Grano Salis

By TwinEnigma

Warnings: Non-senshi focused, original characters, death, language, violence; see author's notes

Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, nor do I write this for profit.


Author's Notes - Please, read this first.

There are a couple of things I want to go over before this gets very far. This story is about the rise of Crystal Tokyo, as told from the eyes of people unconnected to the sailor soldiers, the ordinary, run of the mill people of the world. This fic is going places you will feel uncomfortable with. Yes, there will be discussion and an examination of the concept of Crystal Tokyo as both utopia and dystopia. That does not mean that it is purely one or the other, nor that I am 'going on fanon.'

In many ways, this story is examining the fandom; namely, those who believe it is a utopia, those who know there isn't enough information and those who believe it's a dystopia. You will see common arguments from all three groups. I'm very familiar with arguments for all three and with the canon. It's going to be an integral part of the storyline.

However, if you cannot read this with an open mind or just want to wail on me with "omg someone's been readin too much fanon," back out now. This isn't about fanon. This isn't about canon. This is about what would happen if ordinary people were offered peace and ageless longevity on a silver platter by a more or less physical god.


Prologue:

There is a young woman on the TV. She is beautiful, in a strange way, with a sort of otherworldly quality and a kind, heart-shaped face. Her hairstyle is certainly odd – two buns with long streamers of hair trailing down the back – but otherwise she appears every inch the conservative politician. There is a slight delay as she talks, the announcers dubbing her voice for the international re-broadcasts only a half second behind the movement of her lips.

"There exists great suffering in this world. Terrible things happen every day for reasons we do not always understand. All around us, we see this suffering and we say it is sad, but we do not help. What good will one good deed do, in the wake of all this, we ask ourselves. There is too much suffering for us to handle on our own. We feel bad and say, this is just the way of things to justify our inaction."

She pauses, raising startlingly blue eyes to the camera, and the diamond on her necklace sparkles in the lights.

"But, what if it doesn't have to be this way?"

Her fingers, long and pale, grip the podium.

"What if we were to banish that sadness? What if the power to shape the world anew, to reshape it in love was within our reach? What if we had that power to reach out and help our neighbors? After all, are we all not brothers and sisters on this earth? Don't we all long for happiness, for an end to suffering, and to share that joy with the world?"

She smiles warmly.

"The light of hope is in every heart and with each step forward we take, we can bring the world towards a bright and beautiful future."

She bows her head a little and then looks up to the camera once more.

"That is the purpose of this proposal. With the blessings of the Japanese prime minister and the United Nations, we hope to begin construction of a great international city-state devoted to the advancement of mankind and peace on earth. We hope the Crystal Tokyo project will be the first step towards a bright and happy future for us all."

Her name is Tsukino Usagi.

She is twenty-one years old.

In eight months, she will be crowned queen of the constitutional monarchy, Crystal Tokyo.

In thirteen months, she will rule the world.