At Winter's End
A/N: This is my first Sailor Moon fanfic, although I had already had the characters for some time now. This story happens in the future of Sailor Moon, at the time of Rini's daughter and all the other scout's daughters, too (through a strange timeline). All three Mays are NOT the same - the first one is in the future: the equivalent of the series timeline, one very LONG generation later. The second May is in the colonial period - practically ancient history for the first May. And the last one, Princess Maybreeze, is from the Crystal Millenium. That should be obvious as to the counterpart to any true Moonie.Disclaimer: Hailey/Sailor Moon III and Dione/Sailor Summer belong to Eternal Sailor Chibi. Dagmar/Sailor Autumn belongs to Sailor Kismet, and Hiami/Sailor Winter belongs to Ryoko. I own the plot and all three Mays. Everything else belongs to Bandai, Mixx, DiC, and Naoko Takeuchi.
Chapter 1
May Nodea pored over the textbook, taking satisfaction in the knowledge.It was a comfortable "bookplace" (as she'd come to think of it), nestled in the corner of the family room. Softly lit and littered with comfortable, though outdated (everything was done by computer nowadays), printings on everything from astrophysics to Dalmatians, it sheltered May from the many interruptions of life. In this place, her mind could soar far above the pettiness of ordinary existence. It was a true haven for learning.
Her current topic was explorers and colonists. This book was more specifically about early American colonists.
As she impatiently pushed a strand of her long blond hair out of the way, May's blue eyes skimmed a list of passengers on a long-ago ship. Called the Juliana, it had been a small boat that disappeared after she sank on her way to North Carolina. Or at least, it was assumed she sank. This list had been compiled from the account book of the Juliana's former owner, who had sold the ship just before the voyage.
As May studied the listing, her attention paused on a particular entry.
"Maybreeze Greene," she whispered. Strange - Maybreeze was not a common European name. Even weirder: May's full name was also Maybreeze, though she rarely used it. But this couldn't possibly be useful information.
May sighed. Sometimes she felt overwhelmed by it all, balancing school, friends, and saving the world.
For May was not your average bookworm.
She was Sailor Spring, Guardian of New Beginnings and of Knowledge. Her power was that of growing, living things. It was so hard to destroy anything, even evil! May believed in second chances.
It didn't matter, though. When a sentient being hurt another living thing, and enjoyed the hurting, the pure cruelty of it, then it was her job to step in. And she did. But she felt no justice, no job well done. Only destruction. The kind of organized destruction that prevented utter chaos, but still destruction. The awful heartache of it made her want to give up at times, but she knew that she must continue. She could never foist another in her place.
Some people must create. Some people must fix and heal. These first two were what May was ideally suited for, but it was not to be. No, she must be a fighter.
May was the one and only Sailor Spring, and so she must do the best she could.
-*-@
The young woman struggled to load the cargo on the ship, knowing she could not turn back.
Her long blond hair was slightly dirty and tangled now, and it would only get worse aboard ship. Her deep blue eyes were still unsettling, so unlike the common pale sky color. They looked like deep ocean, easy to fall into and never come up. And blue, blue, blue... not so much dark as intense. Her clothes were nothing special; it was the eyes and the extremely intelligent look in them that marked her as more than the average servant girl.
She knew that if her mind had nothing to chew on, it would turn to self-pity, which helps no one. So she turned her thoughts to remembering.
The year was 1657. Her name was Maybreeze, which was all she had left of her exotic mother. The older woman had caught fever and died when Maybreeze was four or five. Everyone refused to talk about the woman, especially now that she was dead. May gathered that the Duke and his family had not been planning on her father, the Duke's nephew, marrying an unknown from God-knows-where.
Still, they had to give her credit for her father's side of the bloodline. So when her father (nice, but preoccupied) was away one his frequent business travels, she was allowed to stay at the Duke's.
In the huge library she taught herself to read. It was logical, really, a way to answer her own questions when there was no one to ask. A way to satisfy her hunger for knowledge by herself.
But others didn't see it that way. The very idea that a female - and a young one at that - be allowed the scholarly gift of literature...!
It was too late to object. May already knew, and there was no taking it back.
In the diary she'd begun to keep, her painstakingly fashioned script told more and more of ridicule... and hate. The price of knowledge in this world. The jealous, the prejudiced.... and, perhaps worst of all, the condescending and the indulging. She's only a little girl, they said. Let her keep her childish fantasy of knowledge... she'll grow out of it anyway. Grow out of it! The thought made Maybreeze, normally peaceful, clench her teeth in rage.
Eventually, she hadn't been able to take it... she ran away. She'd show those unbelievers! She'd make her home in a free land. May'd jumped at the chance to sail on the Juliana. But she hadn't had to foresight to bring much money, and so she had to work off her passage.
May smiled wryly. For all she seemed to be disadvantaged, the only thing she missed from her former life was the Duke's library.
-*-@
"Princess Maybreeze!" the servant called. "The luncheon's ready!"
May sighed. She'd only just begun investigating this time warp!
She resignedly put away her minicomputer, wondering if these social functions would ever break their tedious pace long enough for her to get things done. She got up from her "figuring out" position (namely, sprawled on her bed) and walked to the mirror. Straightening her tiara and running her fingers through her waist-length blond hair to remove the worst of the tangles, she paused to think.
May was sworn to protect Princess Halation, along with the Princesses Dagmar, Hiami, and Dione (Sailors Autumn, Winter, and Summer respectively). Maybreeze (she preferred May) was Sailor Spring and the personality duplicate of her mother, Amy, though she looked more like a female version of her father Malachite or Amy's friend Mina. May's hair frustrated her sometimes! She'd much rather spend time reading or working on her computer than combing her hair! But she had to admit, it did look good on her.
It was Maybreeze's bright blue eyes that often made the lasting impression. Full of knowledge, compassion, and wisdom beyond its age, always her gaze spoke more than words ever could.
Sighing at her reflection, May adjusted her bow as she peered at herself in the mirror. Her mind was still on the hole in time she'd found. Perhaps she would mention it at lunch. After all, it wasn't as if it was exactly urgent! The time warp had occurred thousands of years in the past. Or at least, one half of it did. This kind of warp happened when one timeline got too close to another and a portal opened between the two times. But she could only find the half... the rest must be in the future.
Maybreeze brought herself back to the present and hurried from the room.
Please review; I promise I'll finish the next chapter soon.