Sacrifice

Summary: Crystal Tokyo as we know it is gone. Not all of the Senshi survived the battle, and the ones that did have been forced into hiding. The Royal Family has long since disappeared and is thought to be dead. I thought that I had seen the end, but my daughter, the former Solider of Death, taught me to never give up without a fight.

Prologue

The most we could do was watch. Seeing the panicked faces of the terrified civilians and hearing their shill screams were painful. This was the third time I had to stand by and watch a kingdom fall – first, at the hands of Queen Beryl; and second, at the hands of Death Phantom. The only difference this time is that the city was defenseless. This new, powerful intruder easily defeated the Guardians of the Outer Rim. Only one of them survived and was forced to retreat. Even now, I don't know where she is. As soon as this invasion got close enough to the heart of the city, the four Soldiers closest to the Royal Family tried to stall for time as the king and queen escaped. Their daughter, Small Lady, disappeared before I could even get a grasp on the situation. My only assumption is that her court, the Sailor Quartet, took her to safety.

I've noticed an unfortunate trend among the Sailor Senshi: they never seemed prepared for the next invasion. Of course, the whole point of an ambush is to take the enemy by surprise, but one would think that the Senshi would be ready for this sort of thing. Even Uranus and Neptune were taken off guard, and they are the most paranoid people I know. The Senshi made a valiant effort in trying to save Crystal Tokyo, but they failed. Hotaru and I were left to watch the last of the city fall.

That day, I stood at the Space-Time Door emotionlessly, holding Hotaru close to me. Her head was resting on my bosom in an attempt to shield her eyes from the carnage. I figured at times like this, I was supposed to be strong for her. She was still relatively new to this job, and she had never been put in a more useless position. Under normal circumstances, she would be out there fighting along with the other Senshi, but she gave up her birthright long ago in order to be my successor. She hadn't looked back since, but I was sure that part of her wanted to help her family and friends. After all, the Senshi and the Royal Family was all she had left. To see her whole life crumble before her must have been heartbreaking.

We did nothing for five whole months. When I was bred into the soulless guardian that I am today, I had to stand my ground no matter what happened. I could not leave this place. If I did, my immortality would be forfeit – something I learned the hard way. Hotaru had to abide by the same rules I once did. She chose this life – she asked for this – and I'd be damned if she tried to break the rules of antiquity.

Considering that the Senshi hadn't appeared in the past few months and that Crystal Tokyo was completely taken over by this new all-powerful villain, I gave up hope. There was nothing that Hotaru and I could do to magically save the day and restore the city to its former glory. The only person who could possibly do that was Neo-Queen Serenity, and only the gods knew where she and the king (or any of the other Senshi for that matter) were. The end of the world had arrived as far as I was concerned.

But Hotaru seemed to think otherwise.

"Setsuna-mama, I'm tired of sitting here and doing nothing! We have to do something to help!" she exclaimed.

"We are in no position to do anything, my dear," I said calmly, not daring to look at her. I didn't want my emotions to get in the way of my job. I had to teach her a lesson.

"Are you kidding? So many people have died because we didn't save them!" she continued, shoving my staff into my hands. I kept my guard up as I stared at her with a stern expression. She had tears in her eyes, and I knew exactly why. She had taken this job in order to escape an eternity of dealing with death, but clearly she couldn't outrun her destiny forever. It was still all around her, as evidenced by the war that we lost.

"It's not our fault, Hotaru."

"So you're okay with Venus dying?"

Automatically, I slammed the end of my staff down on the ground. "Enough!" I yelled.

Hotaru cringed and backed away but did not leave my sight. I glared at her for reminding me of that woman's fate. It was something that I knew of but ignored for the sake of my duty. As much as I loved her, I could not let her death get to me. Until Hotaru took over, I had a job to do.

"Setsuna-mama, we are the protectors of this planet," Hotaru said. "We can't sit here and watch it die. As long as we live, we have to fight until there is peace. Staying here and maintaining order is important, but saving the world is our top priority."

She had a point, although I didn't want to admit it.

"From the looks of things, the enemy has been looking for the Royal Family, right?"

I nodded. Where was she going with this?

"We don't know where the king and queen are, but I know where Small Lady isn't."

I raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"She left this era not too long ago," Hotaru revealed. She pulled out the Space-Time Key I had given her years ago. Originally, I had made only one for Small Lady so that she could call on me for help, so naturally I could sense and receive Small Lady's call on my own. Hotaru was obviously a different case. Since she is my successor, I made a duplicate key with the sole purpose of Hotaru receiving these calls as well. Still, that didn't explain why I didn't know Small Lady left the 30th Century.

"I say we go find her before our adversaries realize that she's missing from this time. And maybe we can stop this whole thing from happening while we're at it."

"Hotaru, we can't rewrite time like that. You know it's forbidden," I scolded her.

"I'd rather break the rules knowing that the planet is safe than obey them and watch everyone we love die," she challenged. "We are the Sailor Senshi! We never give up without a fight!"

Hotaru's optimistic demeanor brightened up the area with that one statement. She grabbed my hand and squeezed it, reassuring me that we would win just like we always did. I didn't know it then, but she revived my hope. Now, I think we've actually got a chance.

-End Prologue-

I'm back with a new story that I hope you all will enjoy! It's a little different from the stories I've written in the past, focusing less on romance, but hopefully you guys will like it all the same! Til next time

Serenity101