Sophia’s room is about as quiet as she can make it. Aside from the random creaks that houses seem to make, it’s relatively silent. For a little while, she just listens to herself breathe. She had to look up a few breathing exercises before starting.

The difficult part seemed to be staying away. It was so relaxing and so quiet… perfect time for sleep. However, she needed to do this and dwell on a question. Hopefully, gleam some sort of answer from the exercise.

Why did she fight? It was a funny question. She didn’t really want to. Had no desire to fight. The others had much more of a ‘fighting spirit’, and somehow she was being told it is a good thing that she is way she is. It was mostly on the promise that a better world was at the end of this. That through their struggle, there would be an end to struggle in general. At the end of it all, there would be some kind of peace. No one would have to fear anymore of the end of the world. And maybe even the youma would be free to find some kind of peace. She believes in some kind of brighter future if only they could get there sooner.

In the end, she wanted to save people, even the worst of them, from continuing to suffer. Her supposed enemy, she really felt no malice toward. Their situations were tragic, born into such a negative, hateful world or brought into one somewhat against their will. And she loved and respected all lives of any creature that had sentience. Actually, even those without intelligence. However, it seemed like saving many required taking at least a few lives. Causing pain. So why did she continue to fight even then if the only thing she wants is to stop that sort of thing? She can think of about two reasons. One is some kind of lesser of two evils. Sitting back and letting more people become hurt was a worse option. She would take a life and feel guilty about it after. Two is the team. She couldn’t allow them to bear the burden of the world alone. She’d help them any way they could. She wouldn’t let anymore get hurt. They were giving everything to create the same kind of perfect world, and she wouldn’t let them down like that. And if she could do this entire senshi job herself, she would. They deserved peace and end to fighting more than anyone else she could imagine.

There was no one reason to fight it seemed, rather many valid ones.

As for imagining her potential, that was a more difficult one. She wanted greater power behind her attacks. To tear through darkness, evil, corruption. She wanted to be able to shield her friends, rescue them from trouble, save them from death. She wanted to be the kind of person that the team could rely on, trust, respect. In truth, she wanted to be everything that the needed when they needed it.

She wanted not hate this much… It wasn’t an emotion that she felt comfortable with. However, even with the news that Kousuke would return and Kenji could regain consciousness, she still felt it. It was like a creature that embodied all hatred imparted some to her just by being near it.

She couldn’t accomplish much feeling this way. It tore at her mind and sickened her good intentions. Could she just let go of it? It was such a strong feeling…

Surely, there was something good that he had done at some point in his life. People could not be evil… people were not absolutes. She shouldn’t hate him this much. It gave him too much damn control over her life and situation.

Forgiveness… she would do her best. She would greet the creature of malice with none. She would do her best to embody an ideal… everything she was supposed to be as a senshi of light and love. And if he could not be saved, she would mourn his death as she did the others. She would care even for those who wronged her.

It was good in theory, but she needed to make her emotions didn’t get the better of her when that time came. No anger. No malice. The meditation was helping. She felt calmer… in more control of herself.

At her fullest potential, she wants to be everything that she was supposed to embody. She wants to be able to supplement for any weakness. She wants to be one who could hold the team together and be whatever they needed. She wants the strength and the ability to save everyone…

God… she was so sleepy now.

As Sophia's resolve grows and her mind begins to approach sleepiness, her physical body will slump over as her spirit wanders off in a sort. It seems she leaves earth itself and goes through space at light-speed, as she blanks out for a moment, before awakening outside of a white castle. It appeared to be floating in mid-air, made of brilliant yellow and white stone. The entire structure was elegant, with statues of human beauty and art all abound. There was no resemblance to any known architecture style on Earth.

The area was warm, much like the Earth was prior to the ice age. A yellow bubble seemed to surround the massive platform of the castle and stone base it rested upon. Nearby there would be a beautiful fountain that had a woman whom seemed to be a sailor senshi standing upon it. The white marble would lead to a staircase, that exploration would reveal to be an abandoned structure inside. Within there would be winding hallways, with many locked doors but one door to the north, one to the west, and one to the east. The one to the North leads to a 'throne room' of sorts. The door to the East leads to a bed chamber and private quarters. The room to the west leads to an armory.

The sensation of leaving one’s body is unfamiliar to Sophia. She believes more that she is falling asleep rather than having at out of body experience. She was already tired in the first place. And considering that the last few nights held less than pleasant dreams, this was a nice change of pace.

However, the architecture of the castle was something beyond what her mind could imagine. She takes a long time to admiring the artwork and the castle itself. She wishes she could take pictures, but feels as though she won’t ever forget what she sees. And the weather reminded of her when she was very young. She spends a good amount of time just standing around outside, enjoying everything.

She stares at the fountain upon getting close to it. The uniform was familiar enough, but the senshi was not. It’s an extravagant piece nonetheless. Eventually, she moves past and through into the castle itself and the stairwell. She never imagined a place this large could be so vacant. It was almost eerie that a place this amazing was so quiet.

In the hallway, she tries the first few doors before realizing most of them were locked. So she ends up just continuing down the hall to the North end. The doors to that room were a little grander. She pulls them open to see the throne room. Walking across the marble floors and to the throne, she can’t resist the urge to sit on it. Live out all those Disney Princess fantasies from when she was 8 years old. Looking back at the empty throne room, however, wasn’t really as exciting as she imagined though. More than anything else, she feels like she doesn't really belong in the chair, and she gets back up after a few seconds.

As Sophia takes a seat, she triggers something.

An orange flash of light manifests around her as a miniature version of a girl in a sailor senshi attire with blonde hair manifests. She smiles and bubbles around Sophia for a moment.

"Welcome back Princess Venus, it's been too long! You..." the manifestation states before she looks at Sophia hard and blinks, a comical bubble floating down the side of her head.

"...Have changed. One moment, I will adjust accordingly." the manifestation says, as it shimmers, and a moment later appears as a miniature version of Sophia's Sailor Venus herself. She then looks at Sophia with a warm smile.

"I assume you are confused. I am the Power Guardian of Venus, it's a pleasure to meet you, new Lady Venus. Please let me know however I may be of assistance to you." she says, bowing slightly and then waiting for a response from Sophia.

The miniature version of the sailor senshi sort of reminds of Sophia of a pixie. “Oh hello!” Sophia says excited to see some living creature in the castle.

However, as soon as the sailor pixie starts talking, she starts to get pretty confused. “Princess?” Sophia asks. Even stranger was staring at a miniature version of herself. At least, Pixie Venus was friendly and welcoming.

“It’s nice to meet you too, but I don’t think I’m the princess of this place. I didn’t mean to confuse you by sitting on the throne. I didn’t really know sitting in the chair would do anything. But I am looking for a princess! Someone called the Silver Princess. Does she or did she live here?”

"Ah but you are! Sailor Senshi Venus is the Princess of Venus and the mistress of this castle!" the power guardian protests at Sophia's dismissal, hovering around her several times as the energetic little sailor pixie she was. "I can only be seen by Princess Venus, and I represent the caretaker of the castle whenever you are out." she says, her expression turning insecure slightly.

"Which is most of the time...but I'm happy to see you after these hundreds of years!" she says, then shaking her head when she asked about the Silver Princess.

"I haven't seen the Silver Princess since the Silver Millennium, when Lady Selentiy caused her to be reincarnated in the future. I'm sorry, but I can't quite help you there. However, I think I might be able to help you find her!" the power guardian chirps in, then flying off into the hallway Sophia entered the room from, approaching one of the locked doors and beginning to fiddle with it, before a magical seal deactivates and the room opens completely.

When Sophia approaches, assuming she does, she will find what appears to be a study and research room for a technican of some sort. Magical implements could be seen throughout the area, while there seemed to be something that resembled a computer control panel along the south wall. A number of neatly arranged cabinets and drawers could be seen, while the power guardian was frantically opening them trying to find something.

One of them opposite to where Sophia would see would be inched open a little bit, a faint glow coming from within.

Sophia doesn’t really want to upset her pixie host. “I guess that isn’t the weirdest thing I’ve heard in the past few weeks. Well the castle is well-maintained, so you’ve done a great job. But I can’t exactly return to a place that I’ve never been to. I’m only 16, not hundreds of years old.”

As the pixie version of her runs off excitedly to help, Sophia follows quickly. It would be amazing if part of their search ended so quickly! “Oh wow… this is a large study.” She starts picking up some of the magical implements as the power guardian searches. “By the way, you don’t have to look like me if you don’t want to. If you have some preferred way of looking, you can just do that.” Mostly, it was an odd feeling to see a miniature version of you hovering around.

Eventually, she notices the glow and curiosity takes over. She opens the cabinet to find whatever is inside.

"Thank you princess Venus" the power guardian says with enthusiasm as it flutters about trying to find where the device in question was. It fluttered about comically, with random 'ows' and 'oomphs' periodically muffled by the containers. She didn't address the nature of the age of the princess or anything. She knew this was a reincarnation, and that things would be different. It wasn't worth arguing or making the new Lady Venus uncomfortable or confused.

When Sophia approaches, the glow will intensify a little. When she opens the drawer, she finds a small pendant with a yellow symbol of Venus made of gold. A small, yellow gem resonates with the mark of Venus on her forehead, which will illuminate faintly whether Sophia notices it or not. The Power Guardian notices that Sophia had found something and floats over to her.

"Ah yes, the Aphrodite's Pendant...that's what I was looking for. It is capable of sensing the hearts of those around them. The Princess you're looking for will have the most powerful heart of all!"

Sophia doesn’t notice the gem much, being more distracted by the necklace itself. “Oh cool! Thank you.” Sophia picks up the pendant and puts it on. Considering what the power guardian said, she asks, “I can’t wait until we actually find the princess. She seems like an amazing person…” Someone with a good heart, capable of ending the war and helping those the Covenant turned. Sophia could idolize a person like that.

“Are you the only person here? I haven’t seen anyone else,” she asks as she fiddles around with the pendant. The large castle seemed like it would be an awfully lonely place for the tiny pixie-like creature.

"She is!" the power guardian says, chirping in when Sophia remarked about the princess being an amazing person. When asked if she was the only person here, the guardian nodded solemnly.

"When the Silver Era ended, the powers of the castle could no longer hold the Court of Venus and those who resided here in that time. They ended up returning to Earth to help rebuild it after the great war. I believe that what you call the 'Greek Civilization' might be in part descended from them." the guardian says with a small sigh.

"But it is quite alright. I have kept this place safe from Chaos' influence. Lady Venus, if I may ask. I sense a longing in your heart for something more. Power, strength, you wish for a greater ability? Your current incarnation is still adapting to the planetary energy connection being restored, but may I ask, why do you seek greater power?" she says, patiently waiting for her sovereign's answer.

“So Kail was right about the Greek civilization connection,” Sophia thinks back to their first senshi meeting. She then makes a face actually thinking about the implications of that. “The last Venus… she wasn’t anything like the Aphrodite myths, right?” That would be strange and almost somewhat embarrassing.

She wasn’t expecting for the power guardian to ask the question about wanting power. She looks taken off guard by the question. She thinks hard on the question. “There’s no one reason. I have tons of reasons that I feel passionately about. And I suppose that’s a good thing in a way. I want to end this war quickly… I don’t like fighting, and I don’t want to prolong this anymore than necessary. I want to make sure innocent people are safe, and I want to find an answer for those who are corrupted. I want to be able to save everyone… I want to protect the senshi and knights from getting hurt and be there whenever they need me. They work so hard, and I feel bad that I don’t have more to contribute to them.”

“And I guess most of all, I want to rebuild this world into something beautiful. Artemis said that was part of what this whole senshi thing was about. I want to create a safe place for everyone, us and maybe we can even save the youma and they can stay with us too. I just want everyone to be happy.”

She shakes her head. “That is about it. Does that make sense?” She looks down at the floor, “Sometimes, I wish I could do all this myself. Then the others could live normal lives… be happy.”

The power guardian thinks about Sophia's answer carefully, as if it were making a highly judgment based call right now. It's eyes glow for a moment, while the power guardian then begins to drift off, leading Sophia to the panel. It hovers over the keys, and begins to type. The symbols on the keyboard were not of a language known to Sophia, but it then causes a display to appear. It shows a rough outline of what used to be Kenji's knight form, and two lines going to the side of the display. One was a yellow circle, and the other a cylinder.

"I understand. I could tell that there is a true passion in your heart, a love for your friends and others, a courage to stand against evil, a resolve to never be weak again. Your goals are lofty, some would call them unrealistic. But...I can believe you." the guardian says with a small smile, before she looks at the panel.

"...You had a bond with the male guardian who appeared briefly...I can grant you one of his abilities for you to make use of, but you have to choose between them. The first is a shield of Venusian energy that can protect a small bubble around you and a couple others. The second, what he called the 'Light of Dawn' is an offensive attack that gathers Venusian Energy for a large, high powered burst. Both are compatible with your weapon and personality, and I know that his soul crystal is too damaged to restore his powers. However, only one of these abilities can be passed on, because it would overload you to give both and threaten your own soul crystal." the guardian says, then waiting for Sophia to make her decision.

Sophia watches as the power guardian plays with control panel. “So cool…” She wonders what the language is, having taken the time to learn so many. She then sees Kenji’s outline on the control panel, and looks confused. What was his involvement since he was no longer a knight?

When the power guardian speaks, a smile returns to her face. “I don’t really care if they are lofty. What’s the point for aiming low after all? You’ll never figure out how much you can accomplish. But thank you for believing me.” She then turns her gaze to where the power guardian is looking.

“It feels weird to take one of his abilities. Like it doesn’t belong to me, but I suppose I can’t really afford to look a gift horse in the mouth right now.” She takes a few moments to think. Light of Dawn was magnificent, but protection was what was more important. That’s what she wanted most of all: everyone to be ok. “I’ll take the shield. Thank you for helping me so much."

The power guardian nods a little bit at Sophia's decision, but when she makes her brief protest, the guardian shakes her head slightly to dispel what doubts Sophia may have had about accepting the gift.

"He would have wanted it. It's hard to explain, but power guardians can sense the feelings and desires of their charges." she says calmly. The panel would light up as the screens change to refelct something transferring into the Venus Senshi, and a bright yellow flash would quickly surround Sophia as a part of her core begins to expand, improving her strength as a senshi and her capacity for Venusian energy grows. The power guardian, once finished, hovered towards Sophia, stopping a few feet away from her.

"You must rest now in order to allow your body to adjust to the new power. Be careful when you engage Queen Beryl's minions. They nearly conquered all life on Earth and Sol System before, and they will do it if you give them the chance to." she says seriously, before her expression softens to a confident smile.

"Fortunately, Sailor Venus now is very powerful in heart and soul. You may return here with your consciousness whenever you like if you do what you did back on Earth. Returning is as simple as willing your mind back to your body." the power guardian says, waiting for any questions or remarks from Sophia.

With the bright yellow flash, Sophia feels a sudden surge in energy as her ability expands. Then things resume to their original state, but words for the new ability become etched into her mind. “That’s so weird…”

Sophia hugs the power guardian, “You’re the nicest! I’ll be back. I wouldn’t want you to continue to stay here alone after being by yourself for hundreds of years. That sounds terribly boring.” She was starting to get used to the power guardian’s uncanny resemblance to herself.

This had been a pretty amazing trip even if it was incredibly strange. “Before I go to sleep though, I had a few questions. One, do you have name other than Power Guardian of Venus? Because that’s more of a title than a proper name. Two, about the new knight of Venus, David. He’s so much different from the last one… And I don’t really feel the same connection to him as I did with Kenji. I was wondering what, if anything, was wrong.”