Refractions of Souls

By

Black Rose

Chapter One: Broken Chains

"A scattered dream that's like a far off memory… A far off memory that's like a scattered dream... I want to line the pieces up… Yours and Mine..." - Kingdom Hearts 2

Crystal Tokyo

They say over time pain will go away and that it will get better. Memories will come and go. But what if those memories are the ones that could destroy you or keep you alive? These thoughts ran though Neo Queen Serenity's mind as she finished writing the last letter. She folded it nicely, put it in an envelope, and then sealed it. She then turned to her guardian, who was sitting in a chair, right next to her desk. She was wearing a black and yellow dress. Her long dark hair was done in four odango buns—two on each side.

"Luna, would you please get my daughter," she asked nicely but with a hint of sadness in her voice.

Luna stood up, nodded to her, and left her queen to herself. As soon as her guardian had closed the door behind her, Serenity smiled sadly to herself over what was about to happen. She glanced out the crystal window and looked over her great city. It was lightly raining but you could still see all the lights of the city.

She and her husband had spent a lot of time working hard for a peaceable planet earth and had got it. They both had a loving daughter and knew one day she, too, would make a great queen.

But like all Serenity's before her and her daughter, their role was not an easy one, and would never be. The queen smiled to herself as she remembered holding her daughter for the first time after birth. It had been a painful birth, but worth it. The doctor told her she would never be able to give birth again. She remembered just smiling at her Mercury and told her she knew.

She thought it was even funnier when her Mercury asked her how she knew that, and all she told her was that her mother had told her. All her Mercury did was just nod and left it at that.

A pain in her head knocked her out of her memory. She closed her eyes and could feel tears welling up and falling from them.

"Why?" was all she asked herself, as she moved her hand to her head. She knew time was about up and she needed to send her daughter to her crush. She would have smiled at the way her daughter tried to keep it a secret from her and her father if the pain in her head didn't feel like someone slapping her upside the head really hard.

It wasn't long before she heard a knock on her study door.

"Enter," she told whoever was behind the door.

The door opened to reveal a young lady with long pink hair with a hairstyle like her mother's. She had grown in the last couple of years and looked like a calmer version of her alter-ego, Black Lady. She was wearing a long white skirt and light blue top that fit her nicely, not showing too much but letting the mind wander.

"Mother, you wanted..." Small Lady Serenity stopped talking when she saw that her mother was in pain.

She quickly closed the study door and hurried over to her mother.

"Mother, are you alright?" she asked with worry in her voice.

The queen smiled at her only daughter.

"Small Lady, I need you to return to the past, and to give these letters to who they state on them—and no one else—and you are not to return until I send word; is that understood?" the queen told her, as the pain spread throughout her body. She shakily moved her hand over to the letters, picked them up, and handed them to her daughter.

Small Lady Serenity had tears flowing down her face as she took the letters. She then put them in her pocket. She had never seen her mother in this much pain—even when she was Sailor Moon in the past. She was about to call for help when her mother stopped her.

"No one will come," she told her while holding herself. Her body was shaking badly. At that moment, the door slammed open and Luna ran over to her queen.

"Serenity, it's alright," Luna told her queen while pulling her into a hug.

Neo Queen Serenity's eyes went blank, and it was apparent that she didn't even know that Luna was talking to her. The next thing that happened scared her daughter and Luna; the queen screamed at the top of her lungs. She then passed out. Her body was glowing and shaking. Luna quickly lifted her queen up and moved her to the loveseat that was on the other side of the room.

"What's wrong with my mother, Luna?" Small Lady Serenity asked with a touch of panic in her voice.

After Luna made sure that her queen was lying down comfortably as she could make her, she turned to the princess with very haunted-looking eyes.

"Small Lady, do as your mother has asked, and go now!" she yelled at her. When the princess didn't move, Luna saw the hurt look in the princess's eyes, as well as worry, and knew she need to calmly tell her to go. She got up and looked the princess right in the eyes.

"Small Lady Serenity, I'm sorry for yelling at you; I will look after your mother as I have all these years. If you really wish to help her, you will do as you're told," Luna stated with a commanding voice, but with a kinder tone.

The princess glanced at her mother and wiped her tears away.

"Right," she told Luna and turned to leave.

As Luna watched the princess run out of the room and down the hall, all she thought was, "You had better keep her safe, Saturn," and then she turned back to her queen.

Small Lady ran as fast has she could; she knew that she needed to get the crystal time key that Pluto had given her a long time ago, which was in her room. It didn't take long to get there and find it. Her own head was starting to throb, and she had a feeling that she needed to get moving.

She spoke the words that would activate the key. The next thing she knew, a bright pink light surrounded her and she disappeared. As she reappeared at the time gates, she knew something was off. Her head was starting to spin. She moved her hand to her head to stop it from spinning, but it wasn't helping. She felt like she was about to keel over.

She stood still, holding her head, until she heard a deep voice.

"Child of the Moon, keep moving, she is waiting for you," said a deep male voice from the mist all around her.

"What?" was all that went though her head, but she did as the voice told her. She walked over to the door of time. It opened for her and she stepped through and vanished with a pink light. As the door closed, it sealed itself.

"Good Luck, Moon Princess, and may your own Goddess watch out for you," stated the deep male voice.

Present-Day Tokyo

Dark clouds started to move in. The wind had picked up and you could smell the rain in the air. At one of the many high schools a young teacher with long blond hair with two odango was sitting behind her desk, watching her students take their test. She smiled fondly at them. They all were working so hard. She glanced at one of her students, who was looking out the window. This young woman was always done first when it came to tests, but always had the saddest face of all her students. The only time she would smile was when she would talk about a friend of hers that she missed very much or when she was around her princess. Her name was Hotaru, also knew to her and her senshi, Sailor Saturn.

The young teacher was Usagi, or to her best friends and boyfriend, Bunny. She glanced at a photograph on her desk. She smiled somewhat sadly at it.

It was one that was taken right before all her senshi went their own ways to fulfill their life dreams. It was one of the hardest days of her life and even to this day she felt a great sadness.

Makota ran her very own cake and flower shop. It became so big that she now had stores all around the world. Ami was studying abroad to become a doctor, like she always wanted to be. Bunny couldn't remember where she was now, but last that she'd heard from her Mercury she was in Germany, but that was about seven months back and she hadn't heard from her for some time now.

Bunny smiled sadly at that. She understood that there was a lot of work to become a doctor, even her boyfriend, Mamoru, was trying to become one. He was in the U.S. working hard and yet he still had found time to call her more than a couple of times a month. Her Mercury wasn't the only one that she hadn't heard from in awhile, either.

Neither Haruka nor Michriu had called or written much. Haruka was now a professional racecar driver and her lover was a grand violinist. They traveled the world doing races and concerts.

Bunny smiled a little to herself. She and Hotaru would sometimes watch a race or concert on TV on the weekends when they didn't have school activities to attend to. They would call their daughter when they could and at the same time she would talk to them for a little while.

Again she felt a deep sadness. She glanced at her class and then at the clock. She knew that they didn't have much time left for their test. She glanced around the room. Then she saw a magazine in one of her student's bags with a cover that always put a smile on her face.

On the cover was the new idol and singer. Her Senshi of Love, Minako. She always wanted to be an Idol and now she was. She, too, had stopped calling and even writing sometime ago. Also on the magazine there was an image of her Senshi of Time, Setsuna; she was now a world-known fashion designer and you could sometimes see her and Minako together at parties.

Bunny had to glance away from the cover when her head started to hurt again. She glanced at the photograph again and looked at her last senshi, Raye. She was now a full Miko and working fulltime at the Hikawa Shrine. She was the closest senshi, other than Saturn, that still lived near her.

She would sometimes go see her Fire Senshi, but she was always busy doing something, so she wouldn't have that much time to talk to her or hang out. This saddened the princess a lot because it felt like her senshi didn't want anything to do with her anymore. She missed them so much that it was hurting her.

She was tossed from her thoughts when the bell rang, sounding the end of the test time and the school day. She got up and addressed her class.

"Alright, everyone, pass your test to the front and have a great weekend," she stated calmly and with a smile on her face, even if it was forced.

As the students gathered their things to head home, the rain started to come down. Hotaru did as her princess told them to do, even if the other students didn't know that their teacher was a princess. She glanced at her princess and felt that something was wrong. She watched as her princess picked up the tests and put them on her desk and then turned to a student who had a question.

Hotaru turned back the window to watch the rain. She liked the rain—it made her feel somewhat better. The rain to her was like her powers; it would wash away the dead, and bring new life. She sighed. She knew something new was coming and she had a feeling that it had to do with her princess, and soon-to-be queen. She didn't know why, but she could feel a change in her princess and it felt wrong. Not an evil wrong, but a wrong that she wasn't whole anymore.

She glanced back around the room and saw that almost everyone was gone and that her princess was getting things ready to go. Every now and then and her princess would stop and put her hand to her head. It was those headaches, again. When the last student left, she got up and walked over to her princess.

"Princess, are you alright?" she asked.

Bunny turned to her senshi with pain-filled eyes and a troubled face.

"I don't know, Hotaru. It feels like my whole body is on fire," Bunny told her with a painful voice.

It was then that Hotaru saw something that worried her more. The crescent moon birthmark appeared on her princess's forehead. It was flashing all different colors. Bunny put her hand up to her head again and closed her eyes. Her body started to shake and the Ginzuishou was flashing on her chest.

Hotaru glanced around to make sure no one was nearby. She knew that she needed to get her princess help. She was about to take her cell phone out to call for help, when her princess stopped her with her other hand.

"Saturn... it will be alright," she stated slowly and very softly. She smiled at her senshi, but her eyes were blank of any life. Before Hotaru could reply, her Princess's body started to fall to the floor. She caught her.

"Princess! Princess!" she called to her.

Hotaru held onto her with all she could. She glanced around, feeling very worried and scared. She needed to get help, and fast.

"Mars..." she thought. She was the closest Senshi who could help. She slowly opened her wrist communicator.

"Mars...need help...Princess," she called out. When she didn't get an answer she tried again, but nothing. Hotaru glanced outside and saw that it was still raining. She saw little choice in the matter. She needed to get her princess to a safe place before someone came by or saw her like this.

She slowly started to move the both of them out of the school, and prayed that no one saw them. As she was doing this, elsewhere a black cat was just getting up from a catnap when she felt that something wasn't right. She glanced around the apartment where she and her queen lived, also with one of her senshi.

She didn't know why, but she felt that something was wrong with her queen. The black cat jumped down from the bed and glanced at the clock on the wall.

"Bunny and Hotaru should be on their way home by now, I'll just meet up with them…" she thought.

She then took off out the window that was left open a little ways. Her crescent moon on her head was starting to flash. She had to shake her head to make it stop spinning.

"What is going on?" she asked while running in the rain.

As Luna ran with all her life, there was activity going on the Moon. Two adult females were walking in the newly-reborn Moon Kingdom. One wore a stunning dark blood-red dress; she had long black hair and her eyes shone with power. She looked to be either ready to fight or about to set out to hunt for something.

She glanced at her best friend. She was a beauty all her own. Men would just stop to do a double-look. She had on a nice, elegant light yellow dress. Her very long golden blond hair was flowing behind her like waves. In her best friend's arms she held a ghost-like woman. She was holding onto it like a lover would their partner.

As the two moved along you could hear the sound of the cry of the moon and earth. The black-haired woman sighed sadly as she glanced at the earth. She stopped and turned to it. Her best friend stopped in her tracks, and turned to her.

"Athena, we need to keep moving," she told her friend while holding the spirit even closer to her body.

"Go on without me, I need to take care of something," she replied without turning around, but with an edge in her voice.

The blond just smiled at her and nodded her head. She started to walk again when she stopped.

"Don't hurt her too much; you know how much her princess loves her," she told her without turning around, and then kept walking.

When the blond was out of sight, Athena glanced back at her best friend and smiled somewhat playfully.

"Likewise..." was all she said. Then she disappeared with black flames around her.

The blond kept moving to the prayer room which was in the small cathedral just outside the palace, and the garden. She walked out into the garden and smiled at the sight—there were all different types of flowers growing.

"You will enjoy this sight, my love," she told the spirit in her arms. She then moved passed it and into the prayer room. She quickly turned left and down a small set of stairs that led down into the fallen queen's crypt.

As she entered the holy place, she could hear water running around her. There was a small waterfall right behind the rising place of her lover. The water flowed around it into small streams which flowed under the garden. As she moved to the sarcophagus at the end of the room, small torches started to light up the room. The room held great power, and also just peacefulness.

As she approached her lover's sarcophagus, she saw the elegant relics engraved into the stone. She saw the family birthmark at the very top, with vines flowing around it like a snake tangled around its food. There was also a carving of her body. It showed her beautiful dress that she would wear in those happy days. Her hair done in her same former odango.

The blond smiled lovingly at the spirit in her arms.

"I'm sorry, my love, but your daughter is going to need your help—all but one of her senshi have done the most forbidden act of all: they have broken their chains to her," she stated with great sadness and anger. She slowly lowered the spirit into the sarcophagus and then sat back and waited.

As the spirit gracefully flowed back into its rightful body, the sarcophagus started to shake and crack. With a cry of pain from within the sarcophagus, it shattered. The blond just smiled sadly at the sight. There, on the cold stone floor, was the Late Queen of the Moon. She was holding herself. She looked scared. The late queen glanced around until she saw a welcoming sight.

"Aphrodite...what…is…going on?" she asked, but before she could get an answer images started to flow into her mind. Images of her one-and-only daughter watching everyone she ever loved dying in front of her. The next images that flowed into her mind were of her daughter killing herself because she wanted to be with the people she loved.

Tears fell down from her eyes. She remembered sending them all to a new time on earth. The next thing she felt was warm arms enfolding her.

"It's alright, my love, everything is going to be alright," the Goddess of Love calmly told her.

The Late Queen smiled somewhat sadly, but hugged her lover with everything she held dear.

"I have missed you, my Serenity," Aphrodite told her while stroking the long, elegant silver hair, trying to calm her.

Queen Serenity giggled and pulled back a little and looked into the shining dark eyes.

"You haven't changed, Aphrodite," she stated shyly. She then leaned in slowly and kissed the goddess of love with such passion that it was making the blond's head go blank. Queen Serenity slowly and shyly moved her right hand and placed it softly on the side of her face. She slowly, and with a little bit of power, stroked it, while deepening the kiss. She could hear the goddess's heart racing, and smiled in the kiss. The goddess of love knew she needed to stop this before she lost it and took her lover right there in the prayer room. She slowly moved her hands to her lover's shoulders and lightly, yet with a little force, gave a little push. Serenity got the hint, but wanted to kiss a little longer, but knew the signal.

After a little while they both parted. They smiled at one another and placed their foreheads together. They didn't say anything; no words needed to be said to say what they both felt. It didn't last long before Serenity felt something and her eyes turned stone cold.

She elegantly got up, dusted her dress off, and looked into the waterfall behind her. She could feel the little water spring on her. Aphrodite followed her lead. She waited for her lover to say something. It wasn't long before Queen Serenity turned back to her. Her crescent moon flashed black and white. Aphrodite knew this sign and felt almost sorry for anyone who got in her way. The next thing that her lover asked her made her smile.

"Take me to my daughter, please," she requested nicely and with authority.

The goddess just nodded and smiled, and led her out of the crypt. As the two goddesses left the prayer room they disappeared with a white flash.

Back on Earth, Hotaru was trying with all her willpower to remain calm. She had lost her mother when she was very young, and she wasn't about to lose the closest thing to a mother now. She had put her princess's coat around her to somewhat hide the birthmark. She then slowly started to carry her out of the school. She wasn't as strong as her Haruka- papa or even Makota, but she still tried her best with what she had.

As she and her princess slowly started to walk down the schoolyard through the rain, she heard a voice that made her glance around for it. It was then that she found the person—or, in this case, animal—running up to them. The black cat ran up to them and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw the state of her queen.

"Serenity!" she yelled through the rain. The golden crescent moon on her forehead, flashed so brightly that Hotaru had to close her eyes. When the light faded, she reopened them and saw Luna in her human form, but something felt off about it. Her crescent moon was flashing black and white. Something within her told her that she needed to henshin. She closed her eyes again and called on her planet's power. A very dark purple aura and flame surrounded her, and within since she was in her alter-ego form.

"Luna, what is happening to our princess? And why are none of the other senshi, like Mars, answering my call for help?" she asked the moon guardian with her eyes brimming with power and coldness.

Luna slowly walked up to them, showing the senshi that she was not an enemy to her, but a friend. Her black and yellow dress was soaked to the bone and it showed her figure nicely, without giving away anything inappropriate. As she stood right in front of them, her eyes glanced all over her queen. She then glanced up at the Senshi of Death and Rebirth.

"Saturn, I feel a great change within our New Queen, but I don't know why, and I also don't know why the other senshi are not answering your call," she replied sadly and worriedly.

Saturn nodded her understanding, because she, too, had felt the change. It wasn't until she felt her princess stir that she turned her head down to her. A moan came from her princess. The Moon Princess slowly opened her eyes. Her head was still a little cloudy but she slowly glanced around. She saw Luna in front of her with a worried face, and then she glanced to her side and up at one of her youngest senshi.

"Luna, Saturn, what is going on?" she asked painfully. She moved her only free hand to her forehead.

"I don't know, my Queen, but…" Luna was stopped when a bright pink light flashed like lightning. The three closed their eyes and then reopened them when they felt the light dim down. The three turned to see someone they didn't expect, especially Saturn. There, in the rain in front of the school gate, stood the Moon Princess of the Future.

Small Lady shook her head to stop it from spinning. She glanced around until she saw someone she hadn't seen in years.

"Saturn..." was all she was able to say when her birthmark started to burn. It was at the same time that Bunny's birthmark also started to burn. The two started to scream with so much pain that they didn't know if they were coming or going. The worry in Saturn's eyes shone greatly, as well as in Luna's.

"Luna, hold onto Serenity," she told the guardian, moving the Future Queen to her arms' safely. When she knew that her queen was alright, she moved with such speed that she didn't even know she had and caught her best friend before she fell onto the muddy ground.

"Small Lady...Small Lady, are you alright?" she asked, holding the lead form of her best friend.

Small Lady Serenity opened her eyes slowly, and gave her a small smile.

"Where have you been, Saturn? I have missed yo..." she started but couldn't finish before pass out because of the pain. Tears fell from Saturn's eyes.

"Small Lady...SMALL LADY!" she screamed. She held her best friend very close to her body. Her own birthmark of her planet Saturn appeared on her forehead, and just for a second the moon birthmark appeared right over her birthmark before disappearing. She had to shake her head a little. She glanced over to Luna and her queen. What she saw was not a welcoming sight. Luna was on the ground, holding her queen in her lap. She dress was all muddy, but she seemed not to care.

She had never seen Luna hold the future Queen like that before, it was either like when a lover would hold her partner or when a mother held her child after a nightmare, but she couldn't tell which one.

Luna knew something had happened to her queen because she was also feeling the change within her, and from the looks of things, so was the Moon Princess of the Future. She moved away the wet bangs to reveal the birthmark of her royalty. The next thing that happened scared her and worried her greatly. The birthmarks of the other Senshi appeared and disappeared on top of the crescent moon—they were overlapping one another, and the only one that didn't appear was Saturn's.

Something in the back of Luna's mind came to the front, but before she could state her thought, the Mother and Daughter crescent moons flared up and two moonbeams shot into the sky, like shooting stars. The beams parted the dark storm clouds, and the rain started to fall lightly now.

The last words that Luna thought before she felt someone approach were, "What have they done..."