Title: Seasons Pass By
Disclaimer: I don't own Sailor Moon.
Version: Manga
"So that's it then."
"What are you talking about?!" Sailor Pluto half-shouted, which was half better than she'd been doing for a while. Her face was still blotchy and wet with tears though she'd stopped crying for the moment.
"The other senshi will be reborn when Metallia begins to break the seal Queen Serenity put on her," Sailor Saturn explained. "That should time things about right for them to activate their powers when she finally gets out."
"How can that be all you have to say about the fall of our very civilization? Our families? Everyone we've ever met?"
She laid a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "It's unfortunate that you can see death but not rebirth like I can. When you've figured out the time part of your powers I hope you'll be able to approximate something similar from experience."
Sailor Pluto seemed to notice for the first time that the souls of the others were all gone to await rebirth and Sailor Saturn was fading away, but she remained. "Wait, why didn't you kill me along with Uranus and Neptune?"
"Your destiny is to live until things are put right, cousin. Do you reject it?"
"No. I've sworn my life and soul to my queen. I'll do anything."
"I'll see you again." The gleam of light off the Silence Glaive vanished last. "On Earth."
* * *
"Are you the Lady Ming Chana?" the small and slightly dirty child asked, one hand holding back her bright red robe.
"Yes," said the once and again Sailor Pluto.
"Oh good. I knew who you were, of course, but I wasn't sure if I'd gotten the name right."
"Who are you?"
The girl pressed a finger to her forehead for a shining symbol to appear there. "I can't control my reincarnation as well as I might like but I certainly can sufficiently to check up on an immortal like you every few centuries."
"It's you…"
Sailor Saturn waved it off. "My name's Ying." She quickly changed the subject. "So, gold dragon stitching and everything and I see a trace of red ink on one of your fingers. You're making it clear you're not leaving for the countryside like half the literati wenren scholars."
"The statement needs to be made strongly if one is staying in the new capitol. I care as little about these Mongol invaders as I do of a 'proper' emperor of their people. Qian Xuan can have his exile and Zhao Mengfu an 'exile in his heart'."
"You'll have to introduce me at court. I want to see the horses." Ying was able to drag Chana away with little protest. "Come on, jie jie."
* * *
"Certainly I was surprised at first but it's not as though it's unknown. A sailor crystal can be born to a man, it's just an unfortunate and rare genetic mistake and dead-end."
"Hey now…" He countered but his memories of the Silver Millennium provided him no counterargument. "Just because it's true isn't that important. I don't need to be able to transform into Sailor Saturn just now."
"No, I suppose not." Therese knew decay well enough to guess with some accuracy and had no problem wording something both as "soon" and "not for a while yet". "Not in this mortal lifetime."
"Hence I'm glad I managed this one where I can lounge uselessly and decadently in Versailles and leave the downfall to you," Alain concluded.
She shrugged. She hardly noticed the opulence of Louis XV's court and the overthrow of his dynasty would be business as usual if she was even still in the country.
"Besides being a boy is fun for a change of pace. I can do this." Alain leaned over and kissed Therese to only the mild scolding of the old matronly chaperones on the lawn.
* * *
"It's not just us."
"Does that mean it will be over?"
"You've seen the city of Crystal, Setsuna-mama."
"I have. Destiny's back on track and that's good."
"And I'll be around without the dying and you've always been here." The current form shrugged well, Hotaru was pleased with it.
"Things are alright now, thanks to the princess."
"God's in his heaven, all's right with the world."