Title: Crescent Mirror

Author: aaeris17

Author's Notes: Thank you so much for being patient and continuing to follow the story! So I won't ramble now but at the very end of the chapter you will find my ramblings!

Thanks!

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

I was having another vision...

The sky was darkening and the wind was howling around my face--whipping me and blinding me. I tried to scream but fear had actually taken my voice. I did not see anyone around me. I knew that the girls should have been close and that Endy was not far off. Yet, my fear was for another person altogether. Someone I could not name and yet someone whose life was more important than mine and yes even Endymion's.

Suddenly there was a blinding glare and I could not find the energy to raise my hands to block the light. It was then I noticed my hands were not encased in white gloves but ropes of pearls. My dress was a form fitting white gown that was completely unsuitable for fighting. Where was this person I was searching for? Where had this light come from?

"Sailor Moon! The day will come when you will have to surrender your power as a Sailor Senshi! Yet, even when you are no longer a Senshi, your Star Seed will always be sought after! There will never be peace with your light glowing in the universe!"

No peace...

No peace...

Was this the dreadful prophecy of my birth? The one I had never fully understood? Had that phrase provoked that awful day terror? What was this terror I could not seem to shake myself free from?

I was above the room, watching them trying to read over Endy's shoulder the scroll I had just read. My eyes were glazed over and I was clearly lost in my own world.

"What does it say Endy!" Mina asked as she rubbed my hands and tried to get me to come back to her. I wanted to but not really. I just wanted to absorb what was happening around me. Was my birth really necessary if it would only perpetuate war? War...No peace...No peace as long as pure heart crystals existed...The Queen of the Moon shall always be wanted for her light...There will be born a daughter...

"There will be born a daughter, a daughter who will never be born again. She will be the daughter of the pure born daughter of the line of Selene and the daughter of the pure born son of the line of the Sol. She will be both the sun and the moon to the universe. She will shine brighter than any Star has shone before. Her light will always be sought after. Her heart will be the purest known and she will revive the power of the Senshi. She will bring a peace to the world that has not been known since the original Selene left for the land of the Shining Ones. Her peace will come at great cost and only at the end of the Darkest Age known to all mankind. Yet it will not be her light alone that cleanses the Universe...

There is another spoken of...a great son...the greatest King the planet Earth will ever see. He will be the last of his line finally revealing the power of the mythical as yet unrevealed Golden Crystal said to be of the lost lands of Elysian. His powers once combined with that of the pure born daughter of the sun and moon will resurrect the lost Quisez...the original power of the Silver Crystal and Golden Crystal...the first stone to come out of the Galaxy Cauldron all those eons ago..."

"Then why has the Quisez yet to come?" I muttered as I crash-landed into my own body. My lips felt dry and heavy, "I can't be the person they speak of...I can't...too much loss...too much sacrifice..." My tongue was covered in cotton and I couldn't get the words out. Why could they not understand what I had just seen? What I had just read? The prophecy of pure hearts meant my heart and the hearts of the Sailor Senshi! How could we possibly defeat any evil when it will only precipitate more evil? I couldn't be the one these stupid scrolls speak of! I refused to be that one!

"Sere!" Endy shook my shoulders, "What is this nonsense," he muttered in an aside to Zoiscite who shook his head.

"What's going on?" Mother ran over and looked deep into my eyes. I could barely focus on her worried face, "What prophecy did she read..." Mother asked in a low, regal voice. The atmosphere immediately became tense and cold. Exactly what marble should feel like.

Zoiscite, ever the gentleman, offered her the piece of parchment he had given me just moments earlier. Luna read over Mother's shoulder and Luna let out a strangled gasp.

"Who found this," Mother looked over to the girls. Michiru and Ami were dead quiet--each pale to the bone, "I said, WHO found this?" Mother raised her voice so that it sharply echoed back to us from each crystal corner.

THAT voice shook me into reality and I unclenched my fists from the chair I was sitting in and Endy immediately took my hands and kissed them briefly--not breaking his eye contact with my mother. I had heard that voice perhaps twice in my entire life and each time it had ended in a cold one sided discussion that left me feeling small, immature, remorseful even more than her sad disappointment in my usual misadventures.

"Was this document contained in the Hall of Prophecies or not?" Mother crumpled the parchment in her hands, "Michiru, Ami," she turned swiftly and I saw the power and fear that kept the planet Earth kneeling in front of her. She seemed to grow larger than life and all the light in the room illuminated from her.

"It was a transcript," Ami whispered between white lips.

"And if it IS a transcript," Mother continued, "Did anyone think that perhaps telling Serenity might NOT be the most intelligent action? Did anyone STOP to think WHAT this piece of parchment MEANT before it was placed before the Princess?" Mother looked darkly at Michiru and Ami, "Each princess has her own destiny but this is for her to discover and for her to choose her path," Mother whispered sadly. Her anger was dissipating as quickly as it had come. "You are not old enough nor responsible enough to be down here. Any materials you require you will ask Viscusia personally, she will be available to you outside these walls. I will not have you down here soon," Mother ended her speech huskily and closed her eyes, "Artemis see them out, leave Endymion and Serenity with me please,"

I was still in my chair. Mother seemed tired and her eyes remained closed as everyone filed out of the room.

"You know, Serenity, if I could shoulder any pain that would ever cross your path I would gladly do so," She began softly her eyes still closed.

A burst of gold momentarily blinded me and I saw my father hurrying towards me with his arms wide open. It was with a silent sob I let myself be picked up and held as a six year old. Lawrence and Gaia appeared a moment later in a flash of pink.

Lawrence stood behind me and Father while Gaia wrapped her arms around Mother.

The silence was startling in all the revelations we had just had-- and into this silence a gentle wind blew at my hair and I had to look around to make sure I was not about to go into another trance.

The wind softened to a breeze and the breeze became a swirl and out of this dramatic yet quiet entrance stepped Sailor Pluto.

"Setsuna!" Mother exclaimed before gathering hold of her emotions, "Good heavens what brings you here?"

Setsuna performed the customary Luster bow to all the adults present and settled herself near Endymion and myself.

"Dearest Queen, forgive my intrusion but something else brings me to these hallowed grounds and it is not Serenity's knowledge of the Prophecy,"

Mother nodded her head but her forehead was still furrowed. Father look at Lawrence who shrugged his shoulders as he tried to make eye contact with Gaia. Gaia was looking at the two of us with twinkling eyes and I wonder what secrets she had learned all those years in her deep sleep.

"Princess, my lord Endymion, perhaps you would wish to tell us the vision you shared before entering the Crystal Vaults?" Pluto looked at us meaningfully and my cheeks flushed hotly. Did Sailor Pluto truly see everything? Had she granted us this vision and if so why should we have to share it?

Endymion looked at me and I raised my eyebrows, clearly I was going to be the one to tell of this slightly crazy extremely private moment. I took a deep breath.

"I had a vision..."I started my voice faltering, "and it was the first of two that I have had since we descended into these Vaults beneath the palace," I looked down into my lap, my hands twisted and wondered how do you explain the miraculous experience of seeing one's own future without any previous psychic talent?

"We saw our daughter," Endy said softly taking my hands into his and rubbing his thumb against the soft skin between my thumb and index finger, "She was the spitting image of Serenity at four except,"

"I was not nearly as obnoxious," I interrupted and felt a smile stretch across my face, "She was absolutely perfect--strong, courageous, and showing a complete independence at such an early age,"

"She had sugar pink hair and ruby red eyes," Endy reminisced and looked up at my eyes, "I wonder how that happened?"

I screwed up my mouth--that in fact had made me wonder. Where do two blue-eyed parents produce a child with pink hair and red eyes?

Gaia sighed softly, clasping her hands together, "A grandchild! Soon? With hair like my mother's," She explained.

"And eyes like my mother's," Father laughed to himself and flashed a smile to Mama, "I wonder what those two would say if they could see this girl,"

"Chibi Usa, her name is Chibi Usa," I blurted out and Father looked down at me with astonished eyes--my eyes.

"You named her?" Lawrence said blankly as Gaia came to enwrap herself in his arms, she was giddy with happiness.

"That's the name Sere called her in the vision," Endy defended and I rolled my eyes at him.

"What's the meaning of this vision?" Mother asked more to herself than anyone else. Father caught the look in her eyes as she wrapped right arm around herself to massage her left arm. I climbed out of his embrace wordlessly and watched my father go to my mother. Their continuous romance never failed to surprise me. I slid off the stupid chair and sat on the floor, at Endy's bent knees. Endy settled with his back to the chair and casually put an arm around my shoulders as I curled next to him.

"Perhaps you should share the next vision you had, my Princess, after you read the parchment of your prophecy?" Pluto never betrayed any emotion. I envied her this ability to appear as a blank slate.

Everyone was waiting for me to say something. I looked up and stared into the endless ceiling that seemed clouded with wispy puffs of matter.

"I was older...not much...but I was running and something...no SOMEONE was missing... and everyone was screaming for me to come back inside the palace but I couldn't let this person be outside...not with the attack... and then I was being enveloped in a blinding light and when I went to transform I couldn't and suddenly I was out of the vision and floating outside of everything...A voice," My own voice shook, "A voice warned me that someday I would have to relinquish my power as a Sailor Senshi and that as long as I had the Silver Crystal, every dark power in the universe would chase it--and that's when I blanked out..." A solitary tear ran down my cheek and then another, followed by two more leaving pale streams as they hit my jawbone and hung, quivering on my every word, "And I thought--I thought--what is the use of being a Sailor Senshi, of being Sailor Moon, if I would always put everyone I love in danger? What is this great power I am suppose to possess that will finally bring an Age of Peace? I don't know--why me?" I whispered the last two words so softly I thought perhaps no one heard them. But everyone had.

I did not dare return my gaze to meet anyone else's but the ceilings. I could hear Gaia whispering "Oh Serenity, my daughter," and Endy's thoughts were overwhelming our bond.

"Sailor Pluto, why has no one ever told us about the Quisez and the unification of the Silver and Golden Crystal?" Endymion broke the silence and took everyone's attention off me.

Sailor Pluto almost seemed caught off guard but instead she just moved her staff from one hand to the other, "Why do you ask my lord?"

"Because it is the most mythical of all stones, the first to have come out of the Galaxy Cauldron and then never seen again--you may excuse my rudeness but I find the fact that Serenity and I are going to unite this mysterious object and end all the darkness we have fought this past millennia?" Endy was almost rude in his dismissal of the prophecy and then I saw into his mind. He could not bring himself to believe that neither he nor I could have this burden placed on us. For my sake alone he did not want to believe the Quisez existed and that we would wield it together and save the world. What a fairy tale that seemed like!

"I would not be so hasty in your judgment, son," Father gently corrected, "For all of us in this room have been in the presence of this crystal you refuse to see,"

"And it was I who bound you two from using your powers together even though I fear that my powers will no longer hold," Sailor Pluto added almost amused, "We were all in that Tower that fateful night when we saw what our future destiny was,"

"What do you mean?" I asked feeling that there was a part of the story we were missing.

It was Mother who broke the silence, "When you were a month old, the night of the first full moon after your birth, we, "she gestured to everyone in the room, "took you to top most tower of the palace for a private blessing by Sailor Pluto,"

"You already know the story of how Endy as a child recognized his soul bond to you and vowed to protect you forever," Gaia smiled at the memory still strong in her mind. The grown man in armor on his knees in front of me was still the three young old who had sworn his life to a baby.

"What we never told you was that up until a certain moment, Endy had been fast asleep. He awoke after the blessing and after the Princess had already called for the awakening of the Silver Crystal," Gaia finished.

"Shortly after Setsuna appeared, Serenity's birthmark began shining and triangulated itself with Selenity's and then the Silver Crystal that Setsuna had in her hand. The crystal raised higher and higher, the light growing brighter and suddenly the sleeping Endymion was glowing as well, from deep inside his chest the Golden Crystal erupted and flew to dance alongside the Silver Crystal. Endymion stayed asleep and as Serenity began to giggle at the dance of lights there was a sudden silence—the two crystals collided in midair and erupted into sight we never thought to see—the Quisez, a giant rose crystal with golden leaves, silver petals and a golden center," Father's voice was husky and his eyes were misted over.

"Then we separated the Quisez, and bound your powers so that you could have a normal childhood—free of the burden you are still too young to be bearing. We never thought you two would find your own way to share your crystals with each other. I could never have predicted the love that would grow from your friendship and not from your destiny," Setsuna bowed her head, hiding her face from us.

"What do you mean love from destiny?" Endymion asked in a low voice, holding my hands tightly.

"Your love was already decided when the Crystals chose you for their vessels, but the fact you two loved each other outside of their power and outside of duty is what makes yours a miracle romance," Setsuna again gave that sad smile, the one that was so familiar and now I finally understood the sadness in it—the loss, the memory of all her human experiences, the life she had, the life she would never have, and the heavy burden of duty and love that kept her at her gate.

I looked down at Endymion, into his dark blue ocean eyes that registered so much love and feeling that I had to restrain myself from kissing him here and now in front of all our parents.

"The vision you saw was a vision of the possible future we face if the world continues on this current path, "Setsuna said abruptly, "It is truth of existence that as long there is light there will be a darkness to shadow it. Life cannot exist without darkness to add shadows to and give life a deeper meaning. The Silver Crystal is the most primary source of light and will always be sought after, Serenity. This is the burden every daughter of Selene has borne. This is the burden that tore your mother away from her childhood home and the first home of Selene when she stepped onto Earth," She continued her all too appropriate abashment of my behavior,

You are older than your mother was when she lost her mother and became Queen of the Realm. You have friends unlike the world has seen in hundreds of millennia. The Sailor Senshi star seeds sought out you and your friends as vessels! You are blessed a thousand times more by the stars than any other human that has walked this planet, dearest Princess, you are our angel of hope and if that is not something to be proud of than what is?" Sailor Pluto came to kneel besides Endymion in front of me, "Do not despair that the crystal within you speaks and tries to strengthen your will. You will face many difficult challenges and will be forced to question your love, your loyalty, but the crystal inside you will always guide you," She bowed low.

And Princess, as far as your vision is concerned, the Daughters of Selene always bear a daughter, and I have seen your Princess too," she whispered and shared a wink that made me and Endy gasp.

"Your Majesties," Pluto stood up and clicked her heels together, "if there are no more questions," she let her question hang in the air.

Mother looked from Pluto to Father, Lawrence and Gaia, all shook their head.

"I believe that the other girls be allowed to search for information on Pure Hearts under strict surveillance," Pluto added before she bowed and swirled out of existence with a gentle wind.

"I will go help Luna send everyone off to bed, Selenity, if you do not mind?" Gaia asked softly in the quiet following Sailor Pluto's departure. Mother nodded and accepted the quick kiss from her oldest friend.

"Good night, my dearest children," Gaia cupped my face and brushed Endy's bangs off his forehead, "Sleep peacefully,"

"Lawrence and I have some final documents to look over, Darling, I will see you tonight," Father bowed deeply and nodded to Endymion and gazed at me softly, "If you ever need me, Serenity, I am hardly a thought away, never forget that," he kissed my birthmark. Lawrence mimicked Father's actions and they both patted Endymion's shoulders.

They padded away softly into the marble darkness and that left us alone with Mother who was looking at the two of us but her mind was a thousand miles away.

"Well, darlings, that leaves us, shall we?" Mother returned with a quick smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and walked ahead of us out of the Crystal Vaults. We would not be returning here soon I thought mournfully at the beauty and richness of this hidden chamber.

Like a repentant child I followed my Mother out of the chamber. The day had indeed been long and full of tumultuous events least of all discovering that I was the sole reason the universe was in utter chaos and that I was some sort of prophetic angel who was suppose to save the world. Right, no big deal. Oh and the entire kingdom could possibly turn on me at any second regarding my most recent decision to save the Outer Princesses who—as I thought about Michiru handing me the prophetic document—were more versed with the prophecy of my birth than even I was. I scoffed slightly under my breath. Who did all these people think they were trying to hide all this stuff from me?

I paid little attention as Endy spoke to Mother in low tones. We entered a lift inside the marble walls that were adjacent to the chamber with the stairs. The stairs had disappeared now and Mother shared a wink with me.

"A Queen should always have more than one entrance and exit to any chamber," she smiled lightly as the walls closed around us and she waved her palm over a control panel that materialized at her touch.

I nodded still lost in my thoughts. Mother's eyes registered the dismissal of my nod and I could see she was slightly hurt but right now it didn't seem to matter much. She had known that I was more than just a Sailor Senshi. How could she keep something this large from me? Did she not think I could handle it? She clearly thought I could be a Sailor Senshi but I was not old enough or mature enough or important enough to know. Michiru had known. That meant that Setsuna and Haruka had known of this prophecy and I am sure that even Ami had the sense to deduce the knowledge I had only just discovered this evening.

Is this why the Chalice is so important? Is there something about this Chalice that will help bring about the greatest era of peace the universe has known? Was I just a puppet?

The walls opened and I saw we were within Mother's private chambers.

"You are upset with me," Mother said walking over to the tea that was sitting warmly on a small table near her office.

"No," I said duly avoiding her eyes. My mother, my idol, hiding such important information from me.

"I am not going to read your mind, Serenity," Mother poured tea into a delicate bone china cup with tiny pink bunnies. The cup I had drunk from since I was a child had long since been broken and saved as a memory—this cup I had not seen before.

"Why not, you can, "I muttered sarcastically under my breath looking over at Endy. They both had heard me and Endy's ears seemed to tinge pink at the embarrassment of his lady Queen and my behavior.

"Precisely why I am giving you this chance to talk to me like and adult but if you choose to behave as a child I will treat you as one," Mother responded in a quiet voice serving her a cup of tea.

I stayed where I was. The night before with Setsuna had been an awakening of the soul and today had been a change in my life—forever.

"I know you are not happy with me and I understand this has been a long day," Mother started in a strong but soft voice. My heart ached with all I wanted to know but refused to say, "Regardless, Sere, I am here when you want to talk,"

Something inside me snapped—perhaps it was the emotional upheaval, perhaps it was all the begging and pleading I had to do with the girls this morning, or even the lack of sleep over this whole debacle but tears began streaming down my face.

"How could you not tell ME your ONLY DAUGHTER that I was the reason the Wraith Kingdom was still alive and kicking? That they wanted ME not the stone but the powers that I alone possessed. How could you hide the fact the Quisez is what made my birth so special or what may have triggered the power of the Senshi to be borne within ME? You knew all this—all these years—" I flustered for words between my tears, "Mama, how could you?"

I looked up at her with a tear stained face and saw her own face lined with tears. For the first time in my life, my mother was crying as hard as I was and it was not with joy but with sorrow.

"Oh Sere, I just—" she struggled to control her tears but her hands shook so hard she was forced to put down her teacup, "Oh Sere!" she cried softly coming to me with open arms.

Mother still stood hardly an inch or two taller than me but it was enough to feel her soft arms go around me and I was five again, in trouble for fighting with Endy, and being reassured by her that everything was okay.

"I always knew," she whispered into my ear, her breath warming my cheek, "That someday I would have to tell you that only you and you alone would defeat the Darkness that blights this kingdom. I have struggled with this since the day in the Tower when the Quisez appeared and we knew that great and terrible things were destined for you," She pulled herself away from me and cupped my face in her hands, tears still falling freely from both of us, "But there are some amazing things too in this destiny of yours and you saw this tonight—a future,"

"But it seems so far away," I whined softly looking down thru blurred vision at my feet.

Mother hugged me close and whispered soothing words of love and apology, "My only daughter, if I could bear all your pain I would do it a thousand times a day for all of eternity, but I can't," and I heard the failure in her voice and my heart felt like it would break to cause my mother that much hurt.

"Mama," I whispered hugging her tightly, "Please, I just want," I paused trying to catch my breath and stop my tears, "I just want my family and my friends to be happy, that's it, that's all I want," I finished closing my eyes tightly, "To live happily with my friends and family and keeping everyone safe," I repeated this mantra in my head. This is all I have ever wanted. Just to be with the girls and Endy…

"Time for bed, Sere, you deserve a good night's sleep and a day off, we have had more than enough excitement for the time being," Mama pulled me away and looked me straight in my eyes, "The crystal follows the heart of she who will be Queen—keep the light in your heart strong and you will never have anything to fear,"

I wanted to roll my eyes but something about the intensity with which Mama looked at me made me stop and she paused before talking again, "The power of the crystal within you Serenity may be infinite, we do not know all we should, so please be careful with your wishes," She kissed both of my cheeks and her lips lingered on my forehead, and I felt the warmth and strength flow from her to me, 'My beautiful daughter, you will always be my hope," she murmured.

We embraced and stepped apart seemingly mirror images of each other.

"Endymion, dearest," Mother turned to Endy who stood facing the balcony, his back to us.

He turned and made his bow, "Yes, aunt?" he asked politely acting like he had not just been part of this interlude.

"Will you please see that Serenity gets to bed and then go find your Mother for me?" She gesticulated, "I think we all need a good night sleep,"

Endy clicked his boots' heels together and bowed again, "As you wish, Princess, let's go," Endy allowed his eyes to twinkle at me.

I kissed my mother's cheek again and she made a movement to take my hand and stopped herself, "Good night, daughter, I will come wake you late in the morning," she bid us farewell.

Endy offered his elbow and I took it. My mind was swimming with exhaustion and knowledge I felt I was too young to know. Then again, who is ever ready to face their destiny?

Selenity, Queen of Luster

Mother of Serenity

Selenity watched her greatest wish and her surrogate son walk out of her private apartments and she let her shaking knees give out and fall on the chaise that was near the tea table. Her hands shook and no calming breath could rid her of the feeling that she had just desperately failed as a Mother.

How could she have not known that the girls would find out more about their destiny down in the Crystal Vaults? How could she have just assumed she could stand back and allow them to follow this path? When would she tell them what she knew about Pure Hearts? Could she do anything now that the girls were following their own destinies?

She brought her cold hands to her head and hastily let down her odangoes. Long hair fell like a shield around her pale shoulders and she let herself give into the tears that had been falling lightly ever since she realized that Serenity thought she, Selenity, had been deceiving her all these years. Fighting for what cause? Trying to gain what power? How could she explain things to her daughter that she did not even understand?

The tears that had trickled formed rivers and became gushing sobs that shook Selenity to her very core. Motherhood was wonderful and yet so very very terrible. What kind of love was this that you created a being to nurture it, love it, have it turn to you for ever hurt and heart ache and to suddenly be told to cut the strings and let this little creature that had grown in you and with you for years—to free it? She continued to cry—her mothering tears, tears for the baby girl she had lost today, and tears for the woman her daughter was becoming, a woman who had to do what she was born to do, just as she had been forced to grow up.

"Mama, wake up! Please Mama, wake up! I am here! I was just playing, please Mama, wake up!" A young girl with pale lavender hair was shaking a white-gowned body upon a marble table, "Mama? Tis I, Sele! You called and I have come!"

Her mother did not open her eyes and she looked up at her surrogate family, the advisors, and the chancellors, why were they all looking at her like that?

Hands came down on Selenity's slim shoulders, "Come, my Princess, your mother will open her eyes no more,"

"What a foolish thing to say," Sele tried to laugh but understanding was dawning on her, she had let her game run too long and something was beginning to weigh down on her heart and in chest, "Mama, Mama, MAMA!"

Other hands began to grip onto her shoulders and arms, "Let us go, Princess,"

"NO, NO, I won't leave you Mama! I won't leave you!"

The funeral pyre had been lit the next morning at dawn and by moonrise she was Queen. Selenity wiped her eyes and blew her nose unceremoniously on her beautiful gown.

"Apollo," she whispered her husband's name with a need that was greater than wife. She felt his warmth before she left his touch, "I just—"

"Shh," he hushed her as he crushed her small crumpled figure to his body and lifted her up, "To bed, to sleep, for all of us tonight, " he kissed her deeply and the lights dimmed in the chamber to the almost silent cling of tea dishes disappearing into the kitchens and doors closing.

Serenity, Princes of Luster

Daughter

Angel

Hope

The bedclothes had been turned down already by the time I had unrobed and entered my bedchamber. A fire burned low and hot chocolate sat on my breakfast table along with my favorite cookies from Lita. I added hundreds of the mini Venusians marshmallows to the Mars chocolate and inhaled the slightly smoky vanilla scent. The mug warmed my hands and I sank luxuriously onto cushions near the fire. I eschewed my usual window seat, choosing instead to gaze into the fire and let it hypnotize me as I tried to understand my feelings about the events that had happened today.

"I need to be alone," I muttered as Ami hurried to me. She looked hurt and I was slightly glad and felt immediately remorseful, "You did no harm, Ames, I just need to think," I cracked a small smile.

"Just call if you need anything, Sere, we're all awake," Mina added getting up from my sitting room trying so hard to be bubbly but failing.

Reid squeezed my hand, "Don't be afraid to need us—that's what we're here for,"

I looked towards my bedroom door and Lita came out dusting her hands, "Eat quickly before anything gets cold, I'll be right here," she whispered as she closed the door behind me. I locked it unnecessarily. It's not like any of them couldn't have gotten past it in the blink of an eye.

What did this prophecy mean? Did it mean anything more than what Setsuna and mother had been saying all along? Could Serenity, Sailor Moon, and this Co Owner of Quisez all exist within one person? Could I still be ME and supposedly save the world?

The fire continued to burn with a steady intensity as I repeated the words I had heard today and the details of the Purity Chalice. What did all this MEAN at the end of the day?

And, did it have to mean anything? Did any of the events today change who I really was? Deep down, in my unchanging crystal that burned bright within me, brighter and warmer as I watched the fire, what did this prophecy change about me?

And the answer could not have been clearer. Nothing. The prophecy did not change who I was or whom I loved. It did not change the fact that I was the heir to the Luster throne and being groomed to be Queen of all Luster. Even being Sailor Moon did not change the most elemental part of my being. Who I am remains an untarnished, unblemished crystal that follows the decisions I make, as future Queen.

Could I even continue to blame Mama? What blame could I lay at her feet? You should have told me! You should have raised me to fulfill this prophecy! And what good would that have done? Then all I would have been was a fulfillment to a prophecy. Mama let me grow up a hoyden tomboy, gave me the gift of friends, helped me train to be what Artemis mockingly called a warrior Princess, and then train me to be the strongest best individual I could be so I could become a fair and just Queen?

My eyes welled up as the fire rose in brilliance and strength, clearly agreeing with the conclusions I had come to.

"Thank you," I muttered to the ancient fire that bowed its head in acknowledgement. My coco was almost gone and I set it back on the breakfast table, stretching to reach it and falling over in the process, "Oomph," I let out a bellow of air as I fell over the cushions. At least the mug had landed safely. I pulled myself up and laughed, clearly being klutzy was something the prophecy had left out. I looked up at the tray of goodies that were just singing to be eaten and I felt a smile stretch across my face as I gazed at it.

I pushed myself off the floor and grabbed the oldest, fuzziest, pink bunnies galore robe I could find and shoved my feet into the matching slippers. I think the only way this day can end will be with a mini pig out sleepover with my best girls.

I flicked my wrist at the door allowing it to swing open and I walked out, carrying the tray of food. The girls were sprawled in various positions on sofas and the floor; they looked surprised and half asleep until Mina's eyes focused on the cookies.

"Oh I was HOPING I would get some food! Clearly Lita didn't think to make any for us," Mina shot Lita a dirty look. I could see that there had been some serious disagreement earlier when I was moping in front of the fire.

"I'm glad you came to the right decision," Rei looked deep into my eyes and saw the flush on my cheeks from the fire, "Sometimes a little silence is all one really needs,"

Ami moved over on the chaise lounge closest to the main fire and I curled up next to her already talking of what I had gone over in my head and hearing my friends' loving reassurances and jibes that I was really taking this whole thing too seriously.

We laughed into the late hours of the night, the boys stopping in once to say good night and upon being pelted by pillows, disappearing and promising to appear for a late brunch. Clearly the entire castle was much in need of a mini vacation or at least a break from all the drama we had just been through.

Author's ramblings: I am so sorry this chapter took so long to come up! I am struggling a little with where I want the story to go from here. I am honestly exhausted from all this high running emotion and am thinking that the story needs a good solid chapter of fluff and fun and I think I remember promising some engagement balls? What do you think? Please READ, REVIEW, and FEEL FREE to ASK any questions!

Love you guys!