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"Recessional"
by Angus MacSpon
Based on "Sailor Moon" created by Naoko Takeuchi.
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"The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart..."
-- Rudyard Kipling
-1-
And so it was over. Mostly, she felt tired: a deep, bone-deep
weariness. That was a relief, in a way. She had expected pain.
She lay on a bed of rubble beneath a dark sky. There was a thin, chill
wind blowing, stirring the dust around her. In a little while, she
knew, the sky would be much darker; and the wind ... it would blow, and
blow, and then there would be an end to everything.
Above, the heavens were full of stars. They shone brilliantly, brighter
than she had ever seen them. Once, not so very long ago, such a night
would have been occasion for celebration, for joy and laughter and love
beneath the glittering sky. Now, there was nobody left to celebrate;
and the brightness of the stars had another, grimmer meaning.
[Did I do well?] she wondered. A victory had been won, yes, but at such
great cost. [Might there have been another way?]
[Oh, my daughter ...]
The tears dried in her eyes, unshed. She did not have the energy to
weep.
Her eyelids closed for a moment. A great silence fell. She seemed to
see a vast, shadowy plane beneath a starry sky. Something stirred,
far-off: a vague, indistinct shape on the horizon. And then her eyes
opened again, and the ruins were all around her once more, and the
gentle sighing of the wind. The sky was perceptibly darker.
She breathed a silent laugh. She had not expected to dream. At the
very least, she had not expected to awaken.
Behind her, far off, there was a sound of pebbles shifting. Movement
amidst the wreckage. [Another ghost come to haunt the ruins,] she
thought with bitter humour. [Did I fail, then? Did some of the
invaders survive?]
It hardly mattered. Soon enough, the ruins would be lifeless.
She heard rocks shifting, the crunching of stone. Footsteps coming
toward her. And then a voice, long-remembered, spoke.
"My queen ..."
With a great effort she lifted her head. Her eyes swam for a few
seconds, then cleared. "You," she whispered.
"Yes. Oh, my queen ... I could not ... you knew I could not ..."
"Hush. Of course I knew." She coughed; and for the first time, there
was pain. When she could speak again she said, "You did what was
necessary." After a moment she added, "You all did ..."
The newcomer sat down in the rubble at the queen's side. If the broken
stone was uncomfortable, the newcomer gave no sign. "I ... didn't know
if I'd find you or not."
"Alive, you mean?" The queen breathed a laugh: all the laughter that
was left in her. "Not for much longer, I think. It is all gone. I
used it all up."
"I know."
"Of course you do. Ahh ..." The pain came again, and the world went
dark. Dark, and full of knives.
At last, she found she could see again. The other was still at her
side. "Still there?" she whispered. "Good. I am glad to have a
friend, at the end."
The other looked down at her, eyes wet with tears. The queen tried to
lift a hand to brush them away, but found she could no longer move her
arm. "You, crying?" she murmured. "Surely not."
The other laughed through tears of grief. "I do cry. Sometimes." And
then, stirring: "My queen, I could take you indoors ... make you more
comfortable ..."
"I don't think you'd find any 'indoors' left," the queen said. "Not for
a long way around, at least ... There's little point, anyway. You must
have noticed the sky ..."
The other nodded silently.
"So dark, now ... and see the stars!" She coughed, a long, painful
hacking. "The air is escaping. It won't be long now before ... before
the end. No, let me lie. I'll be ... more comfortable ... soon
enough." She sighed. "Only hold my hand ..."
She felt another hand, warm in her own. It was comforting.
"Did I do well?" she asked suddenly. "You could tell me that, at least.
Will it work out?"
The other's grip tightened slightly on her hand. "My queen --"
"I know, I know. And I never _have_ asked. But now, at the end of it
all, what harm can it do? Tell me, Pluto. Did I do well?"
-2-
Pluto smiled down at her, her eyes still moist. "As you say, what
harm?" She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Well? Well
enough, my queen. You did not destroy them, but you locked them away
where they could harm no-one. And the others, the children ..." She
hesitated. "They arrived safely. They were -- they will be happy."
The queen sighed. "There's more, isn't there? You're not telling me
everything."
Pluto was uncomfortable. "My ... Queen Serenity ..."
The queen turned her head to look up at her companion. It suddenly
occurred to her that it was odd that she was able to do so. "Are you
doing something to me?"
"I'm giving you a little more energy. Enough to ... to take the pain
away, for a while."
Serenity shook her head. "A waste of effort. I'm dying, Pluto. Burnt
out. Not even Saturn could help me now." She fixed Pluto with a stern
expression. "Tell me."
"... You're right." Pluto looked away for a moment. "Beryl _will_
break free again. In the same time period when the children will be
living."
"Ahhh ..." The physical pain was held at bay, for now; but the
emotional pain was worse. With a great effort, she managed to sit up.
"I feared that. Was it all for nothing, then?"
"No. Oh, no!" Pluto was speaking less reluctantly now. It must be
pleasant for her, the queen thought, to be able to talk about what she
knew. Of all the senshi, Pluto had perhaps the harshest role; she lived
bound in circumscriptions and arcane rules, her life one of perpetual,
resolute devotion to a far harder task than ruling a kingdom. The
wonder of it was that she was still sane.
"Oh, you would be so proud of them, Serenity," Pluto went on. "The
Inner Senshi, and your daughter especially. Still only young girls, all
of them, but they fight Beryl and her generals, and they win!"
"Win?" the queen said in wonder. "A final victory? I never dared hope
for that ..."
"A final victory. Your daughter ... oh, she is one to be proud of.
There is steel in her, though --" Pluto smiled "-- one sometimes has
to dig to find it."
"I remember." The queen smiled wistfully. "Oh, but it's hard, knowing
that I shan't see her again -- never watch her grow up ..." She sighed.
"Is she happy, then, after Beryl is gone? Does she have a ... a mother,
in her Earth family? Can she ..." She stopped, unable to say the
words: [Can she love my daughter as I do?]
Pluto gazed at her steadily, and Serenity nodded. "You're right. I'm
jealous. But ... will she be happy? Tell me that, at least."
"She ..." Pluto searched for words. "She has much to endure. A time
of testing. My queen, the Silver Millennium is over, but the cycle
moves to re-establish it. This time, on Earth. Your daughter will face
trial after trial -- but each one will only strengthen her. And in the
end, she will rule a Silver Millennium reborn. With her Earth prince by
her side."
"Yes ..." Serenity leaned back for a moment, resting her head against a
shattered pillar. Her vision swam alarmingly, and she forced herself
back upright. [It won't be long now,] she thought.
In a way, she found she was looking forward to it. To an end to the
weariness and the grief. An end to pain. And, perhaps, a reunion with
her consort. She had devoted her life to her realm, and now she had
spent it all to secure a future for her daughter ... for all her
daughters and sons, the people of her kingdom. It was a good ending
after all, and all she had to do was relax at last ...
It was not enough.
Her eyes opened again. "Pluto?" she said.
"Yes, my queen." Serenity looked up and caught a strange expression on
Pluto's face: sadness, worry ... but was that anticipation, as well?
"Show me," she ordered. And Pluto nodded, and lifted her staff.
-3-
They stood in a darkened chamber. Serenity reeled at the sudden change,
and Pluto caught her before she could fall. "Can you stand?" Pluto
asked.
"I ... I think so. Not for long. Where are we?"
"Beryl's throne-hall. Just watch. Don't say anything. We're not
physically here, so nobody should see us, but Beryl is ... well, it's
best not to draw attention to ourselves."
Slowly, the queen's eyes were adjusting to the darkness. The more
detail she made out, the more she wished they weren't. She groped for
words that could describe the horror of what she was seeing, but could
find none. Twisted, warped, somehow organic-looking ... it was as if
the walls themselves dripped malevolence.
[No,] she scolded herself. [Don't be melodramatic.] She knew what the
problem was. She was half-dead with shock and exhaustion; her body,
damaged and failing from channelling the huge overload of power she'd
levelled against Beryl and her forces. The only thing keeping her going
at all was the energy Pluto was feeding her. Small wonder that she was
feeling giddy, seeing things that weren't there ...
But there _was_ something there. Something unspeakable. Her mind
turned back to her Crystal Palace on the moon: laid waste now, but once
it had been a place of light and life, of joy and peace. Anyone who
entered it felt at home at once. It was nothing to do with the
furnishings, or the architecture, or the people who dwelt there; it was
simply that an ineffable spirit of contentment, a tranquil genius loci,
hung over it. And that feeling, that spirit, was the exact opposite of
what she felt now. The spirit of this place was dark, and savage, and
hungry.
It centred around the throne, and at last Serenity had to look at the
one seated there. She had seen that figure just a few hours ago,
standing in the ruins of her palace and proclaiming her triumph over the
Moon Kingdom. She wondered how far forward Pluto had brought her.
Hundreds of years? Thousands? But Beryl hadn't changed at all. Tall,
slender ... from a distance, one might have called her beautiful. From
a distance.
"Now," Pluto whispered.
Serenity stood, with Pluto's help, and watched what happened. She saw
her daughter [O my daughter!] come in. She watched the Earth-prince,
his mind dominated by dark powers, try to slay his lover; she watched
the prince fall. In the end, she watched her daughter face Beryl.
Followed the battle out, onto the ice. Watched her daughter win, the
ghostly forms of her dead companions by her side. And as the fireball
blossomed, as the energies burst outward, she wept.
Out of that conflagration she saw an object fly, glittering, gleaming;
something so familiar, so well-known, that she stretched out a hand to
catch it without thinking. It was only when she felt the impact in the
palm of her hand, looked down to see what she held, that she realised
the impossibility of what had happened.
"You said we're not physically here," she said accusingly. She lifted
the object -- the Empyrean Silver Crystal, set in its crescent-moon wand
mounting -- and demanded, "How?"
"The Crystal knows its owner," Pluto replied calmly. "When your
daughter dropped it, it found its way home." For just a moment,
Serenity thought she saw a flash of satisfaction on the senshi's face.
"That's not what I meant," the queen snapped. "How could this possibly
have --" She stopped as realisation dawned. "You planned this," she
said accusingly.
Pluto hesitated. "I hoped," she admitted. "Usagi told me how she'd
lost the Crystal, and how she got it back --"
"Usagi?"
"Your daughter's Earth name. It means -- well, it's a name in the
language of the land where she was reborn."
"Ah." Serenity tried the name a few times. It seemed odd on her lips:
the name of a stranger. "This is why you were so willing to bring me
forward to see her again," she realised suddenly.
Pluto nodded silently.
"You used me. I was _dying_ and you still did it."
Pluto nodded again.
After a long silence, the queen sighed. "I said it before, didn't I?
'You did what was necessary.' And I suppose I did ask you to do it."
Only one who had known Pluto as long as Serenity had would have
recognised the look of guilt on the senshi's face. For a moment she
looked very vulnerable. "Do you forgive me?" she asked in a small
voice.
The queen sighed again. "How can I not?" she said. "You gave me my
daughter back, if only for a few moments."
Pluto smiled, and there were tears in her eyes. There were tears in
Serenity's own. On impulse, she reached out and hugged the senshi.
After a surprised instant, Pluto hugged back.
As they separated, a wave of vertigo swept over the queen. She
staggered, gasping; Pluto reached out a hand to catch her, but missed.
As Serenity hit the floor, the world went black. If there was pain, she
never felt it.
[And she saw a dark, shadowy plain ... and a sky full of stars. No, not
a plain, a sea: an endless, calm sea, perfectly flat. And there, on the
horizon ... what?]
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Pluto's anxious face staring
into her own. She felt ... strange. Detached. As if a limitless
supply of energy lay all about her, ready to be used; but when she tried
to reach for that energy, tap it, it seemed to flow away between her
fingers, leaving her weaker than ever.
"It's the Crystal," she said, without trying to move. "It's feeding me
more energy, trying to heal the damage. But the Crystal is what did the
damage in the first place. It's only making it worse." [Hastening the
end.]
"I know," Pluto answered. "We'll have to hurry."
The queen raised her eyebrows with an effort. "Oh? Why, do you have
more stops planned?"
"Oh, yes," Pluto said calmly. And she raised her staff.
-4-
They stood on the Moon once more, in the ruins of the palace. But ...
something was different. Serenity looked around, trying to work out
what had changed.
"The sky," she realised. "It's black now. And the palace looks ...
older, somehow. It's as if ..."
"This is the Moon of your daughter's day," Pluto said. "The last of the
atmosphere leaked away thousands of years ago. The vacuum has preserved
the ruins here, mostly, but prolonged heating and cooling is slowly
crumbling the stone. There's a trace of power left that helps maintain
things here around the palace. Over most of the Moon, the wreckage is
hardly visible any more." She smiled. "One of the Apollo missions was
going to land here. I had to divert it."
"What? -- Never mind. Why are we here?"
"We've moved back in time. It's a day or so before your daughter fights
Beryl. Right now, on Earth, the Inner Senshi are confronting one of
Beryl's generals. In a few minutes, there'll be a blast of energy that
will create a momentary point of confluence between your Crystal and the
Crystal your daughter holds. The senshi will drawn here. To meet you."
The queen did not answer immediately. Another wave of blackness passed
over her, and she had to fight to stay erect. "Go on," she managed to
say at last.
"Their memories of the past are almost non-existent. If they're to have
the strength to finish the job, they need to know more. Who they are.
Where they came from. What happened here. Why."
"What? Pluto, I ... I don't know if I have the strength to do that."
[Don't make me live through it all over again!]
"You have the Crystal now. You should still be able to draw enough
energy to manage."
Serenity looked at Pluto silently. Both of them knew what it would cost
her to use the Crystal again, for such a major working. But the senshi
did not flinch. [The timeline must be preserved,] her look seemed to
say. [Sometimes the price is very high. But the timeline must be
preserved.]
"Very well," the queen said softly. "I'll do it."
As she spoke, the Crystal in her hands flickered. She felt a strange,
cool radiance, spilling over her skin. Then it erupted in a flare of
light that blinded her for a few seconds. As her vision returned she
thought she saw a strange doubling. Moving lights, shadows from another
light source, not far away. She heard voices.
"I've arranged for an atmosphere over the local area," Pluto said. "You
should go to meet them now."
Serenity nodded, raised the wand. [They'll think I died, thousands of
years ago,] she thought. [I ought to make a good entrance.] Behind
her, Pluto vanished from sight.
Closing her eyes, the queen reached out her senses to the Crystal. As
she had feared, she could not touch it; her inner gateways were closed,
the paths and conduits seared shut by the huge overload of force she had
drawn. The power was there, a vast reservoir of energy, but just out of
reach.
Only life-energy could breach the gap, she realised; but she had so
little left ...
The words came back to her again. [You did what was necessary.]
With ruthless force, she tore the conduits open. The power flowed. It
burned: a cold, bright fire throughout her body, horribly painful, much
worse than she had expected. She writhed, a moth in a flame, her hands
clamped vice-like on the wand, her breath coming in short gasps, her
teeth grinding as she fought for control.
[... what was necessary ...]
She went to meet the children.
*******
And afterward, seeing the burst of light as the young ones vanished back
to Earth, Pluto stepped out from behind the base of a shattered pillar.
The queen stood in the centre of a little clearing in the wreckage. She
was motionless. She barely seemed to be breathing.
"Are they gone?" the queen said. Her voice was soft, gentle, soothing,
full of warmth. The voice of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium.
Suspiciously, Pluto stepped closer. "Yes," she said.
"Thank you." And the queen's hands opened, and the wand dropped to the
dusty ground. And the illusion vanished.
Pluto caught her breath in spite of herself. What stood before her now
was scarcely recognisable. Withered. Twisted. _Consumed._ The hands
that had held the wand were fleshless, almost skeletal. The queen's
limbs were shrunken, pale skin stretched almost transparent over white
bone. And her face: skull-like, distorted with pain and suffering. One
eye was red with blood. More blood ran from her nose, not dripping but
flowing steadily. The whole front of her dress was stained bright red.
She turned her head slowly, unsteadily, obviously looking for Pluto, and
just as obviously unable to see her, though the senshi stood in bright
sunlight.
"Pluto?" she said. Her voice was a mumble, almost unintelligible.
As Pluto stood staring, for a moment unable to move, the queen took a
step forward. All at once her legs seemed to fail, and she tumbled to
the ground like a bundle of sticks. She seemed astonished at her
failure, and started struggling to rise, her lips moving soundlessly.
The spell broke; Pluto ran forward and gathered the queen up in her
arms. She seemed to weigh less than a child.
"Too deep," Serenity muttered, her head on Pluto's shoulder, her words
slurred and guttural. "Drank too deep at the well ..." And then she
looked up at Pluto's face, and seemed to stir in recognition.
"Mama ...?"
Pluto snatched up the crescent-moon wand. The Time Gate opened, and
they were gone.
-5-
Serenity was flying.
The pain was gone at last, and she sailed joyously through an open sky,
soaring and banking and diving and gliding, her arms outstretched to
catch the wind, marvelling at the ecstasy of flight.
[Free, free at last, no more duty, no more obligations, no more tedious
courts and receptions and state banquets and endless endless endless
work ...]
The sun was low on the horizon, and as she dipped and swooped and
wheeled with glorious abandon, she saw it set. The western sky was a
blaze of red-gold. The stars began to come out. She flew on. Her
strength was boundless.
Night fell, and suddenly she knew she had seen this place before. An
endless, flat plain spread out below her -- but no, it was the sea, calm
and smooth, utterly peaceful. The sky was filled with stars, more stars
than she had ever seen, diamond-bright. It was almost too much to bear,
and she wept tears of joy as she flew on ...
(Somewhere, a door slams open. She hears running footsteps,
feels herself carried inside. There are voices, raised
in surprise.)
("Get Hotaru! Quickly!")
("Setsuna-san ...?")
("NOW!")
(And more running footsteps, but she really does not want
to hear this ...)
The sea below her was clear and perfectly smooth. Mirror-smooth. She
flew with stars above and stars below. The last of the afterglow
vanished from the western horizon, and she glided on, easily,
tirelessly. She felt no fear, only a breathless wonder and expectation.
The reflection below her was so perfect, she could not tell where the
sky ended and the sea began. She watched, trying to pick out the
dividing line, and presently she noticed that the stars reflected below
her were not the same as the stars above.
She wondered if she had left the water behind, and was flying through
space. But somehow she knew that the sea was still there ... but that
it reflected nothing at all. Those lights came from beneath the
surface.
The sea was full of stars. A starsea.
(There are cool fingers on her brow, and she opens her eyes
with difficulty. Someone is kneeling over her, looking down
in shock and concern. After a moment, she recognises her.)
("Hello, Uranus," she breathes. It is curiously difficult
to get the words out. "... Been a long time ...")
(She sees horrified recognition dawn in the woman's eyes, and
then Uranus bursts into tears.)
(But the effort is too much, and she cannot stay ...)
It was full night. There was no wind, and no sound but the steady
beating of her wings. The coolness of the air against her skin was
wonderfully exhilarating. She could fly all night, if she wanted. She
could fly forever.
But there was something on the horizon. Something that she could not
quite make out. A shape, a vast curve up into the sky. Not a cloud,
she was certain of that. She wanted to reach it, to make it out
properly ...
("Hotaru-chan, you must hurry!")
("I _can't_, Setsuna-mama! She's so far gone ... and there's
something else ... it's like the Empyrean Silver Crystal's
power, but it's all through her body, and it's blocking me.")
("She must not die! Not yet!")
("I can't save her!")
("Just keep her alive! Just a few hours more! That's all!")
She beat her wings harder, climbing higher into the air. The shape on
the horizon seemed to be growing closer. She could begin to pick out a
few more details, here and there. An arc ... no, a double arc. Closer
now, definitely. Soon she would see it in its entirety.
How high was she? She could no longer tell. The air did not seem
thinner, but she thought she could see more stars now. Ahead, the thing
on the horizon seemed to have grown, too. It was still maddeningly
indistinct, but she could make out more curves ... and a circle ...
For the first time, she saw a ripple on the sea below her. The stars
below her wavered. There was a faint sound in her ears. Another
ripple, and another, and then she saw that the sky was rippling too.
And the whole universe wavered and faded around her, and as the last
stars disappeared she cried out, [Nooo! Not when I was so close!]
-6-
She opened her eyes. There were faces all around her, unfamiliar ...
and yet, at the same time, she thought she knew them.
"Where ...?" she began. Her mouth was dry. She could not continue.
One of the strangers held a glass of water to her lips. She swallowed a
few mouthfuls, then found she could drink no more. A name swam into her
mind.
"Uranus ..."
The stranger jerked. "My queen," she said respectfully.
"Queen. Is that who I am? I don't ..." The words seemed to dry up in
her mind; she faltered to a stop. Then another word came to her.
"Serenity."
"Yes," said another of the strangers: a tall woman with long green hair.
"Serenity. That is who you are. Do you remember?"
"Pluto," she said, without really knowing why. More nonsense words came
to her: "Neptune ... Saturn?"
"You know me," whispered the smallest of the strangers.
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary again. "Know," she murmured. "No."
She knew nothing. She was only tired. She wanted to sleep. She wanted
to fly. She wanted ... she wanted ...
"Daughter," she said suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "Where is my
daughter?"
"_Who_ is your daughter?" asked the tall green-haired one. "Do you
know? Do you remember? Do you know who _you_ are?"
"I know who _you_ are," she snapped back. "Do you want me to say your
name?"
That was a real threat, she knew. But even as she spoke it, the memory
faded, drifted away, like ... like foam on the sea ... She sighed and
turned her head away from the tall one's suddenly-pale face. Her eyes
fell on the smallest stranger again.
"Daughter," she whispered. But that was wrong. Something ... something
nagged at the back of her mind. [Daughter?] No, not that. But it was
there, on the tip of her tongue ... wait ...
"Saturn," she burst out. "Senshi Saturn!" And with that, at last, the
clouds rolled away. "And Neptune ... Uranus ... Pluto. What happened?
Where is this? I thought ... Pluto, where have you brought me now?"
Pluto hesitated. "This is your daughter's time," she said reluctantly.
"I brought you here for healing. You drew too much from the Crystal
..."
"Too much?" Serenity frowned. "No, not too much. Barely enough. I
did not think I would be able to finish." She looked down at her hands,
troubled by the memory. Had there been blood ...? But it was gone now.
Her eyes returned once more to the small, frail-looking stranger.
"Saturn," she murmured. "What crisis was so great that you were reborn,
I wonder?"
"We don't have time for this," interrupted Pluto. "My queen, you were
almost dead. Ho ... Saturn here has healed you." Saturn stirred, but
Pluto went on before she could speak. "We need to be on our way."
Serenity smiled. "Before any of us can say too much, you mean." She
sighed, and made to stand up. For the first time, she became aware of
what she was feeling. Or of what she was not feeling.
"I ... I'm numb," she said, startled.
"I'm sorry," Saturn said miserably. "I couldn't do it, your majesty. I
... I think it was the Empyrean Silver Crystal that ... that damaged you
like this. Your body's still full of the power. I can't get through."
Serenity nodded slowly. "Yes. I knew what the price would be, for what
I did. The Crystal usually kills its holder in the end." She stared at
her hands, rubbing her fingertips together. She felt nothing. "But
what --"
Saturn shot a guilty look at Pluto. "Setsuna said I --"
"I'll explain what needs to be explained," Pluto said coldly. "You
three can go now. And --" Her eyes flashed a warning "-- you will _not_
mention any of this to the Inner Senshi. Is that understood?"
They nodded silently and shuffled out, bowing a silent farewell to the
queen. Serenity watched them go, bemused. "You're very harsh with
them," she commented.
"I'm not who they think I am," Pluto confessed. "I don't belong in this
time any more than you do. I took a horrible risk in bringing you here;
the chance of meeting myself -- the me that does belong here -- was
quite high. But I had to come when I knew I'd be able to find Saturn."
"So even you break the rules," Serenity said.
Pluto simply looked at her. The message in her eyes was clear.
[... what must be done ...]
"All right." The queen tried to stand again. This time she made it;
she stood erect, swaying a little. "It feels ... very odd," she
commented.
"A unique case," Pluto told her. "You drained yourself dry, stopping
the invasion and sending everyone to Earth. I gave you a few more
hours' life so you could help to ... patch a few things up, and you went
and drained yourself dry _again_. One might almost think you enjoy it."
With a shock, Serenity realised that Pluto was trying to make a joke.
[Another unique case,] she thought. [At least in my experience.] "So
what's the verdict?" she asked aloud.
"A desperation remedy. You were dying after the _first_ time. The
second time ... well, the reason you can't feel anything ..." Pluto bit
her lip. "It's because you don't have anything left to feel _with_.
It's all gone, Serenity. Everything. Burnt away. There's ... there's
only a shell left."
Serenity looked down at herself. She touched her chest. It seemed
solid. "I feel fine," she said. "Just numb."
"And you'll go on feeling fine. For a while. Saturn's power is almost
inconceivable, but it's not limitless. And the amount of energy she
poured into you just to give you that time is going to leave her drained
for days. She managed to keep you ... animate ... for a while. Things
like nerve endings had to take second place."
Serenity shook her head. It was too much to take in. Simply
incomprehensible. "I -- it's ... hard to accept," she said at last.
"Don't try. You're no worse off than when I found you on the Moon,
really. But you can move and speak, and that's enough." After a moment
Pluto added, "Don't try to use the Crystal again, though. You're not
... compatible with it any more."
The queen took a deep breath. It still felt natural. She tried to put
it from her mind, and said, "Do you have our next stop planned?"
"Yes," Pluto said. "Now you have to give the Crystal back." And her
staff glowed.
-7-
They hung in a void. A vast, empty space, it seemed; but it was so
utterly featureless that Serenity knew there could have been walls all
around her, just out of reach. She might be motionless, or moving at
great speed. She could not tell.
"What is this place?" she whispered.
"Limbo," Pluto said. "Nullity. Nothingness. Ginnungagap. The void
outside the universe. Call it what you like." After a slight pause she
added, "We're here to meet your daughter."
"_Here_?"
"Usagi is facing her second great trial. Without the Crystal, she's not
doing very well. In a few moments, the creature she's fighting will
open a gateway, and Usagi will be pulled through. She'll end up here."
"Will she ... be able to see me?"
"You, yes. I'll be out of sight." Pluto hesitated, then went on, "It's
best that you don't tell her how you got here. She hasn't met me yet,
in this life."
"All right. Then what should I tell --"
"There!"
Serenity looked. Far away, an unguessable distance across the void,
there was a spark of light. When she looked back, Pluto was gone.
She sighed. [All right, then,] she thought. [What do I say? What can
I tell her?] The spark of light grew closer as she watched. Soon she
could make out details. It was her daughter, naked, huddled into a
fetal ball, and with her ... was that ...?
The queen laughed silently. Luna! So the cat-guardian had found her.
Good. At least that much of her plan had worked, then.
The two came closer. Serenity prepared to met her daughter again.
*******
Pluto appeared once more after the princess and the cat had departed.
"One more stop in this time, and we can move on," she said.
"What else?" the queen asked patiently.
"The sceptre. Usagi will need that, too."
"But I don't have -- oh. Thank you." Serenity took the sceptre,
holding it carefully. One of the ancient treasures of the Moon Kingdom;
she had seldom touched it before. "Why couldn't I have given it to her
when she was here just now?"
Pluto shrugged. "Because that's not the way it happened." Serenity
opened her mouth to argue, and the senshi added, "My queen, do you
really want a lecture on causality?"
Serenity sighed, then laughed. "I can't argue with that." She looked
down, checking her grip on the sceptre. [What if I drop it without
noticing? It's heavy, but I can't feel the weight ...] To Pluto she
went on, "How do I do this one, then?"
"Well ... apparently, you fly overhead and drop it to Usagi."
Serenity eyed her warily. Pluto's face was impassive, but she had a
sneaking suspicion that the senshi was trying not to laugh. "Not very
dignified," she commented at last.
Pluto shrugged. "That's what Usagi told me you did. And Mercury
confirmed it, later."
Serenity sighed. "The things I do for that girl."
*******
Unseen, they watched Usagi dispatch the creature she'd been fighting,
and free the four trapped Senshi. They watched the sunlight return.
They stood in a park, and there seemed to be some kind of celebration
going on.
"She does have a certain ... style ... with the sceptre," Pluto
commented.
Serenity shot her a wry glance. "Making fun of your future queen?"
"Perish the thought ..."
The two looked at each other and shared a laugh. It was always good to
see Pluto laugh, Serenity thought. The senshi had no peers, and very
few that she had ever called friends. That Serenity was one of them,
was one of the queen's proudest accomplishments.
"I like these trees," she said. "What are the flowers called?"
"Cherry blossoms," Pluto answered. "Yes, it's always a lovely time of
year when they're in flower. The whole country celebrates." She looked
at the queen, seemed to hesitate, then visibly made up her mind. "Can I
ask you something?"
"Of course."
"How ... did you know my name?"
The queen blinked. "Oh! I'd forgotten about that." She thought for a
moment. "My mother told me it, a long time ago. I imagine she had it
from _her_ mother. I suppose I should pass it on to Se ... Usagi."
Pluto laid her hand on Serenity's arm. "No. Please. Let it die."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Pluto repeated softly,
"Please."
"All right." After a moment Serenity said, "You're the only one left
who attaches any importance to that, you know."
"I know. But let it die. I have another name here ... now. No doubt
I'll have others in the future. Let that one go."
The queen nodded. They walked through the park in silence for a few
minutes. At last Serenity said, "Shouldn't we be moving on? Where's
next?"
Pluto raised an eyebrow. "Here and there," she said. And she grasped
her staff ...
-8-
... And they travelled on, through time and space ...
-9-
...Until at last they came to a small room in a high tower. A balcony
looked out over a great, glittering metropolis, full of light and life.
It was mid-morning, and the cloudless sky was a clear, brilliant blue.
The moon was visible near the horizon: a thin, perfect crescent.
Pluto lowered her staff. "Last stop," she said.
Serenity went to the balcony and stood looking out over the city. Pluto
came and stood by her. "It's beautiful," said the queen.
Pluto nodded. "Welcome to the Crystal Millennium," she said softly.
Serenity bowed her head. "Thank you. I don't belong here ... but thank
you."
They stood in silence for a few minutes. The air was cool and sweet,
and very pure.
"It's almost over, isn't it?" said Serenity presently. "I ... feel
tired. I think I'd welcome a rest."
"Yes," Pluto said. "Only a few minutes left, I think. There's just one
task left for you, and then you can rest, my queen." She pointed.
"Through that door. You'll know what to do."
The queen turned to go, but was stopped by Pluto's hand on her arm. The
senshi looked at her for a moment. She was smiling. "Serenity ..." she
said gently. "You have been my queen ... and my friend. Remember.
There is room in the world for Grace."
Serenity nodded, not trusting herself to answer, and stepped through the
door.
There were several people in the room beyond. She did not know most of
them, but she recognised Endymion at once. And the woman on the bed was
unmistakable. And then she realised what was happening, and began to
weep. "Thank you," she whispered. "Oh, thank you."
And she stood watching, unnoticed, as the firstborn child of Queen
Serenity and King Endymion was born, and at last her heart was light.
When it was over, and the babe lay on its mother's breast, too newborn
yet to suckle, she stepped forward for a moment. She brushed a hand
over the wisps of hair on the child's head. "Granddaughter ..." she
murmured.
And finally, her daughter. The Queen. She laid her hand on Serenity's
forehead, and whispered, "Goodbye, my dear. I love you."
And as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo looked up in wonder at the touch, and
felt the warmth and love of an unseen presence, and said, "Mother --?",
the Garnet Staff flashed and they were gone.
-10-
They flew together, beneath a midnight sky, over a sea full of stars.
The queen looked over at her companion. "This isn't your place," she
said.
"No," Pluto agreed. "I'm only here to say good-bye."
They began to climb. Far ahead, the shape on the horizon seemed to
drift closer, becoming ever clearer.
"I am the guardian of the Gate of Time," Pluto said. "But this ..."
Higher, they flew. Higher. And slowly, the focus seemed to shift, and
Serenity began to realise what she was seeing.
"... This is the final gate."
It was an eye.
"The gate that opens only once for each person."
Slowly, as they flew ever higher, the rest became visible. A face,
larger than worlds.
"The Midnight Gate."
A young face, with wisdom and kindness in its eyes. A gentle smile.
And on its forehead, a crescent moon.
"Good-bye," whispered Pluto, and Serenity flew alone. She sped onward,
never glancing back. And the Midnight Gate opened for her, and she was
gone.
"And perhaps," whispered Pluto, "perhaps someday I too will be allowed
to pass."
Her Staff flashed, and she too was gone.
THE END
Author's Notes:
This story, obviously, is based around events in the anime episodes
titled (in the dub) "The Past Returns," "Day of Destiny" and "Cherry
Blossom Time."
It started out as a mere vignette, and (like, I suspect, many fanfics)
grew far beyond my expectations. I intended to write a simple scene in
which Serenity lies dying, and Sailor Pluto comes and speaks to her for
a few minutes before her death.
Only ... it occurred to me that the queen would probably ask about her
daughter's future. And Pluto, knowing that she is dying, might well
answer. And if I was going _that_ far, why not have Pluto _show_ her?
By then I found that I'd given myself the chance to explain a number of
plot holes in the first two series of SM. For example, the question of
Serenity's ghost (I'm ignoring the manga explanation of a hologram). If
it's been hanging around the Moon since the fall of the Silver
Millennium (and why would that be, anyway?), how did she get hold of the
Empyrean Silver Crystal after Usagi lost it? And so forth. And I
started wondering if maybe it _wasn't_ a ghost.
A word about this business of Pluto's real (birth) name. We can be
reasonably sure that it isn't "Meiou Setsuna" (unless Japanese really is
a universal language). But why was Pluto so upset at the idea of her
true name being revealed? I deliberately didn't explain, because I
wanted to suggest that there's a lot of history behind the two main
characters, and we'll never know it all. You can probably come up with
an explanation yourself, if it really bothers you. I came up with three
without difficulty.
Anyway, that's enough from me. For now.
Angus MacSpon
macspon@mac.com
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/
Revision: 13 February, 1999.
"Recessional"
by Angus MacSpon
Based on "Sailor Moon" created by Naoko Takeuchi.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"The tumult and the shouting dies;
The Captains and the Kings depart..."
-- Rudyard Kipling
-1-
And so it was over. Mostly, she felt tired: a deep, bone-deep
weariness. That was a relief, in a way. She had expected pain.
She lay on a bed of rubble beneath a dark sky. There was a thin, chill
wind blowing, stirring the dust around her. In a little while, she
knew, the sky would be much darker; and the wind ... it would blow, and
blow, and then there would be an end to everything.
Above, the heavens were full of stars. They shone brilliantly, brighter
than she had ever seen them. Once, not so very long ago, such a night
would have been occasion for celebration, for joy and laughter and love
beneath the glittering sky. Now, there was nobody left to celebrate;
and the brightness of the stars had another, grimmer meaning.
[Did I do well?] she wondered. A victory had been won, yes, but at such
great cost. [Might there have been another way?]
[Oh, my daughter ...]
The tears dried in her eyes, unshed. She did not have the energy to
weep.
Her eyelids closed for a moment. A great silence fell. She seemed to
see a vast, shadowy plane beneath a starry sky. Something stirred,
far-off: a vague, indistinct shape on the horizon. And then her eyes
opened again, and the ruins were all around her once more, and the
gentle sighing of the wind. The sky was perceptibly darker.
She breathed a silent laugh. She had not expected to dream. At the
very least, she had not expected to awaken.
Behind her, far off, there was a sound of pebbles shifting. Movement
amidst the wreckage. [Another ghost come to haunt the ruins,] she
thought with bitter humour. [Did I fail, then? Did some of the
invaders survive?]
It hardly mattered. Soon enough, the ruins would be lifeless.
She heard rocks shifting, the crunching of stone. Footsteps coming
toward her. And then a voice, long-remembered, spoke.
"My queen ..."
With a great effort she lifted her head. Her eyes swam for a few
seconds, then cleared. "You," she whispered.
"Yes. Oh, my queen ... I could not ... you knew I could not ..."
"Hush. Of course I knew." She coughed; and for the first time, there
was pain. When she could speak again she said, "You did what was
necessary." After a moment she added, "You all did ..."
The newcomer sat down in the rubble at the queen's side. If the broken
stone was uncomfortable, the newcomer gave no sign. "I ... didn't know
if I'd find you or not."
"Alive, you mean?" The queen breathed a laugh: all the laughter that
was left in her. "Not for much longer, I think. It is all gone. I
used it all up."
"I know."
"Of course you do. Ahh ..." The pain came again, and the world went
dark. Dark, and full of knives.
At last, she found she could see again. The other was still at her
side. "Still there?" she whispered. "Good. I am glad to have a
friend, at the end."
The other looked down at her, eyes wet with tears. The queen tried to
lift a hand to brush them away, but found she could no longer move her
arm. "You, crying?" she murmured. "Surely not."
The other laughed through tears of grief. "I do cry. Sometimes." And
then, stirring: "My queen, I could take you indoors ... make you more
comfortable ..."
"I don't think you'd find any 'indoors' left," the queen said. "Not for
a long way around, at least ... There's little point, anyway. You must
have noticed the sky ..."
The other nodded silently.
"So dark, now ... and see the stars!" She coughed, a long, painful
hacking. "The air is escaping. It won't be long now before ... before
the end. No, let me lie. I'll be ... more comfortable ... soon
enough." She sighed. "Only hold my hand ..."
She felt another hand, warm in her own. It was comforting.
"Did I do well?" she asked suddenly. "You could tell me that, at least.
Will it work out?"
The other's grip tightened slightly on her hand. "My queen --"
"I know, I know. And I never _have_ asked. But now, at the end of it
all, what harm can it do? Tell me, Pluto. Did I do well?"
-2-
Pluto smiled down at her, her eyes still moist. "As you say, what
harm?" She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. "Well? Well
enough, my queen. You did not destroy them, but you locked them away
where they could harm no-one. And the others, the children ..." She
hesitated. "They arrived safely. They were -- they will be happy."
The queen sighed. "There's more, isn't there? You're not telling me
everything."
Pluto was uncomfortable. "My ... Queen Serenity ..."
The queen turned her head to look up at her companion. It suddenly
occurred to her that it was odd that she was able to do so. "Are you
doing something to me?"
"I'm giving you a little more energy. Enough to ... to take the pain
away, for a while."
Serenity shook her head. "A waste of effort. I'm dying, Pluto. Burnt
out. Not even Saturn could help me now." She fixed Pluto with a stern
expression. "Tell me."
"... You're right." Pluto looked away for a moment. "Beryl _will_
break free again. In the same time period when the children will be
living."
"Ahhh ..." The physical pain was held at bay, for now; but the
emotional pain was worse. With a great effort, she managed to sit up.
"I feared that. Was it all for nothing, then?"
"No. Oh, no!" Pluto was speaking less reluctantly now. It must be
pleasant for her, the queen thought, to be able to talk about what she
knew. Of all the senshi, Pluto had perhaps the harshest role; she lived
bound in circumscriptions and arcane rules, her life one of perpetual,
resolute devotion to a far harder task than ruling a kingdom. The
wonder of it was that she was still sane.
"Oh, you would be so proud of them, Serenity," Pluto went on. "The
Inner Senshi, and your daughter especially. Still only young girls, all
of them, but they fight Beryl and her generals, and they win!"
"Win?" the queen said in wonder. "A final victory? I never dared hope
for that ..."
"A final victory. Your daughter ... oh, she is one to be proud of.
There is steel in her, though --" Pluto smiled "-- one sometimes has
to dig to find it."
"I remember." The queen smiled wistfully. "Oh, but it's hard, knowing
that I shan't see her again -- never watch her grow up ..." She sighed.
"Is she happy, then, after Beryl is gone? Does she have a ... a mother,
in her Earth family? Can she ..." She stopped, unable to say the
words: [Can she love my daughter as I do?]
Pluto gazed at her steadily, and Serenity nodded. "You're right. I'm
jealous. But ... will she be happy? Tell me that, at least."
"She ..." Pluto searched for words. "She has much to endure. A time
of testing. My queen, the Silver Millennium is over, but the cycle
moves to re-establish it. This time, on Earth. Your daughter will face
trial after trial -- but each one will only strengthen her. And in the
end, she will rule a Silver Millennium reborn. With her Earth prince by
her side."
"Yes ..." Serenity leaned back for a moment, resting her head against a
shattered pillar. Her vision swam alarmingly, and she forced herself
back upright. [It won't be long now,] she thought.
In a way, she found she was looking forward to it. To an end to the
weariness and the grief. An end to pain. And, perhaps, a reunion with
her consort. She had devoted her life to her realm, and now she had
spent it all to secure a future for her daughter ... for all her
daughters and sons, the people of her kingdom. It was a good ending
after all, and all she had to do was relax at last ...
It was not enough.
Her eyes opened again. "Pluto?" she said.
"Yes, my queen." Serenity looked up and caught a strange expression on
Pluto's face: sadness, worry ... but was that anticipation, as well?
"Show me," she ordered. And Pluto nodded, and lifted her staff.
-3-
They stood in a darkened chamber. Serenity reeled at the sudden change,
and Pluto caught her before she could fall. "Can you stand?" Pluto
asked.
"I ... I think so. Not for long. Where are we?"
"Beryl's throne-hall. Just watch. Don't say anything. We're not
physically here, so nobody should see us, but Beryl is ... well, it's
best not to draw attention to ourselves."
Slowly, the queen's eyes were adjusting to the darkness. The more
detail she made out, the more she wished they weren't. She groped for
words that could describe the horror of what she was seeing, but could
find none. Twisted, warped, somehow organic-looking ... it was as if
the walls themselves dripped malevolence.
[No,] she scolded herself. [Don't be melodramatic.] She knew what the
problem was. She was half-dead with shock and exhaustion; her body,
damaged and failing from channelling the huge overload of power she'd
levelled against Beryl and her forces. The only thing keeping her going
at all was the energy Pluto was feeding her. Small wonder that she was
feeling giddy, seeing things that weren't there ...
But there _was_ something there. Something unspeakable. Her mind
turned back to her Crystal Palace on the moon: laid waste now, but once
it had been a place of light and life, of joy and peace. Anyone who
entered it felt at home at once. It was nothing to do with the
furnishings, or the architecture, or the people who dwelt there; it was
simply that an ineffable spirit of contentment, a tranquil genius loci,
hung over it. And that feeling, that spirit, was the exact opposite of
what she felt now. The spirit of this place was dark, and savage, and
hungry.
It centred around the throne, and at last Serenity had to look at the
one seated there. She had seen that figure just a few hours ago,
standing in the ruins of her palace and proclaiming her triumph over the
Moon Kingdom. She wondered how far forward Pluto had brought her.
Hundreds of years? Thousands? But Beryl hadn't changed at all. Tall,
slender ... from a distance, one might have called her beautiful. From
a distance.
"Now," Pluto whispered.
Serenity stood, with Pluto's help, and watched what happened. She saw
her daughter [O my daughter!] come in. She watched the Earth-prince,
his mind dominated by dark powers, try to slay his lover; she watched
the prince fall. In the end, she watched her daughter face Beryl.
Followed the battle out, onto the ice. Watched her daughter win, the
ghostly forms of her dead companions by her side. And as the fireball
blossomed, as the energies burst outward, she wept.
Out of that conflagration she saw an object fly, glittering, gleaming;
something so familiar, so well-known, that she stretched out a hand to
catch it without thinking. It was only when she felt the impact in the
palm of her hand, looked down to see what she held, that she realised
the impossibility of what had happened.
"You said we're not physically here," she said accusingly. She lifted
the object -- the Empyrean Silver Crystal, set in its crescent-moon wand
mounting -- and demanded, "How?"
"The Crystal knows its owner," Pluto replied calmly. "When your
daughter dropped it, it found its way home." For just a moment,
Serenity thought she saw a flash of satisfaction on the senshi's face.
"That's not what I meant," the queen snapped. "How could this possibly
have --" She stopped as realisation dawned. "You planned this," she
said accusingly.
Pluto hesitated. "I hoped," she admitted. "Usagi told me how she'd
lost the Crystal, and how she got it back --"
"Usagi?"
"Your daughter's Earth name. It means -- well, it's a name in the
language of the land where she was reborn."
"Ah." Serenity tried the name a few times. It seemed odd on her lips:
the name of a stranger. "This is why you were so willing to bring me
forward to see her again," she realised suddenly.
Pluto nodded silently.
"You used me. I was _dying_ and you still did it."
Pluto nodded again.
After a long silence, the queen sighed. "I said it before, didn't I?
'You did what was necessary.' And I suppose I did ask you to do it."
Only one who had known Pluto as long as Serenity had would have
recognised the look of guilt on the senshi's face. For a moment she
looked very vulnerable. "Do you forgive me?" she asked in a small
voice.
The queen sighed again. "How can I not?" she said. "You gave me my
daughter back, if only for a few moments."
Pluto smiled, and there were tears in her eyes. There were tears in
Serenity's own. On impulse, she reached out and hugged the senshi.
After a surprised instant, Pluto hugged back.
As they separated, a wave of vertigo swept over the queen. She
staggered, gasping; Pluto reached out a hand to catch her, but missed.
As Serenity hit the floor, the world went black. If there was pain, she
never felt it.
[And she saw a dark, shadowy plain ... and a sky full of stars. No, not
a plain, a sea: an endless, calm sea, perfectly flat. And there, on the
horizon ... what?]
When she opened her eyes again, she saw Pluto's anxious face staring
into her own. She felt ... strange. Detached. As if a limitless
supply of energy lay all about her, ready to be used; but when she tried
to reach for that energy, tap it, it seemed to flow away between her
fingers, leaving her weaker than ever.
"It's the Crystal," she said, without trying to move. "It's feeding me
more energy, trying to heal the damage. But the Crystal is what did the
damage in the first place. It's only making it worse." [Hastening the
end.]
"I know," Pluto answered. "We'll have to hurry."
The queen raised her eyebrows with an effort. "Oh? Why, do you have
more stops planned?"
"Oh, yes," Pluto said calmly. And she raised her staff.
-4-
They stood on the Moon once more, in the ruins of the palace. But ...
something was different. Serenity looked around, trying to work out
what had changed.
"The sky," she realised. "It's black now. And the palace looks ...
older, somehow. It's as if ..."
"This is the Moon of your daughter's day," Pluto said. "The last of the
atmosphere leaked away thousands of years ago. The vacuum has preserved
the ruins here, mostly, but prolonged heating and cooling is slowly
crumbling the stone. There's a trace of power left that helps maintain
things here around the palace. Over most of the Moon, the wreckage is
hardly visible any more." She smiled. "One of the Apollo missions was
going to land here. I had to divert it."
"What? -- Never mind. Why are we here?"
"We've moved back in time. It's a day or so before your daughter fights
Beryl. Right now, on Earth, the Inner Senshi are confronting one of
Beryl's generals. In a few minutes, there'll be a blast of energy that
will create a momentary point of confluence between your Crystal and the
Crystal your daughter holds. The senshi will drawn here. To meet you."
The queen did not answer immediately. Another wave of blackness passed
over her, and she had to fight to stay erect. "Go on," she managed to
say at last.
"Their memories of the past are almost non-existent. If they're to have
the strength to finish the job, they need to know more. Who they are.
Where they came from. What happened here. Why."
"What? Pluto, I ... I don't know if I have the strength to do that."
[Don't make me live through it all over again!]
"You have the Crystal now. You should still be able to draw enough
energy to manage."
Serenity looked at Pluto silently. Both of them knew what it would cost
her to use the Crystal again, for such a major working. But the senshi
did not flinch. [The timeline must be preserved,] her look seemed to
say. [Sometimes the price is very high. But the timeline must be
preserved.]
"Very well," the queen said softly. "I'll do it."
As she spoke, the Crystal in her hands flickered. She felt a strange,
cool radiance, spilling over her skin. Then it erupted in a flare of
light that blinded her for a few seconds. As her vision returned she
thought she saw a strange doubling. Moving lights, shadows from another
light source, not far away. She heard voices.
"I've arranged for an atmosphere over the local area," Pluto said. "You
should go to meet them now."
Serenity nodded, raised the wand. [They'll think I died, thousands of
years ago,] she thought. [I ought to make a good entrance.] Behind
her, Pluto vanished from sight.
Closing her eyes, the queen reached out her senses to the Crystal. As
she had feared, she could not touch it; her inner gateways were closed,
the paths and conduits seared shut by the huge overload of force she had
drawn. The power was there, a vast reservoir of energy, but just out of
reach.
Only life-energy could breach the gap, she realised; but she had so
little left ...
The words came back to her again. [You did what was necessary.]
With ruthless force, she tore the conduits open. The power flowed. It
burned: a cold, bright fire throughout her body, horribly painful, much
worse than she had expected. She writhed, a moth in a flame, her hands
clamped vice-like on the wand, her breath coming in short gasps, her
teeth grinding as she fought for control.
[... what was necessary ...]
She went to meet the children.
*******
And afterward, seeing the burst of light as the young ones vanished back
to Earth, Pluto stepped out from behind the base of a shattered pillar.
The queen stood in the centre of a little clearing in the wreckage. She
was motionless. She barely seemed to be breathing.
"Are they gone?" the queen said. Her voice was soft, gentle, soothing,
full of warmth. The voice of Queen Serenity of the Silver Millennium.
Suspiciously, Pluto stepped closer. "Yes," she said.
"Thank you." And the queen's hands opened, and the wand dropped to the
dusty ground. And the illusion vanished.
Pluto caught her breath in spite of herself. What stood before her now
was scarcely recognisable. Withered. Twisted. _Consumed._ The hands
that had held the wand were fleshless, almost skeletal. The queen's
limbs were shrunken, pale skin stretched almost transparent over white
bone. And her face: skull-like, distorted with pain and suffering. One
eye was red with blood. More blood ran from her nose, not dripping but
flowing steadily. The whole front of her dress was stained bright red.
She turned her head slowly, unsteadily, obviously looking for Pluto, and
just as obviously unable to see her, though the senshi stood in bright
sunlight.
"Pluto?" she said. Her voice was a mumble, almost unintelligible.
As Pluto stood staring, for a moment unable to move, the queen took a
step forward. All at once her legs seemed to fail, and she tumbled to
the ground like a bundle of sticks. She seemed astonished at her
failure, and started struggling to rise, her lips moving soundlessly.
The spell broke; Pluto ran forward and gathered the queen up in her
arms. She seemed to weigh less than a child.
"Too deep," Serenity muttered, her head on Pluto's shoulder, her words
slurred and guttural. "Drank too deep at the well ..." And then she
looked up at Pluto's face, and seemed to stir in recognition.
"Mama ...?"
Pluto snatched up the crescent-moon wand. The Time Gate opened, and
they were gone.
-5-
Serenity was flying.
The pain was gone at last, and she sailed joyously through an open sky,
soaring and banking and diving and gliding, her arms outstretched to
catch the wind, marvelling at the ecstasy of flight.
[Free, free at last, no more duty, no more obligations, no more tedious
courts and receptions and state banquets and endless endless endless
work ...]
The sun was low on the horizon, and as she dipped and swooped and
wheeled with glorious abandon, she saw it set. The western sky was a
blaze of red-gold. The stars began to come out. She flew on. Her
strength was boundless.
Night fell, and suddenly she knew she had seen this place before. An
endless, flat plain spread out below her -- but no, it was the sea, calm
and smooth, utterly peaceful. The sky was filled with stars, more stars
than she had ever seen, diamond-bright. It was almost too much to bear,
and she wept tears of joy as she flew on ...
(Somewhere, a door slams open. She hears running footsteps,
feels herself carried inside. There are voices, raised
in surprise.)
("Get Hotaru! Quickly!")
("Setsuna-san ...?")
("NOW!")
(And more running footsteps, but she really does not want
to hear this ...)
The sea below her was clear and perfectly smooth. Mirror-smooth. She
flew with stars above and stars below. The last of the afterglow
vanished from the western horizon, and she glided on, easily,
tirelessly. She felt no fear, only a breathless wonder and expectation.
The reflection below her was so perfect, she could not tell where the
sky ended and the sea began. She watched, trying to pick out the
dividing line, and presently she noticed that the stars reflected below
her were not the same as the stars above.
She wondered if she had left the water behind, and was flying through
space. But somehow she knew that the sea was still there ... but that
it reflected nothing at all. Those lights came from beneath the
surface.
The sea was full of stars. A starsea.
(There are cool fingers on her brow, and she opens her eyes
with difficulty. Someone is kneeling over her, looking down
in shock and concern. After a moment, she recognises her.)
("Hello, Uranus," she breathes. It is curiously difficult
to get the words out. "... Been a long time ...")
(She sees horrified recognition dawn in the woman's eyes, and
then Uranus bursts into tears.)
(But the effort is too much, and she cannot stay ...)
It was full night. There was no wind, and no sound but the steady
beating of her wings. The coolness of the air against her skin was
wonderfully exhilarating. She could fly all night, if she wanted. She
could fly forever.
But there was something on the horizon. Something that she could not
quite make out. A shape, a vast curve up into the sky. Not a cloud,
she was certain of that. She wanted to reach it, to make it out
properly ...
("Hotaru-chan, you must hurry!")
("I _can't_, Setsuna-mama! She's so far gone ... and there's
something else ... it's like the Empyrean Silver Crystal's
power, but it's all through her body, and it's blocking me.")
("She must not die! Not yet!")
("I can't save her!")
("Just keep her alive! Just a few hours more! That's all!")
She beat her wings harder, climbing higher into the air. The shape on
the horizon seemed to be growing closer. She could begin to pick out a
few more details, here and there. An arc ... no, a double arc. Closer
now, definitely. Soon she would see it in its entirety.
How high was she? She could no longer tell. The air did not seem
thinner, but she thought she could see more stars now. Ahead, the thing
on the horizon seemed to have grown, too. It was still maddeningly
indistinct, but she could make out more curves ... and a circle ...
For the first time, she saw a ripple on the sea below her. The stars
below her wavered. There was a faint sound in her ears. Another
ripple, and another, and then she saw that the sky was rippling too.
And the whole universe wavered and faded around her, and as the last
stars disappeared she cried out, [Nooo! Not when I was so close!]
-6-
She opened her eyes. There were faces all around her, unfamiliar ...
and yet, at the same time, she thought she knew them.
"Where ...?" she began. Her mouth was dry. She could not continue.
One of the strangers held a glass of water to her lips. She swallowed a
few mouthfuls, then found she could drink no more. A name swam into her
mind.
"Uranus ..."
The stranger jerked. "My queen," she said respectfully.
"Queen. Is that who I am? I don't ..." The words seemed to dry up in
her mind; she faltered to a stop. Then another word came to her.
"Serenity."
"Yes," said another of the strangers: a tall woman with long green hair.
"Serenity. That is who you are. Do you remember?"
"Pluto," she said, without really knowing why. More nonsense words came
to her: "Neptune ... Saturn?"
"You know me," whispered the smallest of the strangers.
She closed her eyes, suddenly weary again. "Know," she murmured. "No."
She knew nothing. She was only tired. She wanted to sleep. She wanted
to fly. She wanted ... she wanted ...
"Daughter," she said suddenly, her eyes snapping open. "Where is my
daughter?"
"_Who_ is your daughter?" asked the tall green-haired one. "Do you
know? Do you remember? Do you know who _you_ are?"
"I know who _you_ are," she snapped back. "Do you want me to say your
name?"
That was a real threat, she knew. But even as she spoke it, the memory
faded, drifted away, like ... like foam on the sea ... She sighed and
turned her head away from the tall one's suddenly-pale face. Her eyes
fell on the smallest stranger again.
"Daughter," she whispered. But that was wrong. Something ... something
nagged at the back of her mind. [Daughter?] No, not that. But it was
there, on the tip of her tongue ... wait ...
"Saturn," she burst out. "Senshi Saturn!" And with that, at last, the
clouds rolled away. "And Neptune ... Uranus ... Pluto. What happened?
Where is this? I thought ... Pluto, where have you brought me now?"
Pluto hesitated. "This is your daughter's time," she said reluctantly.
"I brought you here for healing. You drew too much from the Crystal
..."
"Too much?" Serenity frowned. "No, not too much. Barely enough. I
did not think I would be able to finish." She looked down at her hands,
troubled by the memory. Had there been blood ...? But it was gone now.
Her eyes returned once more to the small, frail-looking stranger.
"Saturn," she murmured. "What crisis was so great that you were reborn,
I wonder?"
"We don't have time for this," interrupted Pluto. "My queen, you were
almost dead. Ho ... Saturn here has healed you." Saturn stirred, but
Pluto went on before she could speak. "We need to be on our way."
Serenity smiled. "Before any of us can say too much, you mean." She
sighed, and made to stand up. For the first time, she became aware of
what she was feeling. Or of what she was not feeling.
"I ... I'm numb," she said, startled.
"I'm sorry," Saturn said miserably. "I couldn't do it, your majesty. I
... I think it was the Empyrean Silver Crystal that ... that damaged you
like this. Your body's still full of the power. I can't get through."
Serenity nodded slowly. "Yes. I knew what the price would be, for what
I did. The Crystal usually kills its holder in the end." She stared at
her hands, rubbing her fingertips together. She felt nothing. "But
what --"
Saturn shot a guilty look at Pluto. "Setsuna said I --"
"I'll explain what needs to be explained," Pluto said coldly. "You
three can go now. And --" Her eyes flashed a warning "-- you will _not_
mention any of this to the Inner Senshi. Is that understood?"
They nodded silently and shuffled out, bowing a silent farewell to the
queen. Serenity watched them go, bemused. "You're very harsh with
them," she commented.
"I'm not who they think I am," Pluto confessed. "I don't belong in this
time any more than you do. I took a horrible risk in bringing you here;
the chance of meeting myself -- the me that does belong here -- was
quite high. But I had to come when I knew I'd be able to find Saturn."
"So even you break the rules," Serenity said.
Pluto simply looked at her. The message in her eyes was clear.
[... what must be done ...]
"All right." The queen tried to stand again. This time she made it;
she stood erect, swaying a little. "It feels ... very odd," she
commented.
"A unique case," Pluto told her. "You drained yourself dry, stopping
the invasion and sending everyone to Earth. I gave you a few more
hours' life so you could help to ... patch a few things up, and you went
and drained yourself dry _again_. One might almost think you enjoy it."
With a shock, Serenity realised that Pluto was trying to make a joke.
[Another unique case,] she thought. [At least in my experience.] "So
what's the verdict?" she asked aloud.
"A desperation remedy. You were dying after the _first_ time. The
second time ... well, the reason you can't feel anything ..." Pluto bit
her lip. "It's because you don't have anything left to feel _with_.
It's all gone, Serenity. Everything. Burnt away. There's ... there's
only a shell left."
Serenity looked down at herself. She touched her chest. It seemed
solid. "I feel fine," she said. "Just numb."
"And you'll go on feeling fine. For a while. Saturn's power is almost
inconceivable, but it's not limitless. And the amount of energy she
poured into you just to give you that time is going to leave her drained
for days. She managed to keep you ... animate ... for a while. Things
like nerve endings had to take second place."
Serenity shook her head. It was too much to take in. Simply
incomprehensible. "I -- it's ... hard to accept," she said at last.
"Don't try. You're no worse off than when I found you on the Moon,
really. But you can move and speak, and that's enough." After a moment
Pluto added, "Don't try to use the Crystal again, though. You're not
... compatible with it any more."
The queen took a deep breath. It still felt natural. She tried to put
it from her mind, and said, "Do you have our next stop planned?"
"Yes," Pluto said. "Now you have to give the Crystal back." And her
staff glowed.
-7-
They hung in a void. A vast, empty space, it seemed; but it was so
utterly featureless that Serenity knew there could have been walls all
around her, just out of reach. She might be motionless, or moving at
great speed. She could not tell.
"What is this place?" she whispered.
"Limbo," Pluto said. "Nullity. Nothingness. Ginnungagap. The void
outside the universe. Call it what you like." After a slight pause she
added, "We're here to meet your daughter."
"_Here_?"
"Usagi is facing her second great trial. Without the Crystal, she's not
doing very well. In a few moments, the creature she's fighting will
open a gateway, and Usagi will be pulled through. She'll end up here."
"Will she ... be able to see me?"
"You, yes. I'll be out of sight." Pluto hesitated, then went on, "It's
best that you don't tell her how you got here. She hasn't met me yet,
in this life."
"All right. Then what should I tell --"
"There!"
Serenity looked. Far away, an unguessable distance across the void,
there was a spark of light. When she looked back, Pluto was gone.
She sighed. [All right, then,] she thought. [What do I say? What can
I tell her?] The spark of light grew closer as she watched. Soon she
could make out details. It was her daughter, naked, huddled into a
fetal ball, and with her ... was that ...?
The queen laughed silently. Luna! So the cat-guardian had found her.
Good. At least that much of her plan had worked, then.
The two came closer. Serenity prepared to met her daughter again.
*******
Pluto appeared once more after the princess and the cat had departed.
"One more stop in this time, and we can move on," she said.
"What else?" the queen asked patiently.
"The sceptre. Usagi will need that, too."
"But I don't have -- oh. Thank you." Serenity took the sceptre,
holding it carefully. One of the ancient treasures of the Moon Kingdom;
she had seldom touched it before. "Why couldn't I have given it to her
when she was here just now?"
Pluto shrugged. "Because that's not the way it happened." Serenity
opened her mouth to argue, and the senshi added, "My queen, do you
really want a lecture on causality?"
Serenity sighed, then laughed. "I can't argue with that." She looked
down, checking her grip on the sceptre. [What if I drop it without
noticing? It's heavy, but I can't feel the weight ...] To Pluto she
went on, "How do I do this one, then?"
"Well ... apparently, you fly overhead and drop it to Usagi."
Serenity eyed her warily. Pluto's face was impassive, but she had a
sneaking suspicion that the senshi was trying not to laugh. "Not very
dignified," she commented at last.
Pluto shrugged. "That's what Usagi told me you did. And Mercury
confirmed it, later."
Serenity sighed. "The things I do for that girl."
*******
Unseen, they watched Usagi dispatch the creature she'd been fighting,
and free the four trapped Senshi. They watched the sunlight return.
They stood in a park, and there seemed to be some kind of celebration
going on.
"She does have a certain ... style ... with the sceptre," Pluto
commented.
Serenity shot her a wry glance. "Making fun of your future queen?"
"Perish the thought ..."
The two looked at each other and shared a laugh. It was always good to
see Pluto laugh, Serenity thought. The senshi had no peers, and very
few that she had ever called friends. That Serenity was one of them,
was one of the queen's proudest accomplishments.
"I like these trees," she said. "What are the flowers called?"
"Cherry blossoms," Pluto answered. "Yes, it's always a lovely time of
year when they're in flower. The whole country celebrates." She looked
at the queen, seemed to hesitate, then visibly made up her mind. "Can I
ask you something?"
"Of course."
"How ... did you know my name?"
The queen blinked. "Oh! I'd forgotten about that." She thought for a
moment. "My mother told me it, a long time ago. I imagine she had it
from _her_ mother. I suppose I should pass it on to Se ... Usagi."
Pluto laid her hand on Serenity's arm. "No. Please. Let it die."
They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Pluto repeated softly,
"Please."
"All right." After a moment Serenity said, "You're the only one left
who attaches any importance to that, you know."
"I know. But let it die. I have another name here ... now. No doubt
I'll have others in the future. Let that one go."
The queen nodded. They walked through the park in silence for a few
minutes. At last Serenity said, "Shouldn't we be moving on? Where's
next?"
Pluto raised an eyebrow. "Here and there," she said. And she grasped
her staff ...
-8-
... And they travelled on, through time and space ...
-9-
...Until at last they came to a small room in a high tower. A balcony
looked out over a great, glittering metropolis, full of light and life.
It was mid-morning, and the cloudless sky was a clear, brilliant blue.
The moon was visible near the horizon: a thin, perfect crescent.
Pluto lowered her staff. "Last stop," she said.
Serenity went to the balcony and stood looking out over the city. Pluto
came and stood by her. "It's beautiful," said the queen.
Pluto nodded. "Welcome to the Crystal Millennium," she said softly.
Serenity bowed her head. "Thank you. I don't belong here ... but thank
you."
They stood in silence for a few minutes. The air was cool and sweet,
and very pure.
"It's almost over, isn't it?" said Serenity presently. "I ... feel
tired. I think I'd welcome a rest."
"Yes," Pluto said. "Only a few minutes left, I think. There's just one
task left for you, and then you can rest, my queen." She pointed.
"Through that door. You'll know what to do."
The queen turned to go, but was stopped by Pluto's hand on her arm. The
senshi looked at her for a moment. She was smiling. "Serenity ..." she
said gently. "You have been my queen ... and my friend. Remember.
There is room in the world for Grace."
Serenity nodded, not trusting herself to answer, and stepped through the
door.
There were several people in the room beyond. She did not know most of
them, but she recognised Endymion at once. And the woman on the bed was
unmistakable. And then she realised what was happening, and began to
weep. "Thank you," she whispered. "Oh, thank you."
And she stood watching, unnoticed, as the firstborn child of Queen
Serenity and King Endymion was born, and at last her heart was light.
When it was over, and the babe lay on its mother's breast, too newborn
yet to suckle, she stepped forward for a moment. She brushed a hand
over the wisps of hair on the child's head. "Granddaughter ..." she
murmured.
And finally, her daughter. The Queen. She laid her hand on Serenity's
forehead, and whispered, "Goodbye, my dear. I love you."
And as the Queen of Crystal Tokyo looked up in wonder at the touch, and
felt the warmth and love of an unseen presence, and said, "Mother --?",
the Garnet Staff flashed and they were gone.
-10-
They flew together, beneath a midnight sky, over a sea full of stars.
The queen looked over at her companion. "This isn't your place," she
said.
"No," Pluto agreed. "I'm only here to say good-bye."
They began to climb. Far ahead, the shape on the horizon seemed to
drift closer, becoming ever clearer.
"I am the guardian of the Gate of Time," Pluto said. "But this ..."
Higher, they flew. Higher. And slowly, the focus seemed to shift, and
Serenity began to realise what she was seeing.
"... This is the final gate."
It was an eye.
"The gate that opens only once for each person."
Slowly, as they flew ever higher, the rest became visible. A face,
larger than worlds.
"The Midnight Gate."
A young face, with wisdom and kindness in its eyes. A gentle smile.
And on its forehead, a crescent moon.
"Good-bye," whispered Pluto, and Serenity flew alone. She sped onward,
never glancing back. And the Midnight Gate opened for her, and she was
gone.
"And perhaps," whispered Pluto, "perhaps someday I too will be allowed
to pass."
Her Staff flashed, and she too was gone.
THE END
Author's Notes:
This story, obviously, is based around events in the anime episodes
titled (in the dub) "The Past Returns," "Day of Destiny" and "Cherry
Blossom Time."
It started out as a mere vignette, and (like, I suspect, many fanfics)
grew far beyond my expectations. I intended to write a simple scene in
which Serenity lies dying, and Sailor Pluto comes and speaks to her for
a few minutes before her death.
Only ... it occurred to me that the queen would probably ask about her
daughter's future. And Pluto, knowing that she is dying, might well
answer. And if I was going _that_ far, why not have Pluto _show_ her?
By then I found that I'd given myself the chance to explain a number of
plot holes in the first two series of SM. For example, the question of
Serenity's ghost (I'm ignoring the manga explanation of a hologram). If
it's been hanging around the Moon since the fall of the Silver
Millennium (and why would that be, anyway?), how did she get hold of the
Empyrean Silver Crystal after Usagi lost it? And so forth. And I
started wondering if maybe it _wasn't_ a ghost.
A word about this business of Pluto's real (birth) name. We can be
reasonably sure that it isn't "Meiou Setsuna" (unless Japanese really is
a universal language). But why was Pluto so upset at the idea of her
true name being revealed? I deliberately didn't explain, because I
wanted to suggest that there's a lot of history behind the two main
characters, and we'll never know it all. You can probably come up with
an explanation yourself, if it really bothers you. I came up with three
without difficulty.
Anyway, that's enough from me. For now.
Angus MacSpon
macspon@mac.com
http://shell.ihug.co.nz/~macspon/
Revision: 13 February, 1999.