One Wrong Step Chapter 1/?
Sailor Moon and Sailor Mercury weren't exactly sure where they were, Sailor Moon had rushed into this clock store in a hurry and had ended up in some kind of pocket dimension… thing. The clock store had been the front for a Dark Kingdom plot to drain energy by making people think they were in a hurry.
"Wait Sailor Moon!" Mercury shouted. "This place is covered in time pockets, one wrong step would make you into an old lady." The computer and visor that Luna had given her was still new to her, but it was displaying warnings that showed where these pockets of time were.
Usagi grimaced at the thought of being an 80 year old grandma in a sailor fuku. Then again she never really pictured herself as an old lady, just to stay young and beautiful forever, like any other teenage girl she figured.
"Sailor Moon look out!" Mercury shouted, but it was too late as Usagi stepped into a time pocket and started to age quickly.
Images and names flashed through her head, one moment she was in a ballroom dancing with Tuxedo Kamen, the next she was watching a man in armor defend her from something, the next moment she was holding on to a woman with silver hair styled like hers and calling her 'mother.'
But then she stopped aging almost right away.
The name Endymion popped into her head, and her mind showed her Mamoru of all people wearing some kind of armor. She saw a sailor senshi with a green and pink uniform comfort her about something, her vision shifted and that same sailor senshi was throwing a lightning bolt.
"Huh?" Sailor Moon turned around to look at her friend. "Mercury what happened?"
"You… you stepped into a time pocket and started to age forward. But then it just stopped." Ami didn't understand what was going on, her visor was saying that Usagi had aged 500 years, but the girl in front of her didn't look more that 20.
Usagi stepped back to where Ami was, not wanting to risk getting caught in another time pocket like that.
"Have you found something yet? I'm getting impatient." Sailor Moon asked Mercury, this analysis was taking forever.
"Just as I expected. This maze is set up in a certain way." Mercury said, looking at the flow of data on her mini-computer.
"Then, where is she?" Sailor Moon asked, she'd been in the time maze long enough.
"There's a 78% probability she's this way." Mercury pointed into the formless void that surrounded them, and the two of them ran towards the youma.
Over the horizon, if it could be called that in this formless void, a figure slowly rose up. A woman with light blue skin and a dark red dress stood holding a spear.
"Nice job. You finally found where I am." She taunted them. "But this is the end! I hope you are ready."
"You're the one who should get ready!" Sailor Moon spat back. Okay as far as rebuttals went, that one didn't really work. Thought Usagi. She ran forward, only to have something come over her and she fell to the ground. Stand up Usagi, just STAND UP! She tried to will herself into standing up but nothing happened.
The youma just laughed at her. "Finally, it's starting to work. Your energy has been sucked away by my clock."
No. Usagi realized that she had failed, she let herself get drained by the youma and she hadn't even realized it, and she'd dragged poor Mercury along with her. The youma brought down her spear and sliced at Usagi.
"Owwwww!" Usagi grimaced at the pain she was in, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Sailor Moon!" Mercury rushed over to her friend's side to help her. Unfortunately this only served to enrage the youma
"You're in my way!" The youma shouted as she fired a beam of energy at Sailor Mercury, paralyzing her.
"I just stopped your time." The youma taunted, she had both the seshi in her grasp, victory was so close. "So enjoy watching Sailor Moon suffer."
She thrust her spear at Sailor Moon over and over, but the girl somehow kept dodging the attack, even in the drained state she was in.
It was at that moment that a single red rose pierced the large grandfather clock which contained the pocket dimension, causing the youma to lose the energy she had taken and her power over time.
"My power, it's back!" Sailor Moon shouted as she felt her energy returning and the tiredness that had paralyzed her wash away. Mercury nearly stumbled over, realizing that she was no longer frozen in place. Thinking quickly, she summoned a fog to provide cover for Sailor Moon as she ran over to help her friend up.
"Now Sailor Moon." Mercury said to her friend. Sailor Moon quickly charged up her tiara and threw at the enemy.
"MOON TIARA ACTION!" She called out, throwing the flying discus of energy towards the youma, slamming into the youma, disintegrating it.
The store suddenly vanished out of existence, leaving Sailor Moon and Mercury standing in a vacant lot. Usagi looked up at one of the neighboring buildings as a woman in a sailor senshi uniform like hers but holding a large staff looked back down on her before vanishing into the shadows.
"Sailor Moon! Sailor Mercury! I knew you could do it!" Luna yelled as she ran towards the senshi. The two senshi ducked into an alley to detransform and head home.
—
That night, Usagi couldn't sleep. Something about what happened in the clock store was bothering her, she couldn't figure out what it was, but she knew that something wasn't right.
"What's wrong Usagi? Upset stomach from that cake eating contest?" Luna asked.
"Lunaaaaaa." Usagi groaned. "I want to enjoy my youth. After all, I won't be young and beautiful forever you know." Wait, that was it. Usagi thought. In the clock store, Ami said I aged 500 years, but I didn't look a day over 20.
"Luna." Usagi asked, suddenly very scared that she wouldn't like the answer that she was going to get. "Are we, I mean Ami-chan and I, human?"
Whatever Luna had been expecting to be troubling Usagi, it certainly hadn't been THAT. Luna figured that her charge would have to be told the truth eventually.
"Technically no, you're the reincarnation of the Sailor Senshi from a time called the Silver Millennium. The people of the Silver Millennium were the champions of their home planets, and protected the princess of the Moon Kingdom, the seat of power for the entire solar system."
"So then I'm from the Moon?" Usagi asked, she really didn't like where this was heading, after all she was just an ordinary teenage girl who happened to have superpowers, but to find out she was really an alien. "What were these Moon people like?"
"My memories are still fuzzy from being in a stasis capsule for so long, but the Lunarians were a race of long-lived people who could wield powerful magic, especially the royal family, and were the rulers of the solar system. Which is why finding the princess is so important." Luna explained.
"I see." Usagi said, trying to keep herself from crying. How often does a person find out they're really an alien. "When you said long-lived, how long did you mean?"
"Usagi, what happened in that clock store today?" Luna asked, seeing the tears in the girl's eyes.
"Luna, please. How long did they live?" Usagi asked, her eyes watering up.
"Usagi what's wrong?" Luna asked her charge.
"How long, Luna?" Usagi replied, her voice shaking.
"Centuries, Millennia even, why?" Luna replied. Unsure why Usagi wanted to know so badly.
"I see." Usagi straightened up. "Good night Luna." Usagi quickly laid down and tried to fall asleep.
"Usagi, what's wro—" Luna started to ask
"I said GOOD NIGHT Luna." Usagi cut her off, ending the discussion.
—
Usagi looked up from her balcony, staring at the Earth, suspended above the moon's surface, never moving, and always teasing her. She reached out for the gem of a planet, so close and yet so far away for her.
Somebody knocking on the door behind her broke her from that train of though.
"Come in." Usagi said, not sure what was going on.
A blonde girl that seemed to be Usagi's age wearing a senshi uniform walked in. Usagi didn't recognize it, and yet it seemed familiar, she wore a red bow in her hair that kind of reminded her of Sailor V, except that Sailor V didn't wear an orange uniform.
"Princess, are you ready to go?" The unknown senshi asked. Usagi stood up and gracefully walked towards her.
"As ready as I'll ever be, Vee" Usagi replied, as she passed by the mirror in the room, she caught a glimpse of her own outfit. Instead of wearing a senshi uniform like she had expected, she was wearing a long white gown with a gold trim around the bodice.
As the two of them walked down the hallway, Usagi felt like her body was on autopilot. People around the two seemed almost reverential towards her, but Usagi didn't understand why.
She turned to the blonde senshi who was walking with her and asked "Vee, Are you sure this is alright? I mean you taking me to the training grounds and all." Usagi could feel her dream-self's nervousness about doing this, thinking that it must not have been okay for this.
'Venus' Usagi remembered her name now, 'that girl is Sailor Venus and she's my guard captain!'
"Serenity, the Senshi Corps are mine to command, if I say that it's okay, then it's okay." Venus assured her. "Besides, I'd do anything for my little cousin."
"Princess Serenity!" came a tiny voice from behind her. Usagi turned around and saw a small black kitten with a crescent moon on her forehead running towards her. "Princess don't forget me!" Usagi smiled as she knelt down towards the kitten, tickling it's chin.
"Of course not Luna, you just looked so peaceful sleeping I didn't want to wake you up." Usagi replied to the kitten. "Come on!"
Taking the cue from the princess, Luna leaped up onto Usagi's head and curled up.
"I still don't know why you let her do that" Venus remarked.
Serenity just stuck out her tongue at Venus instead.
—
Usagi woke up, feeling strange about that dream. It didn't feel like a dream to her, but instead felt more like a memory. She didn't really want to deal with whatever it meant right now, and besides, Mars was the one who understood dreams and what they meant.
Usagi paused for a second. Where did THAT train of thought come from?
She's just have to talk about it with Ami after school, Mercury always has an answer for everything.