AN: Here we have my attempt at a Sailor Moon/ Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha crossover. I've always held a certain amount of fondness for Sailor Moon, since it was the first anime I have ever watched, and it's a classic of its genre. To top it all off, it's one of the few enduring anime of its era that wasn't senselessly violent.

But it has bugged me something fierce that Usagi remained stuck as a mostly useless ditz aside from times of extreme importance. It was like she was only around because they needed a reason to be able to give power-boosts and last-minute solutions to the latest crisis.

With all the years spent as a Senshi and how capable she could sometimes show herself to be, Usagi should have become at least more than a bumbling idiot by the end of the series. There's nothing wrong with being an optimist and childish sometimes, but it was incredibly frustrating nonetheless.

I admit that a lot of this frustration is probably just a result of me growing up while my childhood favorites didn't. Another part is that having a competent Usagi would have made the writers' work harder, but it would have been nice to see her become better than an airhead which half the time plays damsel in distress, while stumbling through battling for the survival of the world.

I won't claim to be able to fix this, but I want to give it a shot.

Disclaimer: I own neither the Sailor Moon nor the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha franchises.

Chapter 1

Bleary blue eyes opened slowly as their owner, a young teenaged girl with long golden-blond hair and dressed in a beautiful flowing white dress adorned with gold and pearls, woke up. The girl looked lost for a few long moments, before she jolted into full awareness, sky-colored eyes widening in alarm and dismay. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, arms trembling slightly for a moment but she didn't fall back down.

"Where… am I?" The girl whispered, looking around.

No answer was forthcoming from the strange place she was in. It was like she was sitting on top of a giant mirror that stretched into all directions around her. It also didn't help that it was night time, and the only real source of light was the starlit sky above and it seemed her own body. There was no Moon or Earth in the sky to tell her at least where she was, and the constellations didn't look in the least bit familiar.

She could feel the cool reflective surface beneath her, felt the phantom pains from the last battle, and couldn't deny that this was real. The blond curled in on herself, wrapping arms around her knees and let out a chocked sob. Moving in the long fancy dress was difficult and the part of her that had always wanted to be able to wear something this beautiful and expensive died a little, because why the was she dressed in such a cumbersome thing after dying? Rei-chan and the other girls would have surely made fun of her for ending up dressed like this at such an inconvenient time.

The young woman suddenly felt the crushing sense of solitude collapse onto her at the reminder of the people she had just lost.

Here in this strange place, she was completely alone.

"Luna. Ami-chan. Rei-chan. Mako-chan. Minako-chan. Artemis…" she trembled as tears spilled from her brilliant blue eyes, "Mamoru-san… Everyone… I don't want to be all alone!

"Please… I'm just a weak, clumsy, cry-baby!

"Everyone…"

Why did she ever dream of being special? Of being a damned princess? Of having a fairy-tail romance with her own dashing prince?

Why didn't she understand just how much those things would cost her? Why hadn't she realized that there was no such thing as a fairy-tail happy ending? Why hadn't she tried being more serious when Luna had asked for her help? Why had she been so useless?

The young blond girl cried for a long time, but eventually her tears dried and she slumped onto the mirror-like ground, exhausted. Her eyes stared unfocused up at the endless ocean of stars in the foreign night sky. She felt tired and scared and lonely and frustrated. Without really thinking about it, she reached up and pulled the pins that held her long hair in its signature twin buns. It was a hairstyle she had always favored even if it seemed childish at times, but right now she detested any reminder of her childishness. It had cost her far too much.

She examined the pearls that decorated the tops of the pins and scowled at the reminder about the fact that she was a princess. Anger surged through her and she hurled the pins away.

How could she have been the Moon Princess all this time and no one had figured it out until the last moment? They had run around chasing false leads, waisting precious time, and in the end she had barely been able to do anything! She had let her friends and sisters in arms sacrifice themselves for her. She hadn't been able to save the boy she had come to feel so strongly for. She had barely been able to battle Queen Beryl.

She couldn't even really remember what her previous life had been like aside from small broken fragments… Never mind recalling anything useful on how to properly wield the power of the Millennium Silver Crystal!

It was sheer dumb luck that she had managed to do anything in time, and she wasn't even sure if her try had been successful. Had those really been the spirits of her friends, her Senshi, backing her up— or had she been hallucinating by that point?

Then she frowned, startled by her own thoughts.

She had never been able to think this clearly or critically before. Not in her entire life.

Just what was going on?

The blond didn't get the chance to pursue that train of thought any further because at that moment she caught sight of something: a bright pink light shooting downward like a falling star. It was getting brighter and bigger, heading towards her. The young girl blinked in shock before scrambling to her feet, inwardly cursing the awkwardness of moving quickly in her elaborate and flowing dress and at the fact that her long hair was now getting in her way.

Part of her wished that she could have at least had her tiara or access to some kind of power to protect herself if necessary, but there was nothing in that department. She couldn't summon a single one of her items and it left her feeling very vulnerable. She may have never been the best example of a warrior, but she still was one, she knew when to be weary of strange things happening.

The pink light turned out to be the glow surrounding the falling form of a woman with long luxurious auburn hair tied into a ponytail on the left side of her head. She was dressed in something that was reminiscent of a military uniform for women, a sharp white and navy-blue jacket and a pencil skirt. The woman's eyes were closed, but her countenance was serene, hands clasped lightly around a crimson jewel hanging from her neck. She was also very fit, managing to have a nice shapely figure on top of a warrior's physique. The blond's eyes narrowed, both at the fact and at her own observation, but she pushed the thoughts about the strange workings of her own mind for later.

For a few long moments the young blond didn't dare move, only looking at the glowing woman in confusion, weariness, and a little bit of unexpected awe. The woman had an air that the blue-eyed girl had always thought a true Senshi out to have. She was beautiful, graceful, lady-like, and yet undeniably a warrior; everything the blond and her friends tried to become in the short time they had possessed their powers. The auburn-haired woman was radiating power, but she was so serene that it pulled the blond to her like a magnet.

The spell of silence was broken when the woman's deep-violet eyes opened and a gentle smile graced her lips.

"Hello, Usagi-san," the older woman said in a gentle voice, making warmth seep into the blond's limbs. She presented such a clear presence of goodness that it made the blond's suspicion and weariness come to a screeching halt— alarming her all the more.

"Who are you?" the blue-eyed girl asked slowly, hesitantly. "How do you know my name?" She felt apprehension coil in her chest, all the negative experiences she's had up till now dampening and overriding her usual optimism. She was tired of being naive and having her trusting nature be taken advantage of.

"My name is… was… Takamachi Nanoha," the red-haired woman replied as she finally landed on the surface of the water facing the blond and looking her in the eyes with no hesitation. There was nothing but kindness in that deep violet gaze. "I was born from a part of your soul that broke off when you died at the end of the Silver Millennium." The words caused a shocked look to steal over the younger girl's face and she took an involuntary half-step back. Internally she was reeling at that proclamation.

"You were born from a part of me?" Usagi whispered, studying the woman (Nanoha, she reminded herself) searchingly. Part of her was alarmed at how easy it was to believe the other, how much sense it made. Because it was true that she had always felt somehow less whole than others, a phantom feeling that she wasn't quite what she was supposed to be. "But then… where were you until now?" she asked.

"The piece of your soul got… lost among the different times and dimensions," Nanoha shrugged almost helplessly, "So I was born on the Earth of a different dimension, and became a battle mage that protected the order of the world." Why had there been such a deliberate pause before the woman had said 'lost'?

"Different dimension?" Usagi questioned, feeling a chill pass through her at those words, "And… what's a battle mage?" She had never heard of such strange things, and that was saying something since she was Sailor Moon and had fought against Youma and the Dark Kingdom! Usagi kept asking questions before the other woman had the chance to explain, "Why am I only finding out about you now? How did you find your way back to me? How did you find out that you were born from a part of me? You have Magic? Why are we here—" By that point, the blond had become almost hysterical, frustration, fear, loneliness, and helpless anger mixing into something dangerous.

"Usagi-chan, please don't panic," Nanoha shushed her gently, gripping the blond's shoulders firmly. "Keeping calm is a much better way to see things clearly," she soothed. Oddly enough, the action served to ground Usagi and she focused on the feeling to bring her raging emotions under control. Nanoha waited until the younger girl had nodded her understanding before continuing to speak, "My guess is that we are here because we are both… dead."

"You died?" Usagi's attention honed in on that fact and Nanoha blinked in surprise.

"You are not surprised that you might be dead?" Nanoha asked.

"No, I knew that using the full power of the Millennium Silver Crystal would guarantee my death," Usagi shook her head. "That's why I made a wish for things to go back to normal, to the way they were before I became Sailor Moon and everyone died to protect me." She grimaced at remembering that. How foolish and naive, but what was done was done.

"Is that so?" Nanoha hummed thoughtfully, letting her gaze leave the blond's and frowning slightly.

"Yeah," Usagi sighed before focusing again, "So how did you find out you were born from a part of my soul? And does that make you part of me or a totally different person?"

Nanoha smiled a little sadly at that, "It's a bit of a long and convoluted story. But in simple terms, I was involved in protecting a precious ancient Magical relic from people that wanted to use it for evil means. It activated when I died and transported my soul here while destroying my body. Along the way I met a person that guards the cross-roads of times and realities, and that person fixed me and pointed me in your direction."

The blond girl wondered at just what kind of convoluted series of events resulted in their current situation. How did the two of them become split to begin with? Didn't Queen Selenity send the souls of everyone from the Silver Millennium to be reborn? Was that when she had become fractured? Questions swirled in her mind, coming up and were pushed aside by newer ones faster than she could decide to voice them. In the end, she simply shook her head and looked back up at Nanoha.

"So… what happens now that we're both here?" Usagi asked.

"The lost piece of your soul wants to come home," Nanoha chuckled and pulled her hands away from Usagi's shoulders. The woman took the necklace with the round crimson gem off her neck and held it by its deceptively thin chain. But while the crimson orb continued glowing, the woman herself suddenly went from being fully solid to slightly transparent.

"Nanoha-san?" Usagi's eyes widened at the change and she went still in shock and alarm. Nanoha merely smiled before taking one of the blond's hands and gently placed the shining orb on the palm closing her fingers around it.

"Don't worry Usagi-chan, I'm finally going back where I belong. Everything I know, all of my knowledge, skills, everything I once was, is going to be yours now," the older woman said and paused as her smile became oddly relieved, "We can finally be whole." With that she placed a soft kiss to the blond's forehead, bringing out the shining crescent moon birthmark.

Whole.

The world echoed in Usagi's mind, resonated with that strange feeling of incompleteness that she hadn't ever really been able to explain or understand. With the way Nanoha had said it, what little doubt that remained in the blond girl's heart was dispelled. The older woman understood, she knew that feeling of loss and incompleteness just as intimately as Usagi did. Hope and anticipation swelled in her chest, and her eyes stung a little.

Whole.

She could be whole.

The girl opened her eyes and held her hand out to the disappearing figure. The other woman smiled even wider as she made a move to take the offered hand and dissolved into a cloud of ethereal glowing while butterflies.

The starlit clearing and the mirror-like ground were bathed in a bright warm light as the butterflies flew forward and surrounded the blond before sinking into her body, filling her with an intense warmth. Usagi sighed a little and put the necklace around her neck, enjoying the warmth. She was just beginning to relax when the warmth in her body became an almost uncomfortable heat and she gasped. Then she had to cover her eyes as the light intensified as well, seeming to wash away her surroundings.

A moment later all she knew was pain.

In a space where all one could see was white in all directions, where there was no sky or ground, where streams of time (rainbow-like and ethereal) drifted, intersected and twined around themselves, a lone figure slowly faded into existence. It was a young teenaged human girl, her golden blond hair was free of the twin buns that she usually favored and streaming around her like waves of gold. She was curled into an almost fetal position, arms wrapped loosely around her legs, dressed in a white dress.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and uncurled to her full height.

"I see now," the young woman said quietly to herself. Her features twisted into a mask of grief and disgust. "Queen Selenity… just how far have you stooped to achieve your own desires? Will I ever cease to be haunted by your selfish depravity?"

The girl's hands clenched into fists, knuckles turning bone white and nails biting into skin until they drew blood. "How dare you ever call yourself a Mother?" she asked in a voice filled with fury.

"I hope you'll be turning in your grave because I refuse to bow to your desires!"

Something about her words seemed to echo in the space she occupied and a wave of light burst from her body, spreading in all directions and passed through the various streams of time. It sounded like an oath, like some kind of declaration binding the very fabric of her universe.

"You've made it all a lie. You've made my whole life, and all my relationships and dreams a lie. I don't even know who I am anymore." Bitter tears fell from her deep blue eyes.

Then she brought Raising Heart closer to herself, seeking comfort in the warmth of the device's power resonating with her own. A moment later, she remembered the thing that had given her so much trouble recently. With a simple exertion of her will, the Imperium Silver Crystal appeared before her and she grasped it in her left hand. "Such a tiny thing caused so much trouble… And for what? It wasn't even her power to begin with."

The small beautiful clear bauble in her hand glowed and then shattered into innumerable dust motes which then sank into both her body and into Raising Heart. A sigh escaped her lips as another part of herself was returned to where it belonged and some kind of inkling in the back of her mind stirred as to what she truly was.

"Well, a bit more time to reflect on my own existence is just what I need, so…" the blond mused and reached out with her hands for the appropriate time-stream, "Here we go." It sprung to her like an eager puppy and she let herself fall toward the her of that moment, merging seamlessly into one.

In a dark space where the only visible thing was a gigantic ornate mirror, the guardian of time smiled sadly at the events playing out. She gripped her stave tightly and bowed her head.

"My Lady, you have finally returned," she said quietly, reverently.

AN: And that's a wrap for the first chapter. I have a couple more in the works, but I'm having a bit of trouble in getting them to feel less choppy.

Anyway, please tell me how it turned out. I really appreciate feedback and constructive criticism.