Title: Memories
Chapter: 1
Originally chapters: 1,2,3,4, part of 5
Standard Disclaimers apply.
**********
"Darien, that wasn't funny!"
Laughing, Darien took a step away from his wife. As they'd prepared to leave for the Christmas Party, he'd secretly blown a balloon and let it go next to her ear, producing a rather loud noise.
Scowling playfully, Serenity stalked toward him. He kept moving away from her, but eventually she caught him. There was the sound of laughter coming from their room.
Mina shook her head. You'd think they were newlyweds, not two people who'd been married for over two hundred years and had a seven year-old daughter, she thought with a smile, despite herself.
After a few minutes, Serenity and Darien came out to the carriage, joining the Sailor Scouts and their daughter, Rini. Wrapping themselves in their wool coats, they stepped into the carriage and settled in for the ride.
"Mama, did you make sure that there are enough presents for everyone at the party," Rini asked worriedly.
Serenity smiled. Rini worried about this every year. She replied assuredly, "Yes Rini. There are plenty presents."
Convinced, Rini leaned back into her mother's embrace. For the rest of the ride, there was an excited silence. Everyone was trying to get someone to spit out what they were getting everyone for Christmas.
When they arrived at the Christmas Ball, the people had already arrived, eagerly awaiting their Royal Family. When Serenity stepped off the carriage with the help of Darien, a loud cheer went up. Smiling, they made their way inside.
On the first Christmas Ball of Serenity's reign, the people insisted that the first dance go to the Royal Family and the Sailor Scouts. So while her parents and guardians danced, Rini would play queen and be doted on by some of the citizens, who loved her just as much as they loved her mother and father.
After about an hour of dancing, Serenity and Darien made their way back to their seats, Darien pulling his daughter into his lap as he sat down. Suddenly someone in the crowd struck up the Christmas carol "Jingle Bells". Everyone quickly joined in, including the King and Queen.
Suddenly there was a loud crash on the ballroom floor. Serenity and Darien stood up, shoving Rini behind them in the process.
"Ha ha! Celebrating Christmas! What a waist of time," said the young man standing there.
"Who," demanded Serenity, "are you and why are you disrupting our party?"
"Ah, Neo-Queen Serenity," he spoke in a slimy sweet voice, "your beauty has not been exaggerated I see. I am Quartzite, Prince of the planet Quartz. I have come to claim this planet as our own, including the Queen."
"Not while we're here," came a chorus of voices from behind him.
He looked at the Sailor Scouts in contempt, "Do you seriously think you can defeat me?"
"We're seriously gonna try," shouted Sailor Jupiter, "Jupiter... Oak...
EVOLUTION!"
Quartzite easily dodged the attack, laughing, and said, "If you think you can defeat me that easily, then you had better think twice, "two black knives formed in his hands and he shouted," Black... Quartz... Knives... STRIKE!"
Everyone managed to dodge the knives except for Jupiter, who wasn't expecting them. Still, she managed to get away with only a few cuts and scrapes.
Darien turned to Serenity, "Serena, you and Rini get out of here while I help the Scouts."
Serenity raised her eyebrows at him and said, "I didn't spend all those years as Sailor Moon for nothing, Darien," she turned to Rini and merely held out her hand.
Nodding, she took it and a bright light surrounded the two of them. When the light faded, there stood Sailor Moon in an all white sailor suit, while Rini's was red, white, and green.
The two started towards the battling group, with Tuxedo Mask following them. Quietly, they told the civilians to move out of the building.
"Hey, Quartzite," Sailor Moon shouted, "You have interrupted our party and that has really ticked me off. In the name of Christmas, I will make you pay."
Chibi Moon continued, "You have disrupted a time that is scared to our people, and for that you must pay."
The two together finished, "In the name of the Moon, we shall punish you."
Quartzite sneered, "Not likely Moonbrats," he tried to throw an attack at the two, but it was blocked by one of Tuxedo Mask's roses.
Sailor Chibi Moon brought out a whip of gold Christmas lights and cried, "Christmas... Lights... SHINE!"
Sailor Moon finished the job by shouting, "Oh, great power of Christmas, please grant me your strength to defeat the one who would disrupt your time of the year. Christmas... Love... EVADE!"
Once the light cleared, Quartzite was standing there, obviously wounded, he snarled, "You when this round Sailor Simps, but next time you won't be so lucky. Sooner or later, Black Quartz will rule Earth with me as its King and Neo-Queen Serenity as its Queen. Remember that."
With that he threw a black bolt of energy at the support beams and disappeared. A moment after that, the ceiling began to crumble.
Sailor Moon screamed, "Everyone out, the building is about to collapse!"
Everyone began to run toward the door. Before anyone could act, a piece of the ceiling fell right towards Sailor Chibi Moon. Thinking quickly, Sailor Moon shoved her daughter out of the way.
As she saw it loom closer, she thought, goodbye Darien, Rini, everyone, I love you all and I will soon be joining my mother.
Everything went black.
No one noticed the black gust of wind enter her as she breathed.
*~*~*~*~*
The Sailor Scouts were shocked to see the broken body of Sailor Moon lying in Sailor Uranus's arms. None of them had ever seen her in such bad shape. Her head had a large cut, matting her beautiful hair with blood, her ankle was twisted in an unnatural angle, clearly broken.
Saturn and Mercury rushed to her and began to feel her pulse. Mercury's eyes widened as she felt her queen's weakening pulse. She whispered, "We have to get her back to the palace right away!"
Tuxedo Mask picked up his wife and took the shortest route to the palace with Saturn and Mercury. Mars and Neptune followed them just in case they were attacked in route. That left Rini and the other Scouts to calm the people down.
What's taking them so long, Darien thought desperately, they've been in there forever.
At least, that is what it felt like. Rini and the other Scouts had arrived fifteen minutes after they had, which was only two hours ago.
At that moment, a very tired Amy and Hotaru came out of the operation room. Everyone had questions for them about Serenity.
"She has amnesia, guys," Amy said bluntly.
For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Rini asked, confused, "What's amnesia?"
"Amnesia is what happens when someone can't remember their life," Mina said.
"So, Mama can't remember anything?"
"Mmhmm."
"What's strange is," Amy said thoughtfully, "that there wasn't any damage done to her memory when the ceiling came down on her. When we scanned her brain, we found some sort of force field around the memory centers of her brain."
Darien said slowly, "So somehow she was given artificial amnesia."
Suddenly, Rini's forehead began to flash and a faint crescent moon began to appear. She screamed, "Mama!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Darien dashed into the emergency room. Standing above his wife's still form, was some sort of monster. It took out a menacing looking dagger and started to place it at her unprotected throat.
"NOOO!" Darien shrieked. He threw his sword at the monster. It cried out in pain when it struck its heart. After whimpering for a moment, it disintegrated.
Darien, followed by the others, rushed over to Serenity and looked to see if she had been harmed in any way. As Amy checked her over, Serenity's eyes slowly opened. When Darien saw this he tried to take her hand, as did Rini.
Much to their surprise, Serenity snatched her hand away and curled up in a ball in a corner, whimpering.
Shocked, Hotaru and Amy pushed the Scouts, Darien, and Rini away from Serenity.
"Amy, you were right, she really doesn't remember any of us," Lita said, totally surprised.
"Guys, give her time. She didn't expect to see nine faces in her face when she first opened her eyes."
Over the next few days, the entire group, including those Serenity knew well in court, tried to approach her. When ever Darien, Rini, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and some of the heads of state tried to talk to her, she merely whimpered, pulled the covers closer, and moved away from them.
Still, when Neptune, Saturn, and Mars walked slowly over to her, Serenity seemed to hesitate, then held out her hand to them. Instead of talking to her, they merely stood there, holding her hand gently.
"But why us," Nerissa asked confusedly, "the Sailors that she's closest to are Pluto, Mercury, and Uranus. Since Pluto isn't here, it should only be you two."
"Maybe," Corrin said thoughtfully, "it's because you three weren't exactly close for a long time. You've only begun to get along just recently. And you Hotaru, have healing powers. Perhaps she senses that you can help her."
"You could be right Corrine," Hotaru answered thoughtfully.
Amy said quickly, "Well, perhaps you three should spend a lot of time with her, the rest of us can cover your duties. Serenity reacts to only you three, so it should only be you guys."
"Right," Raye, Hotaru, and Nerissa said at once.
After that discussion, everyone went back to work. Rini and Darien worked on keeping the Royal Court and the people calm, Mercury covered Hotaru's duties as the other Palace Healer, Uranus worked on not only as the Palace Chief of Security, but took over Neptune's duties as the monarch's advisor. Venus did her best to help out at the Temple of Mars, while trying to keep up with her duties as the other Palace advisor, and Jupiter went back to work as the Head Cook in the Crystal Palace, while trying to keep everyone's, especially Darien's and Rini's, sprits alive. Despite her efforts, Christmas was a somber occasion.
Saturn, Mars, and Neptune wasted no time in moving Serenity back to her chambers, where things were more familiar. They quickly began to work on getting her familiar with doing the simple things, like eating and washing. Slowly Serenity began to respond.
Two weeks after they'd begun, Neptune brought in Serenity's breakfast. Much to her surprise, Serenity was sitting up in bed, holding a picture in her hand.
Neptune approached her quietly, saying, "Serenity, here's your breakfast."
Serenity's head shot up. She stared at her for a moment and then looked at the picture. Without looking up, she gestured for her to sit down on the bed.
Neptune sat the tray on the stand next to the bed and sat down. Serenity showed her the picture she was holding. It was the one taking on the 105th anniversary of Serenity's reign. Rini was only two years old, but in the picture. Neptune remembered that day...
"Mummy, Daddy, will you tell me the story of Sailor Moon," Rini asked.
Glancing at her husband with amusement, Serenity said, "We'll tell you tonight, my Small Lady."
"Yay," Rini shouted.
The memory faded and Neptune looked back at Serenity. Slowly, and with great difficulty, Serenity pointed at Neptune's face in the picture and said, "Ne...pt...une."
If Serenity still wasn't in such a fragile state, Neptune would have thrown her arms around her arms around her and squeezed the life out of her. So she merely smiled and said, "Yes, that's me."
*~*~*~*~*
Over the next week, Serenity began to make remarkable progress. Still, everyone worried about the queen. She would still only see Neptune, Saturn, and Mars, no one else. Darien was becoming distraught over the whole matter and had withdrawn from his duties as the King, leaving Venus to assume the throne until he returned.
On a bright and sunny Wednesday afternoon, Mars and Neptune decided to take Serenity outside for the first time since her injuries. When they entered the queen's chambers, they were quite surprised.
She was standing by the window, fully dressed but her hair was in Mina's style, not her usual meatball style. Still, they were happy to see her up all the same. One other strange thing that had bothered them all was that the beautiful crescent moon that usually adorned her forehead had disappeared.
After about three hours outside, Mars thought it was time to take Serenity for some rest when a heavy wind started. In front of them, Quartzite appeared.
He laughed evilly, "So the beautiful queen has lost her memories. Good, that will make things so much easier."
Quartzite took a step toward Serenity, who had curled up behind some bushes, and was immediately attacked by Mars, "Mars... Flaming... SNIPER!"
He easily dodged the attack and continued towards Serenity, who was now weeping.
Desperately, Neptune tried to defend her friend, "Deep... SUBMERGE!"
Quartzite blocked her attack as well, and snarled at them, "Meddlesome Sailor Scouts! I will have Queen Serenity as my queen, but first I will have to do away with the Sailor Guardians, King Darien, and that little brat Princess Rini. So I might as well start with you."
The silent attack knocked the two weary scouts to the ground in front of Serenity. She stared at her fallen friends and just faintly, her crescent moon started to flash. She stood up and screamed, "I will not allow you to harm them anymore! Moon… Revenge… VAPORIZE!"
Quartzite managed to avoid being killed in the blast, but was badly injured. He snarled at her, "Doesn't matter, my queen. Sooner or later, you will be mine." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Staring at her friends, her crescent moon sent out one last flash and disappeared. Serenity promptly fell to the ground, unconscious. A few minutes later, the rest of the scouts arrived and took them to the emergency room.
A few hours later, Mars and Neptune awoke. They took advantage of the time they had to talk to the others.
"Yes," Neptune confirmed, "it was definitely Quartzite again. Still it's strange. He hasn't tried one before to kidnap the queen until she outside the palace."
"Maybe the shield around the palace prevents him from entering the palace," Venus suggested.
"Not to change the subject," Mars interjected, "but I have something on my mind. When Serenity talks to us, she calls us Neptune, Mars, and Saturn. Why doesn't she call us by our real names?"
"Perhaps it's because she has no memory of our real names. Her memories of the Sailor Scouts could be resurfacing a little, causing her to call you that," Darien replied thoughtfully.
At that moment, Amy came over to the gathered group, and said, "She'll be fine. She was just knocked out and is exhausted."
"I'm positive that her crescent moon appeared just before I blacked out. Is her memory back," asked Neptune.
Sadly, Amy shook her head, "her memories might have broken free of the shield around again, but it has completely encircled her memories again. We can move her back into her room as soon as she awakens."
Serenity awoke at that moment. Weakly, she called out, "Saturn, Mars, Neptune, where are you?"
The three dashed over to her, while the others hung back, out of Serenity's sight. There was no reason to upset her anymore than she already was.
Mars instructed the others to go get some sleep while she helped her friend to bed. Once Serenity was into bed, Mars turned to go.
"Mars," she called softly.
She turned back to her and replied, "Yes my friend?"
"Will you stay with me? I don't want to be alone."
"Sure, just let me get a few things from my chambers."
That night, Serenity had a rather unusual dream.
"NO!" Serenity cried out, jerking up from her bed, drenched in sweat.
Mars was at her side instantly, yelling, "Serenity what's wrong?"
Tears streaming down her face, Serenity collapsed into Mars's arms, weeping. Quietly, Serenity told her about the dream. Just as softly, Mars told her to try to get a little more sleep.
As her friend drifted off to sleep, Mars felt a combination of renewed grief, hope, and uncertainty.
The next morning, Mars told the others what Serenity had told her. The look of pain became clear on everyone's faces when she'd finished, except for Rini, who was quite confused.
"So this is how she must remember, in flashes and nightmares," Darien said, quite frustrated.
"Remember what," Rini demanded, just as frustrated as her father.
Everyone glanced at one another. They were not sure they were ready to tell their princess the story of the fall of the Moon Kingdom.
Darien decided to take the responsibility, "Rini, I know that we haven't told you much about the Moon Kingdom. We barely remember anything except the final months ourselves. Well, it must be time to tell you what caused the downfall of such a great kingdom. Are you willing to listen without interrupting?"
Rini nodded solemnly.
"Like you mom, I had four guardians. Their names were Jedite, Nephlite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. The four of them ended up falling in love with the Scouts. Jedite fell for Mars, Nephrite fell for Jupiter, Zoisite nearly dropped dead at the sight of Mercury, and Kunzite and Venus fell for each other. Anyway, you've probably figured that I fell head over heels in love with your mom. We were all quite happy for about a month, especially your grandmother. When she'd invited us to her kingdom, she'd had hopes that we'd fall for each other. Anyway, Queen Beryl knew that she wouldn't have a chance of defeating the Solar System without the help of our guardians. So first, she kidnapped Zoisite, then Nephrite, Jedite followed, and then finally Kunzite fell, after putting up a heck of a fight.
By the time Darien had finished his long tale, everyone was crying, including himself. The Sailors were crying for their lost lives and loves, Darien cried merely at the memory.
"Well," Saturn interrupted, "I'll take the night watch tonight so Mars can get some real sleep."
"Thanks, Hotaru," Mars said gratefully.
"What are friends for?"
For the next three nights, Serenity continued to have the same dream. Each night, she woke up screaming and crying.
"I'm getting worried about her," Neptune said to Mercury, "she's starting to get scared to go to sleep. I had a really hard time trying to get her to fall asleep last night."
"Well, maybe I can give her something to help her fall asleep," Mercury replied thoughtfully.
On the fourth night, Mars and Mercury came into the queen's chambers. Mercury stood at the door while Mars went over to the queen, who was staring at the picture again.
"Serenity, that is Sailor Mercury. Neptune, Saturn, and I have something important to do tonight, so do you mind if she stays with you for tonight?"
Serenity, who was not as afraid of the other scouts as before, just nodded.
Smiling, Mars nodded to Mercury and left the room.
Building up her courage, Mercury walked over to her friend's bed.
Smiling at Mercury, Serenity quietly said to her, "Well, I've identified someone else in this picture."
For the next hour, Mercury told the Queen everything about herself. When Serenity fell asleep she had the same dream, except this time, she saw more than she normally did.
Serenity awoke with a start, but she didn't scream like she had done the past few nights. Staring at Mercury, who was asleep on the couch, she realized that she was one of that princess's guardians. But what ever happened to that princess, she thought, and why do they seem to want to protect me? Serenity pondered this question until she fell asleep once again.
*~*~*~*~*
Quartzite sat upon his throne, motionless, watching a hologram of Neo-Queen Serenity. Why, thought Nephlite, can't he see that she doesn't love him? I mean, she nearly killed him twice.
'Probably because the fool is in love,' Kunzite's thoughts entered his, 'is it me, or have our leaders in the past two thousand years have either fallen in love with that Moontwit, or that idiot, Darien?'
'What do you mean?'
'Well, Queen Beryl fell for Darien, Prince Diamond fell for Serenity.'
'Kunzite is right, came Jedite's voice, Queen Beryl was a witch who couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to, and Prince Diamond was a love-sick fool!'
'For once, I agree with Jedite,' came the raspy voice of Zoisite.
'Since we are all in agreement, perhaps we should be willing to over throw Quartzite if he gets out of hand with his feelings for Serenity,' wheezed Jedite.
'Agreed,' said all their voices.
They all went their separate ways. Nephlite went to his computer room, Jedite and Zoisite went to the control room, and Kunzite went back to his room.
When Kunzite returned to his chambers, he turned on the holograms of the royal family and their guardians.
King Darien was known for being a wise and just ruler to his people, just as wise as his wife is.
Strange, he smirked, that the Queen is so wise when you'd seen her for years as a whiny and klutzy crybaby.
Next came Serenity herself. I can see why the King adores her so much, since she is quite beautiful. Perhaps there is good reason why Quartzite is in love with her.
After her, came Rini, daughter of Darien and Serenity. She was known for having her mother's beauty and her father's quiet disposition.
Then came the Outer Scouts in one picture. The one who had long, green hair was known as the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto. She could be seen as cold and distant, but had a soft spot for Princess Rini and Neo-Queen Serenity.
Next to her was the beauty of the Outer Scouts, Sailor Neptune. She and the Queen hadn't gotten along well for years and only recently had they truly become friends.
After her was Sailor Neptune's best friend, Sailor Uranus. One of the two best warriors of the entire group of Sailor Scouts, she could be a hard one to get rid of when it came down to a fight. Her two ultimate weaknesses were the lives of Sailor Neptune and Neo-Queen Serenity.
The final Scout of the Outer Scouts was their leader, Sailor Saturn. Though the most powerful of all the Sailors, she was the one who was the most physically weak. As long as she didn't use her most powerful attack, the "Death Reborn Revolution", which was capable of destroying an entire planet, they were safe from her.
Kunzite had a little information on the Outer Scouts. It seemed that when they were in the Silver Millennium, they had been responsible for keeping any outside threats from entering the system. When Beryl had started for the Moon, she had to go past them. The four Outers had taken out a large portion of the army before Beryl had released the Invincible Shadow upon them. It had killed them, but not before they had cut the shadow into the Seven Shadows.
The next hologram was of the Inner Scouts. The first was Sailor Jupiter. She was known for being a tough Scout, but had a sweet disposition. She wouldn't be hard to take down.
Next was Sailor Mercury. A beautiful flower, a major genius, but was another Scout who was physically weak, but not as bad as Sailor Saturn was.
Following her, was Sailor Mars. Known by some as a hot head without any discipline. She always seemed to have a wall that kept people at a distance, except that only Neo-Queen Serenity was able to fully get through.
The next Sailor Scout nearly made Kunzite faint. She was beautiful and exquisite. She was also the leader of the Inner Scouts and of all the scouts, with Sailor Saturn as her second in command. Like Sailor Uranus, she was one of the best warriors in the entire group. What is she doing to me, thought Kunzite as his heart constricted. I feel as if I know her. Kunzite sat up the rest of the night, pondering why he felt this way about Sailor Venus. He'd been in battle before with her and he'd always had a nagging feeling he'd known her, a long, long time ago.
Jedite and Zoisite stood in the war room, analyzing for any structural weaknesses in Crystal Palace.
Zoisite groaned, "Give it up Jedite, there's no weakness in that hunk of crystal. That's probably why they used the stuff to build the palace, it's seamless."
Jedite sighed in defeat as well and muttered, "Why does the stuff we want have to be impossible to get?"
"So that they're worth fighting for."
Sighing once again, he turned on a hologram of the group that lived inside Crystal Palace. Starting from the right was Sailor Jupiter, then Sailor Uranus, then Sailor Neptune, Sailor Pluto, who only lived there part time, then came King Darien, then Neo-Queen Serenity, then Princess Rini holding their hands between them. After the queen came Sailor Venus, then Sailor Saturn, Sailor Mercury, and finally Sailor Mars.
Jedite did a double take on Sailor Mars. With her knee long raven black hair and violet eyes, she was almost perfect, in his eyes. He glanced over at Zoisite and saw that he was practically drooling over Sailor Mercury.
Shrugging it off, he turned back to the captivating Sailor Mars. Why did her eyes seem to stare right through his soul?
In his private computer room, Nephlite went to work on studying the history of Earth, or more specifically, the Royal Family and their guardians.
After hacking into the history files of the Earth Main Computer, he found the entire history of the Royal Family and the Sailor Scouts.
They were originally from a time that was called the Silver Millennium, which took place over two thousand years ago.
The Queen of the Moon, Queen Serenity, ruled the Silver Millennium. She had been married to King Apollo of the Sun. They'd eventually had a daughter, Princess Serenity, who became known as Serene. Several years later, they had a son named Terence.
Throughout that very year, Princess's Serenity's guardians were born. First came the Princess of Venus, Serenity's cousin. Her mother had died trying to bring another princess into the world, but failed, killing the queen and princess. The King, being so distraught, ordered that she go to the Moon, to live with his sister.
Next came Princess of Mars, a stunning raven- haired priestess. She was born with the famous Martian temper and used it well.
Then, only a month after Mars was born, came the Princess of Mercury, Princess Amy, turned out to be a major genius. This ability caused incredible hate and contempt from the Mercurian Court.
Then, finally came Lita, Princess of Jupiter. She'd almost immediately become a daddy's girl, and mommy's little angel. The King and Queen of Jupiter had almost given up on ever having a child when Queen Hera became pregnant with Lita.
When the Princesses were ten, they went to the Moon to train to be Sailor Scouts, the guardians of Princess Serenity. Years before, Queen Serenity told Serene and Mina that they were cousins.
After training for about seven years, Prince Endymion and his four guardians came to meet Princess Serenity and her guardians. Immediately, the Prince and Princess fell for each other, as did Zoisite and Amy, Nephrite and Lita, Jadeite and Raye, and Mina and Kunzite.
After staying for at least two months, Queen Beryl and her minions began to harass the Silver Millennium. The combined efforts of the Princess, the Prince, and their guardians managed to keep them at bay.
Queen Beryl must have realized that she could never take the Silver Millennium without help, so she kidnapped the Prince's four guardians and brainwashed them into fighting for her.
When Beryl began to mover her army towards the Moon, she encountered the Outer Sailors Scouts, Sailors Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. They were killed, but not until they'd taken out a large part of her army and cutting the Invincible Shadow into seven separate shadows.
Soon, the Negaverse was able to destroy the Moon Kingdom, along with the four Sailor Scouts. A young servant, who knew how to fight quite well with a sword, took on Queen Beryl in an attempt to let Princess Serenity escape. The evil queen had stabbed the young girl, but in return had been stabbed by the girl. When Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion had found her, she'd said a small goodbye to them and died. While the two were grieving for their fallen friends, a youma had jumped out of hiding and killed Prince Endymion. In a fit of rage, Princess Serenity destroyed the youma and stabbed herself in the heart.
With everyone gone, Queen Serenity called upon the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal to send everyone to the future. Even Beryl's army was given a new chance for life. The effort was enough to kill the Queen, but it had to be done.
Nephlite looked up, confused. Why would Queen Serenity sacrifice her life for them, he thought, it's not like they deserved it. They weren't anyone important.
Sighing, he looked at a picture of the Sailors. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to Sailor Jupiter, and they stayed there for the rest of the night.
*~*~*~*~*
On a bright Saturday morning, Mercury awoke with the feeling that something bad was going to happened. Yet, when she checked on everything in the Palace, the only thing that was going on was that Neptune, Mars, and Saturn were going to bring Serenity to breakfast with the rest of them.
Shrugging off the still nagging feeling, she went into the dinning room. Serenity, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn were the only ones there so far, so Mercury slowly approached them.
"Good morning everyone," Mercury called to them.
"Good morning to you Sailor Mercury," answered Serenity with a slight smile on her face.
The five of them continued talking as the rest of the Scouts came in. Soon the only ones missing were Darien and Rini.
When they came in, Darien's eyes seemed to light up at the sight of his wife at the table. Not noticing that, Serenity just smiled brilliantly at him and Rini.
It was a pleasant breakfast, even if Darien and Rini didn't say much, they were to busy staring at Serenity, who was blissfully unaware.
When they finished eating, Darien finally asked, "So what does everyone have planned for today?"
"Library," everyone answered at once.
"Well, that's a unusual," exclaimed Darien, "I'm going there as well!"
"Well, why don't we all go together," suggested Amy.
"Good idea Amy," said Serenity, "I've been meaning to get to know the rest of you, I just haven't had time lately. Sorry about that."
Rini assured her, "It's alright Ma... Serenity."
At that moment everyone was off to the Palace Library.
When the large group arrived, as much everyone wanted to stay with Serenity, they were off to search for their particular interests. Rini went to the children's section, Darien went looking for a science fiction book, Corrine went to find some books on weapons, Nerissa went looking for books on music, Lita went looking for some new cookbooks, Raye went looking for some books on temples, Mina went looking for some steamy romance novels (heehee), and after Serenity assured them that she'd be fine on her own, Hotaru and Amy went in search of some medical texts on how to cure amnesia.
Serenity stared at each sign and saw that if she wanted to be alone she'd have to go into the mythology section. She practically ran into it.
After about five minutes, Serenity found an old and thinly worn book, one that looked like it was falling apart. Hmmm, she thought, an old thing like this shouldn't be in here. She pulled it off the shelf, along with a mouth full of dust.
"Achoo!" Serenity yelled.
After clearing her nasal passages, Serenity inspected the book. It was hardly visible, but on the spine, you could just make out the title, 'Silver Destiny.'
Why do I have a suddenly have a feeling of déjà vu, she wondered. Listening to her instincts, she took the large book over to a table by the window and began to read.
**********
Chapter: 1
Originally chapters: 1,2,3,4, part of 5
Standard Disclaimers apply.
**********
"Darien, that wasn't funny!"
Laughing, Darien took a step away from his wife. As they'd prepared to leave for the Christmas Party, he'd secretly blown a balloon and let it go next to her ear, producing a rather loud noise.
Scowling playfully, Serenity stalked toward him. He kept moving away from her, but eventually she caught him. There was the sound of laughter coming from their room.
Mina shook her head. You'd think they were newlyweds, not two people who'd been married for over two hundred years and had a seven year-old daughter, she thought with a smile, despite herself.
After a few minutes, Serenity and Darien came out to the carriage, joining the Sailor Scouts and their daughter, Rini. Wrapping themselves in their wool coats, they stepped into the carriage and settled in for the ride.
"Mama, did you make sure that there are enough presents for everyone at the party," Rini asked worriedly.
Serenity smiled. Rini worried about this every year. She replied assuredly, "Yes Rini. There are plenty presents."
Convinced, Rini leaned back into her mother's embrace. For the rest of the ride, there was an excited silence. Everyone was trying to get someone to spit out what they were getting everyone for Christmas.
When they arrived at the Christmas Ball, the people had already arrived, eagerly awaiting their Royal Family. When Serenity stepped off the carriage with the help of Darien, a loud cheer went up. Smiling, they made their way inside.
On the first Christmas Ball of Serenity's reign, the people insisted that the first dance go to the Royal Family and the Sailor Scouts. So while her parents and guardians danced, Rini would play queen and be doted on by some of the citizens, who loved her just as much as they loved her mother and father.
After about an hour of dancing, Serenity and Darien made their way back to their seats, Darien pulling his daughter into his lap as he sat down. Suddenly someone in the crowd struck up the Christmas carol "Jingle Bells". Everyone quickly joined in, including the King and Queen.
Suddenly there was a loud crash on the ballroom floor. Serenity and Darien stood up, shoving Rini behind them in the process.
"Ha ha! Celebrating Christmas! What a waist of time," said the young man standing there.
"Who," demanded Serenity, "are you and why are you disrupting our party?"
"Ah, Neo-Queen Serenity," he spoke in a slimy sweet voice, "your beauty has not been exaggerated I see. I am Quartzite, Prince of the planet Quartz. I have come to claim this planet as our own, including the Queen."
"Not while we're here," came a chorus of voices from behind him.
He looked at the Sailor Scouts in contempt, "Do you seriously think you can defeat me?"
"We're seriously gonna try," shouted Sailor Jupiter, "Jupiter... Oak...
EVOLUTION!"
Quartzite easily dodged the attack, laughing, and said, "If you think you can defeat me that easily, then you had better think twice, "two black knives formed in his hands and he shouted," Black... Quartz... Knives... STRIKE!"
Everyone managed to dodge the knives except for Jupiter, who wasn't expecting them. Still, she managed to get away with only a few cuts and scrapes.
Darien turned to Serenity, "Serena, you and Rini get out of here while I help the Scouts."
Serenity raised her eyebrows at him and said, "I didn't spend all those years as Sailor Moon for nothing, Darien," she turned to Rini and merely held out her hand.
Nodding, she took it and a bright light surrounded the two of them. When the light faded, there stood Sailor Moon in an all white sailor suit, while Rini's was red, white, and green.
The two started towards the battling group, with Tuxedo Mask following them. Quietly, they told the civilians to move out of the building.
"Hey, Quartzite," Sailor Moon shouted, "You have interrupted our party and that has really ticked me off. In the name of Christmas, I will make you pay."
Chibi Moon continued, "You have disrupted a time that is scared to our people, and for that you must pay."
The two together finished, "In the name of the Moon, we shall punish you."
Quartzite sneered, "Not likely Moonbrats," he tried to throw an attack at the two, but it was blocked by one of Tuxedo Mask's roses.
Sailor Chibi Moon brought out a whip of gold Christmas lights and cried, "Christmas... Lights... SHINE!"
Sailor Moon finished the job by shouting, "Oh, great power of Christmas, please grant me your strength to defeat the one who would disrupt your time of the year. Christmas... Love... EVADE!"
Once the light cleared, Quartzite was standing there, obviously wounded, he snarled, "You when this round Sailor Simps, but next time you won't be so lucky. Sooner or later, Black Quartz will rule Earth with me as its King and Neo-Queen Serenity as its Queen. Remember that."
With that he threw a black bolt of energy at the support beams and disappeared. A moment after that, the ceiling began to crumble.
Sailor Moon screamed, "Everyone out, the building is about to collapse!"
Everyone began to run toward the door. Before anyone could act, a piece of the ceiling fell right towards Sailor Chibi Moon. Thinking quickly, Sailor Moon shoved her daughter out of the way.
As she saw it loom closer, she thought, goodbye Darien, Rini, everyone, I love you all and I will soon be joining my mother.
Everything went black.
No one noticed the black gust of wind enter her as she breathed.
*~*~*~*~*
The Sailor Scouts were shocked to see the broken body of Sailor Moon lying in Sailor Uranus's arms. None of them had ever seen her in such bad shape. Her head had a large cut, matting her beautiful hair with blood, her ankle was twisted in an unnatural angle, clearly broken.
Saturn and Mercury rushed to her and began to feel her pulse. Mercury's eyes widened as she felt her queen's weakening pulse. She whispered, "We have to get her back to the palace right away!"
Tuxedo Mask picked up his wife and took the shortest route to the palace with Saturn and Mercury. Mars and Neptune followed them just in case they were attacked in route. That left Rini and the other Scouts to calm the people down.
What's taking them so long, Darien thought desperately, they've been in there forever.
At least, that is what it felt like. Rini and the other Scouts had arrived fifteen minutes after they had, which was only two hours ago.
At that moment, a very tired Amy and Hotaru came out of the operation room. Everyone had questions for them about Serenity.
"She has amnesia, guys," Amy said bluntly.
For a moment, everyone was silent. Then Rini asked, confused, "What's amnesia?"
"Amnesia is what happens when someone can't remember their life," Mina said.
"So, Mama can't remember anything?"
"Mmhmm."
"What's strange is," Amy said thoughtfully, "that there wasn't any damage done to her memory when the ceiling came down on her. When we scanned her brain, we found some sort of force field around the memory centers of her brain."
Darien said slowly, "So somehow she was given artificial amnesia."
Suddenly, Rini's forehead began to flash and a faint crescent moon began to appear. She screamed, "Mama!"
Without a moment's hesitation, Darien dashed into the emergency room. Standing above his wife's still form, was some sort of monster. It took out a menacing looking dagger and started to place it at her unprotected throat.
"NOOO!" Darien shrieked. He threw his sword at the monster. It cried out in pain when it struck its heart. After whimpering for a moment, it disintegrated.
Darien, followed by the others, rushed over to Serenity and looked to see if she had been harmed in any way. As Amy checked her over, Serenity's eyes slowly opened. When Darien saw this he tried to take her hand, as did Rini.
Much to their surprise, Serenity snatched her hand away and curled up in a ball in a corner, whimpering.
Shocked, Hotaru and Amy pushed the Scouts, Darien, and Rini away from Serenity.
"Amy, you were right, she really doesn't remember any of us," Lita said, totally surprised.
"Guys, give her time. She didn't expect to see nine faces in her face when she first opened her eyes."
Over the next few days, the entire group, including those Serenity knew well in court, tried to approach her. When ever Darien, Rini, Jupiter, Mercury, Venus, Uranus, and some of the heads of state tried to talk to her, she merely whimpered, pulled the covers closer, and moved away from them.
Still, when Neptune, Saturn, and Mars walked slowly over to her, Serenity seemed to hesitate, then held out her hand to them. Instead of talking to her, they merely stood there, holding her hand gently.
"But why us," Nerissa asked confusedly, "the Sailors that she's closest to are Pluto, Mercury, and Uranus. Since Pluto isn't here, it should only be you two."
"Maybe," Corrin said thoughtfully, "it's because you three weren't exactly close for a long time. You've only begun to get along just recently. And you Hotaru, have healing powers. Perhaps she senses that you can help her."
"You could be right Corrine," Hotaru answered thoughtfully.
Amy said quickly, "Well, perhaps you three should spend a lot of time with her, the rest of us can cover your duties. Serenity reacts to only you three, so it should only be you guys."
"Right," Raye, Hotaru, and Nerissa said at once.
After that discussion, everyone went back to work. Rini and Darien worked on keeping the Royal Court and the people calm, Mercury covered Hotaru's duties as the other Palace Healer, Uranus worked on not only as the Palace Chief of Security, but took over Neptune's duties as the monarch's advisor. Venus did her best to help out at the Temple of Mars, while trying to keep up with her duties as the other Palace advisor, and Jupiter went back to work as the Head Cook in the Crystal Palace, while trying to keep everyone's, especially Darien's and Rini's, sprits alive. Despite her efforts, Christmas was a somber occasion.
Saturn, Mars, and Neptune wasted no time in moving Serenity back to her chambers, where things were more familiar. They quickly began to work on getting her familiar with doing the simple things, like eating and washing. Slowly Serenity began to respond.
Two weeks after they'd begun, Neptune brought in Serenity's breakfast. Much to her surprise, Serenity was sitting up in bed, holding a picture in her hand.
Neptune approached her quietly, saying, "Serenity, here's your breakfast."
Serenity's head shot up. She stared at her for a moment and then looked at the picture. Without looking up, she gestured for her to sit down on the bed.
Neptune sat the tray on the stand next to the bed and sat down. Serenity showed her the picture she was holding. It was the one taking on the 105th anniversary of Serenity's reign. Rini was only two years old, but in the picture. Neptune remembered that day...
"Mummy, Daddy, will you tell me the story of Sailor Moon," Rini asked.
Glancing at her husband with amusement, Serenity said, "We'll tell you tonight, my Small Lady."
"Yay," Rini shouted.
The memory faded and Neptune looked back at Serenity. Slowly, and with great difficulty, Serenity pointed at Neptune's face in the picture and said, "Ne...pt...une."
If Serenity still wasn't in such a fragile state, Neptune would have thrown her arms around her arms around her and squeezed the life out of her. So she merely smiled and said, "Yes, that's me."
*~*~*~*~*
Over the next week, Serenity began to make remarkable progress. Still, everyone worried about the queen. She would still only see Neptune, Saturn, and Mars, no one else. Darien was becoming distraught over the whole matter and had withdrawn from his duties as the King, leaving Venus to assume the throne until he returned.
On a bright and sunny Wednesday afternoon, Mars and Neptune decided to take Serenity outside for the first time since her injuries. When they entered the queen's chambers, they were quite surprised.
She was standing by the window, fully dressed but her hair was in Mina's style, not her usual meatball style. Still, they were happy to see her up all the same. One other strange thing that had bothered them all was that the beautiful crescent moon that usually adorned her forehead had disappeared.
After about three hours outside, Mars thought it was time to take Serenity for some rest when a heavy wind started. In front of them, Quartzite appeared.
He laughed evilly, "So the beautiful queen has lost her memories. Good, that will make things so much easier."
Quartzite took a step toward Serenity, who had curled up behind some bushes, and was immediately attacked by Mars, "Mars... Flaming... SNIPER!"
He easily dodged the attack and continued towards Serenity, who was now weeping.
Desperately, Neptune tried to defend her friend, "Deep... SUBMERGE!"
Quartzite blocked her attack as well, and snarled at them, "Meddlesome Sailor Scouts! I will have Queen Serenity as my queen, but first I will have to do away with the Sailor Guardians, King Darien, and that little brat Princess Rini. So I might as well start with you."
The silent attack knocked the two weary scouts to the ground in front of Serenity. She stared at her fallen friends and just faintly, her crescent moon started to flash. She stood up and screamed, "I will not allow you to harm them anymore! Moon… Revenge… VAPORIZE!"
Quartzite managed to avoid being killed in the blast, but was badly injured. He snarled at her, "Doesn't matter, my queen. Sooner or later, you will be mine." With that, he vanished in a puff of smoke.
Staring at her friends, her crescent moon sent out one last flash and disappeared. Serenity promptly fell to the ground, unconscious. A few minutes later, the rest of the scouts arrived and took them to the emergency room.
A few hours later, Mars and Neptune awoke. They took advantage of the time they had to talk to the others.
"Yes," Neptune confirmed, "it was definitely Quartzite again. Still it's strange. He hasn't tried one before to kidnap the queen until she outside the palace."
"Maybe the shield around the palace prevents him from entering the palace," Venus suggested.
"Not to change the subject," Mars interjected, "but I have something on my mind. When Serenity talks to us, she calls us Neptune, Mars, and Saturn. Why doesn't she call us by our real names?"
"Perhaps it's because she has no memory of our real names. Her memories of the Sailor Scouts could be resurfacing a little, causing her to call you that," Darien replied thoughtfully.
At that moment, Amy came over to the gathered group, and said, "She'll be fine. She was just knocked out and is exhausted."
"I'm positive that her crescent moon appeared just before I blacked out. Is her memory back," asked Neptune.
Sadly, Amy shook her head, "her memories might have broken free of the shield around again, but it has completely encircled her memories again. We can move her back into her room as soon as she awakens."
Serenity awoke at that moment. Weakly, she called out, "Saturn, Mars, Neptune, where are you?"
The three dashed over to her, while the others hung back, out of Serenity's sight. There was no reason to upset her anymore than she already was.
Mars instructed the others to go get some sleep while she helped her friend to bed. Once Serenity was into bed, Mars turned to go.
"Mars," she called softly.
She turned back to her and replied, "Yes my friend?"
"Will you stay with me? I don't want to be alone."
"Sure, just let me get a few things from my chambers."
That night, Serenity had a rather unusual dream.
"NO!" Serenity cried out, jerking up from her bed, drenched in sweat.
Mars was at her side instantly, yelling, "Serenity what's wrong?"
Tears streaming down her face, Serenity collapsed into Mars's arms, weeping. Quietly, Serenity told her about the dream. Just as softly, Mars told her to try to get a little more sleep.
As her friend drifted off to sleep, Mars felt a combination of renewed grief, hope, and uncertainty.
The next morning, Mars told the others what Serenity had told her. The look of pain became clear on everyone's faces when she'd finished, except for Rini, who was quite confused.
"So this is how she must remember, in flashes and nightmares," Darien said, quite frustrated.
"Remember what," Rini demanded, just as frustrated as her father.
Everyone glanced at one another. They were not sure they were ready to tell their princess the story of the fall of the Moon Kingdom.
Darien decided to take the responsibility, "Rini, I know that we haven't told you much about the Moon Kingdom. We barely remember anything except the final months ourselves. Well, it must be time to tell you what caused the downfall of such a great kingdom. Are you willing to listen without interrupting?"
Rini nodded solemnly.
"Like you mom, I had four guardians. Their names were Jedite, Nephlite, Zoisite, and Kunzite. The four of them ended up falling in love with the Scouts. Jedite fell for Mars, Nephrite fell for Jupiter, Zoisite nearly dropped dead at the sight of Mercury, and Kunzite and Venus fell for each other. Anyway, you've probably figured that I fell head over heels in love with your mom. We were all quite happy for about a month, especially your grandmother. When she'd invited us to her kingdom, she'd had hopes that we'd fall for each other. Anyway, Queen Beryl knew that she wouldn't have a chance of defeating the Solar System without the help of our guardians. So first, she kidnapped Zoisite, then Nephrite, Jedite followed, and then finally Kunzite fell, after putting up a heck of a fight.
By the time Darien had finished his long tale, everyone was crying, including himself. The Sailors were crying for their lost lives and loves, Darien cried merely at the memory.
"Well," Saturn interrupted, "I'll take the night watch tonight so Mars can get some real sleep."
"Thanks, Hotaru," Mars said gratefully.
"What are friends for?"
For the next three nights, Serenity continued to have the same dream. Each night, she woke up screaming and crying.
"I'm getting worried about her," Neptune said to Mercury, "she's starting to get scared to go to sleep. I had a really hard time trying to get her to fall asleep last night."
"Well, maybe I can give her something to help her fall asleep," Mercury replied thoughtfully.
On the fourth night, Mars and Mercury came into the queen's chambers. Mercury stood at the door while Mars went over to the queen, who was staring at the picture again.
"Serenity, that is Sailor Mercury. Neptune, Saturn, and I have something important to do tonight, so do you mind if she stays with you for tonight?"
Serenity, who was not as afraid of the other scouts as before, just nodded.
Smiling, Mars nodded to Mercury and left the room.
Building up her courage, Mercury walked over to her friend's bed.
Smiling at Mercury, Serenity quietly said to her, "Well, I've identified someone else in this picture."
For the next hour, Mercury told the Queen everything about herself. When Serenity fell asleep she had the same dream, except this time, she saw more than she normally did.
Serenity awoke with a start, but she didn't scream like she had done the past few nights. Staring at Mercury, who was asleep on the couch, she realized that she was one of that princess's guardians. But what ever happened to that princess, she thought, and why do they seem to want to protect me? Serenity pondered this question until she fell asleep once again.
*~*~*~*~*
Quartzite sat upon his throne, motionless, watching a hologram of Neo-Queen Serenity. Why, thought Nephlite, can't he see that she doesn't love him? I mean, she nearly killed him twice.
'Probably because the fool is in love,' Kunzite's thoughts entered his, 'is it me, or have our leaders in the past two thousand years have either fallen in love with that Moontwit, or that idiot, Darien?'
'What do you mean?'
'Well, Queen Beryl fell for Darien, Prince Diamond fell for Serenity.'
'Kunzite is right, came Jedite's voice, Queen Beryl was a witch who couldn't hurt a fly if she wanted to, and Prince Diamond was a love-sick fool!'
'For once, I agree with Jedite,' came the raspy voice of Zoisite.
'Since we are all in agreement, perhaps we should be willing to over throw Quartzite if he gets out of hand with his feelings for Serenity,' wheezed Jedite.
'Agreed,' said all their voices.
They all went their separate ways. Nephlite went to his computer room, Jedite and Zoisite went to the control room, and Kunzite went back to his room.
When Kunzite returned to his chambers, he turned on the holograms of the royal family and their guardians.
King Darien was known for being a wise and just ruler to his people, just as wise as his wife is.
Strange, he smirked, that the Queen is so wise when you'd seen her for years as a whiny and klutzy crybaby.
Next came Serenity herself. I can see why the King adores her so much, since she is quite beautiful. Perhaps there is good reason why Quartzite is in love with her.
After her, came Rini, daughter of Darien and Serenity. She was known for having her mother's beauty and her father's quiet disposition.
Then came the Outer Scouts in one picture. The one who had long, green hair was known as the Guardian of Time, Sailor Pluto. She could be seen as cold and distant, but had a soft spot for Princess Rini and Neo-Queen Serenity.
Next to her was the beauty of the Outer Scouts, Sailor Neptune. She and the Queen hadn't gotten along well for years and only recently had they truly become friends.
After her was Sailor Neptune's best friend, Sailor Uranus. One of the two best warriors of the entire group of Sailor Scouts, she could be a hard one to get rid of when it came down to a fight. Her two ultimate weaknesses were the lives of Sailor Neptune and Neo-Queen Serenity.
The final Scout of the Outer Scouts was their leader, Sailor Saturn. Though the most powerful of all the Sailors, she was the one who was the most physically weak. As long as she didn't use her most powerful attack, the "Death Reborn Revolution", which was capable of destroying an entire planet, they were safe from her.
Kunzite had a little information on the Outer Scouts. It seemed that when they were in the Silver Millennium, they had been responsible for keeping any outside threats from entering the system. When Beryl had started for the Moon, she had to go past them. The four Outers had taken out a large portion of the army before Beryl had released the Invincible Shadow upon them. It had killed them, but not before they had cut the shadow into the Seven Shadows.
The next hologram was of the Inner Scouts. The first was Sailor Jupiter. She was known for being a tough Scout, but had a sweet disposition. She wouldn't be hard to take down.
Next was Sailor Mercury. A beautiful flower, a major genius, but was another Scout who was physically weak, but not as bad as Sailor Saturn was.
Following her, was Sailor Mars. Known by some as a hot head without any discipline. She always seemed to have a wall that kept people at a distance, except that only Neo-Queen Serenity was able to fully get through.
The next Sailor Scout nearly made Kunzite faint. She was beautiful and exquisite. She was also the leader of the Inner Scouts and of all the scouts, with Sailor Saturn as her second in command. Like Sailor Uranus, she was one of the best warriors in the entire group. What is she doing to me, thought Kunzite as his heart constricted. I feel as if I know her. Kunzite sat up the rest of the night, pondering why he felt this way about Sailor Venus. He'd been in battle before with her and he'd always had a nagging feeling he'd known her, a long, long time ago.
Jedite and Zoisite stood in the war room, analyzing for any structural weaknesses in Crystal Palace.
Zoisite groaned, "Give it up Jedite, there's no weakness in that hunk of crystal. That's probably why they used the stuff to build the palace, it's seamless."
Jedite sighed in defeat as well and muttered, "Why does the stuff we want have to be impossible to get?"
"So that they're worth fighting for."
Sighing once again, he turned on a hologram of the group that lived inside Crystal Palace. Starting from the right was Sailor Jupiter, then Sailor Uranus, then Sailor Neptune, Sailor Pluto, who only lived there part time, then came King Darien, then Neo-Queen Serenity, then Princess Rini holding their hands between them. After the queen came Sailor Venus, then Sailor Saturn, Sailor Mercury, and finally Sailor Mars.
Jedite did a double take on Sailor Mars. With her knee long raven black hair and violet eyes, she was almost perfect, in his eyes. He glanced over at Zoisite and saw that he was practically drooling over Sailor Mercury.
Shrugging it off, he turned back to the captivating Sailor Mars. Why did her eyes seem to stare right through his soul?
In his private computer room, Nephlite went to work on studying the history of Earth, or more specifically, the Royal Family and their guardians.
After hacking into the history files of the Earth Main Computer, he found the entire history of the Royal Family and the Sailor Scouts.
They were originally from a time that was called the Silver Millennium, which took place over two thousand years ago.
The Queen of the Moon, Queen Serenity, ruled the Silver Millennium. She had been married to King Apollo of the Sun. They'd eventually had a daughter, Princess Serenity, who became known as Serene. Several years later, they had a son named Terence.
Throughout that very year, Princess's Serenity's guardians were born. First came the Princess of Venus, Serenity's cousin. Her mother had died trying to bring another princess into the world, but failed, killing the queen and princess. The King, being so distraught, ordered that she go to the Moon, to live with his sister.
Next came Princess of Mars, a stunning raven- haired priestess. She was born with the famous Martian temper and used it well.
Then, only a month after Mars was born, came the Princess of Mercury, Princess Amy, turned out to be a major genius. This ability caused incredible hate and contempt from the Mercurian Court.
Then, finally came Lita, Princess of Jupiter. She'd almost immediately become a daddy's girl, and mommy's little angel. The King and Queen of Jupiter had almost given up on ever having a child when Queen Hera became pregnant with Lita.
When the Princesses were ten, they went to the Moon to train to be Sailor Scouts, the guardians of Princess Serenity. Years before, Queen Serenity told Serene and Mina that they were cousins.
After training for about seven years, Prince Endymion and his four guardians came to meet Princess Serenity and her guardians. Immediately, the Prince and Princess fell for each other, as did Zoisite and Amy, Nephrite and Lita, Jadeite and Raye, and Mina and Kunzite.
After staying for at least two months, Queen Beryl and her minions began to harass the Silver Millennium. The combined efforts of the Princess, the Prince, and their guardians managed to keep them at bay.
Queen Beryl must have realized that she could never take the Silver Millennium without help, so she kidnapped the Prince's four guardians and brainwashed them into fighting for her.
When Beryl began to mover her army towards the Moon, she encountered the Outer Sailors Scouts, Sailors Saturn, Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto. They were killed, but not until they'd taken out a large part of her army and cutting the Invincible Shadow into seven separate shadows.
Soon, the Negaverse was able to destroy the Moon Kingdom, along with the four Sailor Scouts. A young servant, who knew how to fight quite well with a sword, took on Queen Beryl in an attempt to let Princess Serenity escape. The evil queen had stabbed the young girl, but in return had been stabbed by the girl. When Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion had found her, she'd said a small goodbye to them and died. While the two were grieving for their fallen friends, a youma had jumped out of hiding and killed Prince Endymion. In a fit of rage, Princess Serenity destroyed the youma and stabbed herself in the heart.
With everyone gone, Queen Serenity called upon the power of the Silver Imperium Crystal to send everyone to the future. Even Beryl's army was given a new chance for life. The effort was enough to kill the Queen, but it had to be done.
Nephlite looked up, confused. Why would Queen Serenity sacrifice her life for them, he thought, it's not like they deserved it. They weren't anyone important.
Sighing, he looked at a picture of the Sailors. Immediately, his eyes were drawn to Sailor Jupiter, and they stayed there for the rest of the night.
*~*~*~*~*
On a bright Saturday morning, Mercury awoke with the feeling that something bad was going to happened. Yet, when she checked on everything in the Palace, the only thing that was going on was that Neptune, Mars, and Saturn were going to bring Serenity to breakfast with the rest of them.
Shrugging off the still nagging feeling, she went into the dinning room. Serenity, Mars, Neptune, and Saturn were the only ones there so far, so Mercury slowly approached them.
"Good morning everyone," Mercury called to them.
"Good morning to you Sailor Mercury," answered Serenity with a slight smile on her face.
The five of them continued talking as the rest of the Scouts came in. Soon the only ones missing were Darien and Rini.
When they came in, Darien's eyes seemed to light up at the sight of his wife at the table. Not noticing that, Serenity just smiled brilliantly at him and Rini.
It was a pleasant breakfast, even if Darien and Rini didn't say much, they were to busy staring at Serenity, who was blissfully unaware.
When they finished eating, Darien finally asked, "So what does everyone have planned for today?"
"Library," everyone answered at once.
"Well, that's a unusual," exclaimed Darien, "I'm going there as well!"
"Well, why don't we all go together," suggested Amy.
"Good idea Amy," said Serenity, "I've been meaning to get to know the rest of you, I just haven't had time lately. Sorry about that."
Rini assured her, "It's alright Ma... Serenity."
At that moment everyone was off to the Palace Library.
When the large group arrived, as much everyone wanted to stay with Serenity, they were off to search for their particular interests. Rini went to the children's section, Darien went looking for a science fiction book, Corrine went to find some books on weapons, Nerissa went looking for books on music, Lita went looking for some new cookbooks, Raye went looking for some books on temples, Mina went looking for some steamy romance novels (heehee), and after Serenity assured them that she'd be fine on her own, Hotaru and Amy went in search of some medical texts on how to cure amnesia.
Serenity stared at each sign and saw that if she wanted to be alone she'd have to go into the mythology section. She practically ran into it.
After about five minutes, Serenity found an old and thinly worn book, one that looked like it was falling apart. Hmmm, she thought, an old thing like this shouldn't be in here. She pulled it off the shelf, along with a mouth full of dust.
"Achoo!" Serenity yelled.
After clearing her nasal passages, Serenity inspected the book. It was hardly visible, but on the spine, you could just make out the title, 'Silver Destiny.'
Why do I have a suddenly have a feeling of déjà vu, she wondered. Listening to her instincts, she took the large book over to a table by the window and began to read.
**********