Primordium: By the Waters of the Time Stream (Resurrection #1)
Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose meditatively, trying to ignore her immediate problem. Unfortunately, it wouldn't go away, as the numerous kinks of the Time Stream often did (despite the fact that they weren't the really important problems that required her intervention), because they often untangled themselves. This particular conflict had no easy solution.
She was not quite alone in her home, but it could have been death but for the sound of rushing "water" moving all around her. At times, it could be a comforting, soporific sound–rather like a waterfall. However, Setsuna had become accustomed to her home after guarding the Gates for longer than she wanted to think about. When she had been working for a long time without rest, the time streams tended to produce maddening cacophonies rather than soothing accompaniment. Her company was not exactly talkative–not that they could be, at any rate. In her possession were fifteen souls: the guardian cats Luna and Artemis, her fellow Outer Senshi–Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru, and, of course, the ten most critical beings: Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion, her senshi, and his generals. And therein lay her gargantuan difficulty. Oh, Serenity and Endymion could be dealt with...despite the fact that she was rather ticked at the Moon Princess for complicating matters further by cursing all of them without full knowledge of exactly what she had done–as well as the senshi (as long as she modified their memories just a bit). The Shittenou were her greatest annoyance. The Gatekeeper scowled at the balls of smoky silver, crystal green, night-sky blue, and burning azure crossly. Once everything was fixed, she was going to let them have it. And, preferably, she'd be able to have some more nice words with Serenity about exactly what she could and could not say, no matter how angry she was. Hopefully they'd all survive long enough in their next lifetime (which was up to her to arrange "at her leisure") to get to that point. And, Setsuna thought darkly, they'd _better_ live longer than they had in the Silver Millennium. She had absolutely no intention of dealing with these annoyances a second time.
Setting aside the generals for the moment, she pulled the rest of them over to her and began on eliminating all memories of the Shittenou. It was better, for now, to have them forget that particular aspect of the Silver Millennium. All that would be left would be their loyalty to Serenity, the throne, and the beautiful Kingdom of Light...and the fateful invasion. It could be wrapped up and nicely packaged with the explanation that Beryl had been a jealous witch who had wanted Endymion for his own, that the demoness Metallia had killed him when he refused to join their side, and that Serenity had wept and committed suicide after he and her senshi were dead. The crowning bow was Queen Serenity's noble act of a second suicide–like mother, like daughter, Setsuna thought. She hoped that Princess Serenity's daughter wouldn't follow in her predecessors' footsteps. She would just imprint the wonderful fact of life that the Silver Crystal, all-powerful, had sent them all to a "happy" future but would awaken them if danger stirred once more. Even Luna and Artemis's views of the Silver Millennium had to go, for Setsuna couldn't risk their giving in to their charges–after all, the Mau advisors had trained the girls since they had arrived on the Moon, and Artemis was a sucker for Minako's innocent-angel look. No, everything had to go.
After a short respite, she returned to her securely-locked bower and was settled and ready for work when she realized that something seemed a bit..off. She glanced around the room cautiously, readying her staff as her long strands of dark green hair blew around her. Nothing _seemed_ to be out of place. Her Silver Millennium relics, gifted to her by several persons, took up at least three-fourths of the shelves along the right side of the room. The last one-fourth contained special objects from Crystal Tokyo. The reason that there were so few of them was that the future was extremely unstable and changed at any minute, and unless she safe-guarded them carefully (and it had taken her a while to get the knack of it), they had the annoying tendency to disappear. The left side of the room was also lined with bookshelves, and they held "a few" of the books she used the most (all one thousand and twelve books holding _only_ the most sacred rules of destiny and the guidelines of when exactly she could step in to intervene) and several important sheaves of parchments from ancient times–more like stacks and stacks of them. She noticed that the antiquated trunk that was very important to her and the course of time was open...and it was then that Setsuna felt cold perspiration break over her. Something very bad had happened. Something very, very, _very_ bad. So bad that she wanted to scream, and she never screamed–well, not too often.
Walking over slowly, feeling as if doom was about to descend on her, she peered down into its shadowy depths with foreboding. "Sure, I'd _love_ to live in this dank, dark, _dusty_ place–and did anyone bother to check if I was seriously allergic to dust? where absolutely no light gets in? It does wonders for my skin, let me tell you. And they wonder why I always have to get tanned on my vacations," she mumbled to herself as she knelt and brought out the souls one by one. She gave a sigh of relief when the Moon Princess and her prince were discovered to be still intact, followed by both ranks of senshi and the Lunar cats. And then she wanted to do more than scream. She wanted to claw Beryl's beady, rat-like, demonic eyes out, rip her to pieces after beating her severely with her staff, and execute a number of other painful processes upon her body before she was through. The room held the bitter, decaying after-stink that told her a nasty creature of the Dark Kingdom had visited her. The chills began to creep up her spine. Serenity had just sealed Metallia and Beryl away, and youma had no business coming into the Time Stream. There was going to be hell to pay when she got back from reclaiming those damned generals, she decided. The movement was so slight, and she didn't see anything out of the corner of her eye...and yet fate swooped down with both hands open and deposited them in their reborn selves in Juuban district, Japan.
Setsuna pinched the bridge of her nose meditatively, trying to ignore her immediate problem. Unfortunately, it wouldn't go away, as the numerous kinks of the Time Stream often did (despite the fact that they weren't the really important problems that required her intervention), because they often untangled themselves. This particular conflict had no easy solution.
She was not quite alone in her home, but it could have been death but for the sound of rushing "water" moving all around her. At times, it could be a comforting, soporific sound–rather like a waterfall. However, Setsuna had become accustomed to her home after guarding the Gates for longer than she wanted to think about. When she had been working for a long time without rest, the time streams tended to produce maddening cacophonies rather than soothing accompaniment. Her company was not exactly talkative–not that they could be, at any rate. In her possession were fifteen souls: the guardian cats Luna and Artemis, her fellow Outer Senshi–Haruka, Michiru, and Hotaru, and, of course, the ten most critical beings: Princess Serenity, Prince Endymion, her senshi, and his generals. And therein lay her gargantuan difficulty. Oh, Serenity and Endymion could be dealt with...despite the fact that she was rather ticked at the Moon Princess for complicating matters further by cursing all of them without full knowledge of exactly what she had done–as well as the senshi (as long as she modified their memories just a bit). The Shittenou were her greatest annoyance. The Gatekeeper scowled at the balls of smoky silver, crystal green, night-sky blue, and burning azure crossly. Once everything was fixed, she was going to let them have it. And, preferably, she'd be able to have some more nice words with Serenity about exactly what she could and could not say, no matter how angry she was. Hopefully they'd all survive long enough in their next lifetime (which was up to her to arrange "at her leisure") to get to that point. And, Setsuna thought darkly, they'd _better_ live longer than they had in the Silver Millennium. She had absolutely no intention of dealing with these annoyances a second time.
Setting aside the generals for the moment, she pulled the rest of them over to her and began on eliminating all memories of the Shittenou. It was better, for now, to have them forget that particular aspect of the Silver Millennium. All that would be left would be their loyalty to Serenity, the throne, and the beautiful Kingdom of Light...and the fateful invasion. It could be wrapped up and nicely packaged with the explanation that Beryl had been a jealous witch who had wanted Endymion for his own, that the demoness Metallia had killed him when he refused to join their side, and that Serenity had wept and committed suicide after he and her senshi were dead. The crowning bow was Queen Serenity's noble act of a second suicide–like mother, like daughter, Setsuna thought. She hoped that Princess Serenity's daughter wouldn't follow in her predecessors' footsteps. She would just imprint the wonderful fact of life that the Silver Crystal, all-powerful, had sent them all to a "happy" future but would awaken them if danger stirred once more. Even Luna and Artemis's views of the Silver Millennium had to go, for Setsuna couldn't risk their giving in to their charges–after all, the Mau advisors had trained the girls since they had arrived on the Moon, and Artemis was a sucker for Minako's innocent-angel look. No, everything had to go.
After a short respite, she returned to her securely-locked bower and was settled and ready for work when she realized that something seemed a bit..off. She glanced around the room cautiously, readying her staff as her long strands of dark green hair blew around her. Nothing _seemed_ to be out of place. Her Silver Millennium relics, gifted to her by several persons, took up at least three-fourths of the shelves along the right side of the room. The last one-fourth contained special objects from Crystal Tokyo. The reason that there were so few of them was that the future was extremely unstable and changed at any minute, and unless she safe-guarded them carefully (and it had taken her a while to get the knack of it), they had the annoying tendency to disappear. The left side of the room was also lined with bookshelves, and they held "a few" of the books she used the most (all one thousand and twelve books holding _only_ the most sacred rules of destiny and the guidelines of when exactly she could step in to intervene) and several important sheaves of parchments from ancient times–more like stacks and stacks of them. She noticed that the antiquated trunk that was very important to her and the course of time was open...and it was then that Setsuna felt cold perspiration break over her. Something very bad had happened. Something very, very, _very_ bad. So bad that she wanted to scream, and she never screamed–well, not too often.
Walking over slowly, feeling as if doom was about to descend on her, she peered down into its shadowy depths with foreboding. "Sure, I'd _love_ to live in this dank, dark, _dusty_ place–and did anyone bother to check if I was seriously allergic to dust? where absolutely no light gets in? It does wonders for my skin, let me tell you. And they wonder why I always have to get tanned on my vacations," she mumbled to herself as she knelt and brought out the souls one by one. She gave a sigh of relief when the Moon Princess and her prince were discovered to be still intact, followed by both ranks of senshi and the Lunar cats. And then she wanted to do more than scream. She wanted to claw Beryl's beady, rat-like, demonic eyes out, rip her to pieces after beating her severely with her staff, and execute a number of other painful processes upon her body before she was through. The room held the bitter, decaying after-stink that told her a nasty creature of the Dark Kingdom had visited her. The chills began to creep up her spine. Serenity had just sealed Metallia and Beryl away, and youma had no business coming into the Time Stream. There was going to be hell to pay when she got back from reclaiming those damned generals, she decided. The movement was so slight, and she didn't see anything out of the corner of her eye...and yet fate swooped down with both hands open and deposited them in their reborn selves in Juuban district, Japan.