Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the canon characters. My own characters and this storyline are mine, however. I will not make any money from this work.

Author's Note (5/5/19): This prologue is entirely new. It wasn't in the original story, which came from a request from Knowall7. The original was a struggle to write, and I don't think I gave all of it the justice that it deserved. I also noticed that there were things that were left as hanging questions for the readers. I only recently decided I am going to write a sequel.

Trigger Warnings: I want to give a blanket warning. If you don't think you can handle the topics (Attempted Sexual Assault, Mass Death, & Institutionalized Child Abuse), please don't read this story. I have a whole bunch of fun, lighthearted ones, tons with drama and a bit that is slightly dark, but nothing like this. It was hard for me to write, so it may be hard for you to read. This is also a bit darker than the original version, though you will see more of my created characters this time around, and a few people who needed a cameo.

The Prison
Prologue
Mamoru's Story

Chiba Mamoru felt nervous. It was a new, and rather odd feeling for him. He had long been accustomed to steady nerves and self-reliance. Yet, he found himself wishing his best friend, Motoki, was with him. An orphan since the age of six, he had only learned to rely on one person, and he certainly missed him today.

Mamoru had come to the government building to register as an adult and had almost immediately been pulled aside by a young man with long red hair who introduced himself as Agate. The man had asked Mamoru to follow him. After a trip in the elevator and a walk down a long hallway, Mamoru was confused. He'd hadn't seen this part of the building before and never knew it existed. He also had no idea why he had been singled out.

Now, more than twenty minutes later, he was sitting in an uncomfortable chair across a rather large desk from a young red-haired woman who called herself Beryl. She did not give a family name, and there was nothing indicating it in the office.

He kept his eyes slightly downcast, feeling awkward and out of place. The woman did not show the proper formality. She hadn't bowed, had stared him directly in the eyes, and was showing far too much familiarity.

"End-" she coughed. "Mamoru-kun," she started. His teeth clenched. He did not know this woman. She should not be addressing him so informally. He did not lift his eyes from the desk. She was quite improperly dressed as well. The bright purple blouse she wore bared most of her breasts, and for some reason it made him extremely uncomfortable.

She continued. "I have a proposition for you." Beryl made a sweeping gesture with her hand. "Tokyo is changing," she said grandly, as though speaking to a large audience, "and we must change with it. This city, this country, needs a strong leader to help point the people in the right direction. But every ruler needs support, and I want yours. With you at my side, I can change the face of Tokyo, of Japan, of the world."

"I don't understand," he said, still not looking up at her.

"You and I will marry and together we will rule the world," she said, as though it was a foregone conclusion that he would do exactly as she wanted.

"No," he said, his voice quiet, but firm. "I am far too young to marry, and we do not know one another," he added, hoping to blunt his sharp retort.

"Come, meet my friend Metalia, and she will explain all of this better than I can," she said, and pressed a button on her phone.

"I'd rather just go register if you don't mind," Mamoru said, standing up.

The door opened behind him and two men entered the room, both wearing the formal attire of the government guards. Mamoru felt the hairs stand on the back of his neck and decided instantly that he did not want them to touch him.

He backed away from the desk, bowing politely, still refusing to meet the eyes of the woman who had just told him he would marry her. That was not the way the world worked. Perhaps she wanted his money, he couldn't be certain, but whatever her reason, the answer was no.

When the two men approached him, arms outstretched, Mamoru backed up and went around them, hurrying toward the door. One grabbed his arm and started dragging him toward a door at the back of the office. Something inside Mamoru whispered that he did not want to go through that door.

Tearing his arm free, he threw himself out into the hall and ran as fast as his feet could take him. They ran after him, their footsteps pounding on the marble floors. He raced to the stairwell and took the steps several at a time, jumping the last five or six on each set until he reached the lobby.

Opening the door, he flew out into the corridor and barreled into a middle-aged man with light brunette hair and glasses, falling to his knees. A young blonde girl with streamers of hair falling from golden buns reached out to steady the older man, and then helped him up and pointed toward the main lobby. The older man had an urgent look in his eyes.

Mamoru nodded his thanks and ran as fast as he could, his mind on the tiny blonde who had helped him, and her big blue eyes. Several guards surrounded him and in desperation he began to strike at them, using moves from several forms of martial arts to keep them at bay. He hit and kicked until he was overwhelmed and outnumbered, and still he fought to free himself. He was nearly at the door when the world went dark.

Tsukino Kenji recognized the signs of danger. As soon as the young man had run, he pulled his daughter close and hurried them out and away from the noises of the struggle. She would want to rush in and help. It would do no good, only get her thrown into prison alongside the boy.

"Why do you think he's running?" his daughter, Usagi, asked a few minutes later, after they had gone through a side exit to avoid the commotion.

"I don't know my little bunny," Kenji said quietly. "I am sure he had a good reason. Remember, you must never draw HER attention to yourself. Only months she's been in Tokyo, and already things have begun to change. People loyal to the old government are disappearing. A new prison has gone up without the knowledge of the people. Many are losing their jobs and livelihoods if they don't fall in line with HER will."

"But you'll help, won't you?" Usagi asked.

Her bright blue eyes were filled with an emotion they'd never held before. Fear. Kenji wanted to bundle her up and send her away. He was worried what would happen to her, or to her brother, as this new power continued to grow. If he had the money, he would send his entire family out of Tokyo.

"I'll do what I can little bunny," he promised. He hurried her onto the bus and moved with her to the very back, standing in front of her to make sure she wasn't noticed. "Remember what I've taught you," he said, his voice quiet.

Usagi nodded and looked up at him, her face earnest. "I'll remember," she promised.

"My sister is very displeased with you," said a voice in the darkness. Mamoru recognized it as Agate. He was Beryl's brother? That made sense, he supposed, but he didn't really care. "Why did you turn her down?" he asked.

Mamoru didn't respond. He didn't know where he was, only that everything was dark, and he could not see. He was frightened, but he refused to let that stop him. Somehow he had to escape the man and his twisted, improper sister. He tried to stand up and discovered he was bound to a chair.

"You are awake then. Answer me."

Mamoru continued to say nothing. He wasn't about to give in. Not to this man, or anyone. He continued to struggle against his bindings.

"You will not escape," Agate said, his voice echoing. "It would be a waste of Metalia's energy to try and turn someone so opposed. There is another option, however. A new prison has been constructed. Several dozen people witnessed your attack on those workers. You will be charged with a crime and thrown into prison until you change your mind and learn that Beryl always wins. With Metalia backing her, she is already changing the government. For the better of course," he added, almost as an afterthought.

Mamoru still chose silence.

"Yes, you will be put in prison until you choose to marry my sister, or until you die. You can rot for all I care. One such as you does not deserve my sister, but I must keep you alive. At least until the guards take charge of you. Perhaps in time she will forget your existence."

Kenji paced across his study. Two days had passed since the incident in the government building. Since then he had been unable to get his mind off of Usagi's whispered plea. "But you'll help, won't you?" she had asked. A simple question to her mind perhaps.

Part of his mind argued he could do nothing to help. The other half screamed that he had to do something, that many would die if this new government continued. Already businesses were closing, and people were disappearing. Their neighbors, the Osaka family, had disappeared in the night, taking Usagi's best friend Naru with them. He didn't know if they had run, or perhaps been put into the new prison.

Ikuko opened the door and came into the office. Shutting it softly, she whispered, "the kids are asleep. Have you decided?"

Kenji frowned. If SHE found either of the children they would be thrown into prison, turned, or murdered. He and his wife had long known their children, and their nephew Haruki, were special. They were reborn into their current lives, but hidden, dormant within them, was the power to fight against HER.

"We have to stay. Has Akiko responded?" Akiko was Haruki's mother, Ikuko's twin sister. She too knew the peril their children faced.

"They are in Kofu," Ikuko said quietly. She frowned. "She wants to bring him, but she can't. Not yet."

"I fear by the time she's ready the city will be walled and guarded. Are you sure we shouldn't send the children to her?"

"I think SHE would discover them," Ikuko whispered, sounding frightened. "We have to stay. I don't want to, but we have to. Are you going to fight back?"

Kenji tore his glasses off his face in frustration. The two ideas warred within him. He needed to keep his silence to protect his children, but he also needed to help the people.

"We're all behind you if you choose to write," Ikuko said, a gentle hand on his shoulder. "We understand the consequences."

Kenji could only nod. He had the list of charges against Chiba Mamoru. If he did the article it would be the beginning of a dangerous path. One that could get himself, and possibly his family, killed. Usagi's fear-filled eyes as she asked her question haunted him. Somewhere out there was another father with a daughter just as frightened, and he wouldn't be able to fight. Kenji had to stand for all the fathers and work and fight for all those daughters.

"I'll do it," he said finally, and moved to his laptop. "But we have to keep it separate from the normal papers. They'll stop me from publishing the articles if I don't."

Ikuko nodded. "I might know someone who can help."

The prisoner transport truck was short, with a box-like metal cage for the prisoners, who sat along the two benches in the back. Only the small window, covered in bars, on the back door of the truck, provided any light. There were no belts on the seats, and the prisoners all wore metal cuffs on their hands.

The result was that most of them had fallen at least once since the truck left the government building. Mamoru swayed from side to side, forward and back, letting his body follow the movements of the truck as though standing on the deck of a boat.

He conjured the image of his friend Motoki. He'd been allowed one visit with him, and his friend had promised to follow the instructions he had been given precisely.

When the truck came to a halt, all nine of the prisoners inside were thrown to the floor. Mamoru could hear laughter from the driver. Within seconds the door had opened, and two men reached in and grabbed his arms. They were prison guards in grey uniforms. He was hauled out and thrown to the ground. One by one the others were removed, and they waited fearfully to see what would happen next.

Mamoru was lifted to his feet and pushed towards a metal door in the side of the building. The other men were also being shoved towards it. He wondered if he would be killed the moment he entered. Agate had seemed to hate him, though he didn't know why.

With a loud slam the door closed behind him and he followed the guards into a room where he was uncuffed and told to strip off his clothing and put his shoes into one bin and the clothes into another. Following the instructions, he removed everything, and stood in the chilled air, wondering what was next.

All nine of the men were pushed into another room, where the showers started to run with ice cold water as they walked under them. They followed the green line to the end where they told their names and were given blue jumpsuits. He dressed hurriedly, shivering in the chill air.

One of the guards shoved him into a chair and he was told to write his name in a large blue book. He did as he was told and then he was given three spare jumpsuits and pulled away. Within ten minutes he had been pushed into a cell, alone.

The door clanged loudly as it closed, and he turned to stare back out. He was at the very end of a long hallway, the only occupied cell in the wing. Perhaps they planned to leave him here until he starved to death.

He set his clothing on the bunk next to the door. There were four other bunks in the room, going down the longer walls towards a doorway in the back. Beyond the bunks were two desks, bolted to the walls, the chairs below them bolted to the floors. An empty nook that had three shelves sat over one desk. Nothing was on the them. There was little inside the room. Just the blankets on the bunks.

Mamoru went into the bathroom. There was a shower with a curtain and a single bar of soap, wrapped. The single roll of toilet paper was also still in its paper. He went back to the bunk and sat down. Perhaps this is what he would have to survive. Endless loneliness.

He laid back on the bunk and closed his eyes. Immediately his mind conjured the image of a girl with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes. She'd been on his mind ever since he had seen her, felt her soft skin as she helped him. To him, she was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She had seemed soft and fragile, and incredibly small.

He sighed. Chances were Mamoru would never see the girl again. Best to get her out of his mind before he drove himself crazy. He would never go on dates or live a happy life. He was a prisoner here, until he died.