Thinking about how Percy had once (probably) been in love with her predecessor was still weird. She was here with the (could have been) lover of the original Sailor Andromeda. Whose Sailor Crystal she possessed. She’d heard the story about how Neo Queen Serenity had reincarnated together with King Endymion from Silver Millennium. Sure, Percy was still essentially the same person, but did that mean they were bound by fate too?

Kira shoved these confusing thoughts away and watched as Percy observed his surroundings. His eyes had seen 300 years’ worth of history. What did that feel like? He’d seen entire worlds grow and change, evolve, crumble… It was mind-boggling.

She turned toward the palace with its white walls, tall windows, beautiful turrets, and high towers, proudly decorated by their flags, a blue rectangle with a picture of a mermaid on it. She tried to imagine what it would have looked like in the olden days and failed.

She blinked in confusion as he asked why she’d brought him there. “Um, I kind of live here,” she pointed out, just as a guard passed her and greeted her.

“Good afternoon, Your Highness.”

Kira nodded and smiled at him. “Did I forget to mention I was a princess? I thought all senshi are princesses.”

"Wait, what?!" Percy's eyes widened, before he realized her logic did make sense. "Well, some of them are, but there are definitely senshi that aren't princesses..." And now that he thought of it. The original Sailor Andromeda had been a princess too. He had no idea why he didn't connect the dots earlier. 

"But I guess this was kind of obvious..." he admitted, "Should I be bowing before I get into trouble, Your Highness?" Percy said, teasing her. "I'm used to getting on one knee."

Kira didn’t understand why Percy was so surprised. He acted like it was this huge shock, but weren’t all the Crystal Tokyo senshi princesses? Back in their past lives, at least? She thought about other senshi she knew. Well, Enyalius probably wasn’t. She couldn’t imagine Enya as a princess, ever. And Achelois had been the only human in her planet, so maybe not her either.

“Oh, shut up,” Kira rolled her eyes and poked him playfully. “I will throw you in the stocks if you start that ‘Your Highness’ nonsense. I’m not really big on the whole princess thing.”

She turned toward the palace again and gestured toward it. “Now, come on, the palace library is the most complete here, so we could do some investigating there.”

She walked ahead of him inside, making her way down the halls. Every once in a while she made some turns, while making sure Percy was still nearby so he didn’t get lost. The palace could be confusing for a newcomer.

Finally she arrived in front of the library and pulled open its wooden double doors. Inside, shelves upon shelves of leather-bound books awaited them, as tall as the ceiling itself. Kira walked slowly toward the history section, her hands running over the spine of the books, each carved with the years of the records they kept inside. When she got to the one from three centuries ago, she pulled it out and brought it to a nearby table.

She turned towards the end of the book, where the last twenty pages were empty. “Look at this,” she told Percy. “When I first read this book, I thought they just had no more to write down that year. Or maybe the extra pages were a mistake, or someone skipped over it or whatever. But now…” she peered at it closely, and ran her fingers softly upon the page. She could almost feel an imprint of letters on it, as if someone had once written on it, or the ink was invisible.

“I think the missing records were supposed to be here. The question is… who could have erased it…”

Not big on being a princess? Well that was interesting... Percy wondered what had made her think that way.

"Aww, not the stocks! You wouldn't put me in there, right? That'd be cruel," Percy said, before laughing. He followed her into the palace, looking around at all the decoration and the people they passed on the way to the library. He tried not to get so distracted that he lost sight of Kira guiding him around. Some were giving him strange looks, most likely because of the way he was dressed. Percy still had on his old armor and tunic, and a blade was attached to his belt, so he was definitely dressed more heavily than most people around here were.

The library was huge to him, nearly as expansive as the Crystal Tokyo one. He would have been completely lost on where to start if it weren't' already divided into neat sections. Kira semed to know what book they needed, and retrieved it to look at. He moved closer to look at the page over her shoulder, frowning. 

"Whoever it was did a good job lifting the ink off these pages..." Percy said. "But what motive would they possibly have to do it at all? Do you know of anyone that would have benefited at all from the sea monster attacks during that time? Maybe someone against the royal family?"

“Our kingdom is the only one here, so that rules out rival kingdoms. Of course we have nobles and people who aren’t happy with us, but… the sea monster wrecked the entire kingdom. There were people starving everywhere and no part of the ocean was safe. I can’t imagine anyone benefitting from that in any part of the planet.”

She stared at the book and sighed. It felt like the letters were so close. Thinking of something, she found a pencil and started scratching it lightly on the pages, hoping to bring the words to life. For a moment, it almost seemed as if it worked; white letters on gray background began to appear, but then in a few seconds they vanished from sight. She gasped.

“This looks like magic. And a strong one at that…”

They had a few seers, healers, and maybe even actual witches, but this seemed like something much bigger than that. “Percy, tell me everything that happened after Andromeda died. Did the monster just disappear? Did you stick around to see what happened over the next few days, if maybe she would resurface or something?”

"Then it might have been someone who personally didn't like her, and didn't care about the sea monster at all..." Percy suggested. "They had a grudge and just wanted to get back at her, maybe?" He watched in anticipation as Kira tried to reveal the words erased by creating an etching with a pencil, but the words just re-erased themselves. 

"Woah, someone really doesn't want us to know what happened..." Percy pulled out a chair and sat down next to her, rubbing his chin. "It definitely took effort to get the words to stay permanently erased. I don't know the right kind of magic to even try to get past whatever they used on this book." 

Percy looked down at the table at Kira's next question, recalling what he'd done. "When the sea monster killed her, it took her, went back into the ocean again, and disappeared for what I assumed was a long while. I got a boat and tried to go after it myself, but I couldn't track it down," Percy said. "I waited on the beach for a week to see if she would return, but I didn't find anything. Nothing even washed up..." He remembered those long nights on that boat, calling her name with no answer until he had to give in and return to land.

Kira couldn’t even begin to guess who the first Sailor Andromeda’s enemies might be. It did make sense that someone who disliked her would want to erase her legacy, though. “I wonder if she came from the same royal line as I do. Did you know if she was a princess as well? Was she around my age?”

They could perhaps trace her family tree, though she didn’t know how helpful that could be. Best they could do was narrow it down to a few names based on the year she could have been born in. But it was still better than nothing…

She felt uneasy hearing Percy’s story. So both the sea monster and Sailor Andromeda had vanished. Just like that. Was there a possibility that she was still alive?

No, of course not. Her Star Seed belonged to Kira now. There could not be two Sailor Andromedas. “So her family didn’t even have a body to bury. That must be horrible. How could her spirit even rest in peace...”

"Hm...Actually, she was a princess too. I have no idea if you're related by blood or not though," Percy said. "But that would explain why I mistook you for her so easily, if you were from the same family." It couldn't just be a coincidence that Kira happened to look so similar to the last senshi of her planet. "She looked around the same age as you, maybe a few years older..."

It had been hard to go back to the castle without her, when he had finally given in and assumed she was gone. And it had been even harder to tell the King and queen that the monster had won against her. After that, Percy had left to go back home, more than tired of travelling around. It always felt wrong to have nothing left of Sailor Andromeda to remember her by, not even her weapons. 

"Maybe it didn't, but I hope it did. She was in the ocean, at least..."

Hope surged within her heart as Percy confirmed that Andromeda had been a princess too. Maybe the family relation would explain their resemblance. She had originally thought it was because she was essentially a reincarnated form of her, but she wasn’t a “direct” reincarnation like the Crystal Tokyo senshi were. She was a new soul, blessed with the same Sailor Crystal.

She stood up and went to find the book that contained the Alderran family tree and returned to the table. The book was the biggest one at the library, and its pages more fragile than any others. She turned them carefully until she found the one that depicted the family line from three centuries ago.

There were only names there, no portraits. But it showed their birth and death years, and Kira studied them carefully. There were a few princesses, but most of them had really long lives. Then finally she saw a branch that ended with one name, and gasped when she saw the years scribbled beneath the name.

“This princess died at age twenty-two. That’s awfully young for us, which means she must have been killed by something. This could be her…”

Her eyes flicked toward the name, subconsciously whispering it. “Nerida Cassiopeia Alderran…”

Right then, she felt a strange chill. The window was open, and this being near the ocean, there was always a breeze, but it had never, ever felt that cold.

Percy was silent as Kira flipped through the huge record book, wondering exactly what they would find in it. What if her place in there was erased too? How thorough had this mysterious person with a grudge been? Percy leaned forward in his seat when she found a possible lead. A princess dead at 22? That sounded about right.

So her name was Nerida. Just knowing her actual name made him feel a little closer to her. His eyes widened slightly as he sensed a change in the air. Something had shifted, and it wasn't just the wind. 

"Did you just feel something?" he asked, standing up.

When Percy stood up, Kira looked at him. “You felt that too? I thought I was imagining it, but there was definitely a chill…”

The pages of the family tree book flipped on their own and the book slammed closed with a bang. She jumped up. “Whoa. Someone really doesn’t want us to look into this.”

But she wasn’t going to be deterred until she could find out the truth. Whatever kind of magic was at play… whoever was behind it, she needed to know. She had to make sure the story of the first Sailor Andromeda—of Princess Nerida—was known to all of her people.

“Come with me. We have a royal portrait gallery. We might just be able to see what she looks like, and then you can identify her for sure.”

She walked out of the library and down the hallway until she entered a vast room with walls almost as long as the entire castle. There, portraits of every royal family member was hung, going back all the way to the first rulers. Her own was hanging closest the door, the last portrait in line.

She walked down the rows of pictures until she got almost to the very back. Here she saw names of royals from three hundred years ago, and…

Just when she located Princess Nerida’s parents, she found the spot next to them empty. There was clearly a space that was whiter than the wall around it, marking it as an area where once a portrait used to hang. “I don’t believe it,” she threw up her hands in disbelief. “Her portrait is missing. But I guess that means we’re on the right path? Hers seems to be the only missing one here.” She looked around, and all the other portraits were spaced evenly except for this one spot.

Percy tensed as the book slammed shut by itself, his bad feeling growing stronger by the moment. He nodded and followed her down the hall to a new room. The gallery was massive, and he could barely see the frames hung at the very back. Percy stopped to look at Kira's, studying it. She was a few years younger in this portrait, and she looked more...innocent. happier even. What had happened to her over the last few years to cause that change? Was it the sea monster attack?

When he realized that Kira had left him behind, Percy jogged to catch up with her, slowing down at the end of the hall where she had stopped.

"You know, you looked a lot happier in that picture down the hall," he said. he had no idea why he felt he needed to say that, but he did. He was genuinely curious about it. Percy was slightly disappointed to see that Nerida's portrait was already missing. 

"Whoever's doing this always seems to be one step ahead of us..." Percy said, leaning against the wall where the portrait had been. The wall creaked under his weight, and he glanced at it curiously. Weren't the walls in here stone? They shouldn't be bending like that. "Wait a minute, I think I found something." Percy put both hands on the section of the wall and shoved with all his strength. "Almost got it...."

The wall clicked and slid inward, revealing a hidden room filled with boxes and other older artifacts. "A secret room!" he said with a grin, before stepping away. "After you."

Kira smiled bitterly as Percy claimed that she looked happier in her royal portrait. “Well, that was before the sea monster appeared. And before my own family chained me to a rock to sacrifice me and get rid of it. Nothing like being stabbed in the back by one’s own parents to ruin someone’s happy childhood.”

She frowned as Percy seemed to discover something odd in the wall, and her eyes widened when it actually moved after being shoved back. As the secret door slid away, Kira stared at the room hidden behind it with wonder.

“Wow. That’s amazing. I know castles have secret passages and rooms, but I’ve never seen this one before.”

She stepped inside tentatively into the dim room. There were no windows there, so they could only see by the light spilling from the royal gallery. She picked up some boxes and found old, useless tools, some ancient documents of no importance, and antique furniture. It seemed like a random collection of knickknacks. “I don’t see anything useful here…”

She walked to the back, and that was when she noticed a frame that looked familiar jutting out behind a stack of boxes. The gilded frame looked just like the other ones framing the royal portraits. She quickly approached it and pulled it out carefully. In the darkness, she could barely see the portrait, but it looked vaguely like the figure of a young woman.

“Percy! I think I found the missing portrait!”

She rushed back into the gallery, where they could inspect the portrait under the sun. Kira held it up in front of her and blew the thick layer of dust on top of it. She found herself staring into the face of a beautiful young princess that bore an eerie resemblance to herself. She looked regal and delicate, with a small smile on her lips. Yet her eyes, a darker color than Kira’s own, seemed sad. Her hair, a darker shade of turquoise, was way longer, though since the portrait didn’t show her full body, Kira didn’t know how far down it reached.

The plaque beneath it declared that it was indeed Princess Nerida Cassiopeia Alderran.

She couldn’t look away from the picture, feeling transfixed by the girl so similar yet so different from herself. “Is this her?” she whispered.

Well, that explained Kira's portrait. Percy hadn't realized how much that even had affected her, but when she put it that way, it made sense. He'd be upset too if he'd been used as live bait against his own will. Now feeling guilty for bringing the issue up, Percy was silent as Kira entered the hidden room. He was definitely going to help her figure this mystery out now, if that made her happier. 

The inside of the room looked more like extra storage space someone dumped their old belongings in than the secret treasury he had assumed it would be. Was this the castle's garage or something? But despite the lack of other interesting things, Kira had found another portrait. Could it be the missing one from the gallery? 

"Alright, then let's bring it out!" he said to her exclamation. He was amazed that it hadn't been destroyed completely. Grinning in anticipation, he waited for her to drag it back out into the light. Percy coughed and waved away the dust that filled the air as she cleaned the dirty portrait off, but as soon as he turned back around to look at it, he was transfixed. 

Now he really was seeing a ghost. Looking at the young woman depicted in the frame brought back his memories in full force. The day he first saw her on the shore from his boat, their talks on the beach, him helping her train with her weapons... His cheeks turned red as he was momentarily lost in his own thoughts. He hadn't seen her in a long time, but this was definitely a picture of Nerida. 

"Y-yeah, that's her..." Percy managed to say, still processing what Kira had just asked him.

Kira saw a whole breadth of emotions and memories flit across Percy’s face the moment he looked at the portrait. It was as if she was intruding on an incredibly personal moment. And again she was struck by how there was an entire history between these two people that she didn’t know about. He knew Nerida, even if for only a little while… but it already meant he knew her so much better than Kira ever did or ever would. That part made her sad.

The chill returned and this time there was no window whatsoever. Kira frowned and brought the portrait carefully to its spot on the wall, hanging it back where it belonged. But the moment she let go of it, the picture turned dark, as if shadows were obscuring it. “What the…?”

Sounds of hurried footsteps echoed in the hallway along with panicked shouts. “Your Highness!” a guard burst in, and Kira turned toward him in alarm. “The ocean…” He seemed at a loss for words, and she felt dread in the pit of her stomach.

“What? What about the ocean?”

“The… the creature from before…” he managed to say, his face pale as sheet. Kira felt as if ice had begun coating her heart. The sea monster? Was it back? But that’s impossible…

“Please, just come and see!” the guard pleaded, before running back outside. She dashed to follow him, making her way out of the castle and towards the beach. People had started to gather in a crowd, all looking horrified. In the distance, the water of the ocean churned, as if something big was rising from beneath.

What appeared first above the surface was the humps of its long, serpentine body, topped by glistening silver scales. Its blue-green body moved with the deadly elegance of a snake, and soon its enormous head surfaced, baring its numerous fangs. It felt as if it stared her in the eye mockingly, challenging her to defeat it… again.

“No…” she whispered. This was impossible. She’d already slayed the beast. And even if she hadn’t, it had definitely not been 300 years yet. So how could it be back again?!

Percy blinked in confusion as the painting darkened. What was going on? He listened as the terrified guard burst in, saying something about the ocean. Wait, the creature from before? Kira has said she had killed it, so it couldn't possibly be- Percy ran to the beach as well, stopping short at the sight off the shoreline. That serpentine shape in the distance was horribly familiar, and his insides went cold. 

"It's just like before..." he said from behind her. Just like that day. Was history trying to repeat itself again? He suddenly found himself enraged at the sea monster's existence. How dare it rise again, after all that trouble! Well, he was sick of it now. With a growl, his hand went to the blade at his belt, and unsheathed the sword.

"We need to get over there," he said. "And make sure it's dead once and for all! Come on!" He looked at her, expecting her to join him immediately.

Kira was in denial. She refused to believe that the monster was real. Was there another one? She had killed it, there could be no mistake about it. Her people around her looked fearfully at it and then turned toward her. They knew who she was—a senshi—and that she was the one to turn to in a time like this. Especially since she’d already killed it once.

She didn’t snap out of it until Percy called for her. “What? It’s… dangerous. And how are we going to get there?”

“You can use our boat, Your Highness!” one of the sailors chimed in, pointing at the boats lining up the docks.

Kira swallowed. This monster was her nightmare, and somehow, having triumphed over it before didn’t matter. She still felt fear coursing through her veins. Now that she knew it had killed another Sailor Andromeda… and that if it was here again, it meant she hadn’t killed it after all. Was this going to be how she died? Her feet had frozen where they were.

But then she looked back at Percy, saw the determined look on his face, his desire to make things right now that he had a second chance at it. Was she going to let him lose another princess?

She couldn’t. And she was different from Nerida. They were not the same person.

With a deep breath, she called, “Andromeda Star Power, Make Up!”

In a flash, she had transformed, and she ran toward the boat. The monster was in the middle of the ocean, so they’d have to come to it. She jumped in and watched as the people helped them untie the ropes. She waited until Percy got inside, too.

Looking at him uncertainly, she summoned the Battle Trident of Andromeda in her hands. “Percy… I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m really glad you’re here.” She didn’t know if she could’ve handled this alone. Well, maybe she could’ve. She did once, after all… but his support was still very much appreciated.

She wondered if this entire thing felt like a huge déjà vu to him.

As he settled in the seat of the boat across form Sailor Andromeda, Percy mentally steadied himself for what they were about to do. This was getting too similar to the last time he was here, and he had no desire to watch someone else die again. 

Her next words to him almost stopped his heart. Hie hands gripped the oars tighter than needed, and he looked away with a small smile. "Just...try not to take too many risks, alright?" he said, before he started rowing. He threw all of his concentration into getting closer to the sea monster, and the shore slowly got smaller as the boat moved out to sea. At the same time, the serpent grew larger and more intimidating as they approached.Soon, they were so close that the boat rocked against the waves the monster was making as it moved around. Deciding that they were plenty close enough, Percy pulled the oars in and stood up to look at it. 

"Okay, you monster, you want a fight? I'll give you one!" Percy jumped off the edge of the boat, and changed forms mid air into a sea bird. With an angry screech, it turned skywards and circled the monster's head, before it shifted back into Percy. With a loud battle cry, he drew his sword as he fell towards the monster, the edge directed to drive into its scales when he landed on it.

Andromeda noticed Percy’s worried look as he advised her not to take too many risks, and she nodded. She smiled, briefly touched that he already cared enough to be worried about her when they’d just met. I am not her, she kept repeating in her mind, over and over. I am my own person. Her fate isn’t going to be mine.

She helped him row closer and closer to the middle of the ocean, chanting the words that kept her heart strong. She had defeated this monster before. She could do it again. And this time she’d do it right.

Before she could attack, however, Percy had beaten her to it. She let out a surprised yelp when he jumped off the boat just like that, but watched in fascination as he turned into a bird. He transformed back into his original form and dove straight toward the monster. Andromeda clutched the edge of the boat with worry. When his sword met the creature’s scales, it roared in pain and anger, and for a moment its form flickered, like a hologram that fizzled in and out.

She blinked, confused. The monster solidified again and threw Percy off of it by bucking its long body wildly. “Percy!” she called out in panic, hoping he could swim if he landed in the ocean.

Narrowing her eyes at the monster, Andromeda lifted her weapon. This was not only hers, it was once Nerida’s too. She put all her faith into it, then threw it as hard as she could toward the monster’s neck.

To her surprise, it flew right through it as if the monster wasn’t solid at all. Then the creature’s figure flickered again. And suddenly, superimposed on its serpentine face, another face appeared. The face of a woman with long dark green hair that seemed to have a life of its own, waving all around her like Medusa’s snakes. Andromeda stepped back in surprise as she realized she recognized that face. It took her a while because the only time she’d seen it, the expression had been so different. The girl in the portrait was smiling in a gentle way, yet this same face was twisted with hatred.

“You dare try to use my own weapon against me?” she spoke in a distorted voice.

Andromeda trembled, shock and confusion filling her. “N-Nerida…?”

Percy's sword sliced into the monster, and it reacted in pain, to his satisfaction. For a split second, he thought he saw it flicker, but before he could process it, he was thrown off its back. Percy sheathed his blade just as he fell into the water, quickly sucking in a breath before his head went under.

He sank down a dozen feet before reorienting himself with a few kicks and shifted into a shark, pushing back towards the light. He transformed back as his head found the surface and saw Andromeda confronting the monster with her trident. He started swimming towards the boat again, determined not to let her fight alone. But just as he was clamoring back over the side, he heard a strange, yet familiar voice echoing around.

“You dare try to use my own weapon against me?”  Percy looked up and froze at the image covering the serpent. Nerida? But what was wrong with her? He hurried to stand next to Sailor Andromeda, still dripping wet even as he stared in surprise. 


"Nerida, is that you?!"

Seeing the two of them side by side, the creature bared its teeth menacingly. The superimposed face grew clearer—Princess Nerida’s eyes stared at them with hatred and contempt. “You can’t leave it well enough alone, can you?”

Her voice sounded as if it had been corrupted by something sinister. Something about this whole thing reminded Andromeda of Chaos, and her blood ran cold. Could it be that Nerida had been corrupted by Chaos when she was swallowed by the serpent? Her weapon did end up in the hands of one of Chaos’ incarnations—The Collector. And her spirit probably had been stuck there for a long time, too, until she and the other senshi freed them.

But shouldn’t she be free now? Shouldn’t she be at the Galaxy Cauldron, instead of back here in her old kingdom?

“Why are you doing this?” she asked, confused and hurt. “If you’re really her, why would you bring this terror back to your own land?”

“Because you had to go and dig for the truth!” the Nerida-slash-monster roared, making Andromeda step back. “Nobody needs to know about my failure. Nobody needs to know that this planet’s first senshi got killed in her first battle because she was useless and no good as a warrior! But now…”

Tears appeared in Nerida’s eyes, and her voice slowly turned to a normal human’s voice. She suddenly sounded so anguished and desperate. “Now everyone will know. Because of you. They’ll know that I couldn’t protect my people and that I was not worthy of the senshi title.”

She glared at them through her tears. “I can’t let that happen. I must kill both of you.”

Percy listened as the cross between spirit and monster spoke with Sailor Andromeda. He couldn't believe that Nerida would do this. Why would she attack her own people as the same monster that killed her? As he heard her explanation, he began to understand what she was struggling with. Did she really think she had failed all those years ago? That she was useless and unworthy?

"Wait!" Percy stepped in front of Kira protectively, looking up at the ghost. "But you're not useless! And you're definitely worthy of being a senshi! You tried your best and that was all you could do, but the fact that you tried at all was what made you a hero!" he said. "Princess, remember when you told me you wanted to protect your kingdom? That's why you asked me to help you in the first place..."

The creature with Nerida’s face paused when she heard Percy’s words. Uncertainty and conflict flickered in her eyes as she became swayed by what he said, wondering if it was true. “Perseus…” she whispered his name, as if truly seeing him for who he was for the first time rather than someone she just wanted to kill. Pain flared in her expression as she recalled the memories.

“My kingdom doesn’t need to know about a hero who failed them. Because I couldn’t protect them, the sea monster returned and threatened everyone once more. What I did made no difference. I might as well have not tried at all.” Bitterness seeped into her voice. “I died for nothing.”



Andromeda could not listen to this anymore—it was too hurtful. “What are you talking about?! I worshipped you. When I realized there had been another Sailor Andromeda before me, I wanted nothing more than to know her. Yes, it was hard when I realized that you’d failed in your quest to defeat the sea monster, but you’re still an inspiration to me. You sacrificed your life to try and protect your people. You didn’t die for nothing. You were being a true princess and a true senshi.”

She knew exactly what Nerida would feel like. If she had been in Nerida’s shoes, she probably wouldn’t want everyone to know about her failure either. Being a senshi had been a blessing to her and had come in a time when she needed it most, and perhaps that was why she had succeeded. She saw it as a gift instead of a burden. And more than anything, after having been abandoned by everyone, even those closest to her, she had no choice but to believe in herself. Because there was no one else standing by her. No one to depend on. Her choices in the end were either save herself or die, and she had refused to accept the latter.

Nerida looked at them both, as if a part of her wanted so badly to believe them while the other part didn’t dare to. “Do you truly wish to remember a hero who failed? Do you think that’s what our kingdom needs? No, they already have you, the true Sailor Andromeda. The one who saved everyone. I am nothing but a shadow compared to you.”

Percy stepped closer, careful not to fall off the boat. "No, you're not a shadow! Not to me..." he said, staring at her. "None of these people would even be here without you, the sea monster would have killed them all long ago. Because you stood up to it, it disappeared for a while. Even if you lost the fight, you still protected them."  He looked away. 

"And during that week I was with you...I might not have said it, but that was one of the best weeks of my life. And when you disappeared, I searched the ocean for days. I was never the same after losing you, so if you thought that no one would miss or need you, well...I did." Percy looked up again. "Maybe I didn't realize it before, but I do now. Nerida, I loved you, and I still do to this day."

Nerida listened intently to Percy’s words, and slowly with each word the sea monster’s figure began to gradually fade. In the end, all that was left was the translucent figure of Sailor Andromeda—the first one—who looked at him in disbelief, surprise, and anguish. Tears pooled in her eyes as she floated closer to the boat. The sea was calm now, no longer churning wildly as before.

“You…” she swallowed, seeming unable to say the word. “You love me?” She was staring at him with amazement. “W-why? You barely knew me. And I was a senshi… who failed my duty. Why would you ever love someone like me?”



Kira relaxed a little when she saw the monster vanish. So that was just an illusion after all? Was their true enemy… Nerida? The original Andromeda? It was incomprehensible. She had no idea Nerida’s pain was so great that she would do all this to her own kingdom and almost killed them both. Would she have really done it? It seemed as if they were facing her spirit, which meant it hadn’t rested in peace after all. It was supposed to be back at the Galaxy Cauldron, but perhaps her immense regret had held her here.

“Nerida… the kingdom needs both of us,” she said softly. “Heroes don’t always win, but what matters is their courage. Our people need to know that there has not been one, but two princesses who were brave enough to stand up for them, to protect them from harm.”

She looked at Percy as he admitted her feelings and smiled. It was probably good for Nerida’s spirit to still be here. Percy never got to tell her that he loved her before. And it seemed that both of them needed to hear it.

"Nerida, as soon as I laid eyes on you when I reached this planet, I thought you were beautiful," Perseus said. His eyes were trained entirely on her ghost, almost forgetting that Andromeda was with him. "And the more time we spent together, the more I could see that you truly cared about your people. It didn't matter to me if you were good at fighting or not. You were brave enough to still try even if you didn't think you could win, and I thought that was incredible."

"When you died, I thought that I was the failure, not you. I promised I would help fight, but I still lost you. I never forgave myself for that. I thought that you'd never forgive me for not protecting you better..." Slowly, he reached an hand out to her spirit form, trying to touch her. "I'm so sorry I couldn't save you..."

Nerida’s eyes were glassy with tears, her expression full of regret and anguish. It seemed impossible that someone would care for her when all she’d done was fail. And yet she saw the sincerity and love in Perseus’ eyes. He thought she was incredible. She had done something good. And she was loved.

She shook her head fervently at his words. “I never once blamed you for my failure, only myself. I shouldn’t have needed help at all in the first place – she certainly didn’t,” she turned to look at Kira with a soft smile. “Without you, I wouldn’t have had the courage to stand against the monster at all. But it was my sole responsibility, not yours. If you hadn’t been there, maybe I would have just gone and hide like a coward. But you gave me…” she took a deep breath, and finally accepted the truth she hadn’t dared to believe, “…a hero’s death.”

She stepped closer to him and touched his hand. At that moment, her figure became more solid and she stepped fully into the boat.

“After the sea monster swallowed me, I was in a dark place for a long time. Trapped there with no way out for hundreds of years. My soul and my weapon ended up in The Collector’s vault as him and the sea monster were both incarnations of Chaos. You freed me,” she turned to Kira for this bit, “and for your trouble you deservedly receive Sailor Andromeda’s sacred weapon. I am glad it made its way to you and that you found both of us in the end. But after being freed, my spirit could not really achieve peace yet. It’s still restless with regret and guilt for my failure. I was so consumed by fear that someone would find out the truth about me that I went through all that trouble to erase myself from history.”

She looked back at Percy and smiled. “But you’ve made me believe that my story is worth telling. Thank you.” She stared at him with longing and smiled. “I think I will finally be able to return to the Galaxy Cauldron now. But, before that, may I ask for a parting gift?” she asked him shyly. “To be quite honest, and this is a rather embarrassing truth… I have never been kissed in my life, and I would like to know what it’s like before I embark on my next life.”

Percy's heart sped up as she touched his hand, and he actually felt her skin on his. As she spoke about her imprisonment and escape from Chaos, he intertwined his fingers with hers. It must have been horrible to have your soul stuck it a twisted place like the Collector's castle. No wonder she was restless afterwards.

At the mention of the Galaxy Cauldron, he remembered that Nerida eventually had to leave. But it felt like he had just seen her again, so why couldn't she stay any longer? But her time had passed, and it wouldn't be right to keep her from moving on. 

"A...parting gift?" Percy smiled at her last request. "Well, it would be rude of me to let you leave with no good bye kiss..." he said. He gently pulled her in closer, so that she was almost leaning on his chest armor, and then leaned his head down to touch his lips with hers. His free hand moved up to her cheek and caressed it slightly.

Kira watched Percy and Nerida with a smile, though she was feeling a bit like a third wheel when the two began to talk more intimately. She suppressed a giggle when Nerida requested a kiss—finding it pretty bold of her, but then again, she was dead, so she might as well—and turned away a little at first. She couldn’t stop herself from peeking, though, and caught the tail end of it. Nerida’s eyes were closed and she was kissing Percy softly, her expression a mix of happiness and peace.

She was glad they’d finally put Nerida’s soul at rest. She thought she’d done it on The Collector’s mission, but clearly her past wounds simply ran too deep. But now history would be restored as it should be and everyone would know of Nerida’s bravery, too. And Percy got to profess his love. It was better late than never, right? All in all, it seemed like a nice ending for everyone.

Nerida’s body began to dissolve into tiny sparkles, like stars that appeared in the midday sky. She gave one last wave to them both before she completely vanished from view.

“Goodbye,” Kira whispered softly. “May we meet again someday.”

She turned to Percy and put her hand on his shoulder. “Well. That was some adventure, huh? And you even got a kiss out of it.”

Percy watched as Nerida disappeared before their eyes, regretting being unable to tell her his feelings sooner. Would they have had more time together? He tried to burn the last few minutes into his memory, not wanting to forget a single moment of her. Turning to Kira, he grinned at her. 

"Yeah, I guess that was an adventure in a way," he said, before giving her a sly look. "Aw, did you want a reward for your troubles too? It wouldn't be fair if only one of us got a kiss, this was a team effort."