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SAILOR MOON: REWRITE

a Sailor Moon fan fiction by Michael S. Repton

BOOK ONE – THE QUARTZ PEN

Fairy tales do not give a child his first idea of bogey. What fairy tales give the child is his first clear idea of the possible defeat of bogey.
The baby has known the dragon intimately ever since he had an imagination. What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.

— G. K. Chesterton

Prologue

It was the first night of the new moon, and the sky was black. The figure that crouched just on the edge of a high roof might as well have been invisible. Not that there was anyone to see her; the city below was an archipelago of colours in an oil-black ocean. Square blocks of light shimmered here and there, so bright that globes of purple mist seemed to billow out around them; between them were millions of small flashes, zooming in all directions like the glints of a flickering strobe light, momentarily forming patterns and symbols that shifted every time you tried to read their meaning. On top of the roof, the girl kept still and watched the display, her eyes alight with dashes of white and red and gold.

"It's beautiful," she said in an awed whisper.

Close by her feet came the soft purring of a cat. It did not need words; its anxiety was clear in the tremulous quavering of its tone. The girl drew a sharp breath and shuffled back.

"I… I'm sorry, Artemis," she said. "I guess I was a bit close to the edge, wasn't I? It's just… well, I've never seen anything like it before."

Artemis purred again. This time his note was calmer, and, from the way it hovered and then rose, she knew he was asking her a question.

"Oh, I don't know," she said. "It's hard to explain. It's all so different, I suppose."

"Mm?"

"I mean, I know those streets. I've walked down them so often, but I've never seen them like this before. Don't you remember when we were younger and we wondered what our toys got up to when the lights were out? Maybe cats don't think about that kind of thing. No, you wouldn't, would you? I'm being silly. Of course, that's when you're out and about, isn't it – all cats are gay at night, as the saying goes?"

She reached down and gently ran a finger under Artemis's chin. "I wonder what it's like for you," she said. "You must think it's strange, that I'm so fascinated by all this, when it's just part of everyday life for you. You've grown up with one foot in the world of the fairies."

She smiled and was silent for a minute, looking out over the streams of light as they flowed past, pulses whirled along by a current that dissolved them into a steady blur of motion. "I wonder… do they know, those people down there?" she said. "Do they know there are others watching them who think their whole existence is something magical? Do they appreciate how beautiful their world is, or have they seen it so often that they don't notice it any more?"

Artemis lay flat on the roof and tilted his head up to meet her stroking fingers.

"It's a sad thought," she said. "I wonder… who do they have to bring magic into their lives?" And a smile crept invisibly over her face.

"Let's get going, Artemis," she said. "It's been a long day, and I'm exhausted."

She gave a deep yawn; and yet no-one, if they had been able to see her, would have thought it an apt word for the way she lifted herself up and scampered away across the roof, pausing only to slide to a halt before she leapt over a narrow gap between two buildings, took a moment to regain her balance, and then raced away into the night.

Author's Note

Sailor Moon: Rewrite was my first fan fiction, posted on Geocities between December 2007 and February 2009. This will be a heavily revised version — Book One is twice its previous length and includes many new plot points and characters (as well as dropping some of the less interesting old ones).

So, what is this story? Well, it's an alternative version of the Sailor Moon plot, in something like the same way the manga and anime are alternative versions. So although it's recognisable as the same story, any details of plot or characterisation might be different from the versions you are used to. Sailor Moon: Rewrite is primarily based on the anime, but includes some plot elements and characters from the live-action version, as well as some that are my own invention. I can promise that there will be plenty of twists and surprises, even for readers familiar with all existing versions.

Please leave reviews; not only does this help me improve my writing, but also, getting to see what my audience think of the story is what makes it all worth while.

But above all, I hope you enjoy the story!

3 April 2012: I would like to wish a happy birthday to my friends Carla (today) and Shinali (tomorrow), who were kind enough to read the first draft of the story the way through, and gave me a great deal of helpful feedback. Today is also a significant date for the story: it's exactly 20 years from the day this prologue takes place!