*

*

The eclipsed moon hung high in the sky. For some it was an astounding phenomenon. Never had an eclipse such as this happened in all of Earth's history. The corpulent, abnormal figure was suspended in the sky, like a huge, dark orb sewn onto a black blanket. A shaft of light protruded from the heavenly stature and cast several silhouettes against the dark sky. The silhouettes were those of strange figures that seemed to be moving, ducking and weaving throughout each other. One showed a rabbit that appeared to be jumping up and down on something inside of a large tub. A hand suddenly shot from the tub and grabbed the rabbit by its neck, then pulled it down inside. Confused and amazed whispers danced throughout the large crowd that was watching. They looked up to the sky in anticipation for what was going to happen next, but darkness erased the silhouettes away. The crowd continued staring at the sky, digesting what they had just seen as their necks slowly stiffened. A man's voice rang out from the crowd saying that the show must be over. Just as the crowd started to break away, a bright light illuminated the sky and cast a harsh white light over the earth. The noises of shock and surprise and fear rose from the crowd as they lifted their arms to shield the light. The light left as quickly as it came and restored the sky to its natural darkness. The people slowly lowered their arms, ready to raise them again if another burst of light exploded. They cautiously lifted their eyes to the sky and an astounded gasp rippled throughout the crowd. In the middle of the sky where the eclipsed moon hung was an outline of a strange looking rabbit. It stood tall on its hind legs in a pose that made it look as if it were wielding a sword. It's long, rough looking ears flapped behind its head, making it look as if it were coming in for an attack on someone. The large pieces of rock fragment slowly drifting down from the sky gave the picture a heavenly, fantasy appeal. Most of the people in the crowd guessed that the moon must have exploded and the rocks formed the silhouette. A sudden fear of the sign grew inside of them, and they suspected that it was an omen of some kind. The other small percentage just shook it off as some kind of natural disaster, that a star must have exploded or something. They broke away from the crowd and started up their cars to go home or back to their business. Blended conversations arose as the rest of the crowd started to break up. They stood a while and discussed what had just happened. A person who was still staring up at the sky in confusion suddenly cried out and pointed to the sky. A bright, white moon had formed behind the outline of the rabbit. An eerie hush fell over the crowed as they gazed up at the sky in astonishment for another hour. Long after their necks got incredibly stiff they decided to break up and go home, and tell their families about the phenomenon they had just witnessed. They ended up naming that night Yabun no Usagi no Mikadzuki, night of the rabbit of the new moon.

Bishojou Senshi Sailor Eclipse Moon

Crystal Tokyo, 3021 A.T. (after Tokyo)

The eclipsed moon also hung high in a sky on the other side of the world, in Crystal Tokyo, Japan. It's moonlight revealed the streets that were tainted with blood and littered with dead human carcasses, and glass and debris from buildings, homes, and businesses that decorated the streets. Screams of agony and pain stabbed the air along with an occasional rat-ta-ta-tat from machine guns and other modern weapons.

A young nurse stared outside of a window of the Neo-Tokyo Hospital. Her fear coated eyes locked with the moon as if she were in a trance. She had seen the moon in her dreams and knew that it would bring destruction. Se could have prevented it if she hadn't have listened to the casual comments of her friends who brushed it off as nothing but a nightmare.

"Naruru!" a young, plump nurse rushed into the room, breathing hard and her face glistening from rivers of sweat. She stopped and leaned against a wall to catch her breath. "She doesn't want it. She wants us to kill it!"

The startling news caused Naruru to rip her eyes away from the moon. "What?"

The nurse shook her head, still breathing hard. "I tried to persuade her, told her that she was just upset and she just needed rest. I even told her we could figure out what to do in the morning. But she insisted. She demanded. She had this—this wild look in her eyes that I didn't recognize. Her face was twisted in this weird expression that didn't look at all human. It was sad and frightening at the same time."

"She was probably just upset, Osaka," Naruru said softly.

"No, she wasn't upset," Osaka argued. "It was deeper than that. She was dead set on having us kill it. She said if we didn't, the world would be in terrible danger, and the rabbit empire would come to a terrible end."

"What are you going to do?"

"What else can I possibly do? I'll have to kill it."

"Osaka! You can't!"

"I have to, Naruru! She is our queen and we must follow her orders or we'll suffer terrible consequences."

A strong force took hold of Naruru's hand and she slapped Osaka hard. Osaka gasped and stepped back. "Would you listen to yourself, baka?" Naruru screamed. "Will you listen to what you are saying? She is no longer the queen! The enemy has overthrown her, and she's no longer on the throne! We don't have to obey her. She's the one who got us into this mess in the first place. She was the one who brought the downfall of Tokyo! She—"

"Naruru!" A stern faced doctor entered the room, cutting Naruru's speech short. "This is a hospital. It is a place of rest. There is enough screaming and carrying on outside."

"I'm sorry, Dr. Masanori," Naruru apologized, bowing slightly. "But Osaka here told me the most upsetting news."

"I heard," the doctor said. "I was just on my way down to ready the termination room."

Naruru gasped. "Doctor! You can't!"

The doctor glared harshly at Naruru. "It is not your place to tell me what I can and can not do, woman. I am the one with the highest degree, here. I run this hospital. I can do as I please."

"You can't just murder something so innocent, even if it is the queen's wish. It wouldn't be fair! It's too cruel, too harsh, too—"

"Shut up at once!" Dr. Masanori bellowed. "I've had enough of your insolence. You need to know your place and stay in it. I dismiss you from your post." The doctor turned and walked stiffly out the room. Naruru glared hard at his back.

"I told you," Osaka said softly.

Naruru started pacing the room. "We've got to do something," she said, running her slender white fingers through the tangle of auburn curls on her head. "We can't let something so innocent die…"

"We?" Osaka said meekly. "I'm sorry, Naruru, but I can't be in this. I would be risking my job, and I need it. I'm trying to raise five children and my husband is constantly unemployed."

"Will you stop being an idiot and get the odango out of your brains? This city is going to hell, and pretty soon we won't live to have jobs. We should be doing something important."

A shrill scream suddenly pierced the air. The two nurses rushed out into the hall and followed the voice to a hospital room. Inside a pale, young nurse was speaking in rapid Japanese and wringing her hands. Naruru could only hear her cry something about somebody being gone and in danger. Dr. Masanori entered the room, his face flushed. "What is going on in here?"

"She's gone. The queen has escaped the hospital," a male nurse said to the doctor. He turned back to the woman and tried comforting her. The doctor frowned. "Get your hands off of her and search this hospital at once. I demand everyone to ransack this place. The queen is in too dangerous of a condition to be gallivanting around on the streets. Osaka, I want you to get on the PA system and carry out my instructions. Hurry up! Everyone!"

The people who had gathered in the room to see what had happened quickly filed out of the door, pushing and shoving each other as they went along. Naruru cringed as a sharp elbow pierced her side. She turned and followed the crowd outside of the room and headed for the nursery. Now's my chance, she thought. While everyone is preoccupied with finding the queen, I can take the baby and get her out of here, and send her somewhere safe. I might just take it home with me.

Naruru burst through the nursery door. There were no more babies in the nursery; they had all been killed because of the events. Only one baby was left, and it was the one that was born that night. Naruru walked to the crib in the center of the room and peered in. She wanted to scream but her voice caught in her throat and an earthquake rumbled in her stomach. The baby was gone.

Serenity dashed through the massacred Crystal Tokyo streets, stumbling every now and then over a finger or an arm that was thrown five feet from the body. She wanted to throw up, but she knew she'd lose more than her food if she did. More than anything she wanted to give in to the weakness and exhaustion and fall down and die, but something inside of her wouldn't allow her to do it. She had something important to do before she died.

A new energy filled Serenity when she neared the Crystal Palace. She ran to the doors with her arms out in front of her, ready to push them open, but the dizziness in her head was too much. She started to black out and collapsed, but crawled the rest of the way to the doors. She was partly glad that they were hanging off their hinges; she wouldn't have to use energy trying to open them.

Once she was in the dark corridor she tried to lift herself up. A dull pain throbbed in her abdomen. She clutched her side and continued to crawl. The coolness of the glass floor felt good on her hot legs. She never really noticed the beauty of this place until it was nearly destroyed. She crawled until she got to the end of the hallway where several large portraits hung. They were beautifully painted; some were one color with light and dark values, and others were a blended harmony of specks of color. They all looked as if the colors of the rainbow had clashed with other exotic colors. But Serenity didn't come to study the art work. She turned her body to the main wall that ended the corridor where four beautiful pictures hung of four women. The first woman looked out from behind the frame with an expression of dignity and exquisiteness in her distinguished gray eyes. Her hairstyle consisted of two silver buns atop her head that was fenced in by a beautifully handcrafted ivory crown while thick, glistening ponytails flowed down past her shoulders.

The next picture showed a young woman who looked exactly like the first, except her hair was golden blonde and her eyes a deep blue. She had the same crown, except with diamonds that were intricately etched in. Her eyes reflected a gentle kindness and her glossy smile gave off a warm glow. Next to that picture was another woman who looked slightly different. She had the same cream colored complexion, but her soft pink hair was gathered into two short, pointy, cone-shaped buns. Thick stringy ponytails cascaded from the buns and down past her shoulders with the exception of a few locks laying on her right shoulder. She didn't have a crown, but large red jewels decorated her buns and elegant, white feather pins on the sides of her head gave her a royal touch.

Serenity stared at the picture of herself. She looked much different now; her once manicured pink hair was now a dirty, brittle mass of messy wet locks. Her buns had come undone and were disintegrated to thick, spiral locks of hair. Her shiny red eyes were now dulled with pain and sadness. She reached out and touched the bronze plate under her picture that read, "Neo-Princess Serenity, Heir to the Usagi Throne." The other two pictures were also captioned by plates that told a hint of their history. The gold plate under the first woman's picture read, "Queen Serenity, Ruler of the Silver Millennium, Mother to the Usagi Throne." The next picture had a silver plate that said, "Neo-Queen Serenity, Who Brought the Usagi Throne Back to Life with the Power of the Silver Crystal."

Serenity had felt ashamed and unimportant when she had first read the captions because hers didn't sound like it had that much honor.

"Don't worry, Kousagi," her mother had said, using the affectionate pet name for her daughter. "You will have a revised plate that will have a similar message of honor once you step up to the throne. I'll bet you'll do something that will have a message with more honor than mine and your grandmother's."

Yeah, I've got honor, all right, Serenity thought bitterly. Honor that brought the Usagi Throne to shame and destruction. She sighed sadly and looked at the last picture. It was a picture of all three of the royal women, and the most beautiful. It showed their faces and bare necks and shoulders that were partially covered by each other's heads. Queen Serenity sat at the top while Neo-Queen Serenity sat in the center, her head covering her chest, and Neo-Princess Serenity sat below her mother, her head covering her chest. Each of the women's ponytails flowed in a circle that locked them in together. Queen Serenity's silver locks flowed on the outside while her daughter's flowed on the inside and her granddaughter's flowed on the inside of that. Tears brimmed in Serenity's eyes as she gazed longingly at the picture. It was so beautiful and was the only thing she treasured besides her family and the Silver Crystal.

"I am so sorry," she whispered, looking directly into the painted eyes of her mother and grandmother. "I never meant to bring the Usagi Throne down. Please forgive me." Serenity cried out as a sharp pain rippled through her abdomen. She clutched her stomach and squeezed her eyes shut. She opened them and looked back up at the pictures. She looked at a picture of on the east wall of her, her mother, and her father. The pain in her stomach worsened, and she felt a sticky goo secrete beneath her fingers. She looked down at her bloodstained hands, then gasped at the slowly spreading redness on her beautiful white gown that was passed down from generation to generation. "It's all my fault!" She cried. She lifted her head just in time to see the ceiling cave in. She got one last look at the last picture before the ceiling crumbled on top of her.

The young gray cat's heart pounded so hard in her chest, she thought it would burst through. She desperately wanted to stop and rest, but she couldn't. There wasn't enough time. She ran as fast as she could through the back woods in the boondocks of Crystal Tokyo, pumping her legs harder and faster. She scratched her paws several times but didn't stop to lick them. She had to let them bleed and sting until she got to her destination. She almost tripped over sticks and fallen tree branches but managed to keep her balance and dash on. She hopped over large tree roots that had managed to break through to the surface from underground and ignored the sounds of owls, raccoons, and other frightening noises. The heavy basket on her back caused the cramp in her legs to worsen. It made them feel as if they would fall off any second. She wondered when this would be over, when she could rest, until she finally heard the faint sound of rushing water. She was finally there! The sound of the cold, choppy waters lapping against each other was music to her ears. She wanted to leap for joy but she didn't have the energy, and the basket on her back would have made it worse. She sighed with relief and walked to the river. She peered in at the water and almost fell in due to the weight of the basket. She stepped back and sat down for a while to gather up some energy. She wanted to put her head down but knew if she did she'd probably fall asleep right there. She crawled over to the water and leaned her head over, hoping to catch a few drops violently thrown in the air by the current to cool off. She closed her eyes and remembered her mother's words.

"Once you approach the Shirataki river in the middle of the woods that means you are there. You must cross it and get to the other side where the Time Pointe is. You should be able to open it with the key I gave you. And please, Diana, don't give up. It may be physically hard for you, but if you just keep your mind on your mission it should get you through."

Diana opened her eyes which now were brimming with tears and sadly looked down at her reflection in the water. A tear slid down her cheek and fell on the surface of the water, disrupting the reflection. The colors scattered but then came back quickly forming an image of her father, Aretimes. Diana gasped and fell back at the sight of her father's round, white face. His last words suddenly came back into her mind.

"Diana! You must not fail us. Our hopes are on you; the whole world depends on you. Please, don't give up. Don't give up on the world. Don't give up on me."

"Daddy!" Diana wailed. His reflection slowly disappeared and hers returned. "Don't leave me, daddy! Where are you?" She desperately searched the water for any sign of her father, but gave up once she realized it was only in her imagination. She forgot that her parents were dead. She stared at the choppy waves that violently rushed past her, carrying branches and other debris. "I can't do this," she whispered. She slowly backed away and tried to think of another way, but nothing came to her. This was impossible. "Daddy, I just—"

A strong force from behind pushed Diana into the water. She screamed and thrashed her legs about as water filled her mouth. She started sinking. The cold water seeped through her skin and to her bones and froze them, giving her an instinct to survive. She scratched at the straps on her stomach that held the basket to her back until they came loose, then dug her claws in the wicker and hung on as it floated to the top. Once her head broke through to the surface she gagged and coughed. She finally stopped when enough air had entered her nostrils and filled her lungs. She shook her head and leaned it against the basket, which she discovered was a mistake because exhaustion started to slowly creep through her system. The weight on her eyelids caused them to slowly close. She didn't even have the energy to fight them open. Fortunately a splash of cold water caused her eyes to fly open.

"I've got to stay alert," Diana whispered. She forced herself to lift her head off of the basket. "How am I supposed to cross to the other side?"

Her prayer was answered when she laid her eyes on an area that was surrounded by branches and sticks. She took a deep breath, gathered up the rest of her strength, and lowered herself into the freezing water. She took one of the straps into her mouth and swam over to the mass of sticks, fighting her way against the frigid soldiers of the current. She tied the straps to a long branch and eased it near the shore. Just as she was about to get it out of the water a large wave washed over her and broke the stick, causing the basket to wash back into the river. Diana bit down on one of the straps and pulled it towards the shore. Bigger, stronger waves rode beneath the basket and nearly pulled Diana back into the river. She squeezed her eyes shut and clamped down harder on the strap. Just as she felt her teeth were going to come out, powerful force pull her back on shore with the basket strap in her mouth. She sighed with relief when she saw the basket resting on the grass just beside the river. A sudden jolt of exhaustion rammed her body to the ground. Her legs gave and she felt all her strength and energy drain from her bones.

"I'm sorry father," she whispered. "I'm sorry that I let everyone down." She gave one last sigh before she felt herself approach a light that shone high in the sky.

*

A young teenaged girl with dark green hair sighed and leaned against the tall, pearl gates behind her. She twisted a lock of hair that spiraled down from a giant loop of hair on the side of her head around her finger. She wondered what was going on. She wondered what her mother was doing.

"Who cares?" she snapped to herself. "She could be dead for all I care. I hope she is. It'd serve her right."

The girl stood straight and got ready to change her position when she thought she saw something out of the corner of her eye. She put her hand on her forehead and tried to peer through the thick fog and saw nothing.

"Oh, stop being foolish, idiot," she muttered to herself. "No one has ever come this way, and never will. You'll just have to be lonely forever."

She sighed again and rubbed her hands over her arms. It was starting to get chilly, which was rather odd. Her hands tightened over her arms when the fog became sheer. She could see an abnormal shadow of an approaching figure. Fear and excitement pierced her soul. Finally, a piece of action had come to her for the first time in what felt like ages. She grabbed the tall, ivory staff beside her and lifted it over her head.

"Who dares to enter the realm of time without bearing the sign of Coronus? It is forbidden! I command you to turn in your tracks and go back from where you came!" She secretly hoped the thing would keep on coming. It did. Her throat became dry and a knot formed in her stomach. Her excitement had turned into terror. She didn't know what the thing was, or what it could do. Well, she would find out soon enough. "Since you did not heed my warning, I will be forced to destroy you! Ahhh!" She raised the staff higher and collapsed under its weight. "Don't be fooled by what you see," she grunted. "I still know how to use this thing."

The fog cleared as the figure came closer. When it stopped at a distance, she could see it was a young gray cat with a large basket tied to its back. The cat looked as if it could collapse under its weight any second.

"Who are you?" the girl said as she lifted the staff off of her and rose to her feet. "Don't you know you're not supposed to be here? No one is, unless they have some kind of specific identification. That pretty much excludes everybody out."

The cat did a funny scooping motion that was supposed to serve as a bow. "I am Diana, daughter of Artimes and Luna. I was sent here to deliver a very important package to the past."

"Sorry, but I can't let you through. You have to have some kind of sign or something."

"Oh," Diana's face fell, but then brightened. "I don't have any sign, but I do have this." She lifted something attached to a gold beaded chain around her neck. It was a heart shaped key with a pink jewel inside of a gold lining.

The girl stooped down and examined the jewel. It looked exactly like the key a former friend of hers had a long time ago. Her mother had told her that with this key one could be allowed to enter the gates. She stood up.

"Okay, I guess you can go," she said, a slight hint of sadness in her voice. "Where did you get that thing, anyway?"

"Uh," a faint look of sadness crossed over Diana's face. "A friend of mine…it belonged to her."

"And she gave it to you."

A strange look lingered on Diana's face before disappearing. "Well…You look rather unhappy, ma'am. Do you mind me asking what the matter is?"

"No, but I do mind you calling me 'ma'am.' You can call me Charon."

"Charon? That name sounds rather familiar to me, but I don't know anything about the new guardians that are appointed to take over."

"Appointed? New? Girl, bye." Charon waved a hand and rolled her eyes. "This job was given to me by my mother, and boy was I an idiot to take it!"

"Mother? The only guardian of time that I knew of was—"

"Pluto, the tall chick with the long, dark green hair? Yeah, that's her. She gave this job to me and I took it, thinking it would make her proud and that I could prove something to everybody. Well, I proved that I was stupid."

"I never knew she had a daughter," Diana said in surprise.

"Yeah, well now you know. I know she doesn't speak of me much. If she did, she'd come up here and visit me every now and then." Charon leaned the staff against the gates and stretched.

"Do you know why she left?"

"Because she was tired of her job and wanted to have fun. And how convenient for her, too, to have been knocked up by some guy who made her think he actually wanted her. She couldn't wait to get rid of me when I was born. That's why she stuck me with this thing." Charon jerked a thumb towards the staff. It looked like a much larger version of a key, except the heart wasn't filled in with a jewel. A garnet orb hung in the center, and below it was an emerald orb. Underneath the heart was a small hourglass carved out of emerald. "Once my fingers touched this, I became the guardian of time. I could kick myself for being so stupid."

"You shouldn't speak so harshly about your mother. Do you even know what happened to her?"

Charon fell silent for a moment, then spoke up. "No, and to tell the truth, I don't even care. She never loved me in the first place. She treated this pink haired brat like more of a daughter than me."

The weird look returned to Diana's face and stayed there this time. She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry, Miss Charon, but I've wasted enough time here already, and I must be going."

"Fine," Charon sighed sadly and opened the gates. "Thanks for coming by, anyways. It was really nice talking to somebody, even a cat." She watched the basked unsteadily bob on Diana's back as she walked towards the gates. "Wait! Er, I'm sorry, but that basket looks like it's going to fall off. What's in there, anyway? It looks like it could crush you."

Diana blushed. "It will be okay. I must be go—"

"Here, let me help you," Charon walked towards Diana.

Diana's eyes widened in fear. She tried to back away from Charon but ended up tripping over her hind legs. The straps that held the basket to Diana's back snapped and it fell over.

"Are you okay? I told you," Charon bent over the basket. Diana saw that it was open and gasped.

"No!"

"What?" Charon gasped. She eased her hands into the basket and carefully withdrew a small bundle wrapped in satin cloth. She pulled a piece of cloth back and found the soft, white face of a sleeping baby. "Aw! Who do we have here?"

"Miss Charon, please," Diana walked over to her and looked her in the eyes. "You mustn't leave the baby out like this. Please put it back in the basket so I can go."

Charon smiled down at the baby and gently rubbed its cheek. "Its skin is so soft. It is so precious." She softly kissed the baby's cheek. "Is this a small human?"

Diana gave Charon a weird look. "Yes, it's a baby."

"I know I sound ignorant, but I've been up here so long, and I've never seen a baby in my life. Who's is it?"

"I can not tell you that, but I can tell you that it is in great danger, and I am trying to take it back in time so it can be safe."

Charon gently put the baby back in the basket and took one last peek before putting the lid back on. She strapped it back on Diana. "There you go. It shouldn't come off now." Charon sighed. "That baby's mother must really be worried, letting you take it here and all."

"No," Diana shook her head sadly. "It's more complicated than you can imagine. I really must be going now."

"Okay," Charon sighed. "Be careful. I'm pretty sure you won't let anything happen to the baby. "Does it have a name?"

Diana shook her head.

"Oh," a look of sadness etched itself in Charon's face. "The mother must have…died before she even got to see her child. How heartbreaking."

Diana nodded and turned to leave.

"Diana?"

"Yes?"

"If you happen to see my mother…" Charon paused for a second, a strange look of sadness in her eyes. She blinked and a look of bitterness replaced it. She waved her hand. "Just go. It was nice meeting you."

Diana gave Charon a small smile, but the gates slammed in her face before she could see it. Her smile slowly faded and she gave one last look before moving on. She felt a strong sense of condolence for the girl. She had nobody, and didn't get the chance to learn the truth about her mother. If she ever saw her again, maybe she would explain. But not now.

Diana could see a large oak door with an intricate pattern carved into it. She was there. Before she could take another step forward she felt a cold, clammy hand grasp her tail and lift her into the air. She screamed.

"Ooh, look at the cute little kitty," a short, fat man with green skin glared into Diana's eyes. He laughed an annoying laugh that spewed hot, potent breath into her face.

Another man appeared behind Diana. He was identical to the other man, but he had three thin strands of hair sticking out from his bald scalp. "What luck! This must be what we're looking for." He grabbed the basket and snatched it off. Diana screamed as the motion caused the straps to sink in her skin and rise on a river of blood.

The man holding Diana grinned in delight. "So what do we do with the kitty? The king don't need it, do he?"

"Ferget the cat. We got what we need. Do whatever you want with it."

The man's black eyes of hatred bored into Diana's. Her body began to shiver violently. She knew she shouldn't do it, but it was the only way; if she waited, there would be no hope.

"Hey, Erm, I think the kitty's havin' a salad."

"What?"

"Yeah, you know…one of them Caesars."

"It's a seizure, you maggot head! Help me with this basket."

"Erm, I think you better come see this. The cat is doing somethin' freaky."

"Blurm, how many times must I tell ya that animals got to lick down there to clean themselves?"

"I'm not talkin' about that. Some light is comin' from its forehead—ahh!"

A bright white light shot from Diana's forhead and blinded the two men. They tried to run but ended up bumping into each other and falling over. The light covered the basket, and it slowly floated towards the door.

"I'm sorry, father," Diana said. "I had no choice. I know you told me to wait, but we'd all be in trouble by now." Diana watched the glowing basket as she lie in her blood. "I know I did the right thing, and I know you'd be proud of me anyway."

Diana was happy to see the basket enter the door, glad that she had finally completed her mission. Now she could finally rest. Diana turned over in her blood and received the rest she had earned that night—eternal sleep.