EPISODE 172

Ai no Moon Power! Akumu no Owaru Toki
(The Power of Moon Love! The End of the Nightmare)

Original Air Date: 05-04-1996



Mamoru's eye glimmers with a golden light, as Super Sailor ChibiMoon holds him and calls out for him to wake up. Sailor Saturn holds the point of her glaive at Nehellenia's throat, and the evil queen says that it's no use; even if she calls louder, he will never wake up. She tells them that the only way to free him from the curse is to remove the piece of mirror that is stuck deep within his eye.

Super Sailor ChibiMoon cries and begins to flicker. Nehellenia says, "Do you girls think that you could get here by yourselves? You are the final chess pieces to agonize the White Moon Princess." The image of Nehellenia flashes in front of Saturn, and disappears into a mirror. A burst of energy sending Saturn flying backwards. ChibiMoon flickers and continues to beg Mamoru to wake up. The future is changing.

Luna, Artemis, and Diana sit on the sidewalk at night. Artemis says that the people in the city are in big trouble. The people who were obsessed with the mirrors have become trapped within their mirrors, and Artemis says that it must have been caused by Nehellenia's curse. Luna wonders if they will wake up by dawn, but Artmis says that they must believe in Usagi.

Usagi is shown struggling through thorns, making her way up a staircase to Nehellenia's palace.

Meanwhile, ChibiMoon continues to plead with Mamoru. Nehellenia's voice can be heard saying, "Do you hate me? Do you want to kill me with that hate? But even if you kill me, the curse will still be binding. Those captured in the nightmare will never wake up! Forever! How wonderful!" Sailor Saturn looks up to see Nehellenia's figure in a mirror. ChibiMoon continues to flicker and plead with Mamoru, saying that if this continues, she will disappear.

The light in Mamoru's eye begins to flicker, and Saturn yells for ChibiMoon to call to him harder. Nehellenia then sends a burst of energy into Mamoru's eye, causing him to push ChibiMoon away. Saturn runs forward and forms a shield around them with her Silence Wall attack, stopping Nehellenia's dark energy. Nehellenia appears before them and says, once again, that she will destroy everything that the White Moon Princess loves. ChibiMoon continues to flicker.

Sailor Saturn raises her glaive in the air and says, "There seems to be no choice. By sublimating you, the cause of every evil, I will end everything. In the name of Sailor Saturn, I will release the power of Death." "Don't kid in desparation," Nehellenia laughs, "Do you think that I'm that ignorant? The power of death is double-edged sword. If you use it, you shall die also. Do it, if you want!"

"This is my mission," Saturn solemnly says. Nehellenia's eyes widen as she realizes what is about to be done. "Do you want to die with me?" she asks, "You're going to waste your life. Isn't there anything good about it?" The glaive flashes, and Saturn says, "I believe in the princess. The princess is our light of hope. I can't let you put it out." Nehellenia is irritated by the persistence in her eyes, and thinks back to the determined glares of the other senshi. Annoyed, she sends a burst of dark energy at Saturn, which is fended off by the glaive. Remembering the words of the other senshi, she strengthens her attack, but Saturn manages to withstand it.

Sailor Saturn performs her Silence Glaive, Surprise attack, and an orb of white light appears around her. The ground beneath her feet cracks and light shines in every direction. Suddenly, there is utter silence as she brings down her glaive. A ball of white light appears all around the palace and suddenly retracts, which Usagi sees from the bed of thorns.

Inside the palace, cracked pieces of the walls, ceiling, and mirrors repair themselves. ChibiMoon is seen holding Saturn, who still has her glaive partially lifted in the air. ChibiMoon weakly tells her not to use the power - if she does, she will die. As she collapses to the ground, flickering, ChibiMoon tells Saturn not to give up.

Nehellenia looks on and laughs, sending a burst of energy at Saturn which knocks her glaive from her hand. She says that she had regarded Saturn as easy to deal with, but should have sealed her away in a mirror long ago. "My revenge on your princess has just begun," she says, "See it from inside a mirror." She sends a mirror flying towards Saturn, and the soldier becomes trapped within it.

All of the senshi appear around Nehellenia, each one trapped in her own mirror. A weak voice calls out to the evil queen, and she turns to see that Usagi has made it to the palace. The young girl collapses to her knees and Nehellenia welcomes her to the palace. However, she says, she has arrived too late. Everyone who was trapped in Nehellenia's nightmares has now been completely dominated by them.

Nehellenia sits on her throne, one hand resting on Mamoru. "Soon it will be dawn," she says, "Then, they will never havea chance to wake up." Super Sailor ChibiMoon lies on the ground, flickering. Usagi rushes to her and takes the child in her arms. "Usagi," she says, "I couldn't save Mamoru. I'm okay because I believe in you. Your chest... is warm..." ChibiMoon leans her head against Usagi as she disappears completely.

[Commercial Break]

Usagi cries and Nehellenia says, "Poor thing! That girl, the fruit of your love, has disappeared, too! Feel sorrow! Agonize! The nightmare never ends! Forever!" Usagi asks what ChibiUsa ever did to Nehellenia, and looks at her with pure hatred, much to the queen's delight. She says, "Do you hate me? Then hate me more! Can you see what's behind you?" Usagi turns around to see that all of the senshi have been trapped in mirrors.

"All that followed you fell under my curse," Nehellenia tells her, "Now you are the only one left." Usagi asks why she does such terrible things, and Nehellenia says, "Everything is revenge upon you! To make you feel teh same solitude as I did. How is it? Hard? Painful? You have been loved and brough up by many from the past to present, and even into the future; it must be hard to endure! Before I got that mirror, I was alone."

Queen Nehellenia is shown in a flashback, as a child standing before a great golden mirror. Voices chant, "Our beautiful queen, Nehellenia!" "Despite high respect from my followers," Nehellenia continues, "no one shared my happiness and sorrow. I endure solitude all that time!" The child's hands reach out to touch her reflection in the mirror. "But that mirror saved me from solitude! The mirror promised me everlasting beauty." Her eyes begin to flash with a golden light. Nehellenia is shown standing, an adult, before a large audience of her subjects. "Without any friends, without those who I love, I am my own friend... I am the one I love!" Nehellenia is shown smiling and waving.

Nehellenia continues, "The one who talks and shares happiness with me is myself, forever! I was released from loneliness! I won over solitude! So, I have to be beautiful forever to prevent myself from going back to the solitude. To do so, I needed the mirror of dreams, as you need friends. The White Moon Princess sealed me! Into the cold and deep darkness!" Nehellenia is shown being sealed in the mirror, disappearing into an image of the moon. "Losing the mirror, I became lonely. Can't you see that?"

Irate by this time, Nehellenia stands and attacks Usagi with a burst of dark lightning, knocking the girl to the ground. She continues to attack her, over and over, until Usagi can no longer stand. "At last," says Nehellenia, "my revenge will be complete. Long-lasting grudge and hatred shall be completed!" She walks to the girl, grabbing her throat and lifting her, and says, "Die, suffering in agony!"

She strangles Usagi, who begins to cry. As her tears fall, the queen demands that she stop looking at her with sympathetic eyes. She sqeezes tighter, but Usagi continues looking at her. Suddenly, Nehellenia throws her to the ground. "Don't look at me with those sympathetic eyes," says Nehellenia, "You must hate me! Dislike me! Hate me!" Tears fall from Usagi's eyes as she tells the queen that if she were her, she couldn't live alone, and probably couldn't have endured solitude. Nehellenia tells her that she can never know her solitude.

"You may be right," Usagi agrees, "but even if you keep doing this, nothing will change. You must only take revenge on me. Give back my friends, please! Don't worry, everyone understands. They will become your friends. Now, take revenge on me." Usagi closes her eyes and thinks of all her friends.

From behind the queen, Mamoru's eye begins to flicker. The broken shard of the mirror floats out of his eye and shatters... he is returned to normal. "No way," cries Nehellenia, "Does this mean my curse is broken?" Mirrors shatter all around her. The mirrors holding the senshi captive dissolve, freeing each of them. Mamoru rises to his feet, and Super Sailor ChibiMoon appears behind him. The two join hands. Usagi looks at everyone, and they reassure her, telling her that she can make it before dawn.

The senshi unite power, and Nehellenia blasts them all with dark energy. They are too strong for her now; they rise to their feet, and the jewels in their tiaras begin to glow. Surrounding Nehellenia, they all tell her not to be scared, that she is not alone now. They plead with her to open her heart; she can atone for her sins, but she must have courage and believe in herself.

Usagi's brooch glows and she suddenly transforms into Eternal Sailor Moon. Showing Nehellenia the powerful energy that they've gathered for her, she raises her Eternal Tiare in the air. It becomes longer, and tiny orbs of light come from the top. Eternal Sailor Moon says to the shocked Nehellenia, "Please recall your real dream when you were a child!" Light flows into the shadowed moon that can be seen high in the sky.

Nehellenia flows with a bright light and says, "That's right, I was looking for my friends. I wanted a lover and friends who could understand each other. Can I do... over again...?" The shadow over the moon suddenly fades away, and Nehellenia's mirror collapses. The queen looks to the sky and disappears. The palace and the world of illusion disappears.

Nehellenia, a child, wakes up on a throne, surrounded by her followers. "Was I sleeping?" she asks. "Yes," replies a voice, "just for a second." Another voice says that she must be tired; she should have a rest in her room. Nehellenia stands and begins to walk to her room, but suddenly turns and asks if someone can sing her a nursery rhyme. When a voice replies that she would be glad to, the young queen smiles.

The senshi stand in a circle. It is a new beginning for Nehellnia; they all hope that she will be happy. Eternal Sailor Moon extends her hand to Sailor Jupiter and gives her back the rose earring that she lost. Artemis's voice narrates, saying, "A dream is only for the night. In the morning, a new day begins!"

Somewhere deep in space, evil laughter can be heard...