Title: Slipping Memories

Rating: PG-13 / 14A

Genre: drama, romance, angst, war, action and slash (female)

Period: the majority of the story takes place about two years after Sailor Moon Sailor Stars, with flashbacks to the Silver Millennium.

Pairings: Tsukino Usagi/Chiba Mamoru and Usagi/Seiya Kou. There will also be Yaten Kou/Aino Minako and Taiki Kou/Mizuno Ami. Please note that there will be Starfighter/Usagi, Starmaker/Ami and Starhealer/Minako as well, and this includes all their collective reincarnations. Lesser pairings that are more background include Michiru/Haruka and Princess Pluto/male OC, female OC/female OC, Princess Kakyuu/male OC

Summary: once upon a time, Sailor Starfighter died for Princess Serenity, the woman she loved more than anything in the galaxy, and Queen Serenity sealed away the memories from her daughter. Now, with the rightful memories of the Silver Millennium released by Queen Serenity, it seems that history is about to repeat itself.

Disclaimer: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon is the property and copyright of Takeuchi Naoko, Koudansha, TV Asahi, Toei Douga, or any companies that have purchased legal reproduction rights to Sailor Moon. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The plot and all original characters, however, are created by the writer and are not to be replicated by another.

Writer's Notes (revised 28 December 2013): What seems like a long time ago, I had been watching the subtitled series with a friend and got this urge to do a story; that happens ever so often with me, and I hope everyone likes it. It was started back in 2009, and it's been updated periodically since then, but I still intend to finish it (university has gotten in the way). It was meant to be short, maybe forty-pages, but it is now almost seventy pages and still going . . . slowly.

This story can be classified as an alternate universe. Major AU- -I basically re-wrote the Silver Millennium. As you may have guessed, this story is about the Starlights in the Silver Millennium; hopefully it's not the same old tale. I've created a few, or rather a lot, original characters to fulfil housekeeping roles in the story, particularly in the Silver Millennium. The story does not focus on original characters though.

Please check out the artwork I had commissioned by reirei18, Ashlea and Mei-mei, which can be found on the new blogsite: moirae333-dot-wordpress-dot-com (remove hyphens and convert the "dot" to a period; the URL is also posted on my profile). In the right navigation area, you can find annotated information, spoilers and fanart images for 'Slipping Memories'. I just love the artwork, it is so beautiful and captures everything so perfectly.

Please consider a review if you are enjoying the story. And as always, thank you muchly to everyone who has added this to their alerts, favourites, C2s and reviewed -hugs- (I am terrible for writing long essays before the actual story, sorry ^^)

Slipping Memories

ichi: wherein time is a river

Sailor Pluto stood by the gates of time, her widened eyes staring at the flashes of lightning in the deadened sky. Dark clouds spread shadows across the inter-dimensional chamber, sent electric shivers deep into her marrow. Strong winds howled and her black fuku fluttered to the storm's rhythm, the keys around her waist rattling upon their ancient chain to their own distinctive tones. She trembled when archaic energies cracked down through the air and thrashed against the doorway into the ages.

The entryway behind the senshi of time blazed with crimson and sapphire hues. She gripped her staff tighter within her white-knuckled hands, and began to charge the talisman with energy. She took a step away from the passage moments before a thunderous explosion echoed in her ears, announcing the arrival of a time-traveller. Sailor Pluto bowed low as a woman with an odango hair-style stepped through into the forbidden realm.

"Your majesty," Pluto greeted the queen of a dead civilization.

Queen Serenity placed a gentle hand on Pluto's shoulder. "Rise, my dear friend," she said, her voice strangled with heartache as she pulled her hand away.

Pluto straightened; the ghostly imprint left by the queen's touch absorbed into Pluto's body and warmed her blood against the icy storm. "Queen Serenity-sama, what brings your spirit from the ruins of your devastated kingdom?" Pluto inquired anxiously. Her crimson gaze softened, lines worried upon her paled face as the chromatic lightning in the skies spread and became more relentless as time slowly passed.

A frown tugged on the corners of Serenity's lips and tears brimmed in her slate-blue eyes, but she remained silent as the doorway through time erupted in vibrant shades of emerald and topaz. Pluto's body vibrated with the energy, and she carefully watched Serenity's focus flash apprehensively toward the gate.

"An urgent matter wakes me from my slumber," Serenity began. "I journey to this neutral location to hear news of the future. I wish to know if my concerns are relevant." The translucent wings that sprouted from her shoulder blades were motionless in the erratic gusts of wind, but her silvery-white hair violently danced with the elements. She folded her hands on top of each other and placed them behind her back; Pluto remembered this simple action from long ago, as though the queen didn't know what she ought to do with her hands.

Another silhouette of a woman appeared in the threshold of time, and she stepped through, her long blonde hair trailing across the ground, collecting dirt. Sailor Pluto bowed, but only after she noticed the odango-hairstyle that the queen shared with her mother.

Neo-Queen Serenity's gown had long-since been the pure colour of white. A fresh gash on her cheek trickled blood down her chin and neck, landing softly on the fabric and seeping into the golden spheres. The dress had been torn from her hip into a slant that revealed bruised legs. She offered a weak smile and embraced Sailor Pluto into a rigid hug.

"My queens." Pluto's voice broke, and she released Neo-Queen Serenity. "What has shattered the amity of the kingdom? What grounds have brought two generations forth- -" she suddenly stopped her disheartened inquiry as cold pebbles of water fell onto her face. Raising a palm to the sky, she caught a few opaque raindrops, and she stared at the blackened sky as the storm clouds burst.

Neo-Queen Serenity glanced at her mother, her frantic eyes glazing over with unspoken fear as she chewed on her bottom lip, her hands wringing together. "As you can see, Pluto-san, time grows short as we stand idle. Mother and I must come to a decision, otherwise our world may not survive to see another moonrise and sunset. We have come for your wise counsel."

The dark-green haired senshi nodded. "I understand. How may I be of service, my queens?"

"Your peaceful realm suffers from the aftermaths of war in Crystal Tokyo. I do not understand what is happening to my kingdom, Pluto-san. Our world is falling apart, disappearing as though it never were. We are being attacked, black energy has covered my planet and possessed my people. Something has changed in the distant past, something I cannot comprehend, something that might be connected to the Silver Millennium." Neo-Queen Serenity's voice broke into a sob and tears fell from her eyes, leaving sparking paths through the dirt on her face.

Pluto breathed deeply, calming herself, and focussed her attentions on the innate energy that allowed her to sense irregularities in the flow of space and time. As she closed her eyes, she pushed her aura out and along the channels, coursing through the fourth dimension. "I do not understand, I have not sensed anything amiss in the past, your majesty."

Neo-Queen Serenity wiped her face with a strip of fabric she had torn from her gown. "You would not, Pluto-san. Time is attempting to correct itself, to ebb and flow as it was meant to, not as it was forced to. There is nothing amiss for you to sense. Memories that were kept from my senshi and myself have been awoken inside of me"- -she bit her lower lip, fighting to hold back another sob- -"and it has destroyed my kingdom."

Sailor Pluto's face paled and her expression faltered, but only for a moment. She blinked and slowly exhaled, analyzing the issue from all angles before answering. "Since the implosion of birthing star, the rivers of time have coursed the path they etched in rock," she began, thoughtfully choosing her words. "If the past is correcting itself, then the rising darkness cannot be avoided. The river of time will always return to the flow it has eroded. A pebble thrown into the waters will cause expanding ripples, but it is only temporary. The ripples disperse. Time flows again as intended."

"We must avert that initial pebble, the cause for the correction in time," the queens spoke simultaneously, briefly glancing at each other.

Neo-Queen Serenity wrung her hands together and averted her gaze toward the dark sky. White lightning reflected in her crystal blue eyes, and she shuddered as a thunderous explosion erupted overhead.

"In the distant past, memories were kept from my senshi and myself when my honoured mother sent us into the future to be reincarnated," Neo-Queen Serenity began with a trembling voice. "For reasons unknown, those memories have been awoken inside of me- -a pebble thrown into the time river. When I awoke from the icy slumber, my memories of the past- -my true memories as I had lived them- -had been restored. But this was not the case for all the senshi. The future you foretold, Pluto-san, did happen. My destiny was wrought in stone; I married Mamo-chan and brought a wonderful daughter into this world. That emptiness I felt inside . . . I thought that if I ignored it, it would disappear like he did. I was mistaken. Our world cannot survive with the senshi of the universe split between two dimensions of the past. Time cannot co-exist with itself, superimposed upon each other, yet not fully existing. It must be corrected."

"It was your mother's wish that those memories remain quiescent, Serenity-sama." A sharp pang of sympathy developed in Pluto's heart.

"I am aware of my wishes, Pluto," Queen Serenity said, a spasm of remorse crossing her timeless features. "But the darkness is emerging over the horizon and my husband sleeps without his love tonight. It would be simple to awaken the past in the senshi, it would then be Princess Serenity's judgment that determined the future, rather than my misguided decisions. But to hold true to my desires and keep the false dimension of the past in the minds of the senshi would be difficult. To find that one pebble in the river of time is something not even you can do, my old friend.

"And even so, perhaps this all happened for a reason. Perhaps my daughter deserves to know passionate love like she felt during the reign of the Silver Millennium, perhaps everyone deserves to know what truly happened during the last days before the fall of the White Moon Kingdom."

Sailor Pluto bowed at the waist. "Let the senshi hold their fate."

"We concur."

/end ichi

in the next instalment:

ni: wherein sailor starhealer has nightmares