lap. "She's, uh, going through with it?"

Ranma's tail flicked about. "We're still getting the contract setup. Then we'll decide."

"Contract?" Serenity rolled her shoulders. "Huh."

"What? Too stereotypical?"

"Well... more that it's very clinical. BlackSky is going to make Dr. Saotome her daughter," Serenity flexed her hands. "What would a contract even say?"

"Apparently Silvana is a surprisingly litigious society. Or at least that's Eve's evaluation."

Serenity smirked. "Demon lawyers? Now that's on the nose."

Ranma laughed. "As for the contract itself. It outlines what Grandma will do when she takes in Mom, and what kind of daughter, well, how old she'll be by the end and things like that."

"How old?"

"That's the real challenge. It's a daughter change you know. And we grow... kinda... slow" The redhead blushed.

"Ah," the Moon queen said, pondering. Ranma had been a demon mom less than a year. In that time, her daughters had grown, but Serenity figured they were too young to have daughters on their own. "You want her to be your mother, but that means..."

"Yeah, Grandma can do it. She can accelerate a baby succubus' development."

"But?" Serenity looked to Ranma's eyes. "Will it hurt her?"

"It won't," Ranma swore in a harsh tone. "I mean... Grandma can pull it off."

Recalling the dinner last week, Serenity shivered. "She has the power."

Ranma shook her head. "Skill. But yeah."

"The contract is to make sure she does it properly?"

The redhead looked out the dojo window. "Yeah."

"You trust her?"

"She's my grandmother."

"Who is a demonic empress and planetary invader."

The redhead gave Serenity a sharp look.

"Hey, when it comes to otherworldly invaders, me and my family are experts. On both sides," she quietly added.

Laughing, Ranma leaned on the taller woman.

"But how is this contract even enforced? Say BlackSky screws you over. What are you going to do? Sue her? Is there a judge, in the very empire named after her, that'll take a case against her?"

Ranma chuckled. "You're thinking like a human."

"Well, yeah." Serenity rolled her eyes. "What, is it some type of magic contract, bound by her own power or something?"

"It is."

"Do you trust that? I mean if BlackSky were to breach the contract, which means she'll have betrayed you by damaging your own mother, then why wouldn't she betray you on the magical enforcement of the contract?" Serenity hesitantly put an arm around the demon. "Or will you get some third party to enforce, like House... RedStorm?"

"Close. But RedStorm is a daughter of BlackSky so same problem." Ranma pulled the arm closer around her. Her tone became flat. "No, the real enforcement is that if Grandma screws me in this, I'll go to all the Houses I can: ally, enemy, and neutral. From Elena to Andromache, Alecto to Luxon."

Serenity turned and hugged the smaller woman. "And you'd be doing that as DarkStar... BlackSky's favored granddaughter."

"Yes. She slew House Vephar to avenge me. If BlackSky would breach a contract; a contract to make a mother for her beloved granddaughter. Why should any other House be willing to trust her?"

"It would ruin her?"

"Diplomacy on the Homeplane is rather cutthroat." Ranma exhaled. "Ruin is strong. But DawnStrike's diplomatic skills would be sorely tested, and Grandmother's enemies would test her. And her friends would think twice about their relationship."

"And that's why she's consenting to the contract." Serenity shook her head. "She's giving you the paper trail as insurance. By showing she's willing to let you destroy her reputation, if she were to betray you, she's signaling that she doesn't intend to betray you."

Ranma let her tension ease. "Yeah, it's how high-society demons work. Apparently."

"Ick, court intrigue." Serenity watched Ranma's tail swish along the floor mats. "Glad I don't have to deal with that."

"Other than the wayward faction of Senshi led by Akumi, that the Outers are back in Japan doing who knows what with your daughter, and whatever Puu is up to. Oh and not to mention, your bodyguard and priestess." The redhead smirked.

Serenity gently caught the demon's swishing tail. "I thought you liked Mina, and are getting along with Rei."

"Oh I do! And we can't forget Makoto. Isn't it the quiet ones that you have to watch out for?"

"Mako-chan quiet?" Serenity laughed. "It's still different. With my Senshi, it's still a small enough group that I can knock some sense into them when they go all crazy."
Ranma made a curious sound as the Moon queen ran a finger over the fins to her tail.

"Well, that's what I did with Haruka and Michiru over that whole Holy Grail mess." Serenity unconsciously made a fist.

"That's why Akumi still hiding from you?"

Smiling, Serenity ran her hand down the succubus's tail. "Pummeling people corrupted into monsters until they collapse and blasting sense into them is kinda what I do."

Ranma tapped her foot against Serenity's leg. "Sometimes literally. And how are the Outers, and your daughter doing?"

Inspecting the redhead's tail fins, Serenity exhaled. "She's doing good."

The succubus blushed a bit.

Pretending to ignore the reaction, Serenity continued. "I might be paranoid. I mean Hotaru is her friend and both are lonely girls and it's good that Usa's no longer being a brat to my brother but..."

"How old is he now?"

Serenity tapped her fingers in recall. "He'll be fifteen in a bit over a month."

"You were his age when you started?" Ranma asked.

"When that damn cat gave me my first broach?" Serenity shook her head. "Yup."

"I heard that!" Luna said from the dojo's porch, lifting her head and looking through the door.

Ranma turned and glared at the feline.

"Yeah, we've been at this for a while."

"Four years?" Ranma asked.

"About," Serenity exhaled. "And as bad as this last year out here has been...."

"You've lost more than Mamoru in the past?"

Eyes hollow, the moon queen slowly nodded. "Antarctica was... bad."

"Do you really think Shingo will be dragged into this?"

"If it were just Chibi-Usa hanging out with him?" Serenity patted Ranma's tail. "But Hotaru's more sensible. I hope."

"You afraid he'll end up in a Tux?"

"Well, you took that slot, little-Miss-Sailor-Earth, but he is rather young..."

Ranma glanced to the doorway.

Serenity followed the redhead's gaze. They both watched the black cat for a moment. "Yeah, I don't want him... I mean."

The demon smiled. "I'm hardly the one to talk about keeping one's relatives out of 'The Life'."

Shaking her head, Serenity sighed. "Yeah, my own daughter's already following in my footsteps, and I haven't even had her yet."

"Having a kid without being pregnant does seem like a neat trick."

Patting Ranma's tail, the moon queen snorted. "We can't all do it the demon way."

The redhead tilted her head, but still wrapped her tail around Serenity's arm.

"Right, your mother and her..."

Ranma nodded.

"I'm glad things aren't so... heavy with my mother."

"Which one?"

"The one who's still alive. The first queen is..." Serenity shook her head. "There was a recording on the Moon, and there've been dreams and visions, but Serenity the First is gone."

Ranma leaned on the taller woman.

"No pithy comment about her past as a conqueror, ruthlessness in battle, or her cavorting with demons?"

"Given you've done the second two," Ranma purred.

Serenity squeezed her fingers and with her free hand traced the line of Ranma's chin. "Is this cavorting?"

"It could be. But if you really want to cavort..." Ranma let the question hang.

Serenity lifted her head. "This isn't you awkwardly fumbling at seduction, this is something else."

"I am not," Ranma pouted.

"Please, before that gangly sister of yours appeared, you were the most awkward succubus I knew." Serenity gave the redhead a pat. "Now, what are you suggesting?"

"My mother."

"Yes?"

"We're going to visit my Grandmother, at the seat of her power. Learn more about, well, what would be done. Help decide if this is really what we all want."

"Oh." Serenity said after a moment. "You want me to come? To help you decide?"

"No," Ranma blinked. "I want you to come, but not to help decide. I mean you can if you want. I'm pretty sure a frikin' Moon Princess might be able to detect a sinister scheme at work."

"Provided it's not one of my own people," Serenity sourly said.

"But, the reason I'm inviting you is... because it can be a vacation."

"You want me to go to a succubus city where I don't know anyone and no one would... Huh." Serenity laughed. "But what if something happens here?"

"Oh, you'd bring Puu, and whoever else, that way you have a quick teleport back home."

"And so would you," Serenity noted.

Ranma smiled. "It may have crossed my mind."

Serenity pulled at one of her loose tresses. She inspected her silver hair. "It might be nice to go back, be Usagi again. Or anyone really, something other than silver."

"Especially if Minako is over here playing the Usagi role."

"Dangerous. Maybe we don't leave her alone to be bait," Serenity shook her head. "What is Silvana like?"

"You were at the dinner party, you heard as much as I did."

"Your aunts were trying to sell it like a normal place: museums, shops, houses, restaurants."

"What did you expect a succubus city to be like?"

Serenity shrugged. "The Dark Kingdom and Black Moon Clan's planet weren't the nicest of places."

"BlackSky's different she..." Ranma shook her head. "Right. I can see, demon inviting the magical girl princess to her demon empress' palace."

"Your grandmother did try to invade this world."

"As did your mother."

Serenity laughed. "What a mess. And I suppose I can't invite you up to the Moon Palace. Unless you want to see a lot of ruins and bunkers. Though the remains of the throne room are pretty, in a haunting way."

Straightening her shoulders and rolling up to her feet, Serenity gave the redhead a contemplative look. "That's another factor."

Ranma stretched out on the dojo's floor. "Oh?"

"Sure with Puu you'd have a speedy exit, but with me there..."

The demoness shrugged.

"You think I could fight her?"

Ranma stood and rolled her shoulders. "You tell me. How does she stack up against the horrors you've beaten?"

Serenity frowned. "I don't know. She hides a lot of her power and..." The moon queen looked out the window. "We're talking about your grandmother, someone you want to turn your mother into a demon."

The redhead slipped up next to her. "Not yet. I'd like her to be on the up and up. Well, as much as someone with her power can be."

"It's not just her," Serenity flexed her fingers. "She's got daughters. Who have daughters of their own. And then there's literal legions of succubae, and then combat mages and those flying battle suits."

"Don't forget the war zeppelins," Ranma lightly added circling around behind Serenity.

"And you're asking me if I can beat her?" the Moon queen asked looking over her shoulder.

"No, you asked me if I thought you could fight her." The redhead bounced on the heels of her feet. "And you certainly can."

"You thought I couldn't handle some Soviet cyborgs." Serenity harrumphed and lightly batted away the demon's tail. "And you think I could stand up to someone my mother cut a deal with instead of fighting?"

"Assassins do not play to your strengths," Ranma leaned on the taller woman. "Morgan has a better chance of killing you with her rifle than my baby sister does in a magic duel. Though she cheats. So...."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Serenity demurred.

Flicking her tail, Ranma squeezed her hand. "My point is you're the one with the magic rock powered by hope. You've blasted evil, invading monarchs before. And if it came down to brute magical force then you are our best asset in that regard."

Smiling, Serenity squeezed back. "True. But she knows that. And don't you think for a second that your cuddly grandmother who loves reading stories to all the good little broodlings doesn't have assassins of her own."

Ranma snorted. "Eve thinks she brought some with her to that dinner party."

"What her cook?" Serenity nodded. "Poisoning is a classic," she added, glad that Rei was not here to make sarcastic comments about her baking skills.

"It is," Ranma agreed, leaning on her.

"Do you really think it'd be dangerous?" Serenity's arm absently wound around the redhead's waist.

Ranma playfully poked Serenity's side. "If I thought it was a serious risk I wouldn't be inviting you to take this as a vacation, let alone considering letting BlackSky turn my mother."

"Ah, you're just being a paranoid little sneak." Serenity tightened her grip around Ranma

"Prepared," the demon corrected with a purr as her tail swished.

"Should I be flattered you're part of our preparations?" Serenity let her hand fall on the base of the demon's tail.

"Oh, you've always been a part," she assured, curling her tail around Serenity's waist.

"A useful part?"

The demoness looked up and fluttered her eyelashes.

"Oh no, you're too awkward at the seductive succubus bit to get me to let that slide."

Pouting, the redhead pressed closer. "Can I at least get you to consider the trip?"

Serenity pulled her in and ran her other hand down the demon's back. "I think we've gotten that far."

***************


Wind kicked up the water as waves stared to roll in. Clouds parted and the shoreline was illuminated by the waxing moon as the sound of boots crunching on rounded pebbles grew.

The hem of Mistress Mercury's midnight blue ankle-length dress fluttered in the wind and rustled over the stony beach. Her bare neck was chilled by the night air and the icy spikes threaded through her updo tugged in the breeze.

Spotting the two approaching figures, her gloved hand clenched the stem to her wineglass. One wore the expected garish pink skirt with matching bows, and hair done up in twin ponytails with pointy odangos. A pair of red roses was nestled in front of the jeweled buns just above her ears. A cocky, smile was on her face as red eyes glinted in the night.

Next to her strode a slender figure with the long limbs of someone just going through a growth spurt. However, Mercury's eyes were more on the long-bladed glaive held in the dark purple seifuku clad young woman's hands.

"You said you'd come alone," Mercury stated when the pair stopped half a dozen paces in front of her.

"So, did you," Chibi Usa replied. She looked at the two figures standing statue-still behind Mercury. One was sapphire blue with hair done in a bright pixie cut while the other a light jade. Both were adorned with chokers bearing the Mercury mark and constellation patterns inset on their necks.

Delicately detailed seifuku were carved and molded out of each crystalline figure's body. Transmutation to other, and more translucent gems provided complimentary-colored accents for skirts, ribbons, bows, boots, and sailor collars.

"I did not bring my warrior, but you brought the Silence."

The dark-haired Senshi at Chibi Usa's side exhaled.

Red eyes flashed as she gave a thin smile. "Yes, the Amazon is not here. But you brought the catalyst of your own fall." She pointed to the jade-figure. "I knew Naru too."

Mercury sipped her wine. "Neither of us is innocent then?"

"I did not bring the other Outers."

"Haruka-Poppa and Michiru-Momma would not be happy with you," Hotaru smiled thinly before adding. "We can't all take care of your parents like you did."

Stepping closer Chibi Usa inspected the constellation adorning the neck of the sapphire pseudo-Senshi. "Libra? And I thought I had Mommy issues."

Mercury held out her glass and the blue crystalline woman refilled the glass with smoothly brisk motions. "This isn't about that."

"But it is." The pink Senshi's grin grew in a flash of teeth. "Your whole thing is to... help the line of Serenity, including upgrading the Queen's Senshi. You want to make us... better."

Lady Saturn smirked at that. "I believe she would get along very well with my Father."

Mistress Mercury exhaled. Professor Tomoe was a mad scientist. He had been enthralled by an otherworldly entity and was working with their minions to bring their dread overlord to earth, including experimenting on his daughter.

She took a sip of her wine. "You agreed to meet with me. And since the Outers have not sprung out attacking me, nor has your mother has charged in with her scepter."

"Yes, mother's scepter," Chibi Usa chuckled, angling her head so the roses caught in the moonlight.

"And neither the demons nor... is the green haired one here."

Hotaru rolled her eyes. "Setsuna-Momma won't just show up if you say her name."

"In fairness, she's not exactly in her Setsuna body at the moment," Chibi Usa added before turning to Mercury. "You are correct; it is just us. You don't have to worry about Senshi, or Mother and her demons popping in."

The dainty pink-haired woman strode around the crystalline Senshi tableaux. "Though I do hope you understand why I am concerned about your intentions. But I suppose even you know what happened to the last villain who tried abducting and 'improving' me."

"Would you believe if I said I didn't want to earn our queen's wrath?" Mercury asked.

Chibi Usa simply turned to the milky semi-transparent jade crystalline Senshi. Faceted gem-cut eyes in a darker emerald shade of jade stared out without blinking. "You've gone too far for that, Akumi. Right now you're in damage control."

Mercury laughed. "That's what we've all been doing. I've taken measures, so have you. We both know what's coming."

Lady Saturn shifted her glaive. Purple motes sparked on the length of the edge. "You've blocked the Sight of the Gates."

Chibi Usa shook her head. "No, Akumi. You suspect what is coming; you fear it."

Mercury's gloved hand twitched as she gripped it. "But I'm not wrong!"

Weariness crossed the pink-haired girl's face. For a moment her features looked far older, almost stark and washed out. The roses in her hair seemed to be almost a crown, and her odangos were taller and almost arched back. "No... you're not. The rot you fear is real, but you look in the wrong direction."

"Our Queen is in danger of corruption and worse," Mercury hissed with the glee of someone proven right.

"Blinded by pride and cleverness," Lady Saturn sighed.

Mercury emptied her glass. "Don't' take that tone with me, Silence. We both know your purpose, how Queen Serenity the First wielded you in battle. Am I that out of line for daring to take measures to ensure the Line of Serenity continues?"

"Usagi is not her mother," Chibi Usa said almost absently, looking through the cut-and-sculpted crystal transparency that was Libra.

"Which is why I'm talking to her daughter."

The Moon Princess gave a pitying smile. "But what is it that you want?" She held a hand. "No, what do you expect me to help you with?"

"Even Serenity saw the need of making... questionable allies."

Brushing a rose back into place, the pink magical girl tilted her head. "Are we talking about perky demons or a certain dark magical girl complete with cold evening wear, sinister jewelry and transformed minions?"

"There are threats inside and outside, sources of corruption." Frost started to form along Mercury's glass.

Lady Saturn exhaled in a little bit of impatience.

"Maybe it's best that the Silence came. As all three of us have something in common.

"Given Chibi Usa and myself were changed via brainwashing and outright possession by dark eldritch forces maybe that's not the best comparison." Saturn flashed a smile.

"Yes, isn't that what you fret about happening to your queen?

The coiffed blue-haired woman sighed. "I'm aware of how I look."

"Good! It would be very cruel of your thralls to dress you this way as some sort of prank." Chibi Usa bowed her head to the two crystalline Senshi. "But on the other hand, it does mean you intended to go with the sapphire and ice, leather queen look."

Mercury clenched then relaxed her jaw. "What I mean is, that of anyone, you two would be aware of what it is like to fall, and can see the signs on both the queen and her Senshi. You know how insidious and seductive it can be, and that threats can sneak up in a friendly guise."

"Present company excluded?" Saturn remarked.

Chibi Usa looked between the minion who had been Mercury's mother and the one that had been her own mother's best friend. "Sure," she said, utterly deadpan.

"Laugh, but you came here, without tattling to the other Outers. You know I'm not just some slinkily-dressed cackling villain."

"By the standards of Mother's previous villains?" Chibi Usa crossed her palms.
"You're looking for allies." Saturn shook her head.

"You know I'll do anything for our Queen. Anything." Mistress Mercury gestured.

Following the gloved fingers, Chibi Usa poked Orion's jade flesh. It was unyielding. The Senshi gave only the slightest tilt of her head in response. Then the pink-haired girl spun and jabbed her finger into Mercury's solar plexus and hooked a cobalt blue high heel.

As Mercury tumbled to the pebbly beach, the two crystal Senshi moved, only to find Saturn stepping between them and their Mistress, lowering her glaive.

Chibi Usa made a point of examining her fingers. "Still flesh." She then snatched up Mercury's discarded wineglass.

"Going to level the hypocrisy card on me?" Mercury pulled herself up to her knees. "I've changed too."

"No," the pink girl smirked. "I expected you to be cautious with your own body. And I have no doubt you'll do anything for your Queen." Red eyes twinkled as she leaned forward. "The question is if you'll make your sacrifice worth it."

Mercury's eyes hardened.

"You claim our Queen needs to be more like her Mother to survive what is coming. Fine. Just keep in mind what the old queen did. The sacrifices she made."

"I mentioned the alliances."

Hotaru snorted.

"Grandmother carved up a world with a demon empress. What could you offer the likes of BlackSky?"

"Do you have anything to entice other powers? To even entice us?" Hotaru asked.

Mercury gave a sly smile. "You want a bribe..."

"You have to give something to keep our interest, beyond your artistic prowess," Chibi Usa glanced at the crystalline Senshi.

"You would rather have your mother fall in with the succubae than with us?"

The pink-haired girl giggled. "You forget where I come from."

"I'm aware of the future you escaped. Was that where Prince Endymion lived? Do you remember your father? Or did your memories switch to the actual future, after Murdock killed Mamoru?"

Crimson eyes hard, flat, Chibi Usa shook her head and then removed the rose over her left ear. "Oh no, I remember my sire. I remember Mamoru Chibia quite well."

Staring at the girl, Mercury accepted the rose. Despite herself, her hand shook and a thorn bit through her glove; a drop of blood hit the beach.

"She can bleed," Hotaru noted.

Smiling, Chibi Usa inhaled. "She is still human."

Mercury set her jaw. "What about you two then?"

"We're both the product of reincarnation. She's one of the doomsday weapons our Queen built," Chibi Usa pointed to herself. "And I'm my father's daughter."

Staring at the rose, the dark Senshi exhaled.

"Oh, illumination!" Hotaru smirked.

"Serenity the Third did not come from the past. You never had a past life to reincarnate. Except..."

Chibi Usa made a "hurry along" gesture by rolling her fingers.

"Except your past is our present. But only two of us stayed dead. And unless you're Venus's cat..." Mercury swore.

Chibi Usa snatched the rose back and put it in her hair.

"Really?"

"Mother wanted Mamoru back. She wished so hard," the pink-haired girl exhaled. "She wished rashly."

Mercury flicked some blood off her fingers and held out her hand. Orion placed another wineglass and filled it. She downed the glass then stared out over the water. "That's why you were such a little brat to Mamoru and to Usagi. You weren't just some punk from the future..."

Chibi Usa smirked. "I was the reincarnation of our dysfunctional little royal family."

"You telling me this isn't without strings, what's the catch?" Mercury asked.

Chibi Usa's smile grew in a flash of white teeth. "What makes you say that?"

"I can tell Usagi."

The pink haired girl giggled. "She'll believe you? The traitor? And even if she did, what does that give you? I could play innocent. Maybe I say you tricked me, invited me to a dark beach and then used a memory ray on me to wake up some past memories."

"You don't have any."

Hotaru stepped up. "Ah, clearly you aimed the ray at me, and Chibi Usa dived in."

"Yes," the pink-haired girl purred. "You wanted to awaken the dark memories of the first Saturn, the weapon that Serenity I had commissioned. That would fit with your plan to make us better, no?"

"That's not a bad idea," Mercury admitted.

Hotaru rolled her eyes.

Pondering, Mercury held out her glass to have it refilled by one of her minions. "You couldn't come back. That is Mamoru. Your Mantle as the Senshi of Earth... DarkStar had already replaced you. Setsuna had ensured that. She was the one who setup the ritual to transfer that power to you."

Chibi Usa's smile turned predatory as she leaned forward. "Remember, Puu didn't want DarkStar. She wanted a male with that power, with my power," she hissed, red eyes reflecting the moonlight. "But Murdock changed that plan. Maybe he thought another guy running around in a tux throwing roses would be too obvious."

"He wanted a succubus on our Senshi team," Mercury murmured.

"Oh, well, that too," Smirking, Chibi Usa shrugged.

"You do want to make a deal." Mercury idly rolled her glass.

"We're still talking," Chibi Usa resumed inspecting the artificial Senshi. "You are right; Mother is facing dangers."

"Must you humor her?" Hotaru remarked bouncing her glaive off her shoulder.

Chibi Usa nodded and stepped back from the gem girls. "We can use her help, their help."

"We?" Hotaru archly asked.

"My family," Chibi Usa waved away before turning to Mercury. "Yes, Grandmother would like you."

"I do think that Serenity the First was a more... forceful leader."

Chibi Usa smiled. "Quite right."

"What do you propose?"

Smiling, Chibi Usa looked up at the sky. "We both want the same thing. We both care about Usagi, maybe not for the same reasons, maybe we don't love her the same way."

Mercury sipped her wine. If this reincarnation story was true then it was a major... complication.

"But we know the dangers Serenity the Second faces. You look to her past, I," Chibi Usa brushed one of her roses. "To her future. We must ensure that."

"You propose an alliance?"

Chibi Usa stepped up and snatched the wineglass. "I am the heir to the queen you claim to serve. You should be glad I'm not demanding all three of you kneel before me."

Hotaru slowly lifted the Silence glaive and rotated it until she held it horizontally in her right hand mid-shaft.

"You know I can't do that."

Sniffing the red wine, Chibi Usa gave a distant smile. "It's been a while since I've been able to drink this. Let alone at our Queen's table."

Chibi Usa poured it out onto the beach. "I won't make demands of you. If you insist on playing the part of the sinister dark magical girl, who am I to stop you?" she asked, giving a dimpled smile.

Hotaru gave the pink-haired princess a sidelong glance.

"Right," Chibi Usa returned the glass.

Mercury had to wave off Orion from refilling her glass.

"There may be certain problems that I will need your advice on, or problems that you, and your... people can solve."

Mercury gave a sly smile. "Problems you know about but would be awkward for the innocent pink princess to get her white gloves dirty on?"

Chibi Usa bowed her head.

"And in return?" Mercury motioned for her minions to finally refill her glass and then more glassware.

"Protection," Chibi Usa gave a smile. "You want to save our Queen. Or at least prevent her from falling. I, for obvious reasons, agree. And you cannot protect her, at your best, if you get captured, purified, defeated, or killed."

Mercury had Orion and Libra step forward, each holding a filled wineglass. The two gem girls gave a deep, one-handed, curtsy not spilling a drop. "I knew someone of the line Serenity would value me for what I can offer."

"Despite my Queen's views, yes you have much to offer my family." Chibi Usa clinked her glass to Mercury's, while Hotaru reluctantly joined in.

***************


Silvana lay spread before the redheaded demon. She leaned on the railing of a carved stone balcony that jutted out halfway up the slope of the Palace's cyclopean mountain foundation.

A wide river meandered through a sharply inclined valley. Glass buildings, twisting roads, plazas, stone temples, tree-lined avenues, towers, arboreal fountains, and forested parks marched up either slope. Branching aqueducts, rail bridges, vehicle viaducts, and pedestrian ways, and road bridges, linked both sides of the city at various elevations.

Inclined funicular railways trundled up and down either side of the city, going from the river side up towards the tips of the mountains that cradled Silvana. Near the chain's summits loomed several large estates that ranged from brooding stone compounds with terse gardens to elegantly storybook castles with massive elaborately sculpted greenery.

They were the houses of BlackSky's daughters, but none compared to the massive weight of the Palace itself. What had started as a spur of the Romwell Alps to the sides of the Phlegethon river had been isolated when the switch-backing river eroded the spur, forming an oxbow island.

In the early part of her reign, BlackSky had settled the island as a hunting preserve and Silvana grew around it.

As the city grew, the island at the base of the spire was partially expanded to a few square kilometers by filling in the downstream side of the island and redirecting the river outward.

The cutoff finger of rock was carved and built higher. Two hundred stories tall, with barracks, shops, orchards, parade grounds, libraries, amphitheatres, receiving rooms, and kilometers of tunnels, it was a city within a city.

Downstream the mountains drifted apart and the land widened into a river delta that took in more dockyards, rail yards, stockyards and shipyards. It was also where several of the broad landing fields and titanic hangers were situated that took care of the giant zeppelins that hovered over the sky.

Holding a fluted glass, Cecilia stepped up and took in the view. "I can see why Alexia was upset at being exiled."

Ranma snorted. Her crimson tresses were teased up, but with more body and shine than customary, and her makeup was darker, especially around her eyes and on her lips. However the real change was in her clothing. She wore a strapless, crimson gown with a tight cupping bodice, ruby lace side panels, and a black silk wrap over the flared ankle-length skirting.

A gauzy, almost translucent black floral patterned lace went from the top of the bodice to a thin black neckband and down her arms to terminate on a loop over each middle finger. Obsidian teardrop earrings complemented a small ebony tiara with jet insets was nestled just behind her horns.

"It's smaller than I expected." Cecilia took a sip of the clear liquor.

The redhead gave a sweeping gesture to the carved, terraced, cultivated, and sculpted slopes below them. Their balcony was on the upper third, well into the "Upper Palace" territory. Far at the bottom was a bustling little town that nearly encircled the spire in a crescent contained by a curtain wall that bounded the island.

The sky was almost as busy as the streets and rivers and canals. Everywhere was full of bustle and movement.

Cecilia smiled. "You do know most of this mountain is still solid rock, right? Hundreds of years and..."

"They've got plenty of room to grow?" Ranma asked, shifting a bit in her fairly heavy dress. She glanced over at her sister's more breezy and sleek dark purple gown with a bit of jealousy.

Cecilia shrugged. "There's, what, half a million people in this city? And it's one of the largest."

"I'm sure if Eve were here she'd have an explanation about the logistics of feeding that many hungry demons. That many mouths, that many lives," the redhead shook her head.

"You could ask that librarian." Cecilia offered. "Mira's very helpful."

"Mother's been picking her brain. Before we go down to check out schools." Ranma shook her head.

Cecilia smiled. "It shows Grandmother isn't taking this by halves."

The redhead nodded. "Still..."

She glanced over. "Where did you get that drink?"

"The maids." Cecilia looked back and waved to two young women standing just inside the polished wood-paneled sitting room the balcony connected too.

The two maids stepped out and bowed. Curled horns poked out of fine golden hair that cascaded down their backs. They had maroon eyes and a slight purple tinge to their skin. Lace and ruffles edged their red satin uniforms, while frilled aprons adorned their skirts that reached some distance down their stocking-clad thighs.

Their wings were folded against their shoulders and purple tails, adorned with little ruffles, swished with a lazy synchronicity. Their tails swished in synchronism and they bowed.

"DarkStar, Cecilia we are at your service," they said in nearly one voice.

Ranma nodded to them. "Now, now don't be too bowing and scraping."

"It is our job," Alia said in slightly accented English, while Ellia got a tray of snacks.

"Sure, but I think I'm going to get plenty of worship while I'm over here," Ranma sighed.

"Because of the DarkStar stuff?" Cecilia asked.

Ranma nodded. "I'm sure there's memorials in my honor."

"Shrines, actually," Ellia said as she offered some sliced liver braised in bacon.

"This is what I mean." The redhead frowned. "This visit isn't about me."

"Putting more pressure on my shoulders, Daughter" Nodoka lightly said as she stepped out onto the balcony. The light wind breezed over her dress company uniform.

Ranma winced. "Sorry, Mom."

Nodoka accepted an offered glass. "It's part of the deal. If I'm to be turned, by your grandmother then this is part of it." She swept her hands around them.

The redhead allowed a nod.

"You're looking fancy," she stated.

"You did get the calling card?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma looked confused.

"She was busy, in the other suite."

"Ah, with Miss Tsukino?" Nodoka chuckled.

"She is enjoying being able to put her hair down."

"Literally?" Cecilia asked.

"No, but what she did is a good look for her." Ranma said as she tilted her head. "Is that?"

Ellia and Alia exchanged a look. "Two Daughters are arriving."

Going back inside, Cecilia looked over the immaculate suite. Several of her daughters were lounging on a set of leather couches and had perked up, their tails swishing.

Hair still wet, and wearing shower robes, Nariko and Akane had exited their room. "Where's Nabiki?" Akane asked.

"With Desiree and Meredith," Cecilia said.

Akane nodded. "Should we get ready?" Akane asked.

"Is this like a formal event or..." Following her sister, Ranma shook her head. "No, if it were you two wouldn't be giving light refreshments?" she asked the twins.

Ellia and Alia bowed their heads. "Yes, Mistress. The Censor was quite clear."

Nodoka handed her redheaded daughter the calling card and told her granddaughters that, yes, they should be getting dressed.

Ranma eyed it. The thing was written in looping Silvan Latin. Just as she finished reading, the twins ran over to the suite's polished honey maple double doors and opened them.

The first demoness who entered was familiar to them, one of the two Daughters who had attended the "family dinner" back on earth. The older of the two.

She had teased, curled, gently shifting tresses in shades of reds, oranges, and yellows. A gleaming ruby gown showcased her voluptuous figure.

She had a strong chin-line and a sharp smile. Three pairs of gleaming silver horns cupped her wafting hair. Her eyes burned with orange fire like the doors to a furnace. The demoness strode into the suite on gleaming hooves and gave a confident wave with a hand adorned in silver talons.

She was CloudFire; a daughter of BlackSky and a senior member of the empire's administration. She had lands, retainers, personal troops and a powerbase of political, martial, magical, and demonic power. She wore that confident, savagely indulgent power, like a mantle over her shoulders.

She was also very much the little sister compared to the other daughter who had entered the suite.

That demoness was taller than her sister, but not excessively so. A hair more slender than CloudFire, the additional height gave her a bit of a more statuesque proportions. Red lips were curled into a smile that gave a glimpse of white, somewhat pointed teeth.

Glossy ebony hair tumbled down her shoulders and graced the top of her silver trimmed black gown adorned with carved golden accents and jewelry clasped over her wrists and neck. Golden hooves stepped out and her tail was black with similarly engraved gold fins.

Obsidian horns reflected the lights of the room and forest green eyes scanned everyone and the room seemed to freeze as if she was measuring all the succubae and the one human.

Unlike the sweltering shimmering presence CloudFire emanated, the taller woman simply was unyielding, implacable, obdurate power that felt as deeply rooted as the mountains around Silvana. There was not quite the effortless wielding of power that BlackSky simply exuded, though she had a casual confidence that made it clear she was her mother's daughter.

Ranma frowned at the familiar, more than the familial, feel that all of BlackSky's daughters seemed to have.

"A pleasure," she purred in a deep resonant voice, and then bowed her head.

Putting her glass down, Nodoka strode up to them and bowed her head. "Censor CloudFire, a pleasure to meet you again." She then met the older demon's green gaze before bowing, again succubus style: back slightly inclined, neck further inclined. "Praetor DawnStrike, this is a pleasant surprise."

DawnStrike nodded. "Bold, but polite."

"I told you," CloudFire smirked.

"If we are to share a mother, we should be somewhat conversant," Nodoka stated.

Tail flicking, DawnStrike circled the human woman. "We might become siblings, but we would not be peers."

"From what I have learned, as the eldest remaining Daughter, you have no peers, or more specifically, those with comparable power. Perhaps one of your siblings who has founded their own House, such as RedStorm would qualify, but even she is your younger."

DawnStrike tilted her head. "It has been a long time since Mother has taken a daughter."

Nodoka nodded. "I am aware of House Legate AshRain's age. I suppose it's fitting that the youngest commands several of the legions where the eldest is... Praetor is analogous to a Secretary, or Minister, of State. Diplomacy and foreign policy?"

CloudFire laughed. "I would say both Dawn and Ash deal with foreign entanglements at Mother's pleasure." She gave the twins a smile as the two started handing out drinks and noshes.

She also took a moment to introduce herself again to Cecilia's daughters and compliment their hairstyles.

"But pardon my distraction," Nodoka again bowed her head, a bit shallower than before. "Allow me to introduce my daughters, DarkStar and Cecilia."

Ranma gave a salute with her glass and was then elbowed by her sister. The redhead sighed and then bowed her head and shoulders before dipping into a slight curtsy.

Cecilia's did much the same though smoother and with at bit more obeisance. Though the tighter nature of her gown made her curtsy more notional than an actual lifting of skirts.

CloudFire chuckled while DawnStrike gave a fond, but distant smile. Tail slowly swishing, she circled around Ranma. "DarkStar," the tall demoness went down to one knee.

"I wonder if she'll ask to borrow a sword," Cecilia whispered while Ranma shot her a glance.

DawnStrike uttered a single laugh before sobering. "Niece, it has been a long time."

Ranma blinked. "We've... met." The redhead put out a hand and helped DawnStrike rise.

"Yes, during the Invasion."

"Ah," Nodoka stated.

CloudFire sniggered as she helped herself to another glass from Alia. "Puts things into perspective, no? Become one of us and you will have... potential."

"She already does," DawnStrike said, an edge to her voice as she looked between Ranma and Nodoka. "You brought DarkStar back."

"It was another who turned her into a succubus and awakened her," Nodoka corrected.

DawnStrike's eyes flicked. "No, you brought her back," the elder demoness stated, emphasizing the last word.

Nodoka put an arm around Ranma and hugged her. "I merely did my best to help her accept her responsibilities and be happy."

"We owe her," DawnStrike turned to her sister.

CloudFire's blazing gaze swept over their guests. "Why do you think Mother wants her?"

"That is Mother's prerogative, and mother's debt." DawnStrike met her sister's eyes. "We still owe her."

"I'm sure AshRain, Felisia, WhiteSea, Aurelia and TwilightEmber can be called upon to help," CloudFire offered.

DawnStrike was contemplative. "Our baby sister's support is obvious, and Felisia is enough of a traditionalist to go on bent knee for Mother's favorite granddaughter."

"She's already organizing the grand festival," CloudFire smirked.

"For me?" Ranma sighed.

"Oh no, niece, about you," CloudFire purred.

"As for the others..." DawnStrike shrugged. "If you can get Twilight away from her plants perhaps she would come."

"I would find it more likely that EmeraldFog, Valecia, or MarrowPowder would return."

"Valecia does periodically check in from her exploration mission," DawnStrike stated.

"And Emerald is not fully retired, she is only a bit younger than you," AshRain added.

"That's a lot of daughters grandmother's had," Ranma noted.

CloudFire laughed. "Oh you are a treat. Given how long Mother's lived? That's not very many. Growing up as broodlings, none of us were surrounded by sisters even close to our age."

DawnStrike let the comment slide. "Mother had us with greater frequency when she was younger," she noted, finally accepting a drink from Ellia.

"And my sister only listed the peers of us who are still alive and not running their own Houses." DawnStrike downed the glass and gave a reserved look.

"Even adding our late or our independent sisters merely trebles the number of Daughters." CloudFire smiled, brightly and full of teeth. "Taking all that into account, Mother is due."

"And those of us that remain owe our new sister," DawnStrike declared. She paused then bowed her head to Nodoka. "Assuming you consent and accept."

"Oh, she will," CloudFire smirked.

"You seem optimistic Censor CloudFire," Nodoka stated, adding Cecilia to her hug.

"You are here," DawnStrike noted.

CloudFire gave her older sister another mild smirk. "Beyond that, it was her idea to ask Mother to become her daughter."

DawnStrike's brows rose. "My, how bold." She gave a salute with her new glass.

"I still need to know what I'm getting into," Nodoka said releasing the embrace. "What the change will mean."

"Firstly, Mother is doing it. You'll be subject to her skill and artistry," CloudFire looked between the Major and DarkStar and Cecilia. "And she has good materials to work with."

Nodoka took a long pull from her glass.

"But you're aware of that," DawnStrike studied the officer. "You're doing this to be DarkStar's mother."

"And my three other daughters."

DawnStrike's horns dipped slightly in a bow. "But you're doing this to be a brood mother, and not a broodling."

"I have spent time around newly turned daughter succubae, I'm confident in BlackSky's abilities to accelerate my maturity." Nodoka paused. "If I were to accept her."

"Not a bad assumption," DawnStrike sipped gingerly from the fluted glass.

"That may test even Mother's skills, rapid development without flaw," CloudFire paced about the room her hooves chiming.

"I would say the challenge was why grandmother became intrigued by the whole idea," Cecilia said.

"Mother does enjoy a challenge," DawnStrike looked out the doors onto the city below them. "And a new daughter to mother a very old granddaughter, there is symmetry there."

"I'm not that..." Ranma shook her head. "Reincarnation's confusing."

"I wouldn't know," DawnStrike said, a bit smugly.

"What was it like?" the redhead glanced down at her gown. "What was I like?"

"The Invasion?" DawnStrike swirled her glass. "Hubris. Our House was young, Mother was in ascent. She had..." the elder demoness brushed back a bit of her black hair. "She had settled... questions some of my sisters had argued, viciously argued, and we faced the world, worlds, unified once more."

"And you slunk along with Vephar and decided to take over Earth," a young voice said as the doors opened.

A young pre-teen girl with dusky skin, crimson eyes, and short, deep green hair swept into the room in a dark maroon gown with emerald edging. She carried a tall garnet-sphere topped silver staff and was in the van for a taller, older-looking woman in a far more elaborate gown.

Which was a floor length, bell-shaped cream skirt with red trim. It was puffed out with a layered red overskirt with gold accenting. Above that were blue ruffles that went to mid thigh, with a shorter red ruffle around her waist as outermost layer of skirting.

She wore cream-colored elbow length gloves that also matched the shade of sleek, poofy-shouldered top to the dress. Blue trim ruffled the inner edges the gown's shoulders and around the back of her neck, which was surrounded by a ruffled red choker bearing a golden crescent moon.

Matching moons hung from earrings, her golden tiara, and there was a rather elaborate one nestled in the front of the red bow adorning her chest. Her blonde hair was done up with braided odangos sweeping back to hold up a waft of golden hair above the nape of her neck.

CloudFire and DawnStrike bowed their horns. "Princess Serenity, Lady Pluto, a pleasure to meet you again," CloudFire stated. "This is my elder sister-"

"Oh, we've met," DawnStrike stated. She nodded to the diminutive Senshi. "You're looking well."

"And you're looking about the same," Pluto smiled.
`
"And you're looking more... Usagi." Ranma closed in on her.

The Moon Princess smiled. Her face looked younger, or at least less severe, and her tresses were more golden than the platinum silver she wore in her Serenity guise. "Well, you were right. Over here, I can let my hair down. Uh, metaphorically."

"The Lunarians did have style," DawnStrike noted, her forest green eyes pensive.

"Usagi, this is Praetor DawnStrike, one of my aunts. She knew me, well, back then."

Usagi returned DawnStrike's' bow. "I see. You were there when..."

"Vephar betrayed us, slew DarkStar, tried to take Earth for herself, and when my mother joined forces with yours to destroy Vephar and all her issue? Oh yes, I was there." DawnStrike's smile revealed her surprisingly dainty fangs.

"I was more curious what I was like back then," Ranma grumbled into her glass. "Not ancient history."

"But Lady DarkStar, that is ancient history," Pluto gave a saccharine grin. "One that's been dramatized, isn't that right Censor?"

CloudFire frowned at the ostensible human. "There have been quite a few operas and plays about the tragedy of DarkStar and Mother's retribution. Not to mention the novels, historicals, pulps, and chapbooks. A century or so back two broadsheets actually had competing dailies of your adventures in the mystical lands of Invasion-era Earth."

Ranma shook her head and turned to DawnStrike. "And how accurate were they?"

The green-eyed demoness gave a little smile. "What do you think?"

"Was she prancing about as a pretty magical princess?" Usagi brightly asked.

"Oh, very much." CloudFire laughed.

"Now, I know how Minako felt." Ranma grumbled.

"I dunno, Codename Sailor V was a fun game." The blonde gave a mischievous grin and swished her skirts closer to CloudFire. "Were there any games made about DarkStar? Or would that be too morbid to have a game out of a tragedy?"

Ranma gave a pleading look to her eldest Aunt.

CloudFire looked thoughtful. "Well... there was a murder mystery game that was popular oh... millennia ago. You'd arrange it at a party and had to find out which of the guests was really the sinister assassin who had killed DarkStar. Didn't you used to host those games, Dawn? I do so remember being invited when I was a little girl."

DawnStrike gave a slight nod. Then a deeper nod of apology to Ranma. "I did miss you, I shared a fraction of Mother's sorrow, and it came out in strange ways over the years."

"Was I really that special?" Ranma's tail curled around her skirting.

"You still are," Nodoka and Usagi echoed as they both moved in to hug the redhead, and their arms nearly got tangled as they embraced her.

CloudFire and Cecilia laughed as the trio sorted out a bit into a group hug that caused the two princesses wide dresses to press and temporarily deform a bit. Ranma's tail swished about.

DawnStrike smiled. "You were not with us long, but you made an impression, so did your mother-" she nodded to Nodoka. "your first mother, Lilith."

As the hug broke apart, Ranma looked to Pluto. "It wasn't just Serenity who was fond of me?"

The green-haired girl smirked. "Yes, in either incarnation you attract both demons and Lunar royalty."

"Puu!" Usagi chided.

"This was before your time," Pluto assured. "You were born about five hundred years after the Invasion."

"Yeah, yeah, my mother, well my queen Mother settled down after the Unification wars." Usagi did wonder exactly who Queen Serenity the First settled down with as it was not like there was mention of Serenity having a king consort.

"Maybe we should get something to eat?" CloudFire asked.

The twin maids perked up. "There's much on offer that can be delivered to your suite," Ellia offered.

"Or we can arrange for a private table in one of the Palace's restaurants or dining room on one of the higher levels," Alia completed.

"Will Mother be attending?" DawnStrike asked.

The twins looked to each other, their tails curling. "We do not believe she will be returning to the Palace before morning, Mistress."

"You don't know mother's schedule?" CloudFire asked, a ghost of a tease in her voice.

"I'm not tied to her apron strings. I do not know all of her comings and goings."

"She wears an apron?" Ranma blurted, then managed to somehow pale

"She does bake, on occasion," DawnStrike smiled

"We have a tour of some... well... schools tomorrow. Academies and the like," Nodoka looked almost confused. "I understand the mechanics of the change but..."

"You would be young, for a time," CloudFire rubbed her hands. "As we said a challenge, but an opportunity too."

"And going over the Contract," Ranma glanced to Usagi.

Usagi gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

"Prudent, if paranoid," CloudFire allowed.

"Censor, we are guests of a demonic empire... that invaded our homeworld," Usagi said with a perky smile.

"Yes, I suppose magical girls do take that seriously." CloudFire's burning eyes went to Ranma. "And you are one of them as much as you are one of us."

"It's more concern for my mother," Ranma admitted.

Nodoka slipped up behind the redhead. "I mean no disrespect Censor, Praetor, but I do find my daughter's concerns heartwarming."

DawnStrike waved her hand. "No, we understand. Consenting to an agreement, that one understands, is a key value to our society."

"We are quite civilized," CloudFire gave a bright, sharp smile.

"I would agree with that," Pluto nodded. "Far more civilized than the other invading entities my queen, both queens, faced."

"Coming from you, I'll take pride in that," DawnStrike said, diplomatically with a little salute of her glass.

Pluto gave a smug little expression.

"With Mother being indisposed, we can decide on dinner. I do know little restaurant just upslope of the War College."

DawnStrike smirked. "Yes, you know every place. You and Felisia."

CloudFire ignored her sister. "They serve steppe style grilled meats where the wait staff go from table to table with the flesh still speared on the spits and slice on demand."

"They have an adequate wine cellar," DawnStrike agreed. "And my sister understates the service. They have at least a dozen different cuts of various species. Nothing sapient," she added.

Usagi smiled at Ranma's interested, and hungry reaction to the sheer number of meats. The redhead might be in a fancy gown, but she was still a young demoness.

"Shall we invite your daughters?" CloudFire looked to Cecilia and Ranma. "I am certain we can get a large enough table for everyone."

"They still need to get dressed, at least two of my girls," Ranma said.

Cecilia waved a hand. "Oh we can get gowns for them." She smiled to the twins. "Alia, Ellia do you think you can help?"

Both brightened. "Of course mistress!"

"And not just DarkStar's daughters. Cecilia's would need some too."

Cecilia smiled. "We'd also love to meet your mate Liviana again, and possibly your mistress Drusa, or any of your daughters." She bowed her head to DawnStrike. "And forgive my ignorance, but any of your family would be wonderful to meet as well."

"So polite," CloudFire smiled.

"She is, hard to believe she came from that side of the Family," DawnStrike nodded. "Alas it will be just the two of us tonight."

"It can still be a good time," Usagi brightly said.

"My, you are eager," CloudFire nodded.

"If it helps draw Ranma out of her shell." The blonde leaned forward. "She is very self conscious of the whole DarkStar notoriety."

"A private room at the restaurant might help," CloudFire said.

"But you should face that popularity sometime," DawnStrike told Ranma.

The redhead sighed. "I suppose, if I'm to keep visiting here."

Nodoka cleared her throat. "If I am to be changed. By your grandmother. Made like her other daughters. Then I will be close to my big... sisters. And this place will be my home too."

Ranma nodded and squared her shoulders. "I suppose I'll have to steel myself and submit to delicious meat."

Usagi slipped up next to the succubus, her gown pressing against Ranma's. "And afterwards we can all play some games."

DawnStrike tilted her head slightly.

"Fun games, not tragic ones like the Preator's old ones."

The suite was silent for a moment.

Usagi's face reddened. "No, not that type of fun."

"Not yet at least?" Pluto murmured.

End Chapter 3


And a few more characters show up and get... job offers. Congrats to those who guessed the real reason Mamoru was not reincarnated (namely that he was reincarnated, just not in the same body).


Thanks to DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, Henry Stickman, and Toxinvictoria for their help with the corrections. And special thanks to J.St.C.Patrick for giving this an especially detailed check.


Also, my DeviantArt page has some especially cool art of Ranma and Usagi being presented to BlackSky, and some other art for other projects.

And speaking of other projects. Invisible Hand is written (all 4 chapters) and is being proofread.

And the drafts of the two chapters of "Secret Flowers, Sheltered Willows" (aka that Geisha Ranma story) are also nearly done.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C is appreciated.

Book 6: Bonding Allure
Chapter 4: Exploring Options



The winding street was full of demons. What stood out to Usagi was that there was no press of bodies. Succubae, and a few humans and other races, hurried about their business, but everyone walked within a respectful bubble.

Tails and wings were out but at ease. People were busy but polite. It reminded her a bit of being back in Tokyo, if far less populated. Also trains would not be stuffed full in Silvana.

The street was paved with flat black stones; the lampposts flickered with gas jets. Cool evening air had begun to blow down from the mountains through the twisting roads and switchbacks that made up Silvana.

"What are you thinking?" the pale redhead asked as she strode to her side.

"They're so pretty." Usagi's eyes went to people going up and down the road. The full spectrum of skin, hair, tail, horn and wing colors was visible. There was a variety of heights and body shapes that ranged from voluptuous to petite, Rubenesque to wasp-waisted, zaftig to willowy.

"This is city of succubae," Kiri dryly noted.

"It's not like she's self conscious," Ranma smiled at the Moon queen. "You look as good as anyone here."

Usagi gave a smile. "That and the signs." She gestured up at the lighted, painted signs that hung over the sidewalk. Each painting was done in a style that was a cross between the buxom nose-art of old warplanes and the alluring sensual shading of Italian renaissance art. And it was then lit up with fine, curvy tubes of neon.

Ranma looked around at the bright signs. "Oh, you mean the Ginza and Vegas by way of Amsterdam's red light district style?"

"This is a high street for shopping." The young-seeming green-haired woman scanned around.

"Yeah, there's a leather goods store!" Usagi smirked pointing to a building made of green stones with broad, high windows and a sign that consisted of a succubus, who despite wearing the several of the store's wares, was still, functionally, nude.


Ranma adjusted her coat. "My, that is rather nice." She glanced at her watch. It was a slim silver mechanical given to her by her aunt DawnStrike. House BlackSky also had twenty-four hour days, but since their day was slightly longer there was a compatibility issue. Ranma was sure her sister Eve would commission some solution, one that took into account the full thirteen month Silvan year, but the redhead was fine with a second watch.

"I don't know if we have time," the redhead gave the leather shop, with its leather accessories, a longing gaze.

"They'd treat you like a princess," Usagi teased.

The redhead's purple eyes scanned the crowd. "Yeah, they would," her tone was a mix of prideful and... disquiet. She was still getting used to the... fame of being DarkStar.

"We've got time to stop at something quick, if we hurry," Kiri said as they went further up the twisting street.

"And browsing at... clothes wouldn't be quick," Usagi gave a glance back then into the plaza they had entered.

They were on the north side of the Phlegethon river. The Palace loomed behind them. The finger of rock fringed with its gardens, orchards, balconies, temples, and terraces dominated the skyline.

Rooted to an island over seven-hundred and fifty acres at the base, the slopping bottom third of the Palace was studded with a carefully-landscaped collection of, picturesque buildings, cottages, cottages and shops done with lots of gingerbread trim and slate roofs.

The village just above river-level encircling the Palace was largely hidden by the stone combination seawall and fortification that made up the edge of the island and the stone and glass towers buildings abutting to the riverfront on the mainland.

Rising above the island hamlet, the Palace was a blocky rock spire carved out of the remains of the spur of the Romwell Alps. The uppermost quarter section had been added to the height, largely by using stone quarried from the spire of the Palace and fused back into place.

The Palace had all been carved, and embellished to where it glittered with the light of windows and lit-up terraced gardens. As the evening began, the cyclopean structure could almost pass as a more conventional building, albeit one over six hundred and fifty meters tall.

Zeppelins with their own sparkling tracery serenely moved across the sky. Many followed the direction of the river, going downstream to the vast landing fields to the south of the city where the various transportation hubs, warehouses, and depots were.

There were also more than a few succubae who had simply taken to the air.

Usagi shook her head and found Ranma putting a hand across her chest. The silver-haired woman had almost stepped out of the narrow street and into a broad plaza.

The winding street, more of an alleyway, had been almost all foot traffic. The plaza on the other hand was a bit more chaotic.

There were trucks with high backed cargo compartments and wide tires mixed in with the occasional sleek sedan or teardrop-shaped roadster with extended fenders over thin blue-walled rubber tires.

Wobbling, Usagi took a step back. "Oh! They're quiet." She eyed the purring vehicles. They were not silent like electric cars but neither were they the rumbling of an internal combustion engine.

"They're Stirling engines," Kiri said.

Ranma tilted her head.

"It's a heat engine that works by the compression and expansion of air at different temperatures to turn heat energy into mechanical work. I could go into detail as to their benefits and limitations, and why they fell by the wayside on your earth," she offered Usagi. "A pyrokinetic species does... change perspective."

"Uh... no thanks," the silver-haired Moon princess' attention was on some of the glossy carts and wagons being pulled amid the cars. Several were pulled by horses, but a few were being pulled by...

"Those are dinosaurs!" Usagi nearly laughed in wonder.

"With feathers, and claws," Ranma agreed, looking over the three meter tall bipedal animals.

"Not going to comment on the tails?" Usagi teased.

Ranma eyed the silver-haired princess in her dark blue, gold-trimmed gown. "Come on, let's cross while the traffic's thinned."

The redhead led them out into the roadway and across the plaza. Most of the traffic was fairly sedate, though Usagi did have to pause to let a purring motorcycle with ivory-accented chrome-work slip past.

Beyond a perimeter of black iron bollards was a circle of more paved stones dotted with looming oak trees. A few trees were far shorter, indicating replacements. Beyond the arboreal ring was a large fountain.

Many succubae, a few humans, and a smaller number of other species were at the benches watching the fountain and the pool on the inside of the circle.

The marble pool was twenty meters in diameter and several meters deep. A group of children played in the water, wings flapping, tails swishing.

A two meter tall stone plinth rose out of the center of the pool. A tall black granite demoness with curling horns, tumbling hair, and sweeping armor had skewered an even larger dragon in red basalt with an immense silver sword.

Water poured, gushed, spurted, out of the various slashes, stabs and rends in the scaled hide of the creature as its long body wound out from the platform to splay over a good portion off its edges. The piece was martial, aggressive, and had been done with breathtaking skill and beauty.

And the open spots on of the plinth were being used as diving platforms for broodlings who played in the jets of water that spurted out of the fallen dragon. Some of the coils of the great wyrm, spilling off the side of the plinth in red stone loops showed wear from years of use as toe and hand holds.

Usagi tilted her head taking it all in. "It's a good likeness of her."

"The symbolism is a bit on the nose," Lady Pluto added.

Ranma snorted. "Please, not all the monuments to grandmother slaying some beast would be treated as hallowed relics." Though she did note none of the broodlings were using the statue of BlackSky herself as a higher diving platform.


"Succubae," Kiri shook her head.

As they went around the pool, the trio threaded past a few carts, hawkers and other peddlers. Mostly it was various beverages, some alcoholic, but there were snacks too. The one selling bars of candied nuts wrapped in wax paper held Usagi's attention.

Ranma, for her part, was sniffing the air and inspecting each glossy, gaudily colored cart. Then she stopped near a group of lounging legionaries.

They had slung large wood-stocked rifles with polished magazines, and on their belts were narrow-bladed weapons that could do duty as a long bayonet or short sword. Each rifle was slightly different in the checkering, inlay, and carvings on the stocks and grips. There was similar customization on the scabbards and grips of their blades. However, the jeweled silver hair pins they wore were identical.

Half of the young, lean succubae were wearing their articulated armor. The leather of the pleated skirting gleamed as much as the lacquered metal segments of the chest and torso armor.

The other half were wearing a combination of breezy dresses, shorts, bandeaux style tops and other overly casual sets of clothes. A couple were even in swim suits and stretched out on a towel near the base of a tree taking in the evening air.

What had Ranma's attention were the savory buns with steaming sausages a few were noshing on.

Slipping up next to the redhead, Usagi paused. Then she wrapped an arm around the shorter woman. As the succubus cooed and leaned on her side, Usagi ran her manicured nails along the redhead's torso.

"Hungry?" she asked.

"Succubae are always hungry," Pluto stated.

Scanning the plaza, Ranma nodded. Her nostrils flared and her tail flicked about. "Oh... there it is!"

Usagi felt herself being pulled along as her demonic companion dragged her to a small stand near the bottom of a wide set of stairs.

There was a brazier full of smoking sausages and a heaping basket that steamed with fresh rolls. Under the plank of the stand was a shelf full of various bottles.

Standing behind it was a chipper young woman with grey-black skin, white hair, red eyes and pointed ears. She wore a grey dress with red accenting.

At first Usagi wondered if she was seeing a drow. It would not be the first "fantasy race" she had spotted in Silvana. She had seen more than a few pointed ears and folks of varying heights either above or below the human, or succubus, norm.

But then she spotted the black horns and white-finned tail.

Ranma pulled them right to the short line in front of the stand.

Usagi squinted. There was a propped-up chalkboard, but the writing was a bit hard to read in the twilight, though the red streetlamps helped a little bit. However, it was all in Silvan Latin.

The customer in front of them had bright green hair and shining gold-colored eyes. She put some coins on the tray and then took the offered sausage in a fresh rye bun. Usagi noticed that neither party actually made physical contact on the transaction.

The woman wore a vaguely Roman toga with bronze accents that complimented the silver and bronze combs holding back her light emerald hair. Little silver sakura flowers sparkled on the combs.

Nibbling on the bun, she gave Ranma and Usagi a languid smile and slipped towards the fountain. Pluto frowned at that.

"Hi! This smells great!" the redhead happily said, leaning over just enough to eye the sizzling sausages. There was an icebox of some kind under the stand where the white-haired cook would pull out more links.

"Thanks! My aunt runs a butcher shop and I get a great deal on all sorts of overages." The sausage seller paused at the redhead but went back to deftly using the set of tongs.

Nodding, Ranma studied the sign and the prices.

Usagi tried to keep up. And then decided to venture a question. "What meat?" she asked, hoping her Latin was not so bad.

"Oh, outlanders!" The seller gave a brighter smile. "I'm Sabatine, how are you liking Silvana?"

"It's very impressive, I should have visited earlier," Ranma admitted.

Usagi nodded. "So... we're the outlanders right? Not the sausages?" she asked Ranma.

The redhead rolled her eyes. "Tell my human friend what you've got cooking."

Sabatine shrugged. "There's some smoked, some aged, some fresher stuff all with spices. If you're talking about meats, I've got some pork and beef, a beef and bison blend, a couple stockfish and a few ground magnus-codilius. Those are a bit gamey."

"Magnus what?"

"Codilius, it's a very large crocodile-like creature that lives in muddy river deltas," Kiri said twice, once for Usagi, once for Sabatine.

Nodding, the sausage-seller shot Ranma a shy, curious look. "What'll you have?"

"Oh, I'll have two pork and beef on... do you have a dark bread?"

"I have pumpernickel! Fresh!" Sabatine assured.

"That'd be great." The redhead sniffed. "What sauces do you have?"

Sabatine started pulling things out from the shelf under the stand. "I've got garum, of course; mild or hot sanguic. Some white mustard, chili oil, and... oh... here's the horseradish!"

"I'll take some mustard and chili oil," Ranma looked back to Usagi and Kiri

"I'm good," Kiri politely declined while the redhead rolled her eyes.

"I could go for a fish, do you have wheat bread? And.. horseradish." Usagi asked.

'I do!" Sabatine nodded. "Very good!"

Sabatine rotated the smoking sausages and pulled a pair of circular rolls, one dark, almost black, the other a honey brown out of the basket.

"What do you think of the big city?" she asked as she deftly, slid the rolls and loaded the sausages into them and added the sauce.

Usagi gave a little smile. Tokyo was well over ten times bigger than Silvana. That seemed consistent with succubae. Houses all over the Home Plane were sparsely populated, at least by human standards.

Usagi supposed it was logistics. Succubae were hungrier than humans and required an amount of living food. Doubtless if she asked, someone like Kiri, or Eve, or Mira would go into detail about demographics, farming, transportation, energy requirements and more.

Still...

"It's a lovely city," Usagi gracefully accepted her sausage and roll and took a bite. She made a happy murmur.

Sabatine nodded and got Ranma's snack ready. As she handed it over she gave the redhead a shy look. "If I may... I mean you look..."

Ranma gave a somewhat strained smile as her wings ruffled. "Yes, I'm DarkStar."

Sabatine made a girlish squeal. "Really? That's awesome. You've come back!"

Ranma blushed. "Yeah... visiting and all. Grandma, um... BlackSky invited me over."

Sabatine's nod indicated that of course BlackSky would extend such an invitation.

"I'm still getting used to..." Ranma gestured to encompass the city. "All this..."

Taking a bite, Usagi found a bit of mirth at the redhead's embarrassment.

The sausage-seller looked to Usagi. "Oh... is this your consort? She smells delicious."

Usagi nearly choked

"She's a visiting royal, from the Moon Kingdom," Ranma took a bite from her sausage and nuzzled the princess.

"That's not a no," Sabatine giggled. "I can't believe you're back, DarkStar!"

"So... you know about me?"

Sabatine nodded. "I didn't go to the shrines as much as my friends, but I read the stories in the broadsheets and had a few of the pulps. There was even a story of you and Silva succubus."

Ranma's smile turned a bit glassy.

"Um... how much do I owe you?" she asked

Sabatine blushed.

"What? Princesses don't pay?"

"It's not that, I'm just..." the sausage seller shook her head. "Sorry, it's ten denarii."

After counting out the tiny silver coins and putting it on the tray atop the car, Usagi put her free arm around the redhead. She eyed the pile of money, there was something... familiar about the currency. They tingled just a tiny bit when she handled them.

"It was great seeing you!" Ranma bowed, as well as she could while eating and being held by the taller woman.

"The pleasure was mine!" Sabatine smiled and waved as the three left.

Ranma finished her nosh in a couple more bites.

Usagi was pensive as she ate a bit more, then gave the remainder to the demoness she was still holding.

"I wonder how frequently that'll happen," Ranma noted.

"You are rather famous here," Kiri said.

"Yeah, but it's not like there's photographs of me out in circulation, just my description," Ranma said as they came to the set of stairs on the far side of the plaza near Sabatine's stand.

Made of cut and dressed stone, the wide steps rose up through grove of swaying willows built into terraces between the levels of the city.

Halfway up the long flight, the stairwell split in a Y. The branch going to the left ascended sharply. It rose out of the ground on a series of arches until it met a funicular station that clung to a skeletal structure of curving steel beams.

An articulated train consisting of inclined cars trundled up the tracks. However, the stairwell to the station itself was closed. A group of workers in sturdy leather clothes were levering out worn stairs and replacing them with freshly dressed stone. Levels and guide ropes were well in use and one was sighting angles from a tripod off to the side.

Usagi paused to watch the demons work. "Huh, you'd think they'd use more magic."

"Properly mixed mortar and stonemasonry lasts longer than all but the most expensive spells," Kiri noted.

"They've got a whole city's worth of stone to keep maintained," Ranma agreed, after she finished the food Usagi had given her.

"I guess," Usagi gave the redhead another squeeze and they went up the other branch of the stairs. This one went through more willows and deposited them at the far end of a flat park

Statuary in cast bronze littered the park. As the trio walked, Usagi noted they were in a mix of seductive, stately, and jingoistic poses. She recognized a few; there was stern AshRain, sober DawnStrike, and saucy CloudFire. Usagi wondered if all the other statues were Daughters of BlackSky. Names, titles, and other ranks were engraved on the stone platforms that supported the statues.

There were also at least half a dozen empty plinths. Usagi did not have to ask Kiri or Ranma about the symbolism there.

One of the statues stood a bit to the side and was done in pale marble. In the dim light, it was hard or Usagi to tell the colors but she could see silver inlay in the stone. She was not sure if the statue's hair was made out of crimson stone intricately carved into scarlet curls or if the stone had been painted. A small reflecting pool surrounded around its plinth with niches for flickering votive candles around the stone lip.

Stopping, she squeezed her arm closer around Ranma.

The redhead sighed. "Yeah... that's me."

"Is it?" Usagi asked looking up. The statue's face was a bit... rounder and more innocent-looking. There was not the confident spark of the woman she knew.

"We were all different back in those days," Lady Pluto stated.

"I wanted Serenity to be proud of me," Ranma's voice was subdued.

"I'm sure she was," Usagi assured, hugging her. The magical girl felt a bit... melancholy. Serenity the First was... she was many things: ruler, diplomat, artificer... conqueror.

Mother was only part of that.

"BlackSky's going to be busy too," Ranma murmured.

Usagi nodded. "I'm sure she'll do her best with Dr. Saotome."

"Yeah, it's just, you know what these magical empress women are like."

"And you worry she'll only have so much time for your mother," Kiri stated.

Ranma gestured to the little shrine. "Oh no, I'm thinking Grandmother will invest all the time she has in my mother... her daughter."

"There is a legend about BlackSky," Kiri explained, looking around the statues, taking in the handful of empty plinths.

"Oh?" Usagi asked. She shivered there was something eerie about being among so many statues, like they were watching her.

Ranma followed the green-haired girl's gaze. "About the Roman legionary remnants she absorbed into her empire?"

Kiri nodded. "Most got along with the program."

"Let me guess, a group didn't?"

Lady Pluto tapped her staff. "Right. The Romans were not just a pragmatically imperialist system prideful of their superiority in art, culture, and military skill who absorbed what they felt useful from their clients. There were points where they did not get along with House BlackSky."

"What happened?"

Ranma smiled at Usagi. "House BlackSky does not believe in prisons."

"The Romans didn't either," Kiri shrugged. "It didn't stop them from confining people; it just from using imprisonment as an official form of punishment."

"They were executed?" Usagi asked turning to look down the low fence that bounded the park from the rolling slope. The lights of the city, including boats worming up and down the river and various elevated trams and trains were visible through the trees.

"The ring leaders, very public, very quick, by Roman standards."

Ranma snorted. "A coup against succubae kinda requires some real operational security. Given how easily we can suborn folks."

"And the rest?" Usagi looked around, wondering if this park would be more lively during the day. However, even now it did not feel empty.

Kiri's little smile returned. "Loyally Serve the House until the end of their days or an Honorable Death."

"BlackSky allowed them to kill themselves?"

"Better than a ritual strangulation. The remaining plotters accepted; suicide was considered a way out. Though only about half took the knives."

Usagi sighed. "Let me guess another public spectacle?"

"Oh, no, this was private, just BlackSky, some of her Daughters and noble brood mothers."

Studying Kiri's explanation, Ranma exhaled. "They turned them?"

"As the traitors lay dying," Kiri smirked. "Yes, they had agreed to BlackSky's punishment. The new daughters would be made loyal."

"And serve until the end of their days?" Usagi shivered. "While those who didn't try to kill themselves would..."

"Get an honorable death in their old age," Kiri shrugged.

"Why?" Usagi asked.

"The peripheral members of the plot had useful skills and knowledge. Leadership and administrative abilities that a growing empire would need. BlackSky was loath to waste such talent. She could wait a few years to ensure their compliance."

The Moon Princess shook her head. "No, why tell us this?"

Kiri stepped around an empty plinth.

"Really? Going back to secretive and coy?" Usagi sighed. Closer, she could see that the inscriptions on the stone base had been studiously truncated and then neatly dressed. There were no more familial titles or awards of merits, only a name: Valetrix

"It's to show what Grandmother is capable of. Or that she'll bend her rules?" Ranma asked.

"Her rules?" Usagi asked as they passed through the statuary in the park.

"Turning without consent," Ranma leaned onto Usagi.

"They did consent to punishment... and death."

"I'm sure the exact details of their contract allowed for turning," Ranma exhaled.

"Ah, this is about Dr. Saotome's contract?" Usagi asked.

Kiri's eyes twinkled. "For now."

Absently looking down at the succubus she had cuddled to her side, Usagi gave a nervous laugh.

Ranma snorted. "Like you'll need a contract with Grandmother."

"Yeah, I've got my own... imperial ancestor issues," Usagi coughed. She could see Serenity I making... similar choices when faced with sedition.

Kiri made a noncommittal noise as they passed the last of the statuary and neared a tall pale-brick wall. An iron gate stood open.

Two Alpinum Guard stood on watch. The silver accents and gold insignia gleamed on their ceramic composite amour. Their custom engraved rifles were shouldered but their swords hung at the ready in their scabbards. They two women gave a the trio a nod.

One had pale eyes and dark hair that shone with starlight. Her companion had deep green skin and silver hair. As one, they tilted their heads and their tails stilled.

Usagi took a step back and glanced around. She could make out a few more Alpinum on watch further out by the roadway beyond the park. Glancing, back into the grove of statuary, she spotted a pair of Alpinum waiting by the DarkStar shrine.

She exhaled, so that was the feeling of being watched.

Ranma tugged at her and pulled her towards the gates.

The guard on watch saluted, extended pointer and middle fingers tapping exposed necks. They then stepped aside, allowing the trio to enter.

Stepping through the gate, Usagi blinked. Between the manicured grounds, the long dormitories, classical lecture halls, and buildings literally covered with creeping vines. There were even a handful of very prim students walking around in starched uniforms.

"It's a private school." she shook her head.

"Quite so," BlackSky's playful and resonant voice said as she stepped down a path to greet them. She wore a sleek black dress that complimented her tumbling, glossy tresses.

"Welcome to the Mima Lumina Academy," another voice said in crisp, cultured tones. A cascade of shining, curly blond hair fell down her shoulders. Even beyond her ears, neck, and wrists, she was adorned with gems: sparkling diamonds hung from bright blue horns, sapphires spiraled around her arms, her tail's golden fins were shining with ornamentation, and a shimmering gauzy mantle draped over her shoulders and wings.

Her cool, reserved features were a dusted in bronze like fine metallic freckles. A bright glint flickered in bright turquoise eyes as platinum lips curled into a smile Walking forward on sparkling high heels, her shimmering blue dress flowing around her as she bowed to the trio.

"DarkStar, Queen Serenity, Lady Pluto, Mother has said much about you, the pleasure is mine," her tone was courtly but Usagi felt that there was more than a bit of confidence, of superiority, in there.

Ranma disentangled herself and returned the bow.

Usagi gave a curtsy which caused Kiri to give a tiny sigh. "Ah, and you are?"

"Aedile Felisia," BlackSky said slipping next to her daughter, who was much shorter than her, but still fair bit taller than Ranma.

Nodding, the moon queen looked between them. The more Daughters of BlackSky she met, the more she could see how each took after certain aspects of the imperial mother.

With Felisia, Usagi got a vibe she had not felt since high school, that of a snide, but oh so polite, popular girl. The silver-haired woman frowned. House BlackSky was riddled with nepotism, but...

She recalled the empty plinths. And the conversations DawnStrike and CloudFire had when they first arrived. Mediocre Daughters, those who were nothing more than spoiled dilettantes and libertine wastrels, were gently, or not so gently, pushed aside.

Usagi smiled. "Aedile? Fascinating title, what do you do?" she asked in slow, but careful Silvan Latin.

Still giving a haughty grin, Felisia gave a tiny bow of her bright horns. "Infrastructure. Maintaining public buildings, finding public festivals, entertaining."

"And cultural matters," BlackSky added, with her own tiny smirk.

Ranma nodded and noticed the awed looks many of the students had. A few of the older ones, who looked no older than her own children, started gathering their younger classmates.

"I'm just here to help with arrangements," Felisia said with playfully faux humility.

"Nonsense, you know the Headmistress and the Chancellor, and it was a wonderful tour," Nodoka assured; her Silvan Latin was a bit rough, but eminently functional. She wore a dark grey suit coat with matching, but shiny leather skirt and wedge heels that were a bit taller than normal for her.

Cecilia was next to her, as were as a gaggle of Cecilia and Ranma's girls.

Usagi smiled as the conversation halted for various group hugs. She then noticed that the gawking students realized who the redhead with purple eyes and wings in the company of their empress was.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Kiri pushed her into one of the hugs.

"Perhaps we can go talk someplace without the audience? Or I could arrange a party?" Felisia suggested as she led them towards one of the round, columned buildings.

BlackSky crooked a finger and more of her Alpinum Guard ghosted into view and shadowed the group.

After catching up with her daughters, Ranma found Cecilia pulling her back to Nodoka.

"You know they're going to want to find that sausage stand," Cecilia said in a low voice.

"They are good sausages," Ranma defended.

"Yeah... and Misako's wanted to try something smoked and meaty." Cecilia gave Usagi a contemplative look. "But she's enjoying her vacation."

"And are your girls?" Ranma saw that Felisia seemed a bit less... stiff around Desiree and Meredith.

Though the curly-haired blonde did pause to correct both broodlings' stances. Ranma chuckled at a demoness who felt older than AshRain, but younger than CloudFire, and much younger than DawnStrike fuss over such thing.

"They're enjoying themselves." As they climbed up a set of steps leading to the building's doors, Cecilia looked around and shook her head. "All this..."

"All what?" Nodoka asked.

"It's just a lot to take in, Mom," Ranma said.

The Company officer nodded.

"And a school..." the redhead laughed. "For you?"

Nodoka adjusted her blouse. "I will be young in mind, if not body, for a time."

"Then why not both?" Felisia suggested.

"Logistics," Nodoka stated.

"Ah, yes, as you would not be youthened by natural means, then your aging would similarly be enhanced as needed." The Daughter bowed her head to BlackSky. "If that is your plan mother."

"Such a plan has occurred to me," BlackSky waited by the door, expectant and then waved at the students who had clustered around at the base of the stairs watching them.

Ranma looked out. The students were in their crisp uniforms, which seemed to get shorter in skirt and jacket the older the succubae. The upper-class girls were still minding their youngers but the redhead could hear the occasional girlish sigh.

Especially when she moved.

Trying an experiment, she reached out and took Usagi in a hug. The redhead smirked at the reaction.

Where BlackSky and Felisia engendered something almost like awe, she warranted sighs and suppressed squeals.

"This.... is new," Ranma murmured.

"Surely, you expected such notoriety, niece," Felisia observed, as she gave a picture perfect wave to the students.

"Expecting is one thing, experiencing is another."

The blonde demon smirked.

"I suppose some of the blame is mine," BlackSky admitted.

"Now mother, it's not like all the stories, plays, chronicles, shrines, and temples were commissions on your part," Felisia's tone was light.

"Daughter," BlackSky smirked.

"Perhaps, we can go inside," Felisia suggested, mildly chagrined.

Entering the amphitheatre, Nodoka shook her head.

Usagi took in the tiers of polished wood chairs and carved stone pillars. On the walls were murals of inlaid metal loops of various shades. "Nice, looks kinda familiar."

"It's reminiscent of the Unification at styles popular on the polar regions of Luna," Kiri noted.

"Coincidence," Felisia stated.

The green haired girl tilted her head.

"For one, wood was only used as rare accenting in the Lunarian styles. Secondly, Lunarians would affect color changes within a single crystal," Felisia then smiled. "Art history is a vital part of an education at Mima Lumina."

"Even an abbreviated one?" Nodoka asked.

Felisia gave a small look of distaste. "Accommodations will have to be made."

The broodlings flittered about the stairs while Nabiki took a few photos and waited for Desiree and Meredith to get into frame. She then took a couple with Nariko and Akane.

"We have to arrange a..." Nodoka took in the room and nodded to BlackSky. "An itinerary."

"How much time do we have to work with?" Felisia asked.

"Nodoka would be eager to get back to her daughters, that is the purpose of this arrangement," BlackSky reminded.

"Months if we are lucky," Felisia shook her head. "Time will press."

"But where is the art without a challenge?" BlackSky smiled.

"Art?" Usagi asked.

"Speaking as the canvas the idea is, a bit, disquieting," Nodoka admitted as she looked around the lecture hall.

"Is being changed really what you fear?" BlackSky asked.

The officer shrugged. "It's the accepting afterwards."

Felisia flicked her tail. "Better than the alternative. For your mental stability alone."

"Yes, I'm aware," Nodoka took a seat between Ranma and Cecilia.

The blonde demoness shook her head. "You will be one of us. Mother will shape you. You losing your humanity will be the start, Little Sister."

She spread her hands to encompass the murals. Most of which were blatantly allegorical. There were more than a few in the style of Silva Succubus, but with a bit more artistry in the parables "Ethically, culturally, socially, you will be one of us."

"Your time as a human, who you were as human will not be lost," BlackSky stated. "It is the foundation, what your daughters care for, and what makes you so appealing."

"And that's merely the mental aspects, physically.... well..." Felisia smiled and swished her tail.

Cecilia nodded.

"That part I'm quite comfortable with," Nodoka admitted.

"What human wouldn't want to get more appealing? Not that you don't look appealing as you are but..." Felisia smiled. "There's such potential."

BlackSky gave her a mild look.

"Of course, Mother, As long as she's not quite as severe and stark as AshRain or maybe not as indulgent as CloudFire... though for her age and her daughters some hips and mother figure, and a good tail could give the right impression."

"Doesn't the canvas get a choice?" Nodoka asked.

"Of course, Little Sister, we are shape-shifters. Maybe a bit of an ingenue, well with more sophistication."

Nodoka raised a hand. "Ah, but we have preferences no? Or that is I will, and the rest of you do."

BlackSky smiled.

"Take my eldest," Nodoka gestured to Ranma. "She's more than capable of taking a form far closer to how she... he... looked before any curses, rituals, or reincarnation awakenings."

Ranma blushed a bit. "Mom...."

"It's okay, Dear." Nodoka pulled her in close. "I know you're more comfortable this way, that this is who you are."

The redhead's tail flicked until the officer gently caught it.

"I'm proud of you, all you've done, all you've sacrificed," Nodoka assured.

"I know, I can feel it," Ranma leaned on her mother.

"And... I'll be able to feel it back," Nodoka put her other arm around Cecilia. "You girls deserve this."

BlackSky gave a smug smile.

"It is very generous, Grandmother," Ranma said.

"That is Mother's nature," Felisia's tone was rapt.

"Oh, you." Smiling at her daughter, BlackSky then took in the broodlings and the lone human.

She then nodded to Queen Serenity's heir and Lady Pluto. "And honored guests."

"Shall we break for dinner?" Felisia asked.

"That seems lovely," Nodoka settled next to her daughters and patted Ranma's tail before shifting it over to Usagi.

Smiling, the redhead shimmied in her seat while Usagi tried to manage the sudden imposition. Letting the tail curl around her wrist, she gave the other human a glare.

Nodoka smirked.

Felisia tilted her head. "It's a start, Sister."

Ranma nuzzled over to Usagi. "You want to share a meal with us?"

Despite blushing, the silver-haired magical girl squared her shoulders. "As long as it is an informal event, without diplomatic pretense."

Lady Pluto nodded approvingly to her queen.

BlackSky looked amused. "Oh, it'll just be a family affair, future family perhaps," she added looking over the two humans in the room.

Usagi turned to Ranma. "Really?"

"Grandmothers do want grandkids," Nodoka stated.

"I gave you five, "Ranma pouted while her daughters preened.

"And I gave her seven," Cecelia added.

Nodoka sagely nodded. "Yes, seventeen granddaughters is a start."

BlackSky chuckled.

"We have a large party, but I know a place," Felisia gave a languid, confident smile at the assembled people.

However, Usagi felt the blonde demon's attention linger, hungrily, on her.

Ranma gave an interrogative murmured as her tail twitched. "Would I be recognized?"

Felisia blinked. She gave her mother a suffering look.

"You'd be at a party with this place's Empress and one of her Daughters," Usagi hissed in the redhead's ear."

"We can have a more private venue," Felisia offered. "Though niece, if you wish to be a bit more discreet in public, you can change your hair color. Maybe both you and your companion."

"I did not think the Lunarian Empire was that well known here," Lady Pluto noted.

BlackSky's patient, confident smile returned.

Ranma whispered into Usagi's ear. "Look at it this way; at least she used the word companion."

"Ah, I was a bit iffy on the translation," Usagi shook her head.

"I did not want to presume," Felisia purred. "And given you're not dressed like the concubine nor the consort of a Princess of House BlackSky...."


"Is that an offer?" Ranma asked.

Felisia's expression grew a bit aloof. "Unless you want us to force her."

Usagi met her gaze with a smile. "The last time demonic nobility tried, it went badly."

Turquoise eyes narrowed. "Oh, you are very much her daughter."

"Do not cause an incident," BlackSky said, her tone mild. "Not if you cannot accept the consequences, Daughter."

Felisia sniffed but broke eye contact with Usagi.

"Yes, your kind invaded Earth, but when it came to my family, you brokered an alliance; you never tried to take the Moon."

"That was before Felisia's time," BlackSky stated. Unspoken was the obvious part that the Invasion, the creation and death of DarkStar, the destruction of perfidious House Vephar, splitting the spoils of Earth with the Lunarian Empire, were all things BlackSky was intimately familiar with.

"Not by that many centuries," the blonde demoness' tone was slightly petulant.

BlackSky gave her a little hug then gave Usagi a thoughtful look. "How much of her do you remember?"

Usagi steeled herself. "Enough. Why?"

The empress smiled. "I know you fret of living up to the legend of Serenity the First. That you fear being in her shadow."

The Moon Princess exhaled.

"Do not. You are better than her."

"Hey!" Usagi bristled. "My mother-"

BlackSky moved in to embrace the silver-haired Lunarian and her redheaded granddaughter. "Was a powerful and decisive leader. It was just it came to family where she was lacking in..." the demoness made a low, amused noise, "humanity."

Usagi huffed, unsure how to take that. She glanced to Lady Pluto. The diminutive Senshi shook her head slowly.

"I won't presume, but if you do want stories about your mother, just what she was like, no lecturing or hectoring, you can ask," BlackSky offered as she broke the hug.

Usagi still had Ranma pulled in close. "What did she think of you?"

BlackSky smiled. "Oh, a delicious question."

"That's not an answer," Pluto murmured.

The demonic empress slunk back up to the auditorium's stage. "It's not. At first she saw me as a rival. I was part of a force invading a neighboring world, a world she coveted. But she saved DarkStar, and treated her well. Maybe if DarkStar had stated with Serenity, maybe if I had my daughter, her mother Lilith, go with Serenity too..."

BlackSky exhaled. "But I was young, prideful, full of power."

"So was she," Pluto murmured.

"I did not grasp the limitations of my power, the wisdom of restraint." The demon reached up and made a fist. She turned to Usagi. "I'd like to think your mother learned to respect me, that she learned humility from my, from her mistakes."

"Mother..."

"No, Felisia, I am not perfect."

"Mother, I know. Hubris begets nemesis. That is why our way is the velvet path. Serenity the First..."

"The Invasion was before her Unification War really got going," BlackSky gave Usagi a shrug. "By the time your mother brought the Sol System under her boot we were not... close."

Ranma felt the silver-haired princess's ire flutter.

"Under her boot? Who are you to say that?"

BlackSky waved a hand. "An imperialist queen who invaded earth from another dimension."

"Yeah, yeah, my mom just had to drop down the gravity well." Usagi chuckled. "So, dinner? I am just a guest here," she nodded to Nodoka.

"For now," the older auburn-haired woman smiled.

"Is this how deflect nervousness to such a change, Major Saotome?" Lady Pluto inquired.

Nodoka looked to her daughters. "I can imagine what a succubus version of myself would think of Miss Tsukino."

"Not much different from how you think already?" Usagi's curiosity rose. While she had met many succubae before they had been turned, she had not been terribly close to any of them beforehand.

Turning to BlackSky, Nodoka raised an eyebrow.

"A lot of trust is being put into my hands. If you consent, you will be exquisite, Daughter," the ancient demoness purred.

Nodoka nodded. "It has been very informative, but I believe we can come to an amenable contract."

"Contract?" Usagi asked as she took Ranma's hand and stood up.

"You can make a lawyers and demons joke," Cecilia smirked.

"That seems a bit on the nose."

"We are civilized, and part of that is having contracts and adhering to them," Felisia sniffed.

"Right, and where you have contracts you have advocates who debate the terms and mechanisms and enforcements," Lady Pluto noted, falling into step beside her queen.

"A litigious society does beat the alternatives." BlackSky lead them out of the auditorium.

"A violent one?" Usagi asked, hopefully.

BlackSky chuckled as they crossed the academy's grounds. Alpinum Guard seamlessly formed around their party.

"Perhaps we can go see an honor duel? I'm sure the Association has some bloodsport registered for tonight. Probably a private event but we could go to the Amphitheater, with such august guests wanting to see Silvan culture..." Felisia purred.

"Of course, you have legalized dueling." Usagi shook her head. "And you probably have all sorts of traditions, contracts. and rules."

BlackSky smiled. "But of course, that's what elevates common murder into something civilized."

"Until quite recently dueling was a socially expected, and quite popular, if frivolous means of settling matters on your world," Felisia sniffed.

Usagi frowned.

"Oh, it's not usually to the death. We do heal quite well. Death for mere sport, for puffed, wounded pride, is a waste," Felisia scoffed.

Usagi looked thoughtful at least until Ranma nuzzled up to her side. "You're just tempted by the idea of seeing some succubae fight each other while being all fancy."

"If a more theatrical combat, perhaps with costumes and pageantry, there are several... martial plays we could see. The Pillaging of Mordivia has a wonderful bout in the third act." Felisia's eyes glistened.

"What no bikinis or mud-pit?" Usagi asked.

"Oh, you have heard of the play?" Felisia bowed her head to the moon queen. "I will confess the fight in the mud baths in the first act is a bit contrived, but the alto's solo during does make up for the artifice."

Usagi shook her head. "Succubae."

"Cultured succubae," Felisia sniffed. She turned to Nodoka. "If you are to be our little sister, there is much you will be responsible for, including enlightening outsiders."

Nodoka arched her brow.

BlackSky tisked as they neared a cluster of sleek, but imposing, but long vehicles. With a lot of glossy black bodywork and silver accents, they were a bit too rugged to be pure luxury, but were too nicely-appointed to be military.

However, Usagi's attention was on the group of Alpinum riding raptors. The dinosaurs with feathered frills down their necks bore their riders on tooled leather saddles. Compared to that, the two succubus troopers, one with a large silver wolf snuffling about, the other with a rather fluffy leopard prowling at her heel, were almost normal.

Eyeing the big cat and her lithe handler, Ranma stopped, her tail going still.

Usagi squeezed her hand. "You okay?"


The redhead's purple eyes met the cat's slitted amber. The leopard turned away and with an aloof sniff looked to her handler. The azure-pageboy haired demon clicked her tongue and led the big cat, which was about her own weight off to the far side of the convoy.

Ranma exhaled. "I'm fine. I really don't like cats."

Cecilia, Nariko, and Nodoka had slipped up to either side around the redhead.

BlackSky quietly observed.

"Is this a normal deployment?" Nodoka asked.

"In the heart of my House?" The empress chuckled. "I either move with a heavy guard or hardly one at all."

"It is less to protect her, and more to have a ready force for public management or any contingency. Until forces from the Palace, the Castra Argentum, or the Aerodrome arrive. A wing of Ritual Plate would not take long to deploy."

BlackSky shrugged and two aides approached. One was the amber-haired, purple-tinged form of Mira HeartWood. The librarian was in a stark black bodice and skirt and handed a glass tablet with scrolling symbols over as matching motes flickered on her glasses. Next to her was a woman in a black and gold-braided Legion staff uniform. BlackSky took a moment to confer with both.

"And in other locations?" Nodoka asked.

"When outside House territory, or even in some of the far-flung off-Plane colonies, fleet units provide a mobile base for support. If only to establish a beachhead and secure portal access. Depending on the nature of the visit, Mother will bring her personal ship Vault of the Heavens." Felisia pointed up to a portion of the night sky where an almost cetacean black hole blocked the bright, flickering silvery and orange stars.

At least Usagi presumed those were stars. She was not certain exactly what it was like once you got above the atmosphere in this demonic dimension. The stars did seem to be twinkling in a rapid, pulsating manner. Not to mention, the two medium-sized moons gave her a special kind of unease.

As for the great aerial shadow cruising across the sky, its ruby running lights were the only indication that it was a vessel and not some kind of cosmological phenomenon.

"Your mother's fleets were more impressive," Lady Pluto said in a quiet voice.

Usagi frowned at that. That was true, Serenity I had an interstellar empire. Though if House BlackSky had an inter-dimensional one... then maybe her mother had ships that teleported as well.

Her frown deepened when she took the other meaning of Meiou's words. The past tense. Serenity I had a mighty fleet. And it was no more.

This time Ranma comforted her.

"And what about you, Aedile?" Nodoka asked.

Felisia brightened. "When I travel? Well, tonight was too intimate for me to bring my handmaidens, and when traveling it is only prudent to bring as capable of companions as required. " She gave an airy shrug.

The elegant blonde demoness studied the human. Her gems sparkled in the flickering lamplight. "Another lesson, possible Sister. We have many duties for House and Family. We are not just seductresses, diplomats, and conquerors. Sometimes, our tasks are challenging."

"Pride much?" Usagi asked.

Felisia smirked.

"When done with culture and class it takes on a veneer of glorification and honor," Nodoka stated. "But I would say when it comes to succubae, vanity and lust are the sins of choice."

The blonde succubus leaned towards the Moon princess and gave a haughty but lascivious smile. "I would rather say we are imperious. Though we justify our rule; perhaps we should see if we have more than just that in common with you," she purred.

Usagi found her arms were already full of one succubus, and that the redhead had put her head on her shoulder and her arms were exploring her dress.

The Moon Princess gave a wicked little smile and took a half step back pressing against DarkStar. Her silver hair piled up a bit more as her gold tiara flared out

"I'd have to ask Censor CloudFire first. She's expressed interest in the past. I would so hate to disappoint your sister," Usagi innocently stated.

Nodoka, Lady Pluto, Cecilia and the broodlings gave variations on light chuckles.

Felisia exhaled. "Well said, but take care. CloudFire will take you up on that offer. Not that you'd regret it."

"Honestly, would I really regret going to bed with any of you? You are succubae princesses."

"Not if I had anything to say in raising them," BlackSky said as she returned. Her aides had walked off to talk with some of the other officers, and the part of the squad of mounted troops had started forward making sure the roadway was navigable.

Usagi noted that succubae on raptor-back made a fairly effect way to clear the street.

Felisia bowed her horns to her Mother.

"Now, shall we go to dinner?" BlackSky gestured and the doors to the gleaming black transports opened as the Alpinum making up the honor guard stepped back.

Nodoka shook her head, and helped her daughters and granddaughters, and daughter's friend in. There was some shifting as the logistics was organized, but the officer took the moment to lean back in the leather chair and relax.

There was so much she still had to do with her family, but the more she learned the more sure she felt with her decision.

*******************


"Please, sit," Captain Eve Jarvis gestured to an empty seat at the break room table. She then filled two cups from the coffee machine.

Her guest was another blue-eyed blonde woman. She looked a bit younger, shorter, and less broad in the shoulder. Her face was less stern looking, her hair was a more golden shade, and the blue of her eyes was deeper, more of a summer ocean than a pale ice-blue.

Giving a little ghost of a smile, the other blonde elegantly took a chair. She wore twin ponytails tied back with red bows and a blue dress with red accents and a matching blue jacket.

The other, much paler, woman took the seat and put down two mugs. Her hair was up in a tight bun and she wore a grey suit with a matching skirt. "Cream no sugar," Eve stated pushing a mug across the table. It was white with a golden crescent on it.

"Of course you'd know." The ghost of Minako Aino's smile solidified on Lady Venus' face as she continued. "Is this a social call?"

"Am I capable of such a thing?" Eve asked.

Venus smirked and took a sip. "You're hardly the cold inhuman thing you present yourself as."

Eve tilted her head.

The magical girl put the mug down. "See, a lesser person would have unfurled her wings, or flicked her tail, or maybe let her horns out to be subtle. You..."

The demoness shrugged. "I'm curious if you have any difficulties. You have been left in command."

"Command of two." Venus' lip curled back. "A rump force."

"Three Pattern Silvers."

"Now you speak of our power?" Venus then took a sip.

"Your power was never in doubt."

The magical girl snorted. "No, you doubted if we could get with the program. If we could work with you. Be your tip of the spear, your force multiplier." Her eyes flashed. "Then Ottawa happened, then London, not my London... London Ontario happened."

Eve gave a salute with her own black mug. It bore the grey logo of Willard International Consulting. "Yes."

Venus let her ire fade.

"Still, the question remains. Do you have any difficulties with Miss Hino or Miss Kino?"

"No."

"Ah, good. I was worried. Well, Miss Hino is the suspicious sort."

About to take a drink, Venus laughed.

Eve made a show of looking abashed. "I am fully capable of trusting those close to me. And I have no problem with someone worried about their friends."

Hand clenching, Venus had to consciously reduce the pressure when she started to hear the slight crinkling of stressed ceramic.

"I am sorry," Eve bowed her head.

"She... it's not like that."

"Miss Hino is cautious and devoted to Miss Tsukino. Same for Miss Kino, but I wonder."

"You don't have to keep referring to us by our last names," Venus smirked.

Eve gave a tiny smile.

"Well... we're all devoted to Usagi."

"To where you wear her face."

Venus ran a hand along her cheek. "Small change... and I've pretended to be the Moon Princess before."

"You've also been alone. You were the first."

Venus held her mug, gently this time. "Alone? Even then, it was me and... Artemis." She rubbed at the corner of her eye, but there were no tears. "I should get in contact with Alan and Katarina. It's been a while. I hear they're still together."

"Katarina Carnon of Interpol?"

"Do you know everything about us?" Venus smirked.

"It was mentioned four months ago at a lunch. Miss Hino was complaining about when the Tokyo police interfered with a Pattern Y attack and you mentioned how helpful... Katarina was, but that another Tokyo police Special Officer, by the name Wakagi I believe, was very unhelpful. Now, his boss Superintendent General Sakurada, yes? She assisted you."

"She would bug me every week to try and recruit me onto the force," Venus' tone was flat. "And don't pretend that you're struggling to remember their names."

"Many people find talking to someone with an eidetic memory disquieting. A few flaws makes one seem disarming."

Venus gave a level glare.

"Fine, no masks," Eve let her horns slide out. "Your interactions with Superintended Sakurada illustrates why you're hesitant to support a fuller integration with us. But it also shows why you are not against some form of cooperation."

"And now that Miss Tsukino, as you call her, is gone..."

"It's just us," Eve's voice softened.

Venus blinked. "You miss her, them."

Mirth touched, the blonde magical girl's eyes. "This is the first time you've been away from them. Big bad German scary agent misses her sisters."

Eve nodded. "And you? You've been close to Miss Tsukino. More than pretending to be her, you've been closer to her than anyone else."

"She no longer wears me as armor."

"Yes, you're no longer a thing. You're still at her side."

Venus exhaled. The action stuck out for how deliberate, almost forced, it was. "I miss her."

"Naturally. You love her."

Venus eyed the demon. There was no high handed judgment in her tone. It might have been sympathetic. "I loved her before Ami got to me."

"I know, Miss Mizuno's actions were redundant. She forced something upon you that was already there."

"Yeah, well, she did a lot of redundant things to me." Venus flexed her fingers.

"You got free of her control."

"Yes, back under the fealty of my true queen." Venus watched the demon's cool blue eyes. "You're conflicted. How many loyalties do you have?"

Eve sipped her coffee. "Command is well aware of my past and upbringing. Their background investigation was most thorough."

Venus shook her head. "No, not whatever Boys in Belize weirdo colony you grew up in."

"Boys from Brazil is the book you're thinking of," Eve corrected.

"Not really my taste in reading." Venus looked over her fellow blonde's stern features and her grey uniform.

"What have you been reading?" Eve asked.

"Oh, Makochan found a fun scifi book. It's about this vocaloid, well gynoid, in Japan. She's huge in rock and death-metal, but it turns out she's being reprogrammed into an assassin 'bot and has to learn how to fight for her freedom, her friend's, and expose the sinister conspiracies around her."

Eve nodded. "Escapism then?"

"It is a bit more black and white, and the book has an accompanying sound track that is really good. It's a bit girls-with-guns for my tastes, but since there's no magic and it's all cyberpunk, that's expected."


"You'll have to give me the title," Eve said.

"I suppose you could relate too, you do have so many masters." She pointed to the mug. "The Company." She pointed to Eve's horns. "Your sister. And now meeting with BlackSky, visits to exotic cities, turning your... well... making a mother."

Venus folded her hands. "I really can't complain. I'm not an orphan like Makochan. I'm not as estranged as Haruka and Michiru are."

Venus gave another deliberate exhale.


"But?" Eve asked, voice gentle.

Venus eyed her. The demon was an interrogator. And her tools were more than needles and demonic powers. A good memory, a flair for asking the right questions, and the patience to keep asking questions went a long way.

"I worry; no, I wonder. I know what Ami did to me. I'm seeing Kiri... Setsuna letting her hair down, being more, well, more Pluto. And Rei, she's got her passions."

"Wielding Kusanagi with her goddess' blessing had to have been illuminating."

Venus gave the demon a flat look. "Yeah, she's growing too."

"But?" Eve prompted.

"But what? I don't think she's going to go all FireStar and burn down the homecoming ball."

"You're confusing Firestarter and Carrie both books by the same author about young women who-" Eve stopped when she saw Venus' tiny grin.

"But it's not about Rei, or me, or even Ami and Usagi." Venus looked down. "You're worried about Makochan?"

"The quiet ones escape notice."

"Yeah... that was Ami and Janet, er Naru's, thing." Venus gave another faux exhale. "Makochan's fine."

Eve pursed her lips.

"I've been with her. She's getting along well with Rei, and we talk."

"Maybe a social event can be arranged?"

Venus smirked at the demon. "You really are an... organized person aren't you?

"Given my eldest and youngest sisters, someone has to be."


Venus laughed. "Yeah, well... Ami was that for us."

Eve gave a salute with her mug. "Being a magical girl is full of unexpected challenges."

Venus gave the demon a level look as if to say: "Like you would know."

With a little smile, Eve focused and there was another shimmer on her brow. This time, instead of horns appearing, a thin gold tiara with set with a single glossy obsidian stone formed.

Venus snorted. "Of course."

Eve let her tiara sublimate away. "I am not a very strong Pattern Silver, but it is there."

"If Sailor DarkStar's daughters can be Senshi then why not siblings." The golden golem girl laughed. "You've been trying to get magical girls, Pattern Silvers, for over a year and now you're one of them."

"I've already got a wizard in the family," Eve shrugged.

Venus' mirth grew..

Eve gave an inquisitive look.

"Sorry, I'm just imagining what it'd be like for some of our siblings turned out to be magical girls too."

The demoness shook her head.

"I better warn Usagi about her brother when she gets back," Venus said as she laughed.

"Is he not associating with Miss Tsukino's daughter?"

Venus gave a theatrical exhale through her teeth. "Oh, that rotten, little, pink spore."

Eve made a thoughtful noise.

"You knew?"

"I have suspicions, like you." Eve tapped the table. "The younger sibling of a crown princess, an heir, has a certain historical role."

Venus pushed thoughts of what could happen to Usagi's little brother if... well not just if anything were to happen to the Moon Princess. There was also if a certain time traveling trickster decided to meddle.

"And what about your daughters?" she asked the demon.

Eve looked thoughtful. "What an idea."

Venus snorted. "Please, I know you'd have considered it."

Saluting with her mug again, Eve smiled. "Well, I am new to this magical girl stuff."

"And your teacher was Ranma. Someone who really didn't get us."

"She was distracted by other things when she first got those powers," Eve reminded.

"Still, you're got magical girl lessons from someone who made it up on her own." Venus sighed. "I mean it's not like our advisors... they tried their best. But we also had a long time to figure out what worked and didn't."

"Is this an offer?" Eve quirked her eyebrow up. "You do have the most experience."

"Do you want magical girl training?"

"Do you want the training I can offer?" Eve returned.

Venus eyed the demoness. "I'll agree just to see what your magical girl outfit is."

Eve looked skeptical.

"Oh not the 'operator vest with Kevlar bows and skirt' I mean the actual frilly thing. Or maybe something with a bare midriff and leather micro-skirt like your sister."

"Maybe it's a more metallic design, like the upgrade you and the other Guardian Senshi got."

Venus laughed. "As good as Rei looks in bronze and Makoto in patinated copper, I do wonder if they could get back to Seifukus that are softer."

"But not you?"

"Armor suits me." Venus shrugged.

Eve nodded. "We have a deal then?"

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" Venus cheekily said.

Eve blinked.

The blonde held the demon's gaze for a moment before giving a nod of her own.

*******************


Usagi looked at her reflection while two amber-haired demonic maids fussed over her. Black hair was... odd. The glossy black odangos and twin-tails made a statement. She was not well versed enough in the floral languages to know what the lilies and black and red roses nestled up upon a hair band meant.

Though, they did compliment the slinky, gold accented, black dress with a slit up one side. As a bonus it revealed most of her left leg. The garters to her smoky stockings were readily visible, and she experimentally stepped on a high black heel.

The choker around her neck with its red gem tied the whole look together.

On the other hand, she was concerned the maids were going a bit heavy on the eye-makeup. Not that it did not compliment the pale foundation and black lipstick but it gave her a certain... hauteur. The shiny black tiara with its own red stone in a gold setting helped with that as well.

She gave her reflection a stern frown. Gold earrings swayed.

A purple-skinned demoness with her magenta head piled up waves and curls totted up in an even tighter and shinier black dress and impressively arching red heels. Her tail curled around Usagi's leg as she leaned in. Long black nails ran down Usagi's side.

"I thought the point was to be incognito. It's a bit hard to do that with crescent moon earrings, and one on your forehead," Ranma added with a smirk.

"At least I changed my hair color," Usagi pouted.

"This is a lot more purple and pinkish than my normal shade!"

One of the twins smoothly went over to Ranma and began fussing over her hair and eye-makeup. "Thank you Ellia," the nearly-red-head smiled.

"And with you for contrast I don't look too overdone," Usagi closed one eye and peered at her eyelid.

"Nonsense, you're perfectly decadent," Ranma leaned closer with a creak of her dress.

"What does that make you?"

"Sinfully decadent," Ranma purred.

Usagi laughed and rolled her shoulders and hips to and fro to get a better angle of her reflection; Ranma's tail did make that a bit more challenging. "This dress does compliment my hips. Without being too..."

Her eyes went to the demon.

"Yes, it is a bit tight, Allia. I mean... sitting down will...."

"Remember to sit with your knees together-" Allia, the other maid, helpfully offered as she resumed working on Usagi's tresses.

"- and bend at the ankles," Ellia, her identical twin, completed as she fetched a tray of drinks.

"Bend my ankles? In these shoes?" Ranma gave a thin smile as she accepted a tiny glass of plum schnapps.

"Have you figured out how to get to the restaurant?" Usagi asked as she took a step back and took in her reflection, and that of the demoness on her arm.

"I'm sure we can get a limo or a chariot."

"If I recall the stables and garage are by that little village, near the bottom of the Palace." Usagi squeezed Ranma a bit close. "We've got over a hundred stories to go from there to here."

"It's not too far from here to the elevator," Allia offered.

"And it's a short distance across the lobby that separates the Upper Palace from the Lower," her twin offered. "And after the second elevator ride we can have a concierge waiting with your transport in Sunrise Receiving Hall."

"Maybe I'll just ask Puu to teleport us down," Usagi murmured.

The maids' tails went limp. "We do not recommend that, Mistress," they said.

"No teleporting in the Palace?" Usagi pondered. That seemed like a sensible security measure. Though she suspected that BlackSky herself and perhaps certain retainers and Family members were "white-listed' to allow a rapid response."

"That said, if you do wish to teleport to your restaurant there is a receiving platform only a few levels below us," Allia offered.

"And you wouldn't have any trouble getting through the security," Ellia reminded.

Usagi laughed. Of course there was a teleport platform. It was like the succubus equivalent of a helipad. Though the literal succubus equivalent of a helipad would be just a balcony or an open length of parapet.

She supposed the reason Ranma didn't offer to carry her and simply fly out was because it would muss up her hair.

"What do you say?" Ranma teased. "Us appearing on the dance floor would make quite the entrance."

"I thought the point of us disguising ourselves was to not draw attention."

The demoness laughed. "Really? If you wanted that then we could have just changed our hair colors and worn something plain." Ranma sipped her drink.

The twins looked a bit bashful.

"But you didn't want to put the poor HeartWood girls out of work did you?" Ranma asked

Usagi sighed and took one of the squat tulip-shaped glasses. "Fine." She swished some of the smooth, almost effervescent, liquor in her mouth. There were no actual bubbles but it felt like... spring. There was almost the feeling of sunshine and the mental image of a sprightly mid-morning grove. Maybe it was the subtle, minty notes and the delicate cinnamon warmth.

The Moon Princess gave the glass an appreciative look and drank some more.

"We are going to have to take notes. Akane and Nariko want to go to, but tonight they're seeing a play with Nabiki and Cecilia and the others. Which gives us the suites to ourselves when we get back."

The newly ebony-haired woman absently nodded.

The redhead gave little look of vexation but continued. "Aunt CloudFire has talked up the ambiance and quality of food, not to mention the dress code. Misako will be so put out if we don't get pictures."

Usagi's smile turned a bit glassy as she sipped some more of the plum schnapps and idly petted Ranma's tail. Fancy food, fancy succubus food, was... risky. Drinks too for that matter. She wondered if there was some succubus version of caffeine, only far more harmful to humans.

Though she was already in the heart of a demonic empire, and had a favored princess on her arm.

"Well, when in Silvana," she murmured.

Ranma snorted while the two maids looked a bit confused. "I'm not sure the joke translates well," the red, red-ish, haired demoness explained.

"Ah, it's an Earth thing," they both nodded.

"Well..." Ranma frowned. It was a joke about Rome and her grandmother was pretty blatant bout absorbing Roman culture. "Yes, it's a play on 'When in Rome, do as the Romans', but we're in Silvana and..."

The twins slowly nodded.

Ranma's tail went a bit limp in Usagi's hand.

Then there was a knock on the door and Alia went off to answer. Shortly, Nodoka in her grey Company dress uniform came in from the suite's entryway followed by AshRain in the black and gold braid of House Legate of the Legions.

"Mom!" Ranma cheered as she sashayed over.

Major Saotome looked her daughter up and down. "My, my. Glad to have caught you before you two went out on your date."

Ranma smirked.

"It's not like we're in a rush," Usagi noted adjusting her skirt.

"Not in those heels, for either of you," AshRain noted as she accepted a glass from Allia. She sipped thoughtfully then looked at the bottle on the tray.

"How was the tour?" Ranma asked.

"Castra Argentum is an impressive facility. The security, that I could see, was very sensible, if different than the Palace's. The aspergillum was an interesting twist. Not one I expected."

AshRain laughed. "In the right hands, holy water can be very effective, especially for the cost." She took another sip.

Nodoka bowed her head.

"And the business side?"

"There may be some services the Company can offer House BlackSky. A few things we could offer their command ,control, and communications systems. Maybe some logistics. Possibly facilitating end user licensee agreements for equipment from our world."

"The House would prefer technical data packages and assistance in setting up our own manufacturing capability. Especially for consumable items like munitions or power systems," AshRain noted.

"And I can say with confidence that the Company would be more than happy to help you with such production needs," Nodoka assured. For a mercenary company having a source of funds, munitions, and gear that was... outside of the preview of earthly authorities had potential.

"Logistics," Usagi shook her head. She noticed that both her glass and AshRain's needed refilling.

"That is one of Eve's specialties. She can help take up the negotiations on her trip." Ranma looked to her mother. "So?"

Nodding, Nodoka accepted a drink. "We'll need to tell her and inform BlackStone. Ideally, she should visit too."

"Oh, Eve's already guessed, but, yeah, we'll have to visit the tall knucklehead."

"Your, 'little' sister?" Usagi asked.

Ranma nodded.

"But... unless her wizard magic uncovers... something, you're going to become a demon." Still running a finger down Ranma's tail, Usagi looked over the human woman.

Nodoka's hand tightened a bit on the thick stem of her glass. "Yes." She sipped and studied the contents. "This is quite good."

"It should be," AshRain chuckled.

"Grandmother's personal stash?"

"From her personal orchard. Up at the penultimate level of the Palace." AshRain eyed the twins. "And I doubt these two would break into Mother's private liquor cellar."

Ellia and Allia bowed their heads.

Usagi swished a bit of the evocative, intriguing but not cloying drink. Even in a building that was more of a geological feature in scale, and composition, the orchard near the summit could not be that large. Especially, since BlackSky kept her personal chambers up there.

That meant that there could not be very many bottles of this stuff produced every year. The faux-ebony haired woman frowned in thought. "How personal of an orchard?"

AshRain smirked and savored another sip. "Yes, Mother tends to it herself, and does much of the fermenting, distilling, and bottling. And it is an... old Family recipe. It's a meditative way for her to relax."

Usagi swallowed. That... she was not sure how to calculate the cost of a bottle if someone tried to sell it in the city. And then there was the magic. Something made by a demon empress from her own trees had to have some sort of effect.

She eyed the glass. "Ah."

Usagi had to hope that if it had some negative effect, Pluto would warn her about it. Though Puu had gotten bored midway through the hair dying and wandered off to her rooms.

AshRain gave the two human, or approximately human, women a reassuring smile. "The effects are minor. And beneficial, among them no hangover. Provided you do not push yourselves to excess."

Ranma gestured to how she was dressed.

The Daughter of BlackSky laughed. "Oh, niece. You are a delight."

Her tail flexed in Usagi's hand as she frowned slightly.

"I was once your age," AshRain assured. "And I know I'm a bit less... overt than my sisters."

"Oh, no, I can understand," Usagi assured. "You should see her younger sister Eve."

"The captain?" AshRain asked.

"You will like her," Nodoka said, with pride.

Nodding amiably, AshRain took her drink. "I will say, you are not what I expected from the legends. Either of you," she looked between Ranma and Usagi.

"Well..." Ranma did point to Usagi's current hair color.

"Costumes aside," AshRain laughed. She looked at her glass. "But, you are better than legends, more than a mask a dancer wears onstage."

"And I'm not her anyway. At least not what the story became."

Ranma looked to Usagi.

"Hey, they're cash grabs of what me and the other Senshi got up to. Oddly enough, the videogames, especially that first arcade one about Venus, were the most accurate."

"And while Mother and DawnStrike were around back then.... time, and loss, does things to memory," AshRain admitted.

"Not to mention reincarnation changes a person," Ranma pointed out.

Usagi smiled as she took a sip.

"True," AshRain laughed.

"I shouldn't keep you from your date," Nodoka smiled at the two women.

Usagi blushed a bit.

"Not going to try and deny it?" Ranma teased.

The darkly dressed Moon Princess clenched her hand, squeezing the demon's tail.

The magenta-haired woman gasped and purred.

"Kinda late to do that, no?"

Ranma slipped closer and continued to purr. "And what are your plans, Aunty? Doing any more tours or martial demonstrations?"

AshRain laughed. "My, you want to train? Even now? Even dressed as you are, with your... companion at your side?"

Usagi sipped her glass. "I'm used to it."

"I'm not that bad," Ranma pouted.

"You're saying you're not thinking about ways to fight while wearing a hobble skirt and some exceptionally high heels?" Usagi asked.

Ranma just gave her a confused look. "Well, yeah."

"See."

The demon smirked. "I dunno, my girls' magical girl outfits have combat boots, your girls still wear high heels."

"Not all of us! Makoto's still got boots... with high heels."

"And she wears them well; she's really got the legs for them." Ranma stuck out her tongue.

"It comes with being taller."

"Tell me about it, all my sisters are taller than me," Ranma looked down her skirt and to her heels.

"You could change that," Usagi noted.

"I could." Ranma shrugged and accepted a fresh glass.

"You can look pretty much however you want."

Ranma simply smirked at the, currently dark-haired, princess who had previously assumed the form of a silver-haired young queen several years older than her natural, and blonde, form.

AshRain smiled behind her glass. She looked to Nodoka. "It'll be similar for you too."

The older Saotome woman nodded. "You mean when I'm a... broodling?"

"Of course, young girls love to dress up, but even after you're advanced into an adult demoness, a brood mother, you will still be a young brood mother."

Nodoka put the glass to her lips and looked at her coiffured daughter.

"Oh, I doubt you'd be quite so embellishedly effeminate as her," AshRain laughed.

"Hey," Ranma pouted half-heartedly.

"Yes, yes, you can be a total tomboy," Usagi assured giving her a squeeze.

"But that's because BlackSky will make me, specifically that way." Nodoka looked out the window at the city lights rising up below them.

"To specification. Per agreement," AshRain stressed.

"You are sticklers," Usagi shook her head.

"Would you prefer a being like Mother was not too self-restrained?" AshRain's tone was mild.

"Probably not," Usagi admitted. She looked over the stark and leanly sensual succubus officer. "My mother, the first Serenity, could have... she could have gone really bad if she had not limited herself."

AshRain pressed her lips together for a moment. "Indeed."


Ranma leaned on Usagi and rustled her wings. "It's okay, we're building trust with them, and if BlackSky does break faith..." She smiled at the Moon Princess.

Usagi laughed. "Of all the times to have faith in my capabilities."

"Just playing to your strengths."

"Yeah, you did say I was here in case I had to deal with an evil demonic invader in the center of her inter-dimensional lair."

AshRain raised a thin eyebrow.

"I doubt you, a Daughter and House Legate, were unaware of the capabilities of DarkStar's guest and said guest's bodyguard. Or at least their recent actions."

"Let alone past interactions with the Lunarian kingdom and their royalty and retainers."

Usagi drank more. "I should be used to snarky demons by now."

"You haven't spent much time with my littlest sister," Ranma shook her head. "She's going to get herself killed..."

"Or turned into a sidhe succubus?" AshRain asked. "You are talking about the bonded Knight of the Queen of the Winter Fae court?"

Ranma's tail swished with pride. "That's the one."

"Ah, useful," AshRain sipped thoughtfully.

Usagi pouted. "More subterfuge?"

"More my sister DawnStrike's area; I'm afraid."

"The diplomat?"

"Among other things, yes she heads what you would call our diplomatic service."

The dark-haired magical girl looked at the demons and then to the other human.

Nodoka was thoughtful.

Shaking her head, Usagi went to Ranma. "At least I can appreciate that you're straightforward."

Ranma pressed a bit tighter and let her tail swish over Usagi's hand. "Oh, you have my full attention," she purred. "And I am hungry.

"You want to go to the restaurant then?"

The purple-skinned, magenta-haired demoness gave a little pout. "Yes, Ellia, Alia we're ready to go, can you have a car ready for us." She then twisted on a high heel and nearly pulled the darkly-dressed Pattern Silver out of the suite with her.


End Chapter 4

Apologies for the delay. Upside there's a completed draft for a 4 part series called "Our Sister" and the next chapter of Selling the Fantasy.
Thanks to DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, Henry Stickman, and for their help with the corrections. And once more special thanks to J.St.C.Patrick for giving this an especially detailed check.

 

[Sunshine Temple]

The Return
A Ranma Sailor Moon fic thingy.
By Sunshine Temple

Naturally, I own neither Sailor Moon nor Ranma. So here's the disclaimer

Ranma 1/2 and its characters and settings belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, and Viz Video. Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi, Koudansha, TV Asahi, and Toei Douga, and DIC.

Previous chapters and other works can be found at my fanfiction website.
http://jtemple.florestica.com/

Temporary Backup Site.
http://www.fukufics.com/fic/


Other website Temple of Ranma's Senshi Seifuku
http://fukufics.com

C&C is appreciated.

Book 6: Bonding Allure
Chapter 5: Filling Voids



Serenity walked up to the redhead and leaned on the railing next to her. The silver-haired woman pursed her lips as she looked down at the city spreading below her. The traffic noise was louder, the scents were more acrid, and the lights were brighter. She also had an itching between her shoulder blades.

Glancing behind her, she could only see a few people drinking at the bar that made up the bulk of the semi enclosed balcony that curved along the edge of the circular neoclassical building.

No one looked suspicious. Though a couple with dark hair and pale dresses by one corner did look a bit too pretty. Serenity sighed, a dangerous opponent would try to blend in and look harmless, be a part of the background.

The redhead tilted her head.

"Why is it I feel more awkward in a human city?" Serenity grumbled.

The demoness gave a bright smile.

"I suppose it helps that we're pretty sure those cyborg assassins couldn't follow us there."

Ranma picked up the glass she had put on the little table just below the balcony. "They do have some type of magical support. That mess in Ottawa indicated major interest in inter-dimensional stuff."

"Stealing a Jammer and summoning star Squids..." Serenity was pensive for a moment and then wordlessly accepted the glass of clear liquor that Ranma slipped into her hand.

"It's not wise to underestimate them." Ranma looked out over the city spread below them.

"Still, after Silvana coming back here...." Serenity huffed. "I do miss Tokyo."

Ranma shrugged. "Any of these places smell better than Chicago."

Serenity sipped her drink and gave a thin smile. "You travel to multiple worlds, and you complain about the smell?"

The redhead smirked. "BlackStone got all defensive, said it was due to the lake, that it was built on a swamp, the meat packing, even blamed the fires I caused, whine, whine, whine."

"Demons can be very petty." Serenity smiled.

"You're lucky you look good in that dress." Ranma leaned back giving the fall of Serenity's silver skirting an appreciative look.

"And you call yourself a seductress?" Rei stated as she strode up, as she tried to keep some distance from the woman keeping pace with her.

"Does she?" Rei's undesired companion asked. She was a calm woman with auburn hair cut in a short bob and wore a charcoal black suit over a leather bodice. Combined with her slim glasses and choker and dainty black heels it gave her a certain professional air.

"Mira," Serenity nodded to the demon. She found it a bit... odd to see BlackSky's librarian in a human guise. Seeing succubae hide their wings and horns was common to her. Even tails and pointy ears. But there was something about shifting their skin tone that....

Serenity sipped her drink. Maybe she just got used to Mira being a purple-skinned succubus.

"Highness," Mira bowed her head in return. The gesture precisely calibrated to show respect but not fealty.

Rei eyed the demure-looking woman.

"DarkStar is one of the Family, I could not possibly speak to her seductive capabilities," Mira politely said. "But perhaps when her sister arrives she could evaluate."

The Senshi of Mars gave a slight smile. "I get it: can't speak ill of the Princess."

Serenity pouted. "You mock me all the time. Worse back in Japan in the early days."

"You were more of a brat back then," Rei defended.

"There's also that Mira works for Grandmother and doesn't know me as well. Where Rei, you're very close to Serenity," Ranma sipped at her dark amber drink.

Pausing, Rei tried to parse if the redhead sounded jealous.

"How are you finding Earth?" Ranma asked Mira.

"It's been informative. My duties don't have me getting that far away from the Court. Most of the time." Mira gazed out across the city. "But the libraries alone more than make up for so many human foibles."

"There are other ways to get books," Rei offered.

Mira nodded. "There is a richness of information. And the lament of books going out of print."

"Just wait until you find the internet."

The librarian returned Rei's smile, and pulled out pair of thin rectangles of black glass. One was a bit thicker than the other, and was translucent all the way through while the glowing surface of the other was a bit sharper and with more colors. "There are some similarities, but the problem with advanced information systems is compatibility. A project for another time."

She sighed and pocketed the smart phone and the other device. "Well, that's not why I'm here anyway. Maybe I'll have a friend of mine sift through things while we're here; she does have an artistic eye."

Bristling a bit, Rei shook her head.

"Now, now, it's not like Miss HeartWood is at the spearhead of some demonic invasion," Serenity joked. "I mean she's getting books."

"Knowledge is power," Rei said.

"Knowledge is potential. It is via application that it becomes power," Mira cheerfully said. "And why would we invade this world?"

"History?" Rei countered.

Mira pushed up her glasses. "We have learned from that. Besides-" she brightened. "-we already have our claimant to this world. At least by your reckoning."

Ranma shook her head at the attention. "Really?"

"Yeah, the Senshi of Earth would be the least human of us," Rei sighed.

The redhead frowned but did not counter that, despite what she knew of Sailor Venus' nature and what she suspected of Sailor Pluto's.

Serenity shook her head and looked up at the night sky. It was more reassuring.

"That's yours," Mira gestured to the gibbous moon.

"It's the seat of my mother's empire, before..." the silver-haired woman stared up at the sky.

"But no one else has claimed it."

"The Americans have visited, but no... no one lives up there." Serenity frowned. "What about the two moons you have? Any colonies? I mean you can teleport up there right?"

Mira smiled. "They are contested; we have strong allies on Lantia, the smaller moon, but are friendly with those Houses on the larger moon of Emuria. It takes a special attitude to want to live up there, but all of the Homeplane is sacred to us. Thus we do have a colony or two and a large fleet facility on Lantia. Which is well positioned to teleport to anywhere on the Homeplane. That is partially why House Andromache, despite being small in population and holdings on the Homeplane, is still considered a Great House. Surviving an invasion of Lantia and managing to keep their territory will do that.

"That and they are strong allies with us, to where most of their airships were constructed in our yards. Though they're also close with Luxon. House. Family. Empire." She gave a lazy shrug. "Do you have any affinity towards Luna?"

"My cat? Sure I like her but... oh."

"Wait space succubae have moon wars?" Rei gave the librarian a long blink.

"Why not? We did back during the Unification wars," Serenity turned to Mira. "I have visited the Moon. Been to the remains of Mother's Palace."

The demoness gave a polite smile. "That must have been quite the moment."

"You're just wondering if the Queen squirreled away any books up there," Ranma laughed.

"The art Lunarian culture produced alone would be an amazing find," Mira looked over the great freshwater sea. "So much turns to dust with time, but things remain, artifacts linger."

"You're a cheerful little demon," Rei sighed.

"Part of studying history is to try to mitigate survivor bias," Mira perkily said..

Serenity blinked and took a sip.

"Say you send two squadrons, 24 legionary fliers in Ritual Plate on an arduous mission. Only five return. You interview them to figure out what happened. But while they had a difficult time they didn't see anything unexpected."

Ranma nodded. "Right, by only interviewing those who made it out you've got an incomplete picture."

Mira clapped.

"Well, that's quite the endorsement of necromancy." Rei rolled her eyes.

"You use necromancers?" Serenity asked.

The librarians' face clouded as her glassed inched back up her nose. "No. Never," she hissed.

Rei stepped back as her stance bladed and the ends of her raven hair started to spark.

Mira turned thoughtful. "But the historical definition of necromancy is one who speaks to the dead, and not one who raises is. Well... the Silvan Necromanti, from classical Latin, itself from the Greek neckros and manteria which is divination of."

"Right," Rei stepped a bit closer to Serenity.

"You guys don't like necromancy?" the Moon Queen looked between the two demons. "I mean like as a cultural thing."

"We're a very empathic and brood-based species that transfers life energy," Ranma stated.

"That's biology, but it contributes: succubae... Live. Add in that House BlackSky has informed consent as a cultural cornerstone. It makes things... complicated and we have our fractions, but it has us better than the likes of House Elena or Ziox. Not only do necromancers take life but they take will."

Rei exhaled. "I guess I can see that. You really don't like being controlled."

"It's a historical thing," Mira agreed. "Even an Elena would be loathe to be controlled by an outsider."

The Senshi of Mars frowned. She remembered how easily Alexia could enthrall people and turn her daughters into mindless minions. Though, Alexia was considered a monster by these succubae. The more pragmatic part of Mars whispered that it was also wasteful.

There were far superior ways to build a powerful brood. The method the redhead stumbled onto was one among many. Rei smirked. "It's also aesthetically unappealing. The undead aren't exactly photogenic are they?"

"Ugh," Ranma shook her head. "Black Court Vampires."

Mira nodded. "The vampires of that world are particularly troubling. Even without the Red Court."

Rei shot the demoness a look.

"As opposed to the ones here," Ranma murmured.

"That's your fault," Serenity sighed.

"Really? Because Mina's the one who knew him and the police girl from her days as Sailor V," the redhead replied.

Rei shook her head and wished for a stronger drink. "More of Minako's time in England?"

Serenity nodded and finished her glass. "Remember the tall guy she'd talk about, who liked to go for... walks."

Rei rubbed her forehead. "Oh, him. Lovely."

Mira gave a politely curious look.

"He didn't seem that bad." Ranma shrugged. "Well... we did have to leave Bolivia very quickly."

Serenity eyed her. "I thought your mission was in Brazil."

"It was."

Rei exhaled and looked over Mira. "Vampires of that world?" she quoted.

The librarian nodded. "Black Court, White Court, Jade Court and more. The Black Court is oh... basically the Bram Stoker version. Though I'd guess the Court inspired that book, which hurt their numbers, as it exposed many weaknesses, greatly diminishing them. Some remain, those most able to survive and escape."

"Lovely," Rei drawled.

"The Red court were a more conventional chiropteran blood sucker, but Dame BlackStone gave them an existential blow. Leaving The White court, who are more energy vampires taking life force, pretenders to succubae and inccubae and feeders of fear and depression and the Jade Court who we know little about, and possibly others. But we know the White and Jade Courts are still organized into something akin to nation states. Albeit on a shadow basis being a bit less explicit than say the Fae Courts or Svartalfheim"

"We?"

Mira made an agreeable noise.

"See, you're gathering intelligence on rival powers on yet another planet."

"Of course." The librarian blinked. "Not me specifically, obviously."

Rei gave her a cross look.

"Dame BlackStone has had several troubling incidents, and the Family takes care of its own." Mira gave a perky smile that flashed her fangs.

Ranma gave her an inquisitive look.

"We also encourage independence," Mira added.

"Right, because you'd never have an ulterior motive." Rei scoffed.

"I dunno, BlackStone's world is probably far too much trouble to deal with. Between the damn vampires and the tricky Fae and all the other supernatural factions." Ranma shook her head. "To even make a dent would require a like a full expeditionary force."

"Says the magical girl demon princess mercenary." Serenity poked her.

The redhead looked up at her. "So?"

"Indeed, that would be like saying DarkStar training you has an ulterior motive," Mira happily added.

Rei's face clouded.

Ranma waggled her hand. "That's like saying the training we've been giving the Canadian military has some hidden purpose."

Rei snorted.

Mira laughed.

The raven-haired Senshi tuned to the librarian, "I get the impression you think that world and this world would be too much trouble to take over."

Mira crossed her arms. "We of House BlackSky learn from experience. It is easy to get drawn in and over-commit. And, frankly, our military forces are built around strike and punitive missions. Occupation forces are not something we are well-suited for."

Rei eyed her. The smoldering in her hair faded. "Yeah... during the Invasion you gave up and you let us take over."

"I thought you were a supporter of Unification?" Serenity teased.

"Not as much as Pluto," Rei murmured. "That was a different world... a different solar system." She looked up at the sky. In those says the Silver Millennium was an empire. Now...

"It's the same solar system... it's just everything... everyone else is different." Serenity sipped her drink pensively.

Mira made a thoughtful noise and looked to Ranma.

The redhead tilted her head and smiled slightly

"You look like you're thinking about the future." Mira stepped back slightly.

"My mother is going to be turned soon."

"Our mother," Eve's crisp voice said as she stepped onto the high-rise patio with Minako and Nabiki in tow.

With her hair done up in twin golden ponytails and a face not her own, Minako wore a breezy golden dress that moved stiffly in the wind, and Nabiki had on a pastel blue dress with pink piping. She ran up and hugged her mother.

"Did you have fun with grandma?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah, I was helping her plan her school schedule, Mima Lumina is such a neat place." Nabiki smiled.

"Those plans are, alas tentative, some of what BlackSky has planned needs... fleshing out," Mira said giving Nabiki a little nod.

"I could help," Nabiki offered.

Ranma ran a hand through her daughter's pastel blue hair. "You could."

"As long as it doesn't interfere with the timeline," Eve noted.

"There is quite a lot of flexibility build into it, given BlackSky's commitments and responsibilities," Mira assured.

Eve nodded. "And it would be good to go back and make sure everything is in order."

"Before going to BlackStone's Chicago?" Ranma teased.

"Quite the frequent flier miles," Minako dryly stated.

"You did get to spend more time with her last time," Eve sniffed to her sister.

"Most of that was with her pretty-boy brother." Ranma smirked. "Still, I know you'd like to go back." Besides family, the redhead knew her eldest sister liked networking and setting up caches and contingency plans.

New worlds were new opportunities.

"Maybe we should use Pluto's inter-dimensional taxi service." Rei made a point of rubbing her chin. "Why should the demon Senshi get all the fun?"

"But where would we go?" Minako asked.

"I could give you a list of destinations," Mira happily offered.

Rei eyed the librarian and paused to ponder.

Minako put her arms around the dark-haired woman. "Don't mind her, her distrust is warring with her curiosity."

"You probably don't want to go to any place that has alternate versions of you." Ranma advised.

"Wasn't your first exposure to all this dimensional nonsense when the good magical girl version of you popped in for a visit?"

"Something like that," the redhead admitted. "And she wasn't as much the good magical girl me, as she was the magical super-weapon version."

"Not that you're a bad magical girl, more of a... dark one," Serenity offered.

Minako poked her Queen. "She is Sailor DarkStar, even for me that's a bit on the nose."

Eve stepped over to her sister. "Concerns?"

"The usual," Ranma shrugged.

"Ah. Invasion, collapse, cybernetic assassins, and extended family?"

Mira looked up from her chat with Nabiki and smiled.

Ranma sipped her drink. "Come on, I know you're excited about Mother."

Eve gave a small smile.

"Besides there's so much to organize and setup." The redhead sighed. "I just did your change in a bedroom."

"You mean you helped me change," Eve smirked. "But that's far different than what... Mother will go through; the species change is the start of her journey."

"Same with you," Ranma smiled.

Rei shook her head and murmured.

"They're not that saccharine," Minako pouted.

"Yes, they are," Rei said, watching as Nabiki was pulled into what became a group hug.

"How late will you be out tonight?" Eve asked her.

"Yes, yes I know I have training tomorrow," Ranma rolled her eyes.

"Technically tomorrow, the JTF2 exercise will be very early in the morning."

Serenity looked between the blonde and redheaded demons. "How early?"

"I'll be picking her up at three in the morning."

Mira perked up. "Busy, busy."

"We'll still have plenty of time tonight," Ranma slipped out of the hug and ran her fingers up Serenity's arm before slipping close to her side. "I mean, I don't need that much sleep tonight."

***************

Sipping from her Worlds Greatest Mom mug in the commissary, Ranma flipped through the pages of the debriefing report making notes. A slim locking valise was next to her. There were a couple empty plates in front of her and she reached out to take a thick slice of bacon from one that still had a bit of food.

Colonel Jacob Edwards strode up to the brood mother. He noted the decolletage of her flared purple dress and the extra shine of some of the crimson tresses to her teased bangs. "Good meal?" He sat down, holding a mug of his own.

"More of a nosh," Ranma smiled. "Or do you mean earlier?"

"I couldn't say," he sipped. He eyed the marginalia. "At least you're not using a red pen."

Ranma straightened her shoulders and looked up. "The Canadians aren't bad. They were great in Ottawa and their artillery and support was vital at the Park Institute."

"But?"

Ranma chewed her lip. "My notes are only on the performance of JTF2. How they handled the scenario from the helo deployment to when they found the lake freighter was set with scuttling charges."

"Ah, this is about Gagnon and the other SIS observers."

The redhead gave an absent shrug. "They didn't mind when the scenario turned and we dropped phase two on the Canadian troopers."

"They were happy when JTF2 won. Despite the simulated losses."

"I can get putting the mission first. No, it's that I understand the motivations of the Joint Task Force Two operators."

"Ah, trusting footsloggers over the spooks," Jacob's tone was very mild.

"Please, my eldest sister is a spook and Major Sifton and his men are no mere footsloggers. But they are keeping secrets from us. How many 'Options' do they have?" she asked leaning back and scanning the room as she ate more bacon.

"At least one more than they'll reveal to us," Jacob murmured.

"And isn't the first rule of mercenaries, they don't have to pay you if you don't live?" Her tail merrily swished.

"Why Miss Saotome. That is both inaccurate and cynical. You're well aware of our death benefit policy. And no legitimate nation sate would ever be so crass as to openly liquidate a PMC. Ejection from the country, yes. Criminal charges and the prospect of imprisonment, perhaps. But we are dealing with civilized people."

The redhead snorted as her tail flipped over towards the officer "Yeah, House BlackSky likes to talk up their civilized nature too."

"House BlackSky does have some... classical elements. They do take much from the Western canon. There are countries that were founded as a type of Roman Republic Fantasy Camp. Why not have demons do the same thing with Imperial Rome?"

The redhead smiled. "And how is hosting Miss HeartWood?"

"BlackSky is luck to have a librarian of such skill," Jacob patted her tail with his free hand.

Ranma purred then chuckled. "I guess that's the thing, navigating all these groups. I never wanted all this horse-trading and political skullduggery."

"You are trading on your reputation to get an Empress to personally turn your mother. To your, no to your mother's, specifications," Jacob reminded.

The redhead eyed her tail as her fins flexed a bit under the officer's hand. "You're riding the tiger aren't you?"

Jacob snorted. "It is a bit on the nose."

"How many of your officers and agents will be turned?"

He gave her careful look. They knew both had memorized the name of everyone in the D Program. Long term, the brood of Company agents and contractors would grow.

"How close does the Company want to be with House BlackSky?"
"With Major Saotome's change it's hard to imagine things reversing," Jacob sipped his coffee.

"And the Senshi, the Pattern Silvers you think are so critical?"

Jacob simply looked to the strands of silver hair in the brood mother's bangs and then to her slightly more gravid tail.

"If I didn't know for a fact that you couldn't have planned this..."

"Of course not," Jacob idly waved a scarred hand and covered a slight wince from the pain in his fingers. "We simply tried to make allies of you, and support you. That so much has come from your potential is..."

"Hey, Dresden dropped into my lap."

Jacob gave her a mild look. "We both know it wasn't that simple."

The redhead's tail swished, brushing his arm again. "It will be a delay. Even Grandmother can't just snap her fingers and make... well... there's a lot of work."

"How many of you will be in Silvana for the entire process?"

Ranma exhaled. "Honestly? None of us. Two, three, more months is far too long to be away. The Academy schedule is pretty intense, and they're wrangling in other students." She shook her head. "And things are getting intense in BlackStone's city too."

"Peers are vital especially when going through critical development."

Ranma shook her head. "Yeah, if both of us were ready earlier... imagine how things would be if I had Eve before Alexia died. And not after my pregnant magical girl double visited."

Jacob gave a thin smile. "Self criticism is vital, but when overdone it can be self-destructive. You'll go from learning from past failures to having them eat you alive."

The redhead murmured as the tip of her tail flicked. "Yeah, I don't want this to screw up. I don't want Mother to be..."

The officer nodded. "Trust is hard. Even with an abundance of caution one can never be certain."

"Faith?"

Jacob shrugged. "You've had more spiritual experiences than I."

The redhead gave the older man a skeptical gaze. "You've never worked with the Sisters of Purity? Or the Papal Expeditionary. You seemed... unsurprised by that Knight of the Cross."

"And your reaction upon seeing Kusanagi?"

Ranma huffed.

"Call it faith, in fellowship, and the growth of trust. But traitors are reviled because they betray trust."

"There are contingencies," Ranma murmured.

"Always." His finger went over a tailfin. "But if the trust is well-placed. Consider the results, especially from the earnest efforts of a being like your grandmother."

Taking another bite, the redhead smiled. "Yeah, I can see what Felisia and CloudFire, and even DawnStrike and AshRain have talked about with my mother. Their... baby sister. And Mira and Gloria and Grandmother's other aides all chatting about the plans."

"It has been a long time since BlackSky acquired a new Daughter."

Ranma folded the report closed, put it into the valise, and locked it up. "And that's what has me curious. Not all the stuff my aunts are preparing, or my grandmother's minions, but what Grandmother herself has got in surprise."

"There is a contract."

The redhead nodded. "I don't... expect her to violate the letter, or the spirit of it. But even so... her ideas on what the sprit of the deal is versus mine..."

"Or Major Saotome's?"

"Yeah, you've met BlackSky. I've seen her in her Palace. Out in Silvana... but behind the legions of troops the war fleets, the Empire she's ruled since before Serenity's Unification War, the civilization she's overseen and tended... she'll still be a brood mother with a new broodling."

The officer's cold eyes softened a bit. "Ah. That is something you understand."

"She has far more power and experience but... we have that much in common. She wants a daughter. I don't know what sort of powerplay kept her waiting centuries, but now she has a reason that no one in the Family, the Court, the Curia, or the House would gainsay."

"Oh we can think of several reasons why a nigh-immortal Empress would slow the production of Daughters. The balance of power among her established Daughters alone...."

"Factions and politics," Ranma snorted.

"Did you not conduct an impromptu negotiation with a Fae Queen?"

"That was just because BlackStone's an idiot."

Jacob sipped his coffee. "And how was your visit? Met the... I suppose 'extended family' will suffice."

The demoness rolled her eyes. "House Raith."

"What they lack in unity they make up for in influence, information, and infiltration networks. Their hard power is nothing to sneeze at, but their capacity for soft power is immense, Given your report."

The redhead smiled. "Lara didn't get her claws into BlackStone."

"Not into Dresden. Your newest sister may be more vulnerable than he was."

Ranma glanced to her mug. "Mother should be able to help with that."

"Help with our gangly aunt?" Misako said, slinking up to the table. She gave Jacob a somewhat guarded glance and gave a tiny bow of her head before sitting next to her mother.

Glancing at the redhead's tail, the green-eyed demoness smirked and her OWN tail swished behind her. "While her makeup is good, Aunty BlackStone is even more clueless in relationship than you are, Mom."

Taking a brush, Misako touched up her mother's bangs. "Honestly, we never thought you'd get even this far."

Affecting a put upon look, Ranma and let her daughter brush her.

Misako made a tisking noise as she worked.

Watching the demons' tails swish. Jacob gave a tiny ghost of a smile.


***************

Eve looked up from the sheaf of papers as her daughters entered the room. Morrison glanced out the window with a little frown at the crowded sky.

Morgan followed her sister to look at the sleek rigid airships with their dark grey hulls with red and black accents and pale green tailfins. Instead of being a pure cigar shape they were oval-like with contoured hulls that worked as lifting bodies. Many of them were behemoths half a kilometer in length made up of two or three hulls linked together.

"Where do you think they're all going?" the diminutive redheaded sniper asked as several of the rigid airships lifted from one of the vast landing fields downriver from Silvana itself.

"Many are a rotation of new units to the Emurian Fifth Landing Fleet on Mursam." Eve stated without looking up. "The Empire maintains two major fleet branches: one that uses zeppelins to protect and deliver Legions, the other that uses them as warships. Primarily as platforms for Squadrons of Ritual Plate, Torpedoes, or Torpedo boats."

"And those are troop and armor transports," Sophie pointed out a set of particularly stout ships that were twice as wide and looked a bit like three zeppelins stuck side by side by side with the central section above the outers, allowing for a cavernously-wide gondola section in the keel.

"Despite the preeminence of the Legions as a shock infantry they are primarily deployed as an airborne asset. Something akin to paratroopers, with the limitations in heavy equipment," Eve said.

Stepping into the room, Ranma snorted. "Was that a joke?"

Eve gave a small shrug and looked up and out the window. "But heavy lift capacity is what those Typhoon and Palisade ships are for, both based around the Sancus Heavy Hull. A Legion is heavy. The supplies alone to keep that many soldiers fed for maybe a week..."

"And the self-walking artillery, mages, and grenadiers?" Ranma asked. "Not to mention the Legions have a variety of armored vehicles."

"And the heavy transports to deliver them. Logistics are still logistics." Eve stated.

"Even with magical assets?"

"Primes with that level of power and training are difficult enough to find. They also get drained of power. There are ways around that, but now that's another magical item, a volatile item that needs to be shipped to the front. Finding enough people capable of using Ritual Plate is a constant concern of the Fleet. The number of pilots and suits and maintainers is breathtaking.

"It's why the Legion isn't just a handful of super-powerful magic users in enchanted armor. Not to say that magic uses aren't very useful," Morgan surmised.

"That's why Magnus Engineering and Grenadier are among the few front-line positions open to humans in the Legions," Sophia noted.

"The armaments industry here is... complicated," Eve shook her head. "We could sink whole teams into analyzing the defense side of their economy. Did you know the over half of the capital ships, not counting those little recon scouts, in the Household fleet are cargo transports? And those are fleet ships, there's almost as many civilian contracted cargo ships running deliveries within Household and Imperial lands, not to mention all the rail and ship supply. It's a sensible number, and investment, for a force serious about supply and forward operations. And getting that much aluminum for the frames, that much material for lifting gas, of that many engines and their fuel supplies and depots."

"No wonder Mira took so many dry business books." Morrison shook her head. "This job."

"You're part of a demon royal family in their palace," Sophie reminded. "Better than being dead right?"

"Sure. She also picked up chemistry books too," Morgan noted.

"Books and technical data packages are the start, of knowledge, and they'd get it in time, but to really learn fast, they'll need teachers. Instructors on methods and processes. That's where we come in." Eve adjusted her reports. "They've learned about scalability and industrialization, even interchangeable enchanted components, but they still have guilds, few automated manufacturing, and other limitations."

"Mother can be key. She can bring the knowledge the company can offer, make the House stronger," Ranma watched the airships. There seemed to be a fairly steady amount of fliers, both succubae and of some kind of dragon-fly like transport craft moving between the ships. They came in a variety of sizes, but most had rotating engine nacelles on the tips of their wings.

The scale was impressive. Those little scouts were not even a hundred meters long and just a bit over twenty-five in diameter. And they were utterly dwarfed by those half kilometer-long triple-hulled monsters.

And those were puny next to Grandmother's personal ship the Vault of the Heavens, which was twice as long and over four times the mass. She had seen the stats. A Celestial class was capable of delivering an entire Legion, enough cargo supplies to keep multiple legions active in the field, or transport a four and a half thousand ton frigate.

Once they disgorged their contents a Celestial Class could act as a mobile base and supply depot. Many would carry a teleportation gateway which would act as a direct link to one of the Empire's major ports.

It was more of Grandmother's power, all of it.

Ranma knew they were wading into yet another collection of power-plays and factions.

Shaking her head, Ranma then turned back to the guest suite in the Upper Palace. It was the same one they had been given during her last visit. Her tail flicked.

Eve nodded. "Is this about her?"

"Nabiki can help, if she goes first." She glanced to the doors into their suite.

"Are you sure about it?" Eve asked.

"It's her decision. Just like when she asked to be sent to Middle School back on Earth."

"Is it?" Eve straightened her shoulders. "I know the concept of being a legal adult is fluid with our kind."

Sophie smiled while Morgan coughed and Morrison's tail flicked.

"Yeah, yeah, and it gets even murkier when a daughter wants to get even younger."

"I presume you've made your decision," Eve noted.

Glancing about, Ranma sighed.

"You're not an indecisive person, Aunty," Morrison said.

The redheaded brood mother gave a slight shrug. "I could still uncover something that'll change my mind."

"Which would throw a wrench in everything with Mother." Eve stopped writing and looked out the window.

"And that's why I want to talk to our aunt again."

"You need any support?" Eve let the implication hang.

Ranma smiled. "I could handle a 'succubus' Queen of the White Court by myself."

"Ah, yes must have slipped my mind, maybe I should ask the woman who edited your report."

The redhead crossed her arms. "Just because you're jealous that you were stuck doing all the boring diplomacy and paperwork while I was out searching for our little sister with our vampire quarter brother."

"Is that really something to brag about?" Morrison asked.

"I don't think quarter brother is a thing," Sophie added.

"Bah, I learned a lot about that branch of our extended family."

"Miami." Eve said in a crisp voice before she went back to her paperwork

"How was I supposed to know that?" Ranma pouted.

Eve continued to work

"Fine, fine, I mean that was the point of looking for her." Ranma stomped away to the bar on the other side of the large central room to the suite and poured herself a small plum schnapps. Her tail swished as she sipped.

There was a knock on the door and a pair of golden-haired, purple-skinned maids in frilly red-satin uniforms swept in. "Princess DarkStar, Aedile Felisia is here. Are you receiving Family?"

"Yes, please," Ranma smiled.

The twin maids left and ushered in a succubus with cascading blonde curls. Sapphires and diamonds set in golden ornamentation sparkled from ears, brow, throat, wrist, tail, horns, and just about every possible place.

Slightly aloof, platinum lips were on her cool bronze-dusted features. Though her turquoise eyes were friendlier. A black dress with shining blue accents flowed down her hips to just above the floor.

One of the maids removed a shimmering, sheer mantle threaded with silver wire and deep opals off her wings and shoulders while the other announced her presence.

Felisia's heels clicked on the inlaid stone tiles. Her eyes fell upon Ranma's leather skirt and black blouse. "Ah, pardon for catching while you were still in... your dressing clothes," she said in crisp Japanese.

"Please, take a seat if you will," Ranma offered in Silvan Latin as she grabbed a bottle, another glass, and went to a cluster of chairs beside a large copper-bowled brazier. "Ellia, Alia , some refreshments?"

The two maids bowed and busied themselves.

"Niece, it would not be rude of your to tell them that you were temporarily indisposed but would be happy to see me shortly. We don't take that long to get dressed."

Ranma filled another delicate glass and handed it over by the stem.

Felisia's lip quirked but she accepted with a slight bow of her horns and sipped.

"I'm not really one for all the fancy gowns and stuff." Ranma shrugged continuing in Silvan.

Turquoise eyes brightened. "That is a lie, little fledgling. You have a flair and carry your mantle well, Princess. And you're welcome as well niece," she saluted to Eve with her glass. "And your broodlings."

Ranma nodded in understanding. "Sorry to disappoint you by not wearing some new, interesting fashion."

"We'll just make it up somehow," Felisia gave another dainty sip. "This is where Mother is having you stay? I suppose she was in one of her humble moods."

"And I suppose I am more accepting of Grandma BlackSky's wisdom. Maybe you have a reason to question her?" Ranma innocently asked.

Felisia gave a thin smile, but her eyes sparkled. "Was it you who taught her to twist the knife, Niece?" she asked Eve.

Eve stepped over and smoothed her grey uniform skirt before sitting. "Oh, she knew the blade, I simply helped her apply it to her words. Though her recent events show perhaps that was not the most wise."

The twins had returned with a platter of sweet, savory pastries and other easy finger-foods and a platter of assorted drinks.

Felisia's expression clouded. "Ah, the errands Dawn burdened you with."

"It was no trouble we were there to talk to our little sister about Mother," Ranma said.

"And we learned much," Eve added.

"Yes, those pretenders will be trouble. The similarities to us alone... and they are established on that world." Felisia nibbled on an apricot turnover. "And they are so aesthetically... unpleasant: unalloyed with their Hungers with many feeding via such disquieting means."

"I have tasted their leader; they are not to be underestimated," Ranma's purple eyes met Felisia's.

"Noted." She gave another bow. "You know what that means if we must make an enemy of them."

Ranma looked to her sister.

"Yes, the maps you made and reports of the disposition of their chateau have been passed to the War College Secure Archives, Castra Argentum's Map Room, and the Palace Library," Eve explained.

"You mean the files were given to a certain HeartWood Librarius. I'm sure she'll also pass them along to the curious girls in the Office of Cultural and Strategic Reconnaissance," Felisia then nodded to the maids. "And how is Mira doing?"

"Contented with so many new books to catalogue and dispense-" Ellia started.

"-and busy with her new spirit project," Alia finished before both bowed and added the required honorifics.

"Lovely, it is always a pleasure to catch up." Felisia gave a tiny bow that barley tilted her horns before going to Ranma. "And now that the small talk of empire and intrigue are over."

Ranma twitched a bit at the idea of preparing to wage war against the White Court as small talk, but she nodded.

"Your youngest?"

"Yeah, your little academy." Ranma ate a fluffy pastry with a meaty filling.

"I don't own the Mima Lumina Academy, but yes, I have influence." Felisia let her glass be refilled. "You are aware of the schedule? Mother plans to take your Mother shortly. The society broadsheets are all a chatter."

"It has been, four centuries since the last Daughter, yes?" Eve asked.

Felisia nodded. "Quite, but no one will begrudge Mother from taking the human mother to the DarkStar reborn, not openly, not if they value their good standing."

Ranma folded her hands. "Is there even time to, to, help Nabiki... to help Yuki?"

Felisia relaxed her posture slightly. "We have time, Niece."

"We do? I mean... don't classmates have to be rounded up, who have parents who agree to this, there's a lot of logistics." Ranma looked to Eve.

Felisia's eyes flashed. "Oh, yes. But your daughter will not be aged nor shaped into a brood mother. Also, you can take a larger part, as is your right."

"And with your help," Ranma stated.

Felisia folded her hands on her knees.

The redhead gave her sister a look.

"Come, we are all aware of how this old game is played."

"Really?" Exhaling, Ranma shyly looked around the room as her tail flicked. "I'm pretty new to all this."

Cocking an eyebrow, Felisia looked to Eve. "Did you help her with the naive outlander performance? It's rather good."

Eve tilted her head and simply sipped her drink.

The redhead sighed. "Why do folks keep assuming I'm secretly some sinister, plotting temptress?"

Felisia's lip quirked. "Blood tells, fledgling. You are one of us. Consider the first real favor you ask of Mother. Consider your choice in sisters. The subtle ones, the not so subtle."

"Would you believe incorporating their skills and abilities was not my intention?"

"Ah, and that is what appeals. You intuit our values, our ways." Felisia purred it as a delicate little rumble that still caused her dangling ornaments to sway.

"For example, take an expert in, what do you call it? Yes, social engineering." She slipped into English briefly. "Counter intelligence. Various skills at using words to get information out of people, to get into places, to get trust from strangers, to know when your trust is betrayed. Take an expert in those abilities, and give them our powers. My. I can think of several places here where you could bloom. The Office of Cultural and Strategic Reconnaissance is the start of special services that could be opened to you."

"Your flattery is appreciated," Eve noted. "But that is not why I asked to be turned."

Felisia waved a hand. "What you bring to better the Family, to secure the House, to expand the Empire is not why you were made one of us. Mind, your services are appreciated." She finished her glass and waited for Ellia to refill it. "We are not soulless Elena looking only to make newcomers aesthetically-pleasing but functional automata or indulgent Luxon using flesh as a canvas of hedonism and power or the covetous Trosier who seek to dominate and take what they can not freely trade for."

"No, we are civilized," Ranma flatly stated.

"You are here talking with me, niece. You are the one that wants to have your mother and daughter shaped by us. I would hope you have been convinced in our virtue, and are not simply aligning out of some realpolitik."

The redhead and blonde gave Felisia a measured look.

"Obviously, that is a factor." The Daughter admitted. "But there has to be more than that. It is not enough for us to merely survive, but there has to be meaning to what we do, to who we are. Otherwise my position would be simply ensuring the Cura Annonae supplies grain, meat and life to those in need. And not ensuring such a precious gift brings value."

She laughed. "Caught myself. The rhetoric on duties to House lieges and vassals, the responsibilities of and to Subject, Citizen, and Family, even the importance of keeping your Library Card up to date, it all comes too easy. We Daughters have our groves, our roles to play."

"And our mother?" Ranma asked, while Eve gave at tiny nod
.
Felisia flashed her teeth. "Yes. She will grow into hers."

Her tail swished. "And where are they?"

"Mira invited them to a tour of Grandmother's personal library."

"Ah, the more select stacks in the Upper Palace?" Felisia asked.

Eve nodded.

"Though there's nothing wrong with the Lower Library. At forty levels and fifty million books and manuscripts it is the largest store of knowledge on the continent of Diyu and the Homeplane. And is the biggest single entity in the whole of the Palace. The entirety of the village of Antemella surrounding the base and lower slopes of the Palace could fit in the Lower Library multiple times."

Felisia laughed. "There I go again."

Tail swishing, Ranma nodded and looked to the doors.

Ellia and Alia had also started walking to the entryway.

The redhead noted Eve's slight tension. "You know it's them," she calmly stated.

"But if it's not, best to be ready."

"Caution, in the seat of Mother's power," Felisia slowly rose and gave a sad smile that lasted for a flickering moment.

Nodoka and Nabiki entered the room with Mira at their heel. The Auburn-haired librarian smiled and moved to have a mostly silent conversation with her twin cousins.

"Did you have a good time?"

"It was informative," Nodoka sat down and hugged her daughters while Nabiki slipped up and squeezed herself onto Ranma's seat.

Felisia offered her a glass. At the human's surprised look she laughed. "No reason to not let the HeartWood girls catch-up for a moment."

Nodoka gave a small sip. "There is much we can offer each other, but design information only goes so far, experience and production scales..."

Felisia's hand fluttered a bit before she came up with the tray. "Fortunately, I'm not here for such technical matters."

Pausing Nodoka looked to Nabiki who smiled as she cuddled her mother.

"Is this about our school?" she asked, her powder blue hair pulled behind her with a pair of bows.

Ranma smiled. "It is Yuki. Are you sure about this?"

The younger broodling nodded. "Yes mother, I think it is a wonderful opportunity, if you'll have me," she said in Silvan, and gave Felisia another bow.

"My, polite. Yes, little one let us talk of your new school." Felisia smiled. "And you too new sister," she nodded to Nodoka. "I think you will also find this informative."


***************

Mistress Mercury glowered out the window at the cityscape spreading below her. She drained the glass and handed it to Orion. The jade crystalline girl lifted the bottle, but the blue-haired dark Senshi shook her head.

"We have guests," she met Virgo's eye.

The purple gem girl gave a stiff nod.

"You should be happy," Mercury's blue lips formed to a smirk at the former Amazon. "I promised you revenge. No more hiding in Tokyo; we are in the belly of the beast, now."

"The others remain in Tokyo," Orion stated.

Mercury's smile turned cold. "They are there to maintain the illusion of our presence. Besides, they can get used to their new bodies. Think of it as a second honeymoon." She looked to the door. "Let them in, Virgo."

The purple girl turned and marched across the length of the narrow hotel room and opened the heavy wooden door. With a stiff bow, she ushered three figures inside.

Mercury went to a pair of leather couches and hesitated before meeting her guests with Orion at her heel.

The girl with pink hair done up with roses gave a little bow of the head, but her eyes were amused. She was in a black dress with pink trim that made her look a bit older that she did, though her diminutive height worked against that.

Next to her was an equally young woman, with the willowy form that came with growth spurts. She had glossy black hair and carried a silvery cane held to one shoulder of an ash-grey suit coat and matching pencil skirt over a purple blouse.

Behind the pair was a blatantly demonic woman with horns curling out of her double-braided chestnut hair. A tail swished behind her and she carried a spear tipped with a sullen, red metal.

"Yohko of House RedStorm, welcome," Mistress Mercury smiled and stretched a gloved hand to one of the couches.

Preceded by the two Senshi, Yohko strode over with a lazy, cocky grin. "You are a hard person to get in touch with, Miss Muzino." She turned to study the crystalline Senshi as she took the offered seat.

There were no idle movements from either one: no blinking, breathing, twitches of hands, or shifting to adjust their balance. When not in motion they were statue-still. Sharp changes in shading and demarcated shoes, hosiery, and skirts while subtle, careful highlights and changes in polish, gloss, and finish gave a sheen to legs, hair, lips, and clothing. Gradients of opacity helped add depth to bodices and limbs and even accentuated their faces and their sculptured coiffures.

"Subtle use or color and accenting, someone with a real artistic eye worked on them." Yohko said as she watched Orion gracefully fill a glass and smoothly hand it over. The chokers bearing the Mercury symbol over constellation patterns worked into the gem girls were a bit blatant, but that was a styling theme common enough on Diyu.

As was the chiseled little M each bore on an upper thigh visible under the transparency of their pleated skirting or the silver tiaras inlaid on each brow centered with flush-set faceted gems that shone like the idealized symbols of their bodies. They were similar to the faceted gem irises of their crystalline eyes. A little above the left bosom of the jade one a silver heart with a small sapphire snowflake was embossed into the crystalline substrate..

Mercury smirked. "I knew someone skilled." The people who had been her parents had adapted beautifully, with Libra taking to her leadership and research roles and Pictor diving deep into the aesthetics of their new forms. Having found her muse she first worked with Cassiopeia who had experience working with gems in a previous life, but given her skills, jeweler and medical doctor, both Libra and Pictor wanted Cassiopeia's help.

And from there Pictor's artistic refinements were packaged with the more functional updates Orion, Libra, and Cassiopeia had developed.

"You should have seen them before when they were two-toned and more... crude," Chibi Usa laughed.

Mercury frowned as Orion stepped closer to her.

"Still, impressive creations," Yohko said. Though the with how her gaze lingered on the way the polished skirting was filled with flared hips or how the gleaming ice corset pulled in her waist and presented sapphire-adorned full decolletage showed that the gem girls were not the only ones with artistically-shaped figures.

"Conversions," the dark-harried Senshi stated tapping the silver cane to her shoulder.

"Thank you, but conversions is what they started as," Mercury preened. She lifted her free hand and ran it up Orion's glassy, cool thigh. The gem girl cocked her hip towards her Mistress in response. After this, when it was just the two of them, Mercury would talk with her. Despite all the changes they had both been through, Orion was still a valid sounding board, and the only person she could be... vulnerable to.

The pink-haired girl laughed. "Oh Hotaru, who in this room hasn't been shaped by dark forces against our will?"

The demoness looked around at the various dark magical girls. Her own past well... Yohko used to be a demon hunter. That is she used to be a human demon hunter but then she went after the wrong demoness.

Mercury sighed and crossed her legs as she sat. "Are your daughters enjoying visiting the city?" she asked Yohko.

"They're having fun," the demon mother, martial artist, and mercenary's cocky smile returned. "They've spent more time up north in House RedStorm, but the City of Trees is always a treat."

Leaning back, Mercury held out a hand and Orion filled a glass for her.

"Too on the nose?" the pink-haired girl challenged.

"She is similar to the woman who has been sniffing around your mother, Usagi," Mercury stated, holding the stem of the glass in her hand.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Yohko purred. "And it's more than sniffing around." She pulled an envelope out of her cheongsam and passed it over.

"Did you know Ranma's got a new sister? One who has ice powers of her own? And is also goth, but she's part sidhe, and landed gentry," Chibi Usa teased.

Reaching for the envelope, Mercury sniffed.

"But your ice corset is far lovelier," Chibi Usa assured.

Mercury shook her head. "You're still an imperious spore aren't you?"

Flopping onto the couch, the pink-haired girl shrugged, but her red eyes sparkled deviously.

Mercury went from Chibi Usa's gaze to track the pacing Hotaru. Her attention focused on the silver cane. "Really? Carrying the Glaive openly?"

"It's disguised," Hotaru shrugged. "Unlike other weapons."

Yohko shrugged and idly twirled her spear. "Your reputation precedes you Miss Mizuno. And you're stalling. You can look."

Mercury sighed and opened the envelope. Inside was a set of photographs, they were more rounded in the corners and printed on a flimsier paper than she was used to. But they showed a certain redheaded demon and a certain silver-haired queen. Most were of the pair standing on a balcony one of many on a truly immense rock spire, but some were of the two dressed up for an evening out, and a couple were in a slightly more intimate setting.

"How did you take these?" Mercury asked as she stood. Her eyes briefly went from her own dark gown to those in the pictures. A spike of jealousy was met with a creaking of the ice in her corset. shoes, choker, and tiara.

Yohko laughed. "I know people."

"That's why I brought her in," Chibi Usa smirked. "Besides Akumi, you knew this would happen. Or are you jealous that Serenity is doing dark Princess cosplay with Ranma and not you?"

Mercury stared out the window, at the cyclopean semi-artificial mountain that was the Palace. "It was a risk coming here."

"Oh? But there's no human Senshi here," Hotaru murmured as she paced.

Mercury turned back to eye her.

"Present company excluded." Chibi Usa's smile was bright.

"You think your Mother and her Guardians are the only risk to me?"

"Please, you know what would happen if Ranma found out you were here," Chibi Usa motioned and Orion gave her a glass.

Mercury pressed her lips together.

"The redhead would likely critique your clothing and offer to take you shopping," Orion stated.

"And how are you enjoying the shopping?" Yohko asked. "They say if you can't find it in Silvana then-"

"It's a deviancy that's extra fun?" Chibi Usa laughed while Hotaru stopped her pacing. "For that stuff you'd best go to the Khemi, the capital of House Luxon."

"I may have found a few things," Mercury admitted.

"Having any trouble with the language? Or the culture; I mean there's just so many of us demons out there," Yohko purred, leaning forward. "What about your friends? Golems are not unheard of here, but their livery is... notable."

Virgo stiffened.

Mercury looked up at Orion with a smile. "They can pass as human, they do not like concealing that part of themselves, but it works."

"Really? Even to our noses?" Yohko asked.

Chibi Usa chuckled. "Our Akumi is ambitious. Now, if she had not abandoned the Venus Prototype. That would have fit in."

Yohko gave an inquiring look.

"An enchanted suit of magical armor stylized as a succubus, though the armor was just a... transition," Mercury explained.

"Ah yes... that is similar to Ritual Plate, at least in appearance," Yohko said.

"Far slower in flight but heavier armor," Chibi Usa elaborated.

"Enchanting metal had complications, especially for making a body, a crystalline medium is far more pleasing to work with," Mercury gave Orion a smile. "But... it would be interesting to see how these demons enchant and bind."

"Still, best be careful, golems are common enough here, but the Legions use them as more of strider style for cargo walkers, carriers of crew-served size weapons, and self-walking artillery," Yohko relaxed in her seat.

"Really? No melee golems or large combat frames?" Mercury asked as she motioned to Virgo.

"That is more of a House Elena system. They prefer to use large stone constructs animated by Earth spirits. House Luxon are somewhat similar, I suppose," Yohko shrugged. "And variations of Ritual Plate flying suits are common enough."

"And House BlackSky is different?"

"You didn't research this?" Chibi Usa smiled at the blue-haired woman.

"I only had so much time to prepare," Mercury's tone was cold.

The pink-haired girl waved her off. "It's simple, stone golems are heavy." She gave Orion and Virgo a winning smile. "Not you, you girls are svelte and lovely. But a big fifteen meter tall rock war monster? You have any idea how much that would weigh?"

"About a hundred metric tons," Mercury automatically replied.

"That's right!" Chibi Usa giggled while Hotaru rolled her eyes.

Glaring for a moment, Mercury then nodded. "It's airlift right? All those zeppelins above us and downstream at that base. Even with those lifting-body hulls and whatever magical extras they have to be limited in the mass they can transport."

Orion tilted her head to her Mistress as if to ask: Why else have so many giant airships half a kilometer in length?

"To move Legions," Mercury replied, her tone flat. "But even so..." she nodded. "Right, giant golems. Really any heavy equipment just takes up too much mass."

"Especially when your Legions are air-mobile," Chibi Usa agreed.

"A BlackSkyvian Armor Legion, a Legion specializing in armored vehicles only has what... 64 vehicles if that?" Yohko ventured.

"If you're talking about one with Vestal Light Tanks or Triarii IFVs maybe, but most Armor Legions use Palisade class airships those come with extra capacity and even the smaller Bastion class has some extra."

"I'd hardly call an airship based around two 60 meter diameter hulls and over 400 meters in length small. Those Fides Hulls are giants," Yohko said. "That's far more lift capacity, even on a per capita basis, than my House has."

"Compared to an airship that uses three of those hulls stuck next to each other?" Orion asked.

Yohko nodded.

Chibi Usa shrugged. "Either way, an Armor Legion has about 40 to 64 armored vehicles. That smaller end is if they're using the bigger Lavin battle tanks. And we're not counting utility vehicles, artillery and Ritual Plate support."
"Still, dozens more than you have," Hotaru noted.

Mercury sipped her wine. "Even a Legion dedicated to heavy equipment has to go light on it. It's not just the weight of the vehicles; I'm sure there's all sorts of tiresome supply issues."

Chibi-Usa shrugged. "Grandmother Serenity had similar problems to overcome. Though she used more magically intensive solutions." Her gaze went to her fellow Senshi, both human and... non-human.

"Still, the weight is a limitation," Mercury mused.

"Acutely for House BlackSky, and only because they like air deployment. We of House RedStorm uses similar Legions, but have twice the armored capability. Not to mention Luxon and Elena's capabilities. House BlackSky does have weaknesses. Keeping their legions supplied in the field alone is a major task, and their Air Power airships also need a steady fleet train for munitions, fuel and more."

"Or the Naval powers. Sea-vessels have quite the transport capability," Chibi Usa smirked. "There's a reason House Trosier and House Alecto fight for who controls the seas."

"Or after BlackSky's far smaller navy establishes a beachhead and teleport reinforcements in." Hotaru stated.

Mercury sighed and slowly put her glass down.

"Why it's like she's an interdimensional world-conquering demonic empress," the pink-haired girl laughed.

"Oh, the Silvan succubae are far to civilized for that," Yohko piously said.

"You wanted to play with the big girls, Akumi." Chibi Usa leaned forward. "You still think you have something to offer demon queens?"

"I'm not that desperate."

"Not yet," Chibi Usa smirked. She glanced to the various crystalline Senshi. "But where do you go now? I think you're out of friends and family, unless you want to take Mina-chan back. Or maybe upgrade Rei or Mako-chan. Or the Outers."

"She could try going after Momma and Poppa," Hotaru's tone was flat as she tapped her silver cane on the floor.

Yohko gave Mercury a smile. "A bit of advice, don't bite off more than you can chew."

Chibi Usa giggled. "Oh, it's far too late for that with our Akumi."

"Save us from ambitious princesses," Yohko murmured.

"One of the largest challenges in defining strategy is deciding where you are going to stop," Chibi Usa stated.

"You would know, given your mother and Grandmother," Mercury snapped back.

The pink-haired girl laughed. "Oh, Serenity the First had a clear stop-line. She did not go much beyond the Solar system no?"

"Other than expeditions such as Mistress Lyra's ill-fated one." Hotaru gave Ami a smile.

"Exploration, not conquest," Chibi Usa waved off. She leaned in and studied Ami's cold features with a smile. "Tell me, Mistress of Mercury what would you do if you could get my Mother? If her dearest friends-"

The pink-haired girl looked to Orion and then back to Ami and gave a bright smile. "Her other dearest friends were not in your way?"

Mercury's expression clouded. "You know my intentions. And you would not be here if you did not at agree with them at least in some level."

"Intentions are air," Chibi-Usa held up a hand. "And no, don't give me some long laborious process of how you'd retrain her or empower her or other fantastical processes. I don't want methods, I want your goals."

Mercury sipped her wine and simply looked at Yohko.

"I really don't need to be here for this," the demoness said as she stood.

"No desire to learn more secrets and to leverage them?" Hotaru asked.

Yohko snorted. "Not particularly."

"And that is a valuable and wise trait," Chibi-Usa nodded. "Isn't it?" she cloyingly asked Mercury.

"Oh come on, you've been a nosy bag of secrets since you first arrived, you creepy little spore," Ami spat.

Chibi-Usa pouted.

"The least you could do is enjoy yourself," Hotaru glanced over to Yohko. "Or maybe Elena's second city Eroma or Luxon's Yomi would be more their style?"

"It depends on Mercury's tastes, and what her servants can do," Yohko stated. "And if she wants to bring other Houses into this.

Ami smirked. "I am here because Serenity is here. My Queen. here because Ranma is here. DarkStar is the legend, the favored granddaughter of BlackSky. Thus I must concern myself with House BlackSky." She sipped her wine."

Yohko tilted her head. "You're in her capital. You've got eyes. You've got quite the brain. Are you that arrogant?"

"Naturally." Mistress Mercury laughed. "But I am not against any of you demons. And... as much as it pains me to admit, you are not the greater threat to my Queen. She has other temptations." She shot Chibi-Usa a look.

The pink haired young woman gave a slow nod.

Yohko tilted her head. "You're not against DarkStar being Serenity's suitor. You're concerned, so you came here to check on her family. And you... approve."

Ami sipped her wine. "My Queen could do worse."

"Taking a brood queen, an Imperial Princess?" Chibi-Usa giggled.

Ami glanced at her guests and her creations.

"Long term, you know what that means for you queen, to be mated to a demon?" Yohko asked.

"My Queen could do worse," Ami repeated. "You do not understand what I'm afraid of. Why I am doing this for her."

"I'm no sure if I should be reassured that a magical girl is comfortable with the idea of her queen becoming a demon, or worried about what you think will be worse," Yohko observed.

"Do you really think I would care if my queen had some horns or a tail?" Ami gestured to the two crystalline magical girls standing statue still, ready to serve.

"Maybe I should give these demonic accouterments. What do you think Orion?"

"You did that for Venus when she was a prototype," the jade gem girl replied.

"You're not learning about House BlackSky because you want to fight them," Yohko shook her head. "No... you're learning about your Queen's potential in-laws?"
"Shouldn't I?" Mercury's tone was mild as she motioned to have her creations refill everyone's wine glasses. "If Serenity the Second were to pursue such a relationship then House BlackSky, BlackSky herself would have a measure of sway over her. Best to get her measure now."

"And do you like what you've learned?" the pink-haired purred. "You wanted a strong dark queen, one who could recreate the greatness of the Lunar Empire. A new Silver Millennium? Who better of a mentor for Usagi?"

"BlackSky is the mother of my empress, First Citizen RedStorm," Yohko admitted. "BlackSky helped and taught her much. And now House RedStorm is another Great House on Diyu. Maybe one of the younger and smaller, but we still count."

"Does Usagi want this?" Hotaru quietly asked.

Emptying her glass again, Mercury sighed. "She's the heir of Serenity. I'm afraid she doesn't have much choice. Her mother's blood, her mother's pride runs through her veins."

Yohko tilted her head while Chibi-Usa made a small sigh.

"Are you going to warn me about delving into things I'm better off not knowing?"

"If your... fears are correct. Does that not make me just as at risk? I'm Serenity the Third am I not?"

"You're here, talking to me, and Usagi and her girls, Ranma and her girls, or even BlackSky and her Legions have not tried to stop me."

"Maybe it's all a ploy on my part," Chibi-Usa sweetly said.

Mercury rolled her eyes. "It certainly is. As you said, you're Serenity the Third. I know you'll ensure you still exist. Given your father's dead, and the time travel." She said that last part with clear distaste.

"So you say," Chibi-Usa smirked.

The Mistress of Mercury gave the pink-haired girl a skeptical look.

"Have you been having any trouble with the culture or language?" Yohko asked. "Needing an interpreter or guide may raise your profile but could avoid incidents.

"I have already made sure we won't say the wrong thing or give offense," Mercury sniffed.

Yohko nodded. That was another bit of evidence in her evaluation of this dark magical girl: Arrogant but cautious. Yohko knew it was a dangerous combination

"I will admit that learning more about BlackSky has..." Mercury gave a wry smile. "Settled some of my concerns."

"And now you are free to focus on those of a pressing issue?" Chibi-Usa's crimson gaze shone.

"The real threat to our queen?" Hotaru's tone was dry.

Mercury raised her glass. "Yes, we may all disagree over the details and methods." She gave her crystalline creations an almost guilty look but the mad gleam returned. "But we know our queen is in a grave danger. One that the others do not understand, that they refuse to see. We will save Serenity, save her from her inheritance."

Yohko sipped her wine. Mercury was paying well, but... the ice magus was feverously fervent. And the other two magical girls were playing alone. She would see how far things went, but made a note to make sure she had an exit plan before she got too committed.


***************


Ranma and her daughter descended the steps from the funicular station. When they reached the street, the redhead took her daughter's hand. Carts, carts, trucks and other vehicles puttered down the curving road.

In the redhead's other hand was a shiny sky-blue leather bookbag

Nabiki looked down at the hand holding hers and smiled. "Are you worried I'd walk into traffic, Mother?"

Ranma blinked. "I mean... the other moms are doing it with their girls." Tail swishing, she turned to sweep at several women who were waiting at the side walk. They were all different hues of skin and hair color, and one even seemed to be human and another had fluff ears and tails, but they all had at least one daughter with them in a prim little uniform with bows and ruffles and pleated skirting identical to Nabiki's.

Only the ones who looked a bit younger than Nabiki did at the moment were behind held hand in hand with their mothers however.

"Are you nervous Mom?" Nabiki asked. "It's my first day," she teased.

"No. I mean... I've had you go to school, at your own age before."
"But that was with humans," the blue-haired girl said with amusement. As a light hanging from a pole next to them changed colors and they all crossed the street.

"I mean, you don't have to hide here."

"And neither do you, Mommy," Nabiki happily said. "Here you can be the demon princess."

Ranma blushed a bit as a few of the other succubae mothers turned to her with smiles.

The redhead gave a wave and bowed her horns. "Oh geeze...."
"It's okay," Nabiki happily said. "Mima Lumina has a pedigree, so members of the Imperial family attending isn't that unusual."

Ranma squeezed her daughter's hand.

"Like grandma soon enough!"

The redhead smiled. "Yeah, Mother has been working towards this. It's just..." She looked down the road to the park with its statues and the walls of the academy, then down another road to see a set of more shops and beyond that a plaza.

A mix of the scent of smoking meat, charcoal, bread, leather and a hint of sulfur and perfume was on the air, with just a hint of the scent of the river many stories below. The air was crisp and the sun was bright.

"What, Mommy?"

"I mean... it's all this other world stuff. I've met people from other worlds, even other versions of me. I've gone to other worlds, my baby sister, but it's... even here it is still amazing to have a whole other world." Ranma's tail flicked and she blushed slightly.
"But you knew about Grandmother, everyone did," Nabiki teased as a shadow drew over the street.

Expecting a cloud, Ranma looked up. Nodding at the airship, she went back to her daughter. "It's one thing to hear rumors about her demonic empire, it's another to enroll your little girl in a fancy private school."
As they neared the school, Ranma saw several more schoolgirls, many up to teen age waiting in the park. Their uniforms were more abbreviated than those of the younger grades with miniskirts and a bit of bare midriff on some. Quite a few of them were making their way into the academy.

Ranma gave a slight smile.

"Mommy?"

"Oh, just thinking I was their age not too long ago."

"Silly Mommy, that goes for both of us." Nabiki giggled as she slapped the redhead across the back of her purple skirt.

"Hey!" Blushing slightly, Ranma turned to look at her diminutive daughter.

"Am I interrupting?" a refined voice inquired.

The redhead turned. "Oh, Auntie Felisia." She bowed her horns to the coiffed blonde woman. "What a pleasant surprise to meet you here."

Felisia strode a bit closer and smiled beatifically at some of the awed students who passed her. "You are a delight. I just wanted to welcome you and your daughter to their first day of her school."

Ranma gave a smile. "A pleasure. I'm still getting used to all..." she gestured about. "To, well, all of this."

Looking the redhead's purple skirt, blouse and matching jacket up and down Felisia, nodded. "At least you're dressing the part. A bit more business heiress than princess, but that's a valid role."

"Is that how you see me?"

"You do with for that mercenary company," Felisia noted.
"As does much of my family," Ranma replied.
"Oh, no ill-intent, fledgling. The Guilds can be quite respectable. And myself and my sisters employ many personal troops. Why there's even a Duchess who is quite the patron of Ritual Plate pilots who-" the blonde paused when the bells over the academy started to ring. "But we mustn't delay your little one."

Ranma squeezed Nabiki's shoulders and hugged her. "Now, you have a good day at school. Will you be okay with Silvan?"

"I'm already bilingual, Mommy, I can handle another language," Nabiki dryly said after returning the hug.

Felisia stepped closer to the redhead as they watched the powder-blue haired broodling flounce towards the school.

"She knows where her first class is?" Felisia asked.

"Acadia Hall room 3B," Ranma replied.

"Ah, Mistress WillowWhip good choice."

Once her daughter had passed though the gates Ranma turned and gave her aunt an inquisitive look.

"She'd be who I'd recommend teach your mother, when she's that age. And maybe a bit older." Felisia smiled. "It is good to have you back, niece."

"I'm not sure about back, but I am getting used to visiting," Ranma admitted.

End Chapter 5


Apologies for the long delay. In related news I've been working on a story called The War Chronicles of a Little Demon. It a Youjo Senki fic where Tauria finds herself in House BlackSky. And thus is set in the same world as this story.

Thanks to DCG, Ellf, Kevin D Hammel, Henry Stickman, and J.St.C.Patrick for their help with this chapter.