Life after Sailor Moon
Shattered
By Cindra
Rated PG13
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Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Sailor Moon I do this for my enjoyment and for the enjoyment of my readers…The original characters and the original ideas are mine and it's going to stay that way.
Notes: I put colons between conversations denoting silent thought between two characters
italics denotes a characters thoughts
New characters and another shocking twist!
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(The Neo Moon Kingdom)
Sere was at the breaking point. Her head was pounding, her stomach was doing cartwheels, and she was on the verge of collapse. Her whole world had been shattered and she didn't think that she would ever be able to put the pieces back together again. "I don't know why this is affecting me this way. I knew that Mina was the original leader. I just never realized that they were just humoring me all those years ago." She sat down under one of the glorious flowering trees in the gardens. "I mean deep down inside I've always known that I never really should have been one of the Senshi." She curled her legs up against her chest and gave into the emotions tearing her apart.
"If you believe that then your more of a bubble brain that I thought that you were!" Raye growled down at her best friend.
Sere stared up at Raye with startled azure blue eyes. "How did you…" She stammered.
"How did I manage to get here? It seems that the Outer Senshi were unaffected by your royal snit and Sel brought us here." Raye barely kept her temper in check.
"If you're here to ask for your powers back I'm not in the mood." Sere's temper was on the rise once more.
"I'm here because you need me." Raye blinked back tears. "Because someone that I love like a sister is hurting and I want to make that hurt go away." She was near sobbing now.
"Need you! You and the others have been lying to me since Middle School!" Sere was in danger of blacking out, but continued to let Raye have it.
"Sere it's not true we…" Raye tried to defend herself.
Sere pushed herself back up to her feet and got right in Raye's face. "You've always felt that I shouldn't be the leader of the Senshi! Right from the very start!" She jabbed her hard in the chest.
"Was it my fault that you always acted like a bubble head? I mean you constantly klutzed out at every opportunity!" Raye loosened the rein on her temper, as the hurt from Sere's rant racked her body. "You acted like a scared rabbit most of the time and were a complete crybaby!" Raye jabbed her back.
"I was fourteen! I just wanted to be a normal teenager! How was I supposed to act! It was unnerving the way that each of you took to your Senshi abilities! You with your fire readings, Ami with her genius, Lita was a natural born fighter, and Mina was Sailor V! I was just me fun, loving, ditzy Serena and that is why I worked my ass off trying to prove myself to all of you and it was all for nothing!" Sere ignored the blackness that was threatening to overtake her, or the fact that she was seeing a double image of Raye, and willed herself to stay on her feet.
Raye tried not to let the sting of Sere's words affect her, but each word seemed to be stabbing her in the heart. "Will you listen to yourself Serena? How can you possibly blame us for something that wasn't even under our control? You were the princess and we were your guardians! We had to be more skilled than you in order to protect you! We also had no memory of our time in the Silver Millennium, until that trip back in time in the ice cave!" Raye's shouting echoed through out the gardens.
Sere covered her ears with her hands and tried to ignore the words that Raye was shouting at her. "IT DOESN'T MATTER ANYMORE RAYE BECAUSE I'M NOT GOING BACK!" She screamed at her in frustration.
"That is enough Serenity! So what if Mina was the leader in the Silver Millennium! That planet would not be there if it hadn't been for your sacrifices! You never gave up not once! Your love for that planet, your family, and your friends conquered all of the bad guys! Your time is now not the past! Focus on your future! Who lied to who shouldn't matter to you anymore! Now snap out of this snit before you hurt our babies!' A very furious Endy appeared out of the shadows.
Sere whirled around to glare murderously at her husband. "I never wanted any of this! To be Princess! To be Queen! Or to be a Senshi! All of this was just forced on me! It was fine when I thought that I could trust everyone, but now I…" She didn't get to complete her rant because she collapsed into Endy's arms.
"SERENITY!" Raye cried out in panic.
"Relax Raye I shot her with this." Ami held up a small dart gun.
"I have never seen her like this. She's really wigged out big time over all of this." Mina had known that Sere was under a lot of stress, but nothing that could cause this kind of meltdown.
"Wigged out?" Raye stalked over and snarled at Mina. "She's lost all confidence in herself! She isn't even sure that she wants to be queen now and all because Artemis couldn't keep his tiny trap shut!"
Endy used the distraction of the girl's argument to sneak Sere out of the Gardens.
"Calm down Raye this isn't anyone's fault!" Lita tried to pull her away from Mina.
Raye wrenched herself free of Lita's grasp. "We're watching our princess! Our sister! Shatter because of a secret kept by Luna, Artemis, and Mina! Why the hell shouldn't I blame her!"
"I swore to her parents that I would never tell her and I never saw the need to! My duty was to protect the princess at all cost and damn it that is what I did! I protected my cousin to the best of my ability!" Mina felt as if Raye had ripped her heart out and stomped on it.
"You're Cousin!" Ami, Raye, and Lita narrowed their eyes at Mina.
"Yes she's my cousin why do you think we look alike! We just aren't cousins in this timeline! Sel and Queen Serenity are cousins too, bet that is even more of a shocker! Look I'm sorry that she wigged out over all of this, but it isn't my fault! I was the leader during the Silver Millennium, but Sere took over leadership in this timeline and I never needed to step in not even once." Mina having had more than enough, stalked out of the gardens, and went in search of her husband.
"Mina don't go off mad Mars is just being an Ass!" Lita ran after her friend.
"Nice going Mars!" Ami snarled at her in frustration.
"ME?" Raye glowered at Ami.
"Yes you!" Ami shouted which was so out of character for the calm serene Senshi of Mercury. "The last thing that any of us need is to alienate ourselves from each other! Venus did not intentionally cause any of this so quit assigning blame! What gives you the right to tear into your friends, just because you happen to be going through a very crappie day!"
"BACK THE HELL OFF MERCURY!" Raye could feel the rage of her temper threatening to erupt.
"NOT UNTIL YOU ADMIT THAT YOU WERE WRONG!" Ami wasn't about to back down and got right into her face.
Raye's temper was at the melting point and she felt like she was going to spontaneously combust if she didn't release any of it and soon. "THAT'S NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! DO YOURSELF A FAVOR! GET OFF YOUR DAMN SOAP BOX AND GET THE HELL OUT OF MY FACE!"
"THAT DOES IT MARS! DO US ALL A FAVOR AND CHILL!" Ami gave Raye a shove and Raye was instantly frozen where she stood.
Raye's temper was fueling her inner power and the ice melted in a cloud of steam. "YOU BITCH! THIS IS A DESIGNER ORIGINAL!" Raye's fireballs were now formed in each of her hands.
"YOU NEEDED TO COOL OFF!"
Ami using her bare hands unconsciously formed an ice shield in front of her. "Your main gripe was losing your abilities and that isn't a factor for either of us now. So let's call a truce and go check on Sere." Her temper now spent Ami reverted into her calm cool self.
"Just once I would like to have the last word with you!" Mars threw up her hands in frustration and released a stream of fire from her fingertips.
"That will only happen if you ever learn to control your temper, now let's clean up our little mess and go check on Sere." She motioned for Raye to melt the ice shield.
"Fine, but I still feel that Mina lied to us and that isn't going to change." Raye easily melted the ice into a puddle of water.
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(Elsewhere in the garden maze)
Mina was so upset that her entire body was radiating this blinding golden light.
"This isn't my fault!" She shouted up into the artificial night sky. "I was only trying to protect my cousin!" Tears were now streaming down her cheeks. "I've never been more proud of her then during her time as the leader of the Senshi! I only wish that she could find it in her heart to believe that!"
"She does know it V. This is just hormones after all she is expecting twins again and that makes her prone to all sorts of massive mood swings." Lita put a comforting hand on Mina's shoulder only to jump in surprise when golden sparks of light stung the palm of her hand. "By the moons of Jupiter you're glowing like a star on a Christmas tree!"
Mina was so out of it that she didn't realize that Lita was even there. "Since when does the dome allow it to get so god awful hot in here?" Mina was so warm now that sweat was beading her brow. Not to mention that her planetary symbol was now blazing on her forehead.
"Jupiter to Venus!" Lita got a safe distance away before trying to snap her friend out of her haze. "Snap out of it before you end up blinding someone for life!" She was glad that she had brought her sunglasses with her, because that was the only way that she could stand to look at her.
Mina threw up her hands in frustration. "Enough with the heat! My hair is starting to get all frizzy!" A flare of white hot golden light shot from her fingertips and up into the artificial night sky.
Lita's jaw dropped in awe at what she had just witnessed. "What in the name of the gods was that?" She croaked hoarsely when she finally managed to find her voice again.
Mina fell to her knees in total exhaustion. "I don't feel so hot." She whimpered before blacking out.
"Mina!" Kunzite having witnesses his wife's sudden power surge raced to her side and scooped her up into his arms.
Neph raced over to Lita and pulled her into his arms. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine Neph. Its Mina that I'm worried about… it's like she just went through some kind of major power surge. I didn't think that she could do anything like that! I mean she doesn't even have her ability to become Venus right now?' Lita was so shell-shocked that she was babbling.
"What happened Lita? Kunz snarled.
"I don't know and what happened?" Lita hated to be snarled at especially when she was so concerned with what was happening to two of her friends. "So don't take that tone with me!" The air around the four of them smelled distinctly of ozone and storm clouds began to form above their heads.
Neph felt the change in the atmosphere and knew that this wasn't some kind of natural occurrence. It never rained on the moon, because the artificial dome would never allow it. He also noticed that the symbol of Jupiter was now blazing on Lita's forehead. "Calm down Jupiter he didn't mean anything by it." He could feel the hair standing up on the back of his neck.
"I don't care Neph! I'm just not in the mood to be snarled at! I'm already having one of the worst days of my life! I don't need him adding to it!" Energy seemed to crackle from her emerald green eyes and lightning sparked above their heads.
:Say your sorry Kunz before she fries you with a lightning bolt: Neph sent to his friend.
Kunz finally noticed the lightning storm that had miraculously appeared above their heads. "I'm sorry Lita. I was way out of line please don't electrocute me with one of your lightning bolts." Kunz couldn't help but be a little awed at the power that Lita had somehow managed to tap into, one usually didn't see a full blown lightning storm raging on the moon.
"Enough! Princess Jupiter you will stop this at once!" King Cronos did not seem at all pleased with what was happening in the gardens.
"Uncle Cronos!" Lita snapped out of her temper and the storm vanished.
"I know that it's been a very frustrating day for all of you, but I will not tolerate anymore blatant use of powers in this Kingdom! Lord Kunzite you will take my niece to the Healing wing of the palace at once!" He ordered.
Kunzite snapped out of his shock and did as he was told.
Neph on the other hand still was having trouble believing what he was seeing with his own eyes and continued to stare slacked jawed and bug-eyed at him.
Lita was so happy to see him again that she rushed over and gave him a big hug. "You're alive!"
Cronos hugged her back. "It's nice to see you to Lita and yes I am very much alive, as is my wife Queen Serenity."
"Does Sere know that you're alive! You see she's so wigged out over this whole she was never suppose to be Sailor Moon law, on top of that she's expecting Xander and Lexi, and its causing her to go through all sorts of mood swings." Lita was so happy that she was back to chattering away again.
"Yes she knows that we're alive and I'm well aware of her condition. In fact I was checking on her when I saw Mina's little light show in the garden. Lord Nephrite seems to be out of character today. Is he alright?" Cronos has happy to see that some things never changed.
Lita pointed her finger at him and zapped him in the leg. "Will you stop staring at him and say something!"
Neph jumped up in down grabbing his leg in pain. "What was that for!" He snarled.
"By the gods so he can speak." Cronos couldn't help chuckling in amusement.
"Hello Uncle Cronos forgive my actions I'm just not having a good day…" Neph grumbled under his breath.
"That is quite alright Lord Nephrite now if you two will excuse me I have to go and see what my grandchildren and wife are up to." He left the two of them alone in the gardens.
Lita gave Neph an innocent look. "Sorry…my bad." She took off towards the palace.
"Get back here Red!" Neph took off after his wife.
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Endymion paced the intricate mosaic tile of the corridor outside their rooms in the Moon Palace. I've survived everything she put me through when she was carrying our first set of twins. I think that I can more than handle her now that she happens to be carrying Xander and Lexi. He tried to psyche himself up enough to go in there and see to his wife.
Queen Serenity was observing him from the shadows of a nearby doorway, but she was not alone. She had a beautiful red headed woman standing next to her, a woman that had Renny's same eye color.
The two of them watched, as the harried future king of the earth tried to come to some a sort of understanding with himself before seeing to his princess.
"He's inherited his father's hair. It was jet black until he ascended the throne as King of the Earth. I bet he can't stand his new hair color." Queen Gaia observed her son. "After all he has gone through in his life I bet he thinks that someone if playing a cruel joke on him."
Queen Serenity wanted answers from Gaia, so she pulled her into an empty suite and out of Endymion's earshot. "What has made you finally leave Avalon, Gaia? The ruling against you and Orion was lifted on the day that Serena and Endymion were married and neither of you even attempted to see your son. Is it because of all the chaos that is occurring on the Earth or are you finally ready to face your son?"
Queen Gaia knew that her friend was more than surprised to see her in her Kingdom and was reining in her temper. "I have watched over Endymion in my own way. My son is never far from my heart."
"I'm not going to let you just skulk here and watch him from the shadows! Endymion deserves better than that! You both deserve better!" She hissed at her friend in sheer frustration.
"It's not that simple Shantasia! He has no memory of me anymore. It would be as if I were a stranger to him." Gaia blinked back the tears that were threatening to spill from her eyes.
"That is just another excuse to avoid your own son! You saw him with your own eyes! He will know who you are! He needs you now more than ever! He has so many questions about his heritage and the Golden Crystal and you hold all the answers!" Queen Serenity was hardly ever prone to violence, but she was ready to strangle her friend for being such a stubborn coward.
Gaia bit down worriedly on her lip, as she contemplated on whether to go out there and confront her son. "I'm afraid that he won't understand and end up hating me."
"You have to do this Gaia. It's gone on to long already! He deserves to know that the two of you are still alive!" Queen Serenity exclaimed in frustration.
Their discussion was interrupted by two toddlers in search of Luna and Artemis's kittens.
"Kitty's!" The twins chimed, as they poked their heads into the room.
Rafe was the first to notice the two of them. "Hi Gamma you sees Kitty's?" He blinked up at her with innocent sapphire blue eyes. At almost three Rafe was a little miniature version of his father. Where as Rosy was a miniature version of her mother.
Rosy was more interested on who the pretty lady was and why the lady had her sister Renny's eyes. "Who you be?" She frowned.
Gaia was entranced by her two grandchildren. It was just the distraction that she needed. She was about to answer Rose's question, but Queen Serenity beat her to the punch.
"You two are supposed to be taking a nap in the nursery. You are too little to be wandering around this palace without adult supervision." She scolded the two little escapees'.
"The babies are loud." Rafe pouted.
"We no like naps." Rose crossed her arms in front of her just like her mother did when she wasn't happy with them.
Gaia smiled at the two of them. "I bet that the two of you want to be just like your Mommy and Daddy."
Rafe's eyes sparkled with pride, "I be likes Daddy!"
Rosy was one up on him. "I's enshi like momma!"
Endymion thought that he had seen his little monsters sneak into the room and went to investigate. "I thought that I tucked the two of you into bed for a…" His voice trailed off when he saw who the twins had been talking to. She looks just like my mother!
Queen Gaia waited for him to say something.
"Mother? Is that really you?" He was beginning to think that all this stress was causing him to lose his mind. It wasn't possible his mother from 3000 years ago was not standing here in this room. It didn't matter that this woman had her fiery red hair color, the same face that looked as if the gods has sculpted every feature on it, and the same magenta colored eyes. Renny's eyes!
"It really is me Endymion." Gaia held out her arms to her son.
Endymion took slow unsteady steps towards her. He was so sure that she would vanish the second that he touched her. "But how is this possible?"
"King Cronos found where Beryl had imprisoned me and brought Shantasia and I back with him to Avalon. This all happened after that last battle with her on the moon." She was going to explain everything to him even if it meant losing him.
Endymion raked his fingers through his hair, as all of this began to sink in. "What happened to father?"
Gaia hated dredging up the day of the battle that led up to the death of her son, but forced herself to grit her teeth and answer his question. "Your father led the fight against Beryl, but it wasn't enough to stop her. We had let her gain to much power and she made me watch as she herself…" She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence, because her son interrupted her.
Endymion felt as if someone had stabbed him straight in the heart. "I'm sorry…I should have…If only…" tears were streaming down his cheeks, as the guilt of what had happened to his parents racked his body.
"You are not to blame for anything that happened! It was our mistake our error in judgment, our stubbornness to not let destiny take its course, that caused the down fall of the Silver Millennium! In fact your father has never been able to forgive himself for that final argument that day you left Earth to be with Serena." Gaia finally finished what she needed to tell her son.
Endymion could feel his temper begin to rise. "So father is also alive." He wasn't sure just how this was supposed to make him feel.
"Yes Orion is very much alive and on Avalon. He was badly wounded by Beryl, but the healers on Avalon nursed him back to health." She reassured her son.
The twins sensed that their father was about to lose it and decided that it was time to go somewhere else. "Gamma we go now." Rafe tugged on the skirt of Queen Serenity's gown.
"Daddy not happy we go see Momma now." Rosy seconded her brother's request.
Queen Serenity scooped the two of them up into her arms and left the two of them alone.
Endymion was in true fire bad tree pretty mode. (Only a Buffy fan would under stand what I mean.) He was happy to see his mother and hear that his father was also alive. On the other hand he was feeling betrayed and abandoned all over again. Where had they been when he had been left orphaned after that horrible crash that had killed his other parents! How could the two of them watch him suffer like that? He had all but given up wanting to live after that accident, but then he was surprised by a visit from a tiny three-year old Serena. She had given him a single rose and told him that she would never let him be alone. That she would be his friend. It had taken about ten years and several shouting matches later, but he had found her and all was right with the world again. "You can tell my father that his son has survived fine without parents and its going to stay that way!" He stalked out of the room. He needed air and to get as far away from her as possible.
"Endymion Darien Michael we are not finished!" Gaia's temper was starting to show and that was not a good thing for anyone down on Planet Earth.
"Leave him alone Gaia. I think he has had heard enough for one night." Cronos stopped her from going after her son.
"He is just as stubborn as his father. Oh there are differences between the two. Orion doesn't know the meaning of the word compromise and he still can't fathom as to why Endymion chose to become a healer when he is a natural born leader. He's our son, but all of this has changed him for the better. He doesn't have as much of a chip on his shoulder as he did when he was Prince of all he surveyed." Gaia forced herself to calm down.
"You were warned that making him choose between them would destroy your relationship with him. Your stubbornness and pride cost you and the rest of us our loved ones. That is why the decree was decided on you not being able to contact him until the ban was lifted." Cronos led her towards the opposite end of the palace.
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Serena sat straight up in bed, "Endymion needs me!" She whipped back the silk sheets and got out of bed. "Not now Endymion needs me I can get sick later!" She had to hold onto one of the gossamer covered bedposts until the nausea and dizziness went away.
"What are you doing?" Zoi was not happy to see his patient out of bed, "Get back into that bed."
"Endymion needs me!" She snarled at Zoi in annoyance.
"He can come to you." He tried to herd her back into bed, but she managed to dodge him and made a run for the door.
"Sorry but sleep can wait. Something is wrong with Endymion and he needs me." She had almost made her escape, but ended up running right into Kunzite's arms.
"What are you doing out of bed, little sis." He tried to keep her from escaping, but it was no use she needed to get to her prince and resorted to drastic measures.
"Sorry about that big brother, but my prince needs me, and no one is going to stop me from finding him." She used all of her might to knee him in the groin.
Kunz fell to his knees in agony. "Next time I wear my armor."
Ami, Raye, Lita, and Mina were all on the way to check on her when she zipped past them at lightning speed. Easily avoiding Neph and Jade making her escape to find her prince.
"I thought that you shot her with a tranquilizer dart." Lita frowned at Ami.
"I did shoot her with a dart. She fought it off when she felt that something wasn't right with Endymion." Ami didn't even want to fathom as to what was wrong now.
"I don't know what is going on with Endy, but it has to have been something major for her to wake up like that." Raye was still being blocked out from the princess and was clueless as to what was going on.
"It's nice to know that the eight of you were finally reunited with each other." Gaia walked in from one of the outside entrances.
"Queen Gaia?" The eight of them exclaimed in unison at the sight of the former Queen of the Earth.
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Until next post
Cindra 2002-2006
