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Once, the Zodiac Guard stood as guardians between the Sol System and the rest of the universe as a barrier impenetrable. From their place on the Surrounding, a ring that enclosed the nine planets and all their moons and stars, they kept Chaos at bay for three glorious generations. All within the Silver Millennium rose free from the taint of darkness. Then, they had numbered nineteen: A small force, to be sure, comprised of a Princess, her Prince-Consort, her hands and the Guard itself. Hardly adequate for the task at hand, but through the strength of their magic they persisted and defended the civilizations within their boundaries.

Now, the Zodiac Guard stood guard between nothing. They failed, so it seemed, in their most important goal: Maintain the Surrounding. Guard the Sol System. The ancient pact had been broken, and now they knew why; the Princess’s memories, along with those of a Hand (they had always been so much closer to the Queen, who knew these things) revealed the reason. Wiseman’s theft of the Opal had only been a contributing factor, though a significant one. It had been the original Zodiac abandonment of their post had left their ancient fortresses to crumble.

The Zodiac Guard, such as it was, now stood within the old throne room. They had come with Chronos, the group so small that no second trip was required. The old palace fallen into disarray over the thousand years they were absent. Where a great table had once rested, they found nothing; the chairs seemed to have become fragile, falling apart when Virgo tried to haul out the chair meant to house Libra. The hangings had fallen, and the carpet was coated thickly with dust.

Everyone of the Guard knew their place regardless, and together they fell into rank. Chronos, Princess and their rightful leader, stood before the throne that had once been her mother’s. At her left hand stood Zue, faithful and vigilant; before her gathered the Hands, all of them but the one who would represent Autumn. The Guard stood where they had always: Gemini Alpha and then Beta, red-haired and silent, a quarter of a circle away from the small gathering. Next to them, Leo, mask in one hand. Virgo, the Captain-by-necessity, held his other hand and regarded the gathering with solemn eyes behind her veil. The rest of the Guard was absent, conspicuously, their places only filled by their ghosts--and those, only in the minds of those who remained behind.

There was no Eon, for reasons they all knew; the purpose was like an old wound. It only hurt when the Zodiac remembered what he had died for, and most times they were proud. Such was the teamwork of the Zodiacs, the family feeling and connection! One of the greatest among them, a Prince, their royal cavalier, had given up his life. This was what he had given up any chance at life for:

No Aries, no proper captain, for she had died, and for what? It had changed nothing, had been in the defense of no one. No Taurus, for he had all but disappeared into the silent ether. Cancer had vanished, even from their school. Libra, gone: No Zodiac had seen her in months, and where she had disappeared to no one knew. Scorpio, despite her exalted rank, had vanished. Sagittarius, dead by the hand of a Negaverse monster, and Capricorn had gone unseen since the death of Aries... Aquarius, who Virgo had seen at school, would not come. Pisces, youngest of them all, was missed, for she had been trying so hard.

The ghosts outnumbered the Guard, but for the sake of their ancient duty they, the remainder, would try to restore the Surrounding in all its necessity. Not for the Zodiac itself, no, but for the people it had to protect.

In the week since the broken state of the Surrounding had been discovered, each Zodiac had been making trips to their outpost, ensuring that its structural integrity wasn’t in danger. They worked, bringing back tidbits of memory and clues to help discover how to correct this, and no one could be surprised to learn that Chronos’s original solution had been correct. The Opal was the answer. Feed it enough power, and it would repair the Surrounding… feed it enough power, and they would be whole again.

Originally, the entire Zodiac had contributed; the Zodiac, the Hands, and their royals. Even Zue had joined hands in that distant past. The moment of the Surrounding’s creation was outside their memories but for hearsay from the old Queen, who had died before even the fall of the Zodiac and the original breach of the Surrounding. Now, they had nowhere near that level of power; but they did have the pre-existing barrier. They required hope, hope and trust and love, all the things that powered the Opal, in order to repair the Surrounding to its former glory.

They had to hope it would be enough. If only Scorpio had come, or any of those missing senshi of the Guard, they might have a better chance. For now the circle stood and waited, in vain hope that the rest of the Zodiac would appear, and chase the ghosts of the past away. Soon, the ceremony would begin, and they would know the truth of their ability to right past wrongs.

Zue placed his hands on his hips, his stance proud even while facing the truth of the near desolation that had become of place he somehow loved. That deep part of him still ached with pain at how far the Surrounding had fallen, but he - or rather the part of him that was Sue - reminded himself that nothing could stay great forever, and there were clearly those here willing to put work back into it. Plus, you know, the entire team getting wiped out and getting the opal crystal stolen kind of didn't help. At all.

"Well..." He started, purple ears so far back they nearly disappeared into the mass of straight purple hair. "...We can't make it worse." Optimism was where, now? Troubled and narrowed blue eyes observed the circle, now empty it was...but it wasn't gone. While they weren't complete, they were still at least there.

"Come now, Princess, we can't have you being the negative one, isn't that my job?" A poor time for a jest, but it felt necessary. He even offered a crooked smile! Hey, at least he was trying to help! "We can do it...it'll be a start, at least." What they needed was a full party, and as much as he hated old cliches there was one that fit; A journey begins with one step.

Virgo took a deep breath, squeezed the hands of those around her. "It'll be fine," she said, with more confidence than she felt. "Zue is absolutely right. Even if it doesn't work, we'll know what we need." More power. Wasn't that always the answer? More power to feed into the crystal. The Opal needed faith and trust to work, wasn't that what the memories had told them?

After a long moment, where she clung to Leo and Flora's hands, she said, "Let's begin. Princess?"

At least the Zodiac wasn't completely gone. Zue was right, they needed optimism at a time like this. His, Boreas' and Virgo's words put a small smile on her face, and she squeezed her Guardian Cat and Gemini Alpha's hands lightly. The smile remained as she shut her eyes and concentrated on the Opal Crystal, as they put their faith into what had saved them once before, and perhaps, more times in the past than they could remember. The light overtook them all as the Opal Crystal began its healing on the Surrounding.

For now, it seemed alright.

But it wasn't all that was enough. The Opal started to tremble in her hands, but Chronos told herself not to panic. She could not panic, or the Opal would sense it and pounce on that emotion, breaking the spell. She focused on her breathing, regulating it, in and out, in and out, slowly as she fought to keep it under control.

Even as the Zodiac Princess did her best to handle the Opal, the rest would feel something as well, perhaps not from the Opal itself if they weren't right besides Chronos. The ground beneath their feet was starting to shake.

Too early, far too early, the Zodiac Guard began to collapse. First to go were the Seasons, dropping to their knees and then hitting the ground. Next were Sailors: Leo, then the Geminis. Virgo held on a little longer before she fell, her Soldier status giving her more to contribute than the others. When she collapsed to the floor of the throne room in Chronos's castle, only Zue and Chronos were left to hold the line.

As the light dimmed, the rumbling grew stronger. This was not the effect of the Opal, it seemed, not completely; it was too powerful, too local. It should have been spread over the millions of miles that encompassed the Surrounding, but this seemed to be coming from a space much, much closer. Zue dropped then, exhaustion driving him into sleep or unconsciousness.

It was then that Chronos's concentration broke, panic leaking through. As predicted, the Opal pounced on it; and there was one searing, brilliant white light before the Princess of the Zodiac fell unconscious as well.

The Zodiac Guard, fractured as it was, had never had a chance at restoring the Surrounding to its former glory. Not with the power they had to offer it, not with their diffuse hopes. While the Surrounding could now be traversed, the protective dome over Chronos Castle still lay broken, and from the window, the partially-healed fractures in the Surrounding's shimmering path could be seen.

Once again, the Guard had failed.