It was bedtime in the Tsukino household and a certain junior member of the household did not like that idea. Mamoru lowered the medical journal he was reading, sipped some decaf coffee, watched the adorably chubby-cheeked, pink haired toddler run around, her arms spread out wide. She was either pretending to be a bird or an airplane. She stumbled, fell over, bounced up giggling wildly. A smile spread over Mamoru's face. "Five more minutes, Chibiusa."

"No!" Was Chibiusa's response.

"Alright, two more minutes."

"No!"

"Then five more minutes it is?"

"Yes!"

Mamoru let her believe she'd won the argument. Lord knew he'd done that enough times to her mother. Speaking of which, Usagi was on the phone and probably wouldn't be ready to help him put Chibiusa to bed. He couldn't help but listen in on the conversation. Usagi's friends were as close to him as sisters at this point.

Usagi paced back and forth in the kitchen. "I'm sorry he went back to his wife too, Mina. No you're not a sl…that word, you didn't even know he was married, no, no, you can't turn into Sailor Venus and wrap him up in your love chain and, as a matter of fact I am Sailor Venus' boss and, look, have you been drinking?"

Mamoru sighed. Really, there wasn't much difference between a toddler and drunk Mina except the latter was potty trained and he wouldn't bet on that. He read for a few minutes longer while Chibiusa fought a losing battle with sleep, rubbing at her eyes. Mamoru stood and scooped her up. She yawned and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Can you wead me a storwy, Daddy?"

"Sure, Small Lady."

He carried her to her little pink bed-the one she rarely actually slept in since she usually snuck into their bed-and placed her inside, sitting on the edge. She yawned and laid her head on the pillow, expectantly looking up at him. He laid on the bed and drew her close. "What kind of story do you want?"

Not like he didn't already know the answer. She threw up her arms. "Sailah Moon!"

He patted her head. "Once upon a time, there was a wicked lady named Queen Beryl…" He had told her the story one-million times at least, but it never got any less interesting to her and she followed along as the evil witch kidnapped the handsome prince who Sailor Moon then rescued. Then the handsome prince and Sailor Moon and her friends all threw snowballs at Queen Beryl until she ran away and promised to never come back.

Hey, he added some details here and there. When she was older, she'd get the real story, but for now, she was fast asleep, her thumb popped into her mouth. Mamoru smiled and kissed her as Usagi, having finally calmed down Mina, stepped into the room and kissed her cheek. Then, they quietly left the room.

…

Morning came quickly for Chibiusa and as she always did she awoke completely refreshed (and dry for once). Bursting with energy, she hopped from the bed. Her mommy was already awake, she could smell pancakes so she burst out of her room. After breakfast, Mommy took her into the bathroom for a shower and, playful, she spent most of it splashing Mommy, Mommy splashing her back. After the bath, she felt her morning energy and wasn't sure what to do with it, even wiggling as Mommy tried to dress her, slipping her into a cute, blue dress. She wiggled a bit too much and earned a sharp reprimand to stay still. Chibiusa pouted. She couldn't help it, she just felt wiggly, but she tried to be obedient and still. Mommy patted her hair which she'd done up in her carrot style odangos and took her hand, leading her by the hand to the living room. Mamoru was getting on his scrubs and was nearly bowled over by Chibiusa hugging his leg. "Bye Daddy!"

Usagi was the next to hug him, more gently and softly. He embraced them both before saying goodbye and closing the door. Chibiusa bounced away. "Play with me, Mommy?"

"Sure, Small Lady." She had just finished up the latest issue of her manga so she could afford a bit of time goofing off. What was the point of having kids if you couldn't have fun with them after all? "What do you want to play?"

She threw up her arms. "Sailuh Moon!"

"Alright. Let Mommy get her magic brooch." She slipped it out of the pocket she always put it in. Luna constantly scolded her over "misusing" it just to mess around with Chibiusa and she patiently explained to the cat that she'd stop doing it once Luna stopped excusing Diana for clawing everything she could get her paws on.

Chibiusa clapped in outright glee as Usagi threw up her hand and cried out her transformation phrase, the familiar sensation of magic washing over her, transforming her into the legendary guardian of love and justice. She did her classic pose, her arms flung out, her hands with her fist closed except her finger and pinky (representing the horns of the crescent moon.) She pointed menacingly at her daughter. "I am Sailor Moon and I will punish evil-doers."

Chibiusa laughed and then roared, swinging around, pretending she was a monster. She stomped loudly and pounced at Sailor Moon who just caught her and then let her go when she squirmed away. Chibiusa ran around the living room (where nothing breakable was displayed) while Usagi chased after her. While Usagi could easily catch the girl, and had, that would ruin their fun so she allowed Chibiusa to run around and around the room, shrieking in delight. "Halt, Villain!" Usagi shouted, hands on her hips. "In the name of the moon, I'll punish you with a tickling!"

"Noooo." Chibiusa giggled and jumped on the couch and then off the armchair, scrambling up. Usagi chose that moment to swoop her up. Chibiusa shrieked in pretend defiance and "fought" mostly by squirming around in Usagi's grip. Usagi rolled her eyes and sat down, Chibiusa face up in her lap. "Prepare to be punished!" She pulled up her shirt, leaned down and blew a raspberry on her tummy. Chibiusa giggled in delight, wiggling around. Usagi loosened her hold and Chibiusa bounced out of her lap and threw herself onto Usagi's leg as Usagi stood up. "Oh nooo," Usagi said, smirking and pretending to sink to the ground while Chibiusa crawled up on her and jumped and down on her belly. Usagi winced as her bare feet slapped her stomach. She grabbed her by the ankles, flipping her upside down. Chibiusa squirmed, still laughing as she was set on the couch. She jumped off and ran away.

Usagi took chase after her, grabbed her up in her arms and dug her hands into her tummy, Chibiusa laughing and kicking her legs. She set her down. "Had enough?"

Chibiusa shook her head and bounced up and down. Usagi chased her again and Chibiusa took off like a bullet, Usagi herding her through the kitchen and then back into the living room. They ran around in circles again and again until Usagi found herself panting. While the energies of the Cosmos were flowing through her, Chibiusa could still wear her out. She lunged, picking her up and spinning her around. Chibiusa giggled at the new game before being sat down and pat on the head. "Mommy just remembered she still has something to draw."

Chibiusa's bottom lip started to tremble and Usagi quickly picked her up. "But would you like to draw with me?" She often liked to scribble on some scrap paper while Usagi made her comics. Chibiusa nodded quickly and Usagi de-transformed. Chibiusa followed her into the drawing room, which held a simple desk scattered with papers. The bookshelf set up against the wall was full of manga and little stuffed animals that she wasn't sure if she or her daughter played with more.

She pulled up a chair, a piece of paper, sat and began her work. Very quietly, Chibiusa pulled up her own little desk and began to scribble while Usagi drew out each panel of her comic. Only a few would know her comic was based upon her fragmented memories of another life as she drew out (kid friendly) images of a moon princess, Tranquility (thanks Ami!) secretly meeting her forbidden lover Terro (thanks Ami!). She smiled to herself as she drew out the two meeting and kissing in a rose garden though a sinister witch watched them, envy growing in her cold, black heart.

This time, the story could have a happy ending.

Hours passed, Usagi absorbed in drawing and Chibiusa going over to play with a bunny doll. Usagi yawned slightly, a golden beam of sunlight warming her face. Laying her face down on the table, she decided a little nap would be nice. Chibiusa, noticing her mother was asleep, scampered up to her, setting her toy bunny aside. She had seen Usagi slip the brooch in her pocket. Sometimes, Chibiusa wondered what playing the other side of their game would be like. She knew she had the coolest mommy in the universe, what other little girl could truthfully say their mommy didn't just run monsters from out of closets or under the bed but from the earth itself, keeping the whole world safe?

Without even thinking about what she was doing, she slipped her hand in Mommy's pocket, fingered the broach. She knew this was bad, but Mommy had never said not to touch it. She slipped it out. Mommy still didn't wake up. Chibiusa decided to whisper the transformation phrase, lifting the brooch up. The magic washed over and she gasped as a pink-and-white sailor suit and ruffled dress covered her, made her gape. She had not expected this.

A gasp tore from her throat as she felt a sheer rush of pure energy and bounced around the room, feeling like she could run forever. That's when Luna came into the room and blinked. Then blinked again. "Oh. Oh, dear. Usagi. Usagi? Usagi!"

Usagi blinked awake and looked around just quickly enough to watch Chibiusa open a window and burst out of it. She blinked again. "What a strange dream."

Luna jumped on the desk. "Not a dream, Usagi."

Usagi considered this, blinking several times, then sprang up so quickly the chair fell back. "My baby!"

She ran to the window and stared out where Chibiusa was hurtling through the sky. She paced back and forth, pulling her odangos. "How could this happen? How in the world could she use my brooch?"

Luna cleared her throat. "It was your mother's brooch first, before then, her grandmother's, a far more warlike princess than her daughter. To be a guardian is a sacred trust passed down from mother to daughter, you simply never activated it as Princess Serenity because you lived in an age of peace. Chibiusa is fully capable of wielding it."

Usagi rubbed her head. "Okay. Okay then. Mamoru, I need to call Mamoru. And the girls. No, no, there's no time. How can I catch her? I don't have my brooch!"

"I have a spare for these sorts of situations, follow me." Luna strolled out the door.

Usagi hurried after her. "How can you be so calm?! And what do you mean these sorts of situations?!" She yanked her odango again. "How could you expect THIS?"

Luna snorted. "Chibiusa is perfectly safe. She is being protected by powers far beyond any human comprehension. And I expect it based upon the behavior of the last princess."

"What do you…ohhhhh."

…

Silver Millennium

"Wheeee!" Little Serenity flapped her wings, flying around and around in the sky.

Queen Serenity stared. "Luna. I have several questions. Chief among them are, how did Serenity get the Silver Crystal and how did she use it to give herself wings?"

Meanwhile, on Earth, a young prince Endymion looked outside his nursery window, saw a winged figure flying around the moon, and fell hopelessly, irrevocably, in love.

…

Usagi shook her head, returning to the present. "Okay. Okay. Let me call Mamoru and tell him to meet me at the command center."

Luna hurriedly followed her princess out the door.

"Chibiusa did what?" Mamoru asked, pacing back and forth in the center of the command center, already dressed as Tuxedo Mask and prepared for anything when Usagi had ordered him to the command center without any further explanation.

Usagi was no better, still frantically running her hands through her pigtails. Mamoru took a deep breath, willing away his rising, fatherly panic. "Luna. You seem awfully calm about all this though I know how protective you can get over the royal heirs."

Luna casually flicked her tail, pressed a button which caused a hidden compartment to pop out, full of replacement pens and brooches. "I was Princess Serenity's nanny; I've lost the capacity for panic from overuse."

Usagi glared at her feline companion. "Oh come on. I wasn't that bad!"

Luna gave her a deadpan look. "At least Chibiusa is staying on the correct planet."

From long years of practice, Mamoru caught Usagi before she could lunge. Luna continued. "Secondly, Chibiusa is in no real danger. Her newly released Guardian powers are keeping her safe and surely we can find her."

Usagi breathed, calming a bit. Mamoru clutched her hand. "We will find her."

She nodded, leaning into his comforting touch. Luna sighed, rubbing against her leg. I'm sorry for making light of the situation, I can't imagine how I'd feel if this was Diana." Usagi leaned down and stroked her fur. "It's alright, Luna." She strode over to the compartment, pulled out her brooch, lifted it and called out her transformation phrase. Both traded a look and exited the secret base into a trash strewn alley outside the arcade. A magic intoxicated toddler hurtling through the sky above Tokyo couldn't be that hard to find. Just on the off chance, they looked up and, seeing nothing, they lept into the sky themselves.

…

Chibiusa laughed as she soared, dodging the puffy, white clouds in her way, her little form cutting through the blue of the sky surrounding her. Far below her was the vast and sprawling city. She was hurtling right towards a stone tower jutting upwards to kiss the atmosphere. Seeing there was no way for her to dodge or fly around it, she instead flew upwards, shouting in glee at the sensation of pure weightlessness. The air whipped around her, rushed through her hair as she rocketed by the windows, the amazed office workers staring as the pink-ruffles-skirted and white-shirted clad toddler whirled by. She landed on a rooftop and ran, throwing out her arms and letting the currents catch her, carrying her little body around as if it were a feather. The towers of the skyscraper stabbed at the sky and she made a game of dodging each one. Her heart hammered in her ears as she came within a few inches of slamming into one, her hip grazing hard stone and breaking off part of it, the rock spraying against her costume.

She looked around to make sure no one had seen that and rocketed away as fast as she could. Looking down below, she saw no rampaging monsters or evil aliens for the brand new Guardian to test herself against. She came down on the hard concrete of a rooftop, startling a pigeon who took off in a furious flapping of grey wings. She stared after it and wondered if the bird would like to be her new friend. She lept after it. The bird squawked in alarm and quickly flew away. Chibiusa sulked as she soared, mystical currents keeping her held aloft. While it was unneeded, she flapped her own arms like she was a bird which convinced the pigeon that some predatory, weird looking bird was after it and hid himself in a cloud. Chibiusa zoomed by and cloud stuff exploded all around her, drenching her costume through, though she could not feel the cold wetness nor the chilly air flowing all around her. The energies of the universe, the powerful inheritance that flowed through her veins, kept her warm.

She quickly spun around, twirling like a ballerina. A shout for help had come from somewhere in the distance. Chibiusa slowed, listened more closely. Someone was definitely crying out. Chibiusa rocketed towards where the sound of the disturbance had come from, coming down behind a man who was holding a knife on another man. It was a shady alley, scattered with broken bottles and yellowing newspapers. The other man cowered behind the knife wielder. Chibiusa narrowed her eyes and marched forward. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but it sure looked wrong to her. She cleared her throat and stomped her foot. The cowering man stared at her and pointed. The knife wielder turned as well, staring at what he was seeing. Chibiusa did an imitation of her mom's pose and nearly stumbled as she had, for some reason unbeknownst even to her, crossed her legs, making her fall on her heiny, but she heroically bounced right back up, rubbing her sore tush, glaring at the robber. (Robbers, that's what they were called. This was a robbery; she'd seen them on TV.)

The almost victim stared, as if he very much wanted to know where this was going. The knife wielder blinked. "You. Uh, you lost, kid?"

Chibiusa spun her arms into another clumsy imitation of her mother's stance and managed to smack herself in the face. "Ouch! I mean, I am Sailah Moon and I will fight bad guys and you look like a bad guy so I'm going to punish you in the name of the moon!"

The knife wielding man stared and then burst into laughter. A crimson blush spread over her face. As the laughter continued, one would have thought Chibiusa was so angry steam was going to blow out her ears. With one flying leap, she ran over and kicked the knife wielder hard in his shins. He shouted and the knife fell from his hands. The almost victim ran away, laughing. The robber glared at her, stomping forward as she stepped back. "Little brat!" His hand came down and Chibiusa yelped as it connected with her face. She expected it to knock her off her feet and onto the ground, but it did not. To her great surprise (and to the robber's) she remained standing firm. It had stung, but that just made her angrier. "You meanie!" Suddenly, a pink, heart decorated rod appeared in her hand. An attack invocation was flowing into her mind but before she could shout it the attacker had (wisely) fled. Chibiusa jumped up and down in a victory dance though she did wonder where the rod had gone, though her grasp on object constancy wasn't all that good anyway so she quickly let it go before leaping back into the sky.

…

Queen Malefica the Blackhearted had traversed the abyss between stars all in search of a world weak enough for her to conquer. She spread out her leathery wings, purple and scaled like the rest of her, sailing on a solar wind. A blue and green planet hung like a jewel in the void of space. This was very far from any of the busier centers of the galaxy. Who could possibly be protecting such a world, alone and millions of light years from any interstellar empire?

Angling her wings, she hurtled towards it, entering the planet's atmosphere.

…

Chibiusa sat on the tree branch, looking up at the clouds go by. Without any bad guys to fight, being Sailor Moon was starting to get boring. And she was starting to miss her mommy and daddy. Beside her, she heard a plaintive meow and looked around. A little black-and-white kitten was on the branch, batting at her. Down below, a girl only a few years younger than herself was sobbing. Chibiusa looked from the cat to the girl and then she hopped up, suddenly alight with purpose, sweeping up the cat who yewled, scratching her arm. Chibiusa cried out and the cat lept down into the girl's arms. She pouted and the delighted girl carried the ingrate demon cat away.

…

Usagi and Mamoru lept from building to building. Having long ago grown accustomed to it, they hardly noticed the snap of the wind rushing through their hair. Carefully, they scanned the ground below, searching for any pink-haired toddlers running around or any other unusual sights. They noticed one man dashing down the street, occasionally stopping to rub his leg. They shared a look as that certainly counted as an unusual sight and soared down in front of him. He jumped back. "Oh, hell, more of you!"

Mamoru cleared his throat. "You've seen other Sailor Guardians around?"

The man vigorously nodded. "Yeah, some little pip squeak in pink kicked me in the legs."

Usagi raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like our Chi-our daughter." She quickly corrected herself at a sharp look from Mamoru.

"Parents today." The man rolled his eyes. "Letting their kids run wild."

"You'll forgive us if we don't think our daughter just randomly kicked you for no reason at all." Mamoru brushed away some sweat, making his cape flair out dramatically and completely unintentionally.

The man hesitated. "Well, uh, I might have been trying to get some money from someone and, from a distance, it might have looked like a robbery."

Usagi sighed. "We don't have time for this. Just go turn yourself in or go home and rethink your life or something or I'll punish you in the name of yadayadayada-sis-boom-bah. Where'd you see her last?"

The man pointed in a vague direction and Usagi and Mamoru took off, racing into the air. They soared around the tall spires of the buildings with more practice than the newest Sailor Guardian, allowing the wind to guide their movements, using the currents to their advantage as they sailed around the spires. They were coming up on a park and heard a sudden shout. Their hearts raced. That sound was unmistakable to two parents, the shout of their child in pain. Somehow, on some deep instinctual level, they knew it was their daughter whose voice they were hearing and didn't hesitate to race towards where they had heard the cry and then saw a blur of pink. They took after it. As Guardians, every sense was heightened, allowing them to hear one another on the din of the battlefield or their enemy sneaking up on them. There was no way Chibiusa didn't see her parents. Mamoru almost cried out to her and then covered Usagi's mouth. "Let's not shout her name."

Usagi nodded. "Then how are we going to get her to come to us? Wait-" She flew ahead. "Small Lady! Come here!"

She just flew faster. Usagi's jaw dropped. She wasn't normally that disobedient. Suddenly, Chibiusa soared upwards. Usagi rocketed upwards herself, following her. Chibiusa accelerated, hid herself behind a cloud and took off again when Usagi was only a few feet away, doing a loop-de-loop and dodging downwards. Usagi shook her head when she followed, feeling dizzy. Her pigtails smacked Mamoru in the face and he coughed as golden strands got entangled in his mouth. While he was used to this during more pleasurable moments, all it did this time was make him spit the strands out. Usagi pulled back. "Ugh! You got spit on my hair!"

Mamoru grumbled. "Let's worry about that later! Where'd she go!"

They heard a giggle carried by the wind, but no Chibiusa in sight. That's when purple streaks of lightning filled the sky and something landed with an earth shattering crash in a secluded grove of trees. Mamoru and Usagi's hearts nearly stopped and they rushed down to see what it was.

Chibiusa had gotten their first. A hideous, purple, humanoid alien with scaly, green tendrils coming down from her head stood there. She stomped forward, claws where her toes should be curving into the ground. "I shall conquer this pathetic world!"

Chibiusa stepped back just enough for Usagi to mommy-grab her arm and pull her beside her. Mamoru glanced at the two. "Alright, why is her uniform pink?"

Usagi shrugged. "My mom's was white. She'll have a different attack too. I was never able to do Mom's Silver Ray Purification-lucky too as it'd have turned the Arctic into a crater."

Mamoru laughed, nervously, and silently thanked the long-forgotten Gods of the Golden Kingdom that Endymion had never spent an inordinate amount of time around Queen Serenity. The creature stalked forward and suddenly Chibiusa broke her mother's grasp as a rod appeared in her hand. She focused it. Usagi ran to stop her, but it was too late. Chibiusa lifted the rod. "Pink! Sugar! Heart! Attack!"

A rush of hearts burst from the rod and smacked the creature in the face, sending her hurtling back into a tree which shattered. Usagi and Mamoru stared, waited a few seconds. The creature didn't move. Chibiusa did an adorable victory dance that mostly consisted of jumping up and down and running around in a circle. Usagi felt her anger at the child melting away just watching while Mamoru watched the alien. It wasn't budging. "Uh. I think that thing is dead."

He spoke too soon as the creature stumbled up. She pointed to Chibiusa. "Is that a child?"

Mamoru nodded. The creature seemed to take a moment to absorb this information. "Are you that child's progenitors?"

"Progeni-what?"

"It means parents, Usagi."

"Oh! Yeah, that's our baby!"

The creature didn't speak for a few moments. "That's an infant?"

"Toddler. Chibiusa is a toddler, the stage immediately past infancy."

The creature was slowly backing away. "Oh, fuck no, I'm out of here." She spread her wings and hurtled up in a blast of purple.

"Fuck!" Chibiusa repeated, giggling at the new word. "Auntie Mina says that too!"

I'm going to fucking kill Auntie Mina. Usagi thought though she knew she could no more be seriously angry at her Guardians than she could actually be mad at Chibiusa or Mamoru. Her heart just wouldn't be in. Still, both were in for a scolding. She knelt down. "Chibiusa. Come here. Now."

Chibiusa cocked her head. Was she in trouble for some, completely incomprehensible reason? She didn't think she'd done anything naughty. Still, she approached her mother who laid her hands on her shoulders. "Chibiusa, why didn't you come to me when we called?"

"I was just playin'…" Chibiusa looked down, shuffling her foot.

Usagi sighed, patted her head. Mamoru rubbed his forehead. "She was playing. She thinks this whole thing was a game."

Suddenly conscious that she had done something wrong, Chibiusa looked away. Usagi tried to make herself sound stern. "You are not to leave the house by yourself. Is that clear?"

She nodded.

"Also, don't take my brooch and give it back please."

Chibiusa played with it, gripped it.

"Chibiusa. I don't take your things, do I?" There was a warning note in her patient, motherly tone.

"Chibiusa, give your mother her brooch back or we won't be going to get ice cream today or this entire week."

Usagi had never seen a Guardian de-transform that quickly and even more quickly, Chibiusa's little hand had deposited the brooch into Usagi's much larger one. Usagi looked to Mamoru. "How did you know that would work?"

He shrugged. "I've been dealing with you Tsukino ladies for years."

"Ice cream!" Chibiusa demanded.

Usagi seconded the motion as she scooped the prodigal princess onto her shoulders, detransformed with Mamoru, linked hands with her prince and walked away from the park.