The room was dark and dim, just how I like it.

I'm a mixture of woman and child. It is the future now, a new revolution and a new time. I am no longer the little violet-eyed, innocent savior I was so long ago.

I have grown up nicely under the care of Michiru and Haruka, my caretakers. Each of the Crystal Millennium children has had privileges and luxuries bestowed on them by their mothers, the Senshi. We lead the way for the future of this city.

Claelia, Chibiusa, Jeanne and I have known each other since we were children. Claelia, the daughter of Makoto Kino, resembles her mother in the way that she is tough and tall, but yet beautiful and caring.

Jeanne, daughter of Rei Hino, has always been the mysterious one, carrying on in her mother's footsteps as a Shinto priestess. I remember days of running across her freshly-swept temple steps and hearing the angry cries of Jeanne, upset at her ruined work.

Chibiusa, of course, is the child of King Endymion and Queen Serenity, the pink-haired goddess of Crystal Tokyo. She and I became friends, sisters, a long, long time ago, in that void where my mind grows gray and fuzzy. My father, my mother, my life…it recedes to nothing at that point…

I blinked back to reality. Leaning on my elbows, I cradled my head in my hands, my hair falling in ebony strands around my face. Life was so good before I ventured out into this realm of adulthood, filled with responsibility and term papers. Just me, with the ones around me that I held true.

Enter Ryo.

He blasted into my life, a blonde-haired, blue eyed angel. At first, that's what I thought he was. A wingless being, freefalling from the heavens to meet my gaze and smile. Those eyes, they melt me with one glance. I could sit and dream about him all day, Ryo, slicing against the moonlight and the sky.

I am a girl of many dreams.

I stood, prompted by a knock at my door. I hoped it wasn't the annoying landlord, who keeps pestering me for rent. Leaving Haruka and Michiru's house two months ago was a sad event. I was eager to go out and roam the streets of Crystal Tokyo as an adult, but then saddened when it meant moving away from Haruka-papa and Michiru-mama. I am now 19, but I wished I was still a young girl, riding happily in the back of Haruka-papa's car through the streets of the Crystal City. Michiru, my surrogate mother since my rebirth, hugged me warmly while furiously trying to hold her tears in. It was like I was leaving my own mother and father. In a way, I was.

My eyes clouded over as a solemn-looking woman in a pinstriped suit and black pumps greeted me on my tiny porch. My apartment overlooks the bustling city, the neon lights, and the intricate roadways that make up Crystal Tokyo. The moon cast an eerie glow on her form, making her seem tall and frightening.

"Ms. Hotaru, I presume?" Her voice was monotone, drab, stinging the air unexpectedly.

I simply stared at her, scared for her next words, and nodded reluctantly.

"Ms. Hotaru, I regret to inform you, but your parents are dead."

-------------

A/N: Sorry so short. The next chapter should be out soon. I hope you enjoy 'Embers'. It is quite different from 'Velocity' and 'Exhale'. ^_^