Sailor Moon: Alternate Universe
Dark Side of the Moon
Episode I: Reflections

	She dreamed. 
~~~
	There is fire and destruction everywhere around her. Buildings smoke with ruination,
and the bodies of the dead lie strewn on the ravaged grounds. Darkness controls the sky and
 the air. Ash chokes her throat as she stands defiantly before her death.
	The monster turns, and she glares at it with hate in her eyes. It smiles at her 
with pure malevolence. "Puny mortal child!" it thunders, brushing her aside with a taloned 
hand. "Step away! The Moon Kingdom is _mine_ to destroy!"
	She finds herself rolling back to her feet and readying her strength. "Not now and 
not ever!" she screams back, tensing her muscles before letting her powers explode. 
"Earth...boomerangs...REBOUND!!!" The deadly arcs of light bite into the youma's seemingly 
insubstantial flesh, and it roars with pain.
	Suddenly, as she is preparing herself for the finishing move, black lightning 
crackles in her perephrial vision, and plays along her limbs. She shrieks in agony, falling 
backwards. A figure looms over her as she struggles to keep herself conscious. She manages 
to wheeze out, "Earth...tectonic...shift..." and is rewarded by the comforting rumble of a 
Senshi-caused earthquake before her eyes go black and she feels nothing more.

~~~
*	*
	Terra Chiba bolted upright in bed, the sheets flying from her lithe form. A small 
scream escaped her lips before she could clench her jaw shut. Sweat beading her face and 
chest heaving, she pushed back damp tendrils of now-stringy dark blonde hair, and hoped 
against hope she hadn't woken Mamoru up.
	No such luck. The overhead light snapped on, and Mamoru entered her room. HIs 
black hair was sleep-tousled, but his eyes were alert, worried and intense. "Terra. I 
thought I heard you cry out. Are you okay?"
	She regarded him with the same blue gaze he was giving her. "I'm fine, Endymion," 
she replied, giving him a shaky smile. "Just an old nightmare. I didn't want to 
wake....what's wrong, Mamo?"
	He gaped at her, then swallowed hard. "What did you say?" he gasped, deathly pale. 
	"I said, 'Fine, Mamoru. Just an old nightmare.'"
	"No. You said, 'Fine Endymion'."
	She looked puzzled. "Really? I can't imagine why, although the name is somewhat 
familiar." She yawned, then peered at her clock radio. "It's late, Mamo," she said 
sleepily. "And you have to work tomorrow. I'll be fine. Go back to bed." She settled back 
down into bed and smiled at him once more before closing her eyes again.
	Mamoru left after watching his sister fall into dreamland, absently turning the 
light off. He was worried. And confused. He still didn't know what to make of the girl 
who had shown up on his doorstep three months ago, claiming to be his sister, separated from 
him after the death of his parents.
	At first, he'd been skeptical, but as the weeks wore on, a niggling at the back of 
his mind where memories were still locked away from him told him that Terra was telling the 
truth. Then he'd had to figure in her uncanny resemblance to the woman he faintly 
remembered his mother to be, if you discounted her blonde-shading-to-red hair to his 
mother's black.
	Now, as he slid back between the sheets in his dark bedroom, broken fragments of 
dreamlike memories floated to him from beyond the barrier in his mind. Himself and a young 
girl with dark blonde hair playing in the sand at the beach, a birthday part for two 
children who, although three years apart, shared the same birthday...and older memories.
	A fifteen-year-old blonde dressed in medieval-style clothing sobbing heartrendingly 
on his shoulder as her young lover went off to war and did not return. A fifteen-year-old 
girl who feared her brother would be killed in the same way. A fifteen-year-old princess 
who had not refused the call of duty though scared almost senseless.
	Sighing, he rubbed his suddenly-throbbing temples and forced himself to relax. 
Fighting ages-old amnesia was foolish at this hour. He laid his head on his pillow and shut 
his eyes, wishing desperately for sleep. When it finally stole over him endless moments 
later, he sighed gratefully, letting it claim him.
	And he dreamed.

~~~
	He stands in the center of a huge hall he recognizes as belonging to the old Earth 
Palace of the Silver Millennium, facing his blonde companion. "Terra," he says with more 
than a hint of desperation in his voice. "I'm begging you to reconsider. It's not too late 
to refuse the charge. Please, don't do this."
	The blonde glares back at him, her roan skirts whispering around her ankles. "Don't 
start with me again, Endymion," she snaps, ice in her bright blue eyes. "Men on the 
battlefield are fine, but women aren't? Get real." She locks gazes with him. "Serenity needs 
me. I can't disobey the Queen."
	He feels like crying. "Terra," he cajoles, trying in desperation to keep his raging 
emotions in check. "You could be killed! I don't want you to die. Please, don't go."
	She folds her arms uncompromisingly. "I didn't want you to go out and risk your 
life," she counters evenly. "You still went." The hardness softens a little, and she smiles 
faintly at him. "Endi, I'm not stupid. I know that's a nasty war out there. I know the 
good people aren't invincible." Her voice falters a little. "If they were, Kage 
wouldn't....have been killed. But he was." Her voice lowers further. "However, the galaxy 
needs me. I have to do this."
	"I don't like it," he grumbles, fears worsened, not allayed.
	"You don't have to like it at all, big brother. You just have to accept it."
	He grins tiredly at her, unable to resist ruffling her hair. "You're a brat, little 
sister," he says as she shrieks in mock-anger and tries to avoid his hand. "But I love you 
anyway."
	She sticks her tongue out. "Love you too, Endi."
~~~

	Mamoru jerked awake, gasping in huge lungfuls of air. The dream-Terra floated 
before his eyes for a moment before fading. Of course! Now he remembered. Terra was in 
truth the reincarnation of the Earth Princess of the Silver Millennium. She really was his 
sister, and not only in this incarnation. Like he was the son of King Endymion and Queen 
Gaia, Terra was their daughter.
	Memories were flying fast and furious now. When Queen Serenity had summoned the 
Sailor Senshi, Princess Terra had gone as one of them, against the wishes of her devoted 
older brother. In the end, she'd died needlessly. Valiantly, but needlessly.
	Mamoru felt tears sting his eyes as he remembered. Brave, foolish Terra. Her death 
had destroyed their mother, Queen Caia, and had seriously demoralized her best friend, 
Princess Serenity. And then, she'd been miraculously reborn along with everyone else in 
this time and place.
	He sighed and rolled over, facing his window. It was too much to think about at 
this still-early hour. He stared out at the cityscape, barely registering the small brown 
cat curled on the railing of his balcony until he'd been staring at it for several moments. 
	He sat up in curiosity. How had the cat gotten up here? It was several stories to 
the ground. Sliding the window above his bed aside, he smiled. "Hey, kitty. What are you 
doing up here?"
	"Waiting for someone to open the window so I can get in out of the cold," the cat 
grumbled back, moving from the rail to his windowsill in one leap. Mamoru was shocked at 
the cat's capacity for speech...until he spotted the golden crescent moon scar above it's 
eyes.
	The cat sat regally on the foot of his bed, tail curling around its paws. "Hello 
again, Endymion," it said gravely. "It's been a long time."
	"How do you know who I am?"
	The cat smiled. "Oh come now, Endi. You can't mean to tell me you don't remember 
fur as soft as mine." Before he could move, the cat was rubbing up against his bare chest, 
purring.
	That action rang a bell somewhere in his memories. "Bast?" he tried tentatively. 
There was no way, Terra's lunar cat was millennia dead, and couldn't be here.
	"Right-o," Bast purred in satisfaction. "You're probably wondering what I'm doing 
here, yes? I should be dead, right? I was with Luna, Artemis and Eclipse when I was suddenly 
swept up in this capsule-thing, and next thing I know, I'm here on Earth. Right now, 
though, I'm looking for Terra."
	"Why?" 
	The glowing golden eyes regarded him silently. "You know why, Endymion," Bast 
returned gently. "It's time Terra rejoined the Senshi." 
	"No," he whispered, even as the cat had flipped into the air, retrieving a 
star-topped wand in roan and forest green. A henshin wand, carved with the symbol of the 
Earth. Memory spiked through his mind again.
	~~"Terra, what's this?"~~
	He'd seen it before.
	~~"Mother gave it to me. It's been passed down through our family since Kryste 
ruled. I've been called."~~
	Terra's henshin wand. His fingers closed around it in a furious grip. The last time 
she'd had the thing, it had cost Terra her life. He could still remember the memorial 
service for the lost princess -- there was no burial since the body had been cremated in 
battle. His mother's grieving sobs tore into his ears. Serenity's inconsoleable tears. His 
soul's agony. The others of her team struggling to cope with the first loss, wondering who 
would be the next to have a memorial service held in their honor.
	With a superhuman effort, he calmed the raging emotions that had been resurrected by 
the memories. He looked first at Bast, then at the henshin wand. "I won't let her die 
again," he vowed softly, then reluctantly released the wand, letting it drop onto the bed 
covers. "I won't let this destroy her again."
	Bast looked at him with understanding eyes. "You may not have a choice," she 
replied sadly, then picked the wand up in her mouth, and went in search of Terra's room.

* Six months later * 
	Usagi and Terra were the last to enter the temple. Despite the urgency of the call, 
the two had taken their time hailing a cab. There had been no real rush, and they _had_ had 
many packages to drag with them.
	Rei glared angrily at them. "Where were you two?" she demanded, crossing her arms. 
 "We have an emergency on our hands!"
	Terra shrugged, smiling brightly. "Oh, we had a little trouble finding a cab," she 
said airily. "Believe me, Rei. If we could have arived earlier and thus avoided the sting 
of your acid tongue, we would have dont just that."
	"Is everyone else here already?" Usagi asked.
	Rei nodded, pointing into the fire-reading room. "We're all in there," she 
grumbled, adding something under her breath as they entered the room. She shut the door 
behind her before joining the others seated around the sacred fire. The three waiting Senshi were staring in puzzlement at a holographic figure floating a foot above the flames. 
	Usagi frowned as she studied the woman. There was something oddly familiar about 
her...Considerably older than herself, the lady had long silver hair, similar to her own, 
save only for the missing odangas and the addition of three red metal rings around the top 
of the thick ponytails. The crescent of the Royal Moon Family graced her forehead, and her 
sea blue eyes were shadowed and haunted.
	Usagi did a double take as she realized who it was. "Ohmigod! Verraine?"
	The woman smiled faintly. "Hello, far-daughter," she said softly, then looked 
around at the rest of the Senshi. "Hello to all of you. It's been a long time, a very long 
time. For me, anyways."
	Minako managed to swallow her dumbfoundedness. "Verraine! Is that really you? You 
look so...different!"
	She nodded. "I am Queen now, with a small daughter," she informed them, then 
smiled. "I named her Serenity."
	Ami shook her head slowly. "It's so hard to believe...Ten months ago, you were our 
age!" She paused, then asked the question that was on everyone's mind. "Verraine, what's 
wrong?"
	The Queen bowed her ehad. "I only wish that this was a social call. The truth is, 
however, that my kingdom is in dire need of aid." A sigh whispered through her lips. "The 
Moon is...under attack, and I no longer have the resources to defend my people."
	"What happened to the Imperial Senshi?" Makoto asked curiously. "You guys were 
pretty tough when you were here, what with your Talismans and all."
	Verraine smiled bitterly. "Many things have changed in the time that has passed. It 
may only seem months to you, but to us, it has been twenty years." She paused, allowing the 
Senshi a moment to absorb the news. "The Talismans were...lost in the Battle of Charon. We 
also lost Megan and Kara. We were successful, however great our losses. But we can no 
longer call upon the Star Shards. After the losses of Talismans and two Senshi, the Void 
disappeared, and the rest of us settled down to rule our kingdoms and raise our families. 
Relatives took the thrones of Saturn and Pluto. I married Xaron of Venus, and had two 
children. Now..." Grief flashed in her eyes, fresh and sharp. "Xaron is dead, and we are 
faced with a force we cannot reckon with."
	"But the Imperial Senshi..." Rei faltered.
	Verraine shook her head. "In our rush to lead somewhat normal lives, we have become 
too soft, too old to become Senshi. And our children are too young," she added quietly. 
Her eyes beseeched the Sailor Senshi. "I find I must turn to you for aid." She hesitated. 
"Will you help me?"
	Usagi glanced at Rei. Rei looked at Minako. Minako gazed at Makoto. Makoto shot a 
look at Ami. Ami stared thoughtfully at Usagi. Much had passed in those few looks, and 
Usagi turned around to face Verraine with a unanimous decision. "We'll come," she said 
firmly.
	Terra had been watching the entire exchange with curiosity at first, then dawning 
comprehension. She stood, and cleared her throat. "I may not know you, Your Majesty," she 
said formally, bowing low. "But I also request permission to accompany the Sailor Senshi, 
my teammates."
	Verraine lifted a delicate eyebrow. "And you would be..?"
	"Chiba Terra," she said, adding proudly, "Sailor Earth."
	A small smile curved the monarch's lips. "It is good to know the Earth line 
survived," she mused. " Kryste will like that." A pause. "Very well, Sailor Earth. You may 
accompany the others. Quite frankly, we need all the help we can get..."

*	*
...to be continued