Author's note:
To begin, the common words: the characters are not mine, my imagination wouldn't dare to reach such a supreme level of creativity ;).
Now, about the story. It all started when my English teacher of the British Council asked our class to write a fairy tale, because our vocabulary was too simple for our grade. Unless we started using some nice, elaborate (empty, I allow myself to say) words, we would all get a huge failure at the end of the year. I liked the homework, to be honest. I love writing and that composition appeared right in the middle of the highest rate of my inspiration. So I did it and I really liked it! And I started wondering: what if I transform these characters into SailorMoon characters? I stopped (a lot!) to decide wheter if the principal couple should be Mamoru and Usagi or Haruka and Michiru. I stayed for the last one (to be honest, the personality of the knight of the original story matched a lot better with Haruka than it matched with Mamoru's). Maybe later I'll regret this choice and you'll get the chance to read the Mamoru and Usagi's version.
At the beggining, I was just changing the names. But the problems started really soon. So, you can say this fanfic is based on that homework's fairy tale, but it's very, very different (and much longer!) than the original tale. And I had characters for all the sailors except Usagi! It wouldn't be polite if they all appeared and the most important stayed at home, cooking for Endymion and Chibiusa :p. So, when you meet a little fairy, you'll know who she is.
But now, imagine yourselves in a time that never existed, where dragons and fairies lived side by side, where envious witches turned handsome princes into frogs or made princesses fall asleep for decades. And imagine our well-known senshis in the roles of the knights, the princesses, the fairies... I'm sure they look better in your imagination than they do in mine:p Anyway, I'll stop telling the story of my life, you're probably all sleeping by now. So then, keep reading... Sorry for the longest author's note ever!P Don't forget to tell me if you like it.
Chapter 1
Haruka walked along the swamp, trying to reach the lake. The mud made her steps harder to take. Finally, she arrived where she wanted. She fell down on her knees, fatigued, hopeless. Tears rolled down her dirty face.
She took a few minutes to calm down. She stood up and wiped away her tears. She stared at the gelid and inert waters of the lake, covered by that irritating fog she had started to get used to.
Suddenly, the waters concentrated in a small circle and rised above. A woman appeared from out of nowhere and stood above the waters, floating. Under her feet, the quietness returned.
Haruka observed the mysterious beauty of the woman with curiosity. She couldn't get tired of looking at her. Her hair was short and blue, with a not usual cut for the times they were crossing. And the eyes were big and of a dark blue, always seeming so melancholic. She was dressed in a white dress, or else, in a mixture of sheets, towels and cloths that fitted her perfecly.
She stared directly at her eyes.
"I've been expecting you, brave knight" she said. "I wonder where you've been."
"Around" Haruka answered. "It wasn't that easy this time."
"So you made it!" she exclaimed. "I'm glad you did it."
"Thanks, my Lady" Haruka replied. "Can I leave you now?"
"Not yet."
"Why don't you set me free?!" she demanded, angrily. "The other three divinities set me free!"
The Lady rolled her eyes in the orbits and said:
"Do I have to explain it all again? I know you're blonde, but you should have understood by now!"
The knight brushed her hair, kind of offended with the comment.
"Once again. I have to hear it many, many times to be sure of what's happened to me."
The woman sighed and sat down, her legs crossed, still floating over the lake.
"You were born under the protection of the Star of Darkness, the most powerful of the Nine Stars. You were meant to be big. And me, and the Lady of the Fire, the Lady of the Tempest and the Lady of the Night were the responsibles to lead you to greatness."
"But if it is the Star of Darkness shouldn't I be the gratest of darkness? You've made me a heroine, but my star seems like the mother of villains."
"I control the power of the Star of Darkness" Lady of the Waters explained. "I decided what to do with you."
"So you called me to help the citizens of the Golden City to get rid of the invasors came from out of the Starry World. I did it. The Starry World, and especially the Golden Land, know now times of prosperity they've never experienced!"
"I suppose you know this world is called Starry World because it is protected by the Nine Stars..." the Lady interrupted, with sarcasm.
Haruka didn't care and went on with her story.
"The Lady of the Tempest offered me the sword of Heaven, the Lady of the Night gave me the power of healing physical damages, the Lady of the Fire trusted me the power of making fire appear from my fingers. You gave me nothing. After that, they never showed themselves to me again."
"I will give you more than my three sisters:"
"I haven't seen anything" the other commented, ironically.
"Enough!" the Lady ordered. "They set you free, because I'm the main responsible for you. If you were protected by the Star of Dreams you would be talking to the Lady of the Night, not me."
"Which would be more pleasant!" Haruka grumbled. "I wish you were half as nice as the Lady of the Night!"
"Would you leave Minako in her corner for a while?! You can be really annoying sometimes!"
"So you have names?" Haruka looked surprised. "I thought you called yourselves ladies all the time!"
"Of course we have names" the Lady hissed. "But they are the least important of us."
"It should be nice, actually" Haruka started. "Being so great, that a name wouldn't matter anymore."
"The name isn't important, but the title is. So we are the Ladies of the Stars. People of the Starry World don't need to know that my name is Ami or that one of my sisters is called Makoto. It's useless."
Haruka sat down, she was tired of being up.
"Your life is far more miserable than I'd imagined" she claimed. "But that doesn't bring you the right of making my life a mess!"
"I am not making your life a mess! I can't set you free now!"
"But after saving the Golden Land, I executed other missions successfully. I can't see why you don't let me keep going with my life! Would you, please, set me free?"
"I don't think you're willing to be set free" the Lady replied, annoyed. "You are still missing the comprehension of many things. You have to learn everything or else the Star of Darkness won't let me release you!"
"What do you mean with that? There isn't one single man in the Starry World that can defeat me in a fight! I know everything about war strategies, sword techniques and so on. I don't need to learn anything else!"
"You only think about yourself, Haruka" Ami claimed. "All the invasors you killed, all the people you saved, they were only a way to satisfy your ego. You must learn that there's a world besides you."
"I also know that!"
"You know that, but you don't feel that as the truth. The Star must know you in a state of inner-peace and happiness so pure that she won't mind letting her daughter by herself."
"State of inner-peace?!" Haruka repeated, amazed. "You're all kind of crazy, aren't you?"
"This is serious!" the Lady snarled, running out of patience. "You know nothing! You're only an insignificant piece of the World's history! And you were given the luck of being able to change everything and bring peace to everyone. Look at yourself, Haruka! Millions would give their lives to be in your place!"
"It's human nature, my Lady" Haruka joked, carefully. "We are never happy with the things we have."
"Just answer one question, please" Ami said. "What would you do if today I had set you free?"
Haruka thought and thought and thought and didn't find an answer capable of satisfying herself or the Lady.
"Alright, alright!" she admitted. "I like this way of living and I wouldn't be nothing without it. So, what's my mission this time?"
"You must help the new king of the Water Land."
"King Dolph?!" Haruka exclaimed, surprised. "But he has stolen the Water Land kingdom from the queen Telys. I shouldn't help an illegitimate king!"
"He's a wonderful king. He has done a lot more in two or three months than Telys did in years!"
"It's fine by me, then" Haruka agreed. "What do I have to do?"
"He's being betrayed by men he would trust with his life. They're thinking of many horrible threats and revenges to end his life so that they can rule the kingdom instead of him."
"That's it?!" Haruka was disappointed. "There will be no fights! I'll only have to find out who the traitors are, put them in prison and get back here."
"Don't blame me! Orders of your Star..."
"But... I mean, probably the king will find the truth by himself!"
However, when she finished her sentence, the lake was only a lake again, no shadows, no flying divinities, no nothing.
Haruka muttered a few words to herself and started her journey.