Chibiusa was holding Fate's hand (the one that wasn't holding Bardiche) when they stormed the Garden of Time.
Though to be honest, the very name of that place made her snort because she knew for a fact Pluto had never lived there.
It was a good thing Chrono wasn't allowed to retaliate against the many, many pranks he was hit with, or Chibiusa might have been in trouble.
"I don't understand. Why are you so nice to me? You don't even know me," said Fate as she was escorted to the bridge.
"I know a lot about you. It's just that it would be hard to explain right now," said Chibiusa gently. There was zero pity in her voice, only kindness and love.
Fate didn't need pity. She needed someone who accepted her exactly as she was, and didn't expect anything less. Arf's estimation of the girl went up when she realized that.
Which was why the second Precia dropped the emotional bomb that she didn't consider Fate her daughter, and hated her for looking so much like Alicia without actually being her daughter, it was Chibiusa who hugged Fate hard enough to hurt.
She knew Fate had been abused from the start, yet still harbored love for her mother.
Chibiusa was very familiar with distant mother figures who rarely showed affection. Her mother was often so busy with matters of state that she rarely had time for her daughter.
There was a reason why Chibiusa had developed a love of history early on. She visited Sailor Pluto so often that it was hard not to be interested hearing about it from the woman who spent most of her time watching the time mirrors out of boredom, since she would sense any intruders immediately. Pluto made history interesting!
Fate latched on to the first solid form of affection that presented itself, which in this case was Chibiusa. She was crying openly, causing Chibiusa's shirt to go damp, but she didn't say a word. Nanoha and Arf soon hugged Fate as well, and when they lead Fate to the room so she could rest while they stormed the Garden, Chibiusa waved Arf off.
"You go help them navigate the garden. I'll stay here to keep Fate company," she told the familiar. Arf was very reluctant, but Fate's expression told her to go.
Chibiusa held Fate in her arms, letting the girl take comfort from simple contact from someone who accepted her as "Fate" without demanding anything from her.
Finally, Fate asked the question that had been bugging her since Chibiusa had shielded her.
"How did you know my mother was going to attack me and not Nanoha?"
Luna P had long since disabled any surveillance systems in the room at Chibiusa's mental order. It was a simple task.
"Luna P, display all personal data on Fate T. Harloawn," said Chibiusa quietly.
The 'eyes' of Luna P light up, displaying a picture of what was clearly an adult form of Fate herself, in a TSAB Investigator's uniform. Fate's eyes were wide with shock as she scrolled down the information, right until she saw a recording with the day's date. She pushed the button, and saw her fight with Nanoha from the view of the ship's cameras.
Except in the video Fate crashed into the ocean a second time from her mother's lightning attack, having taken the full brunt of it.
Fate turned to Chibiusa, looking incredibly confused and shocked.
"What..."
Chibiusa got off the bed before properly introducing herself with all the manners of a princess from a royal line.
"My name is Usagi Small Lady Serenity, Princess of Crystal Tokyo from the Thirtieth Century of Non-Administrated Planet number 1522, from the Pegasus quadrant, exactly nine hundred and eighty-three years into your future."
Fate stared.
"What."
Her voice was completely flat from sheer and absolute shock.
"I was visiting the Guardian of Time when she had the mirrors aimed towards your battle with Nanoha in the city and the Jewel Seed went off. One of the Time Keys slipped off the chain and sent me into the past of this world, and I've been stuck here since the Jewel Seeds seemed to have an interference affect with my key. To be quite honest, I suspect that my desire to meet the three Aces had something to do with where I landed."
"Three Aces?"
"You, Fate, will one day become part of a trio girls who will be known as the three Aces. Nanoha in particular will be known as the Ace of Aces. I've always admired you and the other two because you were only nine, yet you made such an impact on the history of multiple worlds."
"Why me? I'm nothing more than a copy. A useless tool cast aside," said Fate, her heart still broken from being so easily thrown away by her mother.
"Yes, but look at what you will accomplish! You take the pain from this day, this moment, and you turn it into a strength most girls couldn't comprehend. Some might give up and just accept their lot in life, but you overcome the pain caused by Precia and become something greater than anyone would have guessed! Look at Arf! She's out there fighting for you right now to prove Precia she was wrong! Look at Bardiche, who never once left your side and was always supporting you, even cheering you on if not in spirit! They believe in you, and so does Nanoha! She'll get a lot of flak because she chose to believe in you and help you despite the fact that the TSAB would allow you to be fatally injured!"
With each word, Fate's eyes became clearer. There was a subtle strength that was growing, a fire that had only been weakened and not put out.
Looking at the screen behind her, Fate came to a decision. She still had something to say to her mother...no, to Precia, the woman who made her. However, part of her was still a little girl.
"Will you... Could you come with me?" she asked hopefully.
Chibiusa's smile said volumes.
"Come on, let's go show her she was wrong."
Fate took Chibiusa's hand and grasped it tightly.
"Luna P, could you repair Bardiche for her?"
~Recovery~
Fate's device repaired, they went to the teleporter in order to get to the garden.
They had a lot of catching up to do to the others.
Chibiusa ended up separating from the others by accident, only to find herself above them when they finally located Precia.
Seeing Alicia floating in that tube, she couldn't help but be filled with an overwhelming sadness.
Alicia hadn't asked for the accident to happen that would end her life. She never asked her mother to go to such extremes to the point she would abuse her other 'daughter' just to bring her back. It wasn't fair.
Not for the first time, she wished she could use the Ginzuisho properly.
That was when Luna P chirped in her mind.
~Mistress, your mother left something in my programming for emergencies.~
Chibiusa blinked away her tears. She bounced Luna P before quietly saying "Luna Sphere Kitty Magic!"
With a poof of smoke, where the cat-shaped sphere had been was something she had only ever heard about, but never actually seen.
The original Moon Rod, used by Queen Serenity to amplify the Ginzuisho long enough to send her daughter and the others to the future to be reborn.
She had thought the original had been lost...but perhaps it had simply been forgotten about, like several other important artifacts.
Chibiusa held the Moon Rod in her right hand, and focused all her magical power into it, hoping for a miracle but not expecting anything to happen.
Lying forgotten around her neck, the Ginzuisho began to glow from an internal power.
She aimed the Moon Rod at the floating form of Alicia, and willed the Rod to work, despite the fact her Senshi powers had remained dormant for so long.
"Moon Healing Escalation!"
For a brief, uncertain moment, she thought nothing would happen.
But like a damn breaking forth, her power surged in a way that was both terrifying and familiar.
She could feel her magical powers crest, and overwhelm her linker core.
Unseen by Chibiusa and everyone else because of the blinding and pure light, a crest formed on her brow.
The crest of the Moon's Royal family.
Her clothes flowed around her as she unintentionally forced her powers to work, and became a long white dress that would be very familiar if Chibiusa was aware of what was happening to her.
She had unlocked her powers for a brief moment.
Inside the tube, Alicia's eyes slowly opened for the first time in many years, to the shock of Precia and the others around her. Glass shattered, and the liquid came out in a torrent.
Alicia Testarossa had been brought back to life by the divine power of the Ginzuisho and the awakening of it's new mistress. Chibiusa's unselfish wish to save a girl for the sake of another had acted as the catalyst to partially unseal her dormant powers.
Out of all those present, only Alicia saw Chibiusa in her Princess form. Only she would see the girl vanish in the arms of a dark green haired woman wearing a strange uniform with a long purple staff in the shape of an odd key.
Chibiusa woke up in her bed, in her home.
Her mother was right there beside her, looking very relieved to see her daughter.
"Momma? What happened?"
"What you did was very foolish...but very brave and kind," said Neo Queen Serenity.
"Momma?"
"You used the Ginzuisho and awakened your crest. However, your Senshi powers are still partially sealed."
Chibiusa's eyes were wide.
"I...I did?"
"You're still grounded...but you will begin your training when you wake up again. I'm very proud of you," she said smiling. She kissed Chibiusa on the forehead. The girl was still exhausted, and would sleep until the morning.
When she did wake, she found out the terms of her punishment.
She wasn't allowed to visit Sailor Pluto for three months, the royal archives or to use Luna P's access to the time mirrors.
And instead of etiquette or politics, she would train her powers with the Senshi until the three months were up. Upon finding out her daughter had been training her hand to hand ability, she also was forced to spar with Sailor Jupiter for two hours a day.
Chibiusa was worked to the ground, but she did it without complaint. She had expected something like this to happen ever since she had 'borrowed' the Ginzuisho without asking. She wasn't even supposed to touch the thing until she had her Senshi powers!
When the three months were up, the first thing she did was visit Sailor Pluto.
"P-chan!"
"Small Lady! Or do you prefer Chibiusa?" she said warmly.
"Chibiusa is what my friends call me. And I really hate being called Small Lady," she said, hugging Sailor Pluto tightly. Pluto returned the hug without hesitation.
Small...no, Chibiusa was the only person who would visit her without wanting to abuse her ability to travel through time. She just wanted a friend, something Sailor Pluto was more than happy to be.
"I'm glad you were able to use the Moon Rod your mother put in Luna P," said Sailor Pluto.
"I didn't even know she still had it," admitted Chibiusa.
Chibiusa had forced a crack in the seal around her powers (no one could figure out why it was there or if it was the source of why she hadn't aged since turning nine), but her ability to use them was limited. Her brief use to revive Alicia Testarossa had only been possible because she had forced that crack to appear. In the months since, the most she had been able to do was heal minor scrapes and bruises. She could barely use any holy energy at all.
Which was why Neo Queen Serenity was planning to send Chibiusa back to the past so she could hopefully grow up with the girls she had come to admire as much as she did the stories of her old self.
To Chibiusa, the three Aces were on the same level as Sailor Moon herself.
Being in the past seemed to be good for her daughter... she hadn't seen Chibiusa this energized and lively since she first started to visit Sailor Pluto, and if the Queen had to admit to herself, staying protected in the castle all the time wasn't going to help her daughter awaken as a Senshi.
Having to live as a twentieth century girl and learning how to fight her way would do Chibiusa some good.
Hayate Yagami was sad because her friend had disappeared without warning three weeks ago.
So imagine her shock when she heard a knock at the door while her Knights were out again.
She originally thought it was going to be the 'secretaries' her "uncle" employed come to check up on her.
So imagine her surprise and delight when it turned out to be Chibiusa!
"You're back! Where did you go all this time?"
Chibiusa winced.
"Momma sent Sailor Pluto after me when I broke a seal I had on my linker core, and I had to spend three months in training. While I was home, she convinced Papa that spending time in the past growing up like a normal kid would be good for me, so she agreed to let me stay here for a while."
Mostly so Chibiusa could hopefully find a way to break the seal on her own. And this time she was allowed to wear the Ginzuisho around her neck.
She was still going to keep the crystal sealed in Luna P most of the time though. No need to tempt people into trying to steal it.
"So you're going to be staying?" asked Hayate with wide hopeful eyes.
"Means I have to register in a local school and find an apartment," clarified Chibiusa. Luna P could hack into any computer in the world and make it look like Chibiusa had the money, the issue was finding a place to stay and making it look like her parents were abroad while she studied in Japan. Never mind that she had already learned most of it years ago and generally needed refreshers.
She was a "nine" year old with multiple college degrees and two doctorates involving history.
She was only going to normal school to be around kids her own age.
Hayate's eyes gleamed.
"You know you could always stay here. That way we could work on our costumes for the anime convention next month."
"Hmm... staying with a friend and giving the Wolkenritter nightmares about us conspiring against them, or having to deal with idiots asking stupid questions like why a nine-year-old girl's parents are letting her live alone in a country without any supervision. At least this makes magic practice easier and it puts me close to the two other Aces," said Chibiusa.
Hayate squealed in delight. It was so nice to have a fellow cosplayer with her.
Especially since Chibiusa drew inspiration from historical figures like King Arthur.
"Want to help me redesign the Knights outfits?"
"Absolutely!" said Chibiusa cheerfully. "Lets add more rabbits to Vita's though."
That was when Hayate noticed the gray on top of Chibiusa's bag.
"What's that?"
"Small Lady, have we arrived?" asked a tiny (and highly huggable) voice from the bag.
Chibiusa lifted up the top and revealed a small gray kitten with a single yellow crescent moon on her head and eyes as red as Chibiusa's own.
"Hayate, meet Diana, my familiar. Diana, this is my friend Hayate Yagami."
Diana did a little bow as she said "It's a pleasure to meet you Yagami-san."
"SOOO CUTE! And you can call me Hayate, Diana-chan!" said Hayate eagerly. Diana promptly took her place on top of Chibiusa's head, where she sat comfortably.
"Diana's here to make sure I don't cause any trouble and to keep me company," explained Chibiusa.
"She's so adorable! I wish Zafira was that small and huggable," said Hayate, petting the kitten's ears. Diana purred under her hand.
"Why don't you ask him and see if he'll change his size? It'd be easier for him to sit on your lap that way and there are so many adorable outfits we could make for him!"
Elsewhere...
"Zafira, what's the matter?" asked Vita.
"I just got the unsettling feeling of something horrible walking over my grave..." he replied.
"...Did it feel like an unholy alliance conspiring to put you into humiliating and undignified outfits that were just made?" asked Vita seriously.
Zafira considered her question before answering "Yes."
"Chibiusa must be back," said Vita.
She had that feeling ALL the time when the pinkette had been around. She encouraged Hayate's cute addiction, to the knight's horror. And Vita, being the smallest, had been stuck as the dress up dummy.
At least she got more rabbit dolls out of it.
