1 Moon mystery
"Sailor Moon, behind you!"
She tries to get away, she truly does, but isn't – as always – quick enough in turning and running, and thus she stumbles and ends up on knees and hands by the youma's feet, and the whole battle turns into a mess. A mess that she, somehow, is the one cleaning up by finishing it.
Mars chews her out for it later, when the dust from the former alive youma is blowing away in the wind and they all sit on the ground behind the demolished building, trying to get some breath and calm back.
"… why can't you do better?"
Why indeed? Usagi wonders the very same thing, has even asked Venus since the other blonde seems to know a lot more, but Venus has never given her an answer, just mumbled something about a power difference, and a lack of a Senshi from the moon when Usagi asked, and none of that really helps to figure this problem out and find a solution.
"Luna, was there a moon Senshi, back during the Silver Millenium?" she asks the black cat later when they are back home and safely hidden in her bedroom.
"Well… I don't know, Usagi, but I think so, how else would you have your powers?"
"But… my powers seem to be based on healing, disguised as attacks, but there are no real attacks, and why would the moon Senshi not have attacks to protect the moon Princess with?"
"I don't know," the cat admits, and Usagi is none the wiser and swears she can feel a well-hidden worry in the felines voice.
"Is there no way for me to get better?"
"Training, more training," Luna says with a yawn and curls into a black ball of fluff beside her.
Usagi is awake long after her little guardian has fallen asleep. She sits in the bed in such an angle that the moonlight falls onto her through the window, and she thinks about a very simple fact; if there wasn't a moon Senshi, it would explain why she has no fighting skills and no vague memory flashes like the others. But if so, who is she? The only person with a direct connection to the moon, according to what Luna knows, is the moon Princess, and surely the cat wouldn't disguise the Princess as a Senshi? That, in Usagi's mind, makes no sense. But then again, nothing makes much sense these days. She toys with a loose strand of her hair, wonders, worries, lets the moonlight lull her to sleep.
#
She is the moon Princess. Or rather, she shares her body with the soul of said Princess. It's very confusing and world changing at the moment, and the only things that anchor Usagi to here and now is the Silver Crystal that hums in her chest, and the low but firm voice of Venus, the Princess's first in command, Usagi's very dear friend. At least, she muses tiredly, this explains her healing powers and healing 'attacks', the moon royals are first and foremost healers and only go into another mood when they have no choice and even then they use said healing to make a difference.
The Silver Crystal hums inside her, soft and happy vibrations that bring comfort and a warmth hat soothes her.
"Serenity!"
The name that's not hers makes Usagi jerk back and blink. The hidden room in another dimension by the Crown Arcade comes into view. She sees her friends on the floor, all on one knee with their heads bowed.
"What are you doing?" she asks, astonished.
"Showing proper respect, Princess," answers Venus who is closest. Usagi gapes at them.
"Well, don't!" she finally manages to get out and huffs at them, kicks the pillow that has fallen from her lap onto the floor.
"Pardon, Princess?" says Venus with confusion etched all over her face and in her voice.
"I am not deserving of more respect just because I have the soul of a dead Princess inside me! I'm Usagi, a human girl, first. You are human girls first, not people that died on the moon and were born in space. Those souls share our bodies, they don't own them! So, we are human and equal. And as you friend, I want you to stop bowing!" Usagi screams the last words, powers surges through her entire being and the stupid, frilly white dress fades and leaves her in her normal human girl clothes, and Usagi clings to her cardigan so hard that her knuckles turn white.
"What do you mean? We are moon people reborn," Venus says gently, but she sits down instead of kneeling, and it's something.
"No, Minako, we are human girls with two souls within us, and for you four the moon souls are stronger. If you don't believe me, maybe you can believe the Silver Crystal."
Usagi calls it forth, makes it visible, shares the knowledge it has given her.
"Oh," says Venus softly, and fades to Minako with a look on her face that Usagi knows all too well, relief.
"Wait, we have two souls?" Mars cuts in, baffled.
"Yes. Without these souls, we would have no power and no memories of the life on the moon. We only look like they did because their souls changed our DNA to better merge with the powers they wield. And yet, to live on earth, we need to be human, so our humans souls are within us as well. I suspect yours may have merged somehow, that's why you feel this is so natural and right for you," Usagi elaborates tiredly and rubes the bridge of her nose.
"Okay, but why?" the black haired girl asks.
"I'm not fully sure, I don't think I've gotten all moon memories back. I know there was a war and they all died, and their souls came here somehow," Usagi replies and rubs her neck.
"That's… wild," Mars says after minutes of silence.
"Mhm," Usagi agrees, because there is nothing more to add to that very true statement. She watches as Mars, Mercury and Jupiter finally fade back to human shape.
"So, you don't want to the Princess, or fight?" Minako asks.
"I don't have a choice now, but if I had been given a choice, I wouldn't have taken this road. But, maybe, if we do what the moon souls was sent here to do, they can leave, and we can be fully human again. I'd like that."
"So, you'll fight?"
"Yes. I'm Usagi and Sailor Moon now. We're all both. So we have to handle being both," Usagi reasons aloud as she speaks, not really having formed the though before voicing them.
Inside her, the soul of Serenity radiates gratefulness.