ff dot net had me defaulted to not being able to accept anon reviews. I had no idea. That's fixed now. So sorry.


Chapter One


"Serenity? Are you alright?" The voice would have sounded composed and tinged merely with polite concern to anyone else. Only she recognized the distressed edge, the barely suppressed panic in the tones of his speech.

"Endymion," she murmured, and he knelt beside her.

Serenity felt disoriented as she pressed her palms to the floor and attempted to push herself into a sitting position. Warm hands found their way to her shoulders, and Endymion helped steady her, pulled her gently into his arms as he sat beside her.

The king seemed calm and collected as always to everyone else, only Serenity recognized the truth. The fear and pain buried beneath the cool gaze of his eyes. How he trembled when he touched her, like she might vanish right in front of him. She had emerged from her crystal encasement restored and healed. But Endymion was still so damaged.

No one else knew about the dreams that Endymion had sent his past self, since no one remembered that far back in time, and he carefully omitted that information when detailing what he had witnessed as his hologram wandered, specter-like, through the palace ruins.

Serenity never told her husband that she knew. And seeing the state Mamoru had been in, and experiencing, through her connection to him, exactly what Endymion showed him - night after night- ... the sheer maliciousness of it was all too much for her to bear.

Still, it was in Endymion's arms she found refuge from her thoughts, solace from her hurt. She shut her eyes as he stroked her back, her hair, and brushed his lips against her face. He sensed her agitation, and she could feel a sense of calm, of restoration, flowing from his hands into her wounded psyche. Tears burned behind her eyelids.

"What happened?" he asked.

Maybe it had been a test. Maybe it had been a warning. In any case, it was dangerous. He could have erased everything. Their daughter. Their kingdom. Why?

Serenity sighed, pale blue eyes opening regretfully. "We need to gather the senshi and call Sailor Pluto from the time gate." She felt his alarm in the way his body tensed beneath her arms. "I think the time rifts are getting worse."


"The time rifts should be diminishing with the defeat of the Black Moon, not swallowing people whole," concerned marred Sailor Pluto's perfect features.

"I may have walked directly into it," the Neo-Queen admitted, "my thoughts were elsewhere."

Sailor Mercury cut in with, "Besides the Black Moon clan popping in and out of time as if it was their own private walk-in closet, Small Lady went back in time for her own safety. And we are all now aware that the senshi and Tuxedo Kamen came to Crystal Tokyo from the 20th century, too. Every event outside of a regular time-stream is damaging, so we should expect residual effects from all this, right?"

"Residual effects should be fading." Sailor Pluto said, "That was rather my point." She frowned as if considering something, but wouldn't elaborate further.

Serenity felt depressed. They were holding off on calling Small Lady back until the city was free from roving space-time rips. One convenience of time travel was departure and arrival could be bent to your will - so Small Lady was not waiting for them. But, oh god, Serenity missed her little girl.

"I bet coming here was traumatizing for them," Sailor Mars was saying, referring to their past selves' appearance in the war-torn Crystal Tokyo just weeks before.

Although she had no clear memories of their previous visit to Crystal Tokyo during the 20th century, Sailor Mars didn't have to guess how they had felt when they saw the devastation around them, or were told that the woman lying prone in the crystal coffin was their precious Usagi-chan.

There was a heavy pause, and the senshi and King seemed to go inside themselves, remembering the immediate aftermath of the Black Moon attack - Princess Usagi Small Lady Serenity's disappearance and Neo-Queen Serenity's encasement in crystal. They didn't know until much later if either one was even alive.

Serenity glanced around at the sorrowful expressions, feeling strangely precluded from the shared moment of relived trauma.

"I can tell you Sailor Moon was thinking, 'Wow, it looks like I finally got taller,'" the Neo-Queen finally said, lightly. It wasn't entirely true, Serenity admitted silently to herself, but that particular thought was the first to enter Sailor Moon's head when she first saw her future self.

That effectively broke the tension.

Until Sailor Pluto spoke, that is. "I never knew you had such a good memory," she said, hazel eyes stared intently into ice blue ones.

Serenity sighed, "I don't. As you well know." All eyes were on her now. Pluto's gaze was extracting. Endymion's expression didn't change, but Serenity recognized apprehension, hidden deep within his dark eyes. "There was a period while I was - asleep - during which Sailor Moon effectively channeled me, using the silver crystal."

"Go on." Sailor Pluto's voice was quiet but intense.

"It was when I-she- was trying to to bring Small Lady back from the grasp of the Black Moon," here her voice hitched, and Sailor Mars reached out a comforting hand to her shoulder. "She asked the crystal to aid her, and it brought me into the battle."

"Sailor Moon became me, and I was her." The Neo-Queen shrugged slightly, "I saw everything through her eyes and spoke through her to Small Lady. It was brief."

"So you were in her mind, in her consciousness," Sailor Mars breathed. "No wonder you seem to know so much about your 20th century life all of a sudden."

"I didn't go poking around in her mind," Serenity countered, a bit defensively. "I was there for one reason only: Small Lady. When she was saved, my mind returned to my body."

"Did you leave anything behind?" Sailor Pluto asked, seriously.

Serenity shook her head. "I don't think so. It was a one-way connection."

Sailor Mars nodded, she was following this conversation better than almost anyone else present.

"But Usagi left something behind," Sailor Mars postulated, pointing one slim, perfect finger right at the crescent moon on Serenity's forehead, "in you."

"Only bits and pieces. Mostly recent memories of her life in old Tokyo, the days leading up to the battle where she called me. The day she - we- came here."

"What was it like?" Sailor Mercury asked; when in scientist-mode her curiosity could sometimes override her usual sensitivity.

After all, Sailor Moon came face-to-face with the devastation of her future, was captured by Prince Demando - whose designs on her with not innocent, and then had to take a life, and finally that was the day little Small Lady, "Chibi-Usa" as they called her, was captured by the Black Moon. It was not something anyone would want to relive if they would help it.

"It was strange," Serenity whispered. Endymion shut his eyes. No one but Serenity noticed his hands were shaking an indiscernible amount.

No one spoke for a long time.

Sailor Pluto finally broke the silence. "You have given me something to think about."

She ignored the curious looks of the others and turned toward the King and Neo-Queen. "I'll be returning to the time gate. Please inform me of any other time rifts. And, your majesty, please do try not to walk through another one." A small smile curled her lips.

"I'll be more careful," Serenity murmured. Pluto put a hand on hers, briefly, and they shared a glance before the dark-haired senshi walked out the door.

As the other senshi dispersed, Neo-Queen Serenity looked up at her husband, taking a breath to speak. But before she could open her lips, he gave her one, tortured glance and abruptly turned to leave the room.

The door closed with what felt like a crushing finality.


AN.

So you may have noticed it's not... exactly canon. but it's fanfic. so...