I cannot even begin to say how much you guys rock. Seriously, thanks for sticking with me through that horrendous gap, I really didn't deserve that! Anyway, here we continue the trend of that large black lie biting the senshi in the bum. It was a stupid decision they made under a lot of pressure, and that has to have repercussions!:p
Edited 02/08/2014
Congratulations reader, you have caught up with the edits. From this point on, the story will update as per usual. For those who've been following the story for some time, you should probably be aware that over the last week or two, I've run through the entire story and tweaked and adjusted the parts that really annoyed me this far down the line. You can either re-read, or use this handy summary sheet of changes:
1) Ikuko told Usagi that she'd figured out she was Sailor Moon right before they left for the future, about twenty chapters earlier than previously
2) Minako/Kunzite and Rei/Jadeite no longer feature as pairings in this story. They are friends and frenemies respectively. Ami/Zoisite is still going, but quietly.
3) The Silver Millenium Senshi have new names as follows:
Mercury: Minerva
Venus: Areia
Mars: Bellona
Jupiter: Amalthea
Neptune: Theia
Pluto: Anatole
(If they're not in the list, you haven't met their silmil incarnation yet, or they haven't been mentioned by another character).
4) Endymion and co. were transported a month into the future and Pluto was way more vague about the whole shindig.
Most of the other changes were slight enough that I can't pull them to the forefront of my mind right now, but if they become important I'm sure I'll remember to warn you!
Also, thanks to those who keep telling me, but I know all about Crystal! I've been watching the moment Hulu has it (except for episode 2. It airs at 11 in the morning here and I was out D:). I'm loving it to a slightly (beautifully) obscene degree. Rei was a total bamf. But then, Rei is always a total bamf. 3
"I'm home," Usagi shouted, knocking off her shoes.
"Usagi? Can you come in here please?" Ikuko's voice was soft, but Usagi knew her mother well enough to know that something serious was up.
"What is it mama? Where's Chibiusa?"
"She's visiting a friend this evening," Ikuko replied as Usagi padded into the kitchen. Ikuko was sat at the table, her hands wrapped around a mug of tea. "Usagi…" Ikuko seemed to be searching for the words to say, her lips pursed and her brow furrowed. Usagi fell heavily into the chair across from her and waited.
"Usagi… I've been thinking."
"What do you mean?" Usagi asked, her heart suddenly racing. She's going to ask you to stop, Eclipse predicted. She's getting too worried.
"Usagi… I want you to talk to your papa. And to Shingo. I want you to tell them the truth."
Both Usagi and Eclipse were stunned into momentary silence.
"I dunno," Usagi said hesitantly. "I mean, it's been a secret for ages. Since it started. It'd be weird if they knew. It's weird enough that mama knows. And what if they tried to stop me?"
"Have you considered that it's not healthy to be keeping such a big secret from your family? You've been supressing a lot here Usagi and I think it would do you good to have someone outside of the secret you could confide in."
"But…"
"Other than your therapist," Sarah said hurriedly.
The not so distant future
"Zoisite" Mamoru shouted, trying to move to his friend's aid only for Fish Eye to leap in his way.
"Remless!" He shouted. A creature rose from Fish Eye's shadow, hulking and huge. It was like a misshapen gorilla, it's face covered by a distorted clowns mask. It laughed, gunning straight for Mamoru who darted to the side and drew his sword. He slashed at the creatures back and it cried out in pain as a line of shadow appeared where the sword had struck. The creature – the remless – was faster than Mamoru had anticipated, however, and seconds later he found himself flying into a nearby tree.
"Stars!" Nephrite shouted, "Lend me your power!" Light crashed down from the sky into his hand and he flung it at the remless. The undiluted energy rippled down it's body and it shouted, flailing it's massive fists and scoring a lucky hit on Jadeite, who crashed into Kunzite.
Then there was screaming. They turned to see Fish Eye with his head inside the mirror that had emerged from Zoisite's chest. "Wow!" he exclaimed. "These really are beautiful dreams!"
"Get away from that!" Mamoru shouted, charging at Fish Eye as he withdrew, crashing into him. They both fell to the ground, but Fish Eye turned it into a tumble, launching himself back to his feet, laughing even as Kunzite and Jadeite, finally on their feet, launched a joint attack that destroyed the remless, shattering it into a thousand pieces of shadow.
As the red board behind him disappeared, the mirror retreated into Zoisite's chest and he fell to the ground. "Hmm," Fish Eye said to himself thoughtfully. "No sign of Pegasus." Kunzite knelt beside their motionless companion, checking his pulse. "He lives," he said.
"And you defeated my remless," Fish Eye lamented, "But I assure you, this won't be the last we see of each other." Smiling, he gave a short wave and stepped back into the air.
The present day
"Good evening," Ami said as Ikuko opened the door.
"Ami, Makoto, come in please," Ikuko said with a gracious smile, stepping aside so that Makoto had plenty of room to get Ami's chair through the door and into the living room. They knew why they were there and the thought made them more than a little anxious. "I brought cookies," Makoto said with a nervous smile.
"That was very sweet of you Makoto. I'll put them on a plate, if you want."
"Thanks."
Minako and Rei were already there, with Artemis and Luna sitting between them on the sofa. When Ami was settled, Luna stretched and hopped over to sit on her chair with her, eliciting absent-minded strokes. She purred contentedly.
"Go on, in," Ikuko said, ushering a confused looking Kenji and Shingo through the door and into the room. "Sit down. Have a cookie, but be quiet while they speak."
Kenji, who had learnt that a small dose of fear was healthy when dealing with Ikuko when she was in one of these moods, nodded and took a cookie as directed.
"What's this about?" Shingo asked, glancing at the assembled girls before him as Usagi entered the room.
"It was mama's idea," Usagi said, as though that explained everything. She glanced around the room and glared at Artemis for a moment. The cat sighed and shifted to sit on the arm of the sofa, leaving a space for her to perch on.
"Ok. So… here goes." She took a deep breath and glanced at her friend's one at a time. They all nodded. "I'm Sailor Moon."
Later, Usagi would decide she had to give Kenji credit; he didn't even choke on his cookie. He chewed. And chewed. And chewed some more. When finally he finally swallowed he simply said, "Well that makes a lot of sense."
Shingo on the other hand was looking around the room with dawning realisation and horror mingled on his face. "My sister is Sailor Moon?" he asked. "My sister?" His face went beet red and without a further word he dashed from the room. Minako giggled to herself as he went.
"He always did have a crush on Sailor Moon."
"Don't remind me," Usagi grouched. "That was weird enough before now." She looked to Kenji. "You aren't going to stop me?"
"Usagi, you're Sailor Moon. Your mother and I couldn't stop you if we tried. Why didn't you tell us? Why did you lie to us?"
"I was afraid," she whispered. "I was afraid you'd try make me stop. And I didn't want you to worry any more than you had to. When we found out we were going away… I thought it would be best if you worried just the once, for a few days. We didn't expect to be gone that long."
"But this is dangerous, isn't it?" he asked, eyes sliding over to where Ami sat in her chair.
"Yes," Usagi replied frankly, "But we're the only ones who can do it."
"Alright then. Tell me everything."
And so they did. They spoke in part about the Silver Millenium, about the reappearance of the Dark Kingdom, and their fight with the Black Moon clan. They described the threat they were facing at the moment, and the appearance of more allies to their cause. They mentioned Setsuna whisking Mamoru and the Shittenou away goodness knows when or where, and finally they explained that Chibiusa was Sailor Moon from the future, come to the past to train."
"From the future you say?" Kenji asked excitedly. "How far into the future?"
"Umm… a thousand years or so?" Usagi said after a moment. "We don't know exactly how long."
"A thousand years?" Ikuko squeaked. "But…" the question hung in her eyes.
"Yeah, well the thing is…" Usagi began, only for Rei to cut her off.
"There's going to be some form of massive catastrophe that basically reshapes the entire planet, and when we emerge from the other side of it in a thousand years after a massive freeze of some kind, Usagi's gonna be Queen."
"Queen?" Kenji asked, eyebrows rising. "Of what?"
"The world," Minako chimed in, grinning at Usagi. "Don't ask us how she's going to manage that, but by all reports she does a pretty damn good job of it." Naturally, this required an explanation that no, they really didn't know very much about the future.
"Really, when we were there things were slightly messy," Minako explained. "We've never been given the tour or anything."
"But surely…" Kenji began, his eyes showing just how enthralled the whole thing was making him, when there was a knock on the door.
"That'll be Chibiusa," Ikuko said, "She forgot her key this morning." She stood and hurried into the hall. They listened, Usagi pinching the last cookie, as the door opened.
"Hello," a familiar voice said pleasantly, "Do you mind if we come in?"
That was how, barely seconds later, Ikuko escorted both Chibiusa and Setsuna into the room. "Should have guessed you'd show up sooner or later," Minako laughed.
"Mama, papa," Usagi said, "This is Setsuna Meioh…" she glanced at Setsuna, who nodded. "She's also Sailor Pluto."
"I will explain the nature of time to your parents, Usagi," Setsuna said, smiling a little indulgently at her princess. "But first, I believe Small Lady has something she wishes to say."
Chibiusa, who was not now as small as she had been when they first met her, stepped forward. Her eyes were fixed on her shoes and her face was ashen. "I'm sorry I lied to you, Ikuko-mama, Kenji-papa," she said unhappily.
Ikuko didn't hesitate for even a moment. She knelt down before Chibiusa and drew her into an embrace. "You're always welcome here," she said firmly. Then, quietly so that Kenji did not hear, "Any child of Usagi's will always have a place here."
"Usagi," Kenji said, an excited thread creeping into his voice. "Can… can I have an exclusive senshi photo shoot and interview."
Usagi laughed, and it felt wonderful.
"Shingo?" Usagi asked, knocking on the door. "Shingo, can I come in?" Finally there was a grunt of permission and she headed into his room. He was facing away from the door, playing on his console.
"I can't play the Sailor Moon game now," he grouched. "It feels really weird." She picked her way across the floor; it wasn't the tidiest of rooms, and perched on the edge of Shingo's bed, sitting to his left.
"Are you alright with this Shingo?" she asked.
"Are the others still here?"
"Yeah, they're still talking to mama and papa."
"I worked out who they all were. I feel really stupid for not noticing sooner." He smashed at the buttons on his controller and something exploded on the screen.
"Hey, Minako had to literally see me transform before she worked it out," Usagi laughed. "There's strong magic in place to prevent people realising. Mama was the first person who broke through."
"Really?"
"Yup." She watched the screen as Shingo moved through the next room, opening fire on everything that moved.
"You're not going to go away again, are you?" he asked. His voice was quiet, vulnerable. Slowly, she reached an arm around his shoulders and squeezed.
"Not if I can help it," she said firmly.
She felt light. She hadn't told them everything – she wasn't sure how she'd even start to explain Sailor Eclipse – but her family knew, and they supported her. Now Usagi only found herself wishing she'd said something far, far sooner.
"Usagi," Minako said hesitantly.
"Hmm?" Usagi asked. They were sitting on the porch, wrapped up against the winter chill and gazing up at the sky above them.
"Do you think I should talk to my parents? Give them a chance to explain?"
"I… I don't know," she replied eventually. "Do you think you'd regret it if you didn't?"
"Maybe. We don't know what's going to happen when Crystal Tokyo comes. Will they still be there, or…" She swallowed. "I think I want to speak to them, Usagi. And I'm terrified."
"We can all be there for you, if you want."
"Thanks, Usagi. But I think I need to deal with this alone."