A Sailor Moon Fanfiction: The Pledge of the Sun.

Chapter 77

In the UFO, Rubeus was once again in council with the Wiseman, who was using his crystal ball to predict Rubeus' future.

"Rubeus, there are two paths before you," the Wiseman said. "One path is one of glory that will lead you to victory. The other will lead you to death, the dark path of defeat."

The fiery-colored man gulped nervously. "Glory or defeat?" he repeated.

"Rubeus, the way I see it, you only have one option of staying alive," the Wiseman went on ominously. "You must eliminate the Rabbit and the Guardians."

"I'm aware of that!" Rubeus snapped. "And I'm more than willing to sacrifice any of my remaining pawns to be able to grab the glory of victory!"

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It was a sunny day in Juuban. Usagi and the gang, including Chibiusa, Koan, and Berthier, were all over at the Hikawa Shrine, raking the leaves around the area. Chibiusa was having great fun throwing the leaves into the air like confetti, much to Usagi's annoyance.

"Chibiusa! Stop throwing those leaves around! We just raked those!" Usagi barked crossly. "Why don't you pitch in and help us work?!"

"Says the person who shamelessly showed up only because Rei mentioned a baked potato party," Chibiusa shot back.

Usagi got very angry. "You can't talk to me like that! I'm older than you! As a child, you should learn to respect your senior!"

But Chibiusa only stuck her nose in the air and humphed snootily. Koan then noticed a leaf in her hair and politely took it off.

"Thank you so much, Koan," thanked Chibiusa.

"Women must have beautiful hair," smiled Koan. "You have to take special care of it."

"You're so nice," Chibiusa grinned. "I wish that I had a big sister like you."

As Berthier swept up some of the leaves alongside Ami and Harusuke, she couldn't help but admire the scenery around her, marveling at the leaves fluttering about in the wind.

"I never knew how lovely this world is," Berthier mused. "I got wrapped in fighting so much that I never really noticed what you have here. Not to mention, you're all such good people," A remorseful frown crossed her features. "I'm sorry for what we tried to do. What we were doing was wrong," she apologized. "We would love to make it up to you by fighting the dark force we were once a part of, but we don't know how, nor do we have anything that could help. Then again, we were nothing but puppets, blindly following our master's instructions."

"Come on, Berthier. It's okay," soothed Harusuke. "Please don't worry about it. You weren't in your right mind. I mean, why waste time dwelling over something that already happened?"

"Harusuke's right," said Ami. "Besides, we're all just glad that you and your sister Koan are here and have become our friends."

"Thank you both so much," Berthier smiled. "I just wish our other two sisters could see things the way we do now."

After they all raked the leaves, Makoto soon started cooking the potatoes and was finished.

"Alright, they're done!" Makoto grinned.

"Yay! I call first dibs!" Usagi cried joyfully. "Gimme, gimme, gimme!"

"Not so fast, Usagi," Makoto firmly spoke as she gave it to Chibiusa. "The first potato goes to Chibiusa."

"What?! No fair!" whined Usagi. "I deserve it! I worked so hard!" She then grabbed Chibiusa by the scruff of her collar as the pink ordango hurriedly munched away on it. "Chibiusa! Give me the other half of that!" she ordered.