Time and Unforeseen Circumstance

A Sailor Moon story by BenRG

Legal Disclaimer

Naoko Takeuchi created all the characters and the story of Sailor Moon. TOEI Animation produced the original animé 'Pretty Girl Soldier Sailormoon', while DiC Entertainment produced the English Language adaptation of the animé.

This is a non-profit work for free distribution through the Worldwide Web. The author intends no breach of any copyright or trademark property.

Author's Notes

This is in response to a thought that I had one night: Exactly how alike is the current generation of Senshi to their equivalents in the Silver Millennium? Would they get along with each other if they met? On the other hand, would they be either too similar or too different for them to tolerate their other selves? I decided to find out by putting the Inner Senshi into a position where they had no choice but to seek out the help of their previous selves.

I know that the underlying idea is similar to that used in another fan story called The Heart Remembers by Meshala. I'm not stealing your story, because you will soon see that the detail of the story is quite different.

For those only used to the original Japanese names…

Usagi – Serena

Mamoru – Darien

Ami – Amy

Rei – Raye

Makoto – Lita

Minako – Mina

Chibi-Usa – Rini

Hotaru – Heather

Continuity: The Inner Senshi are all 18; Tuxedo Mask is 23; Rini and Heather are both 12. Queen Serenity is about 500 years old; The Silver Senshi are all between 20 and 25; Princess Serenity is 20; Prince Endymion is 25; Sailor Pluto is a walking time paradox and you can't pin an age on her.

Events take place (in our time) two years after the defeat of Chaos and the healing of Sailor Galaxia.

Events take place (in the Silver Millennium) a year before Beryl conquers Earth and attacks the Moon.

Censor: PG

Chapter 4 – Shadows and Possibilities

The Queen's Study
The Silver Palace, Mare Serenitas, the Moon

Circa 8000 BC

After her daughter's future self and her Senshi had left her presence, Queen Serenity sat by the window for a few minutes, looking over the beauty of her kingdom. She sighed deeply. She loved this view and she would do anything to protect her world and her subjects from harm.

However, the fact that her visitors from the future were evidently reincarnations of her daughter and her daughter's court indicated that something terrible would happen, quite possibly in the very near future. Serenity was no fool. She had been aware that her soldiers, and especially her Senshi, were increasingly struggling to defeat the unnatural monsters that Beryl was sending from her hideout in the Negaverse to cause havoc in the Silver Alliance. The skill and power of the future Senshi seemed to indicate that the problem came down to a lack of practice. Simply put, the magical warriors of the Silver Millennium had to have time to hone their powers and their skills so that they could match and beat Beryl's hordes.

There was the problem. Time had run out. With the increasing pace of attacks, Serenity concluded that there could only be a short period left before Beryl launched her final assault on the Silver Millennium, and maybe even on her homeworld of Earth. While she had no doubt that the Alliance's warriors would fight bravely and resolutely, as matters stood the result of the fight would be decided before it even began.

They needed time, and her visitors from the future had shown how she could find that time for them. It was clear that the far future, although not entirely harmonious, was an excellent training ground for Senshi. The logical answer would be to send her daughter, her love and her Senshi to the future to train, then allow them to return (only seconds later, objectively speaking) to face Beryl with vastly greater powers.

Senshi Pluto would doubtless be horrified at even the thought of such an expedition, but the queen had power enough to make this happen for herself. With another deep sigh, Serenity summoned the Silver Imperium Crystal. She could do this, she knew, but the power drain would be instantly fatal. However, even if the queen were to die, Princess Serenity would be back within moments to take her late mother's throne. The queen focussed on the crystal's blazing white radiance and concentrated. Her only wish right now was that her little girl would find some way to forgive her for taking away the last years of her youth and thrusting her upon the Imperial throne.

"And just what do you think you are doing, Your Majesty?" asked a serene but angry voice.

Queen Serenity looked up sharply and saw a very familiar face standing in the shadow of a bookcase. It was a tall woman with leaf-green hair and wearing a Senshi Fuku in green and maroon. The woman held a long staff shaped like a key that had a glowing red orb in the heart-shaped head. "Don't try to stop me, Setsuna," Serenity replied.

"You are risking the total destruction of the timeline," Senshi Pluto snapped. "I can not only forbid you from doing this, but Hades has given me the power to prevent you from making the attempt!"

Serenity reined in her irritation at the presumption of the Guardian of Time. She slapped the Silver Imperium Crystal into its' clip on the golden moon-shaped breast-piece of her dress. "The Silver Millennium will fall if I don't do something, Setsuna! Is that what you want?"

"How dare you?" Pluto strode over and grabbed her mother's niece by the shoulders. "I have fought for the safety of the Alliance as hard as any of your Senshi!" she hissed, shaking the younger woman for emphasis. "Harder than most! But you cannot alter the future at this stage and in this manner. The consequences are unthinkable! You could create a paradox that might cause the destruction of everything."

Serenity shrugged off her cousin's grip and pushed her away slightly. "Don't start on about the timeline and the space-time continuum with me, Pluto," she snapped. "I am the Queen of the Silver Millennium. I have a responsibility to protect over fifty-five billion sentient lives in this star system alone! You are practically ordering me to leave my warriors in a state where they cannot fight Beryl's hordes. I cannot… I will not do such a thing!"

Pluto shook her head in a disgusted manner and walked forward to force her physical presence on her cousin again. "For the sake of all the gods, Selene, stop thinking in such small terms! Look at the matter objectively. How did you discover that your warriors were under-trained and inadequate?"

Serenity looked at the Guardian of Time in puzzlement. "Well… it was obvious that they weren't powerful enough for some time…"

"And how do you know that they could get more powerful with time and practice?" Pluto asked, her dangerous scowl unchanged.

"The future version of my daughter and her Senshi," Serenity said quietly. "Their powers are so much greater…"

"Exactly," Pluto said severely. "Now follow through that thought logically. If you change the future by sending your Senshi to a safe time to train, then the alternate future where Serena came from will cease to exist. If she never existed, then she would never have been in the situation where she has to come back to this time, which means that you would have never known that the Senshi could be more powerful. If you didn't know that then you would never have sent them forward to a safe time. Because of that, Serena and her friends will exist and return to the past, creating the events that led to you trying to send your own Senshi to the future, ad infinitum! It is a paradox of the worst kind, Selene. It is my duty to stop such things from happening."

Queen Serenity sat down at her desk, folded her arms before her and let her head rest on them. "So what do you propose that I should do, o wise guardian of time?" her sudden exhaustion adding an extra bite to her sarcasm. "Should I just let my kingdom go to war only half-prepared?"

"You should act as if Serena and her friends never came back in time," Pluto replied gently. "They should not have undertaken such a journey, and I know that they only did so out of utter desperation." The tall Senshi walked over to her queen and began to stroke her hair affectionately. "Do not despair, Selene," she said quietly. "The situation is not hopeless and it never will be. The door that you hoped to use will open in time, and you should not fear to use it when the time comes. Your daughter and her court will attain to their rightful powers, in due time. Indeed, Serena, even now, has not realised a fraction of the powers that are her birthright."

Serenity's head snapped up and she looked at her cousin in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked sharply.

Pluto laughed. "I am forbidden to tell," she said. "But consider the power that has always existed in our bloodline. I am far more powerful than any Sailor Pluto who has lived before me has been. Consider also that your sister, Imbrium, left to train at the feet of the Supreme Senshi when she was still just a child. Now she protects all creation as Sailor Galaxia, the most powerful Senshi who has lived since legendary times. Remember also that old Sailor Eternity wanted you to train as a Senshi too, but your mother forbade it, as you were to be heir to the throne of the Alliance. That power was passed to your daughter, and the times she that will live through will hone that power to the point where no one, not even her Aunt Imbrium, is her equal."

The queen's face had lit up in amazement. "My baby… my Serenity… she is Sailor Cosmos?"

"In some of the possible timelines that I have monitored, yes," Pluto replied, looking pleased that her cousin had worked it out for herself. "But you should not concern yourself about such things. Rather remember that there is no such thing as a hopeless situation. Remember to carry on as if Sailor Moon and her Senshi had never visited this time. When the times comes, and you will know when it comes, then make your grand gesture and act to protect the Silver Millennium… and its' successors in the far future." Sailor Pluto gently kissed her cousin. "Health to you, my queen," she said. "Never despair. As awful as the times coming will be, it is the first step to a future the glory of which will rival the Silver Millennium at its' legendary height."

Serenity stroked her wise cousin's face with a slightly wavering smile and nodded in dismissal. "Health to you, Senshi of Time," she said gently as Sailor Pluto summoned a time portal with a gesture of the Garnet Rod. The green-haired woman stepped through the portal and vanished. Then, the queen of the Silver Millennium did something that she had refused to allow herself to do since her beloved Odysseus had died. She rested her head on her arms and she wept.

***

"Okay, let's see what you've really got," Princess Rei of Mars said, grinning dangerously. "I've heard a lot about your 'super-strong attacks', Sailor Moon, but there is more than that to being a Senshi of the Silver Millennium."

"I'm sure that there is," Eternal Sailor Moon replied with a nearly undetectable smile. With a gesture she summoned the Moon Soul Blade from her subspace pocket and ignited its' blue-white energy blade. With a much grander and more elaborate hand move, Rei pulled out the Mars Soul Blade and activated its' blood red blade. "Whenever you are ready," Sailor Moon said with a smile, taking up a classic 'guard' position.

With a growl, Mars leapt forwards, lashing out at Serena, who caught the high cut with an effortless parry. The blonde-haired future princess caught several other high cuts before suddenly lowering her blade and launching a series of cuts at Mars' abdomen. The violet-haired woman had to lower her own sword and back off to avoid being gutted like a food animal. Mars frowned. Okay, so she isn't an easy mark, she told herself. Settle down now, Rei, and get on with the fight.

Princess Serenity moved a little closer to Prince Endymion. "What is it, love?" he asked.

"I always hate this," she murmured in reply. "I know that it is only practice, but it seems so real. I'm always terrified that they are going to hurt one another."

Actually, Endymion wasn't convinced that Mars was practising, but he wasn't about to tell that to his beloved. Instead, he gave her a little hug. "Never fear, Sere," he said in a deliberately teasing tone. "They are professionals. They know what they are doing." Then he gasped and winced as Mars got inside Moon's defences and lashed out with a vertical top-to-bottom cut that should have bisected the shorter girl from head to groin. However, the future Senshi somersaulted sideways out of the way, sweeping the ground with her Soul Blade as she did so and forcing Mars to jump backwards or have both of her feet cut off at the ankles. Mars charged forwards again with a vicious downwards blow that Sailor Moon caught on her sword. Then the blonde girl twisted sideways, locking blades with her opponent. Mars disengaged before Moon could flip her sword out of her hand and backed off, panting hard.

After a moment, Sailor Moon moved forwards and sent several exploratory cuts and jabs Mars' way. Then she had to block an alternating cut to either side of her neck. She whirled, knocking aside Mars' sword as it came in low from the right and almost slashed her opponent open from hip to shoulder.

With a hiss of fury, Mars charged again, using all of her strength and expertise to drive the future form of her Princess back. Finally, she dropped down and feinted at Serena's knees before flipping her blade upwards, making the girl throw herself on her back to avoid the cut. With a cry of triumph she jumped on Moon's chest and held the point of her Soul Blade at her throat. "I win, Highness," she said, still breathing very hard.

"Actually, Mars, I think it is a draw," Jupiter commented, pointing downwards. Rei looked down and, much to her surprise, saw Moon's Soul Blade nearly touching the base of her breastbone, ready to thrust up into her heart in a moment.

There was a long, deadly pause before Senshi Mars started laughing and extinguished her blade. She stepped back away from Sailor Moon. "Well played, Princess," she said. "I should have been more careful and made sure that you were disarmed. How did you learn to fight like that?"

"Well, Darien taught me a few moves," Serena replied, smiling at her fiancé. "However, most of my sword-fighting, I learnt from… well, you."

Rei looked at her future self out of the corner of her eyes and noted that Raye was proud and smug. "Well, I'm glad that 'I' did my job properly," she said dryly. Raye just rolled her eyes in disbelief.

Serenity visibly sagged in relief as the two warriors moved apart, clearly pleased with the result. However, she had the strangest feeling that, just maybe, she hadn't seen her future self's best efforts. Leadership is a strange art, she reminded herself. Sometimes you have to do something a little less obvious in order to get the results you need.

***

Jadeite licked his lips nervously. Sailor Moon had wandered away from the rest of the practising Senshi and was leaning against a tree, staring meditatively into nothing. She had taken off her tiara and was twirling it around a finger. As the discus-like magical weapon whirled around, it was making a high-pitched singing whine. Taking his courage in both hands, Jadeite cleared his throat. "Your Highness?"

Serena's head snapped around. She still hadn't got used to the way that the people of her mother's court continued to refer to her by her title. Although she was uncomfortable being 'Your Highness' 'The Princess of the White Moon' or, more commonly, 'Senshi Moon', she now realised that the court was far more formal than her usual interactions with her friends. She managed to put a suitably serene and regal expression on her face and replied. "Yes, Colonel Jadeite, can I help you?" she asked.

The young Terran soldier looked a bit distracted to Serena. Indeed, he looked more than a little upset. "Your Highness, I have come to ask for your help with Senshi Mars… Your Senshi Mars."

Serena blinked in some surprise. "What kind of help do you need?" she asked. She tensed slightly. She would have to guard her words very carefully if she were to avoid interfering with the timeline.

Jadeite smiled. Thanks to his psychic abilities, he could sense the sudden tension in the future version of his liege-lord's fiancée. Endymion had already warned them that the future Senshi would not, indeed could not answer any answers about the future. However, he felt that Senshi Pluto would forgive a plea from the heart. "Princess, you must know that I would never willingly hurt Rei in any way," he said. "Yet her future self treats me as if I am a dangerous criminal. Please, what has happened to us in your time?"

"Jadeite…" Serena sighed and her inner eye suddenly saw the leering visage of Harbinger in the last few seconds before she used the Silver Imperium Crystal to dissolve the monster that had once been one of her soul-mate's bodyguards into stray sub-atomic particles. "Jadeite, I cannot tell you anything about the future, you know that." Jadeite was about to protest, but instead he turned away with an expression of defeat and sadness. Serena's pure heart groaned at the pain in his posture. "Jadeite, I will tell you that Raye has been under a lot of pressure and she is letting old and irrelevant hurts interfere with her dealings with you. I will ask her to make peace with you, because you have done nothing to deserve her enmity."

Jadeite smiled. "Thank you, your Highness," he said. Then he walked away with a definite spring in his step.

Serena sighed and leaned back against the tree again. She hated time travel…

***

"Serena! I can't believe that you're saying this!" Raye protested loudly. Serena winced at her friend's loud tone and gestured desperately for her to speak more quietly. Raye sucked in a deep breath before continuing in a more discreet tone of voice. "He is the person who tried to kill Rini! He is one of Beryl's top generals…!"

"No he isn't!" Serena contradicted. "That is something that he won't be for a long time yet, and even then it is only his body, not his soul." Raye opened her mouth to protest again, but Serena cut her off, surprising Raye. She had never thought that the day would come when Ondango took such total control of a situation or conversation. "Raye, you have to understand that this is tearing him apart. Regardless of who and what he will become or what he might become, the Jadeite of this time is a good man who loves your past self."

Those words seemed to tear at Raye. Much to Serena's shock, the super-tough Senshi of Mars started to cry. Serena held her best friend as tightly as she could, at a loss as to what was wrong. "I never stopped loving him," Raye finally managed to grate out. "Even when we were fighting for our lives against him, it was all I could do not to shout out that I still loved him!"

Gods, what a mess! Serena thought hopelessly. She rubbed Raye's back and let the other woman cry on her shoulder.

"And… and when I see him with her… with me… It reminds me of everything I've lost!" Raye's voice was low and broken now. "It's so unfair!"

Serena drew in a deep breath. "Raye," she said, holding her friend at arm's length so she could look her in the eye. "Listen to me. 'Whatever will be, will be.' You can't avoid the pain of our destinies and the destiny of the Silver Millennium. What you can do is avoid causing extra pain. Please, make your peace with Jadeite, if only for your peace of mind and his. Besides," here Serena grinned, "you don't want any unsaid stuff hanging over your head when you're with Chad, do you?"

"CHAD? Serena, I would never…" Raye cut off her protest when she realised that, firstly, her Princess was teasing her and, secondly, she was protesting a little too much and was in serious danger of revealing her feelings. It shocked her that Serena understood her ambivalence towards Jadeite… but it shouldn't. Serena had always been closest to their hearts. She always knew the feelings in the hearts of her Senshi.

"Acknowledging how you felt and how you still feel about Jadeite isn't betraying Chad," Serena said in a calm, reasonable tone of voice. "It is who you are. Don't be afraid of these truths, or it will poison every relationship that you ever have." Serena managed an embarrassed smile. "Hey, it sounds good, even if I'm not sure if it makes any sense."

Raye shook her head. She usually noticed that switch from Serena to Serenity and back again, but this time she hadn't. It had taken seeing their past selves in the flesh for her to realise that Serena was Serenity; Their personalities and habits were identical. "Okay," she said at last. "I'll try… But if he tries anything…"

"If he tries anything, your past self will toast him before you get the chance," Serena said with a wink. "Which is a pity. He's quite a looker."

Raye did a landed fish impression for a few moments before sticking her tongue out at Serena and walking away. Just before she was out of earshot, she remembered an obligation. "Thanks… Sere-chan," she called over her shoulder.

Serena stood still for a long moment before a single tear tracked down her cheek. "You've never called me 'Sere-chan' before, Raye-chan," she said to herself. Suddenly, her communicator started to bleep for attention. Serena pulled it out and flipped it open. "Moon here," she rapped out firmly.

"Princess, please come to my laboratories," said Princess Ami, this era's Senshi Mercury.

"I'm on my way, Mercury," Serena replied and strode off, remembering once again the dire mission that had brought her to this place and time.

***

A few minutes later, Jadeite was sitting on the banister of one of the palace's balconies, overlooking the main courtyard. He was considering an intelligence estimate about how many of Earth's people were likely to side with Beryl if she were to invade her homeworld. He was distracted when a shadow fell across the faxed document.

He looked up and his annoyance turned to surprise when he saw the future version of his soul mate standing over him. He struggled to stand up and take on an appropriately respectful posture. "Er… Lady Raye! What can I do for you?"

Raye seemed to be struggling with something. "General, I think the time has come for there to be total truth between us," she said at last. "I am not the same person as the woman you love. Too much has happened for me to feel the same way as she does on a whole range of topics and relationships. But… But there is something that I want you to know." Raye walked up to Jadeite until they were nearly touching and she looked up into his icy blue eyes. "Jadeite, no matter what happens in the future between you and my past self, please remember that even in my far future, I still remember you as my first love; The man who taught the harsh and friendless Champion of Fire and Passion to love. And that is the way that I shall always truly remember you, no matter what trials come between us."

Then Raye stood up on her tiptoes and placed a gentle kiss on the startled Terran's forehead. "Farewell, Jadeite of Earth," she said, then turned and strode away.

Jadeite stood unmoving for a long time, his eyes reflecting a deep sadness, but also a sense of relief. Finally, he rediscovered his voice. "Goodbye, Rei," he whispered.

***

"They don't even have an inkling, do they?" Lita asked. Mina turned around and looked at what caught the tall brunette's attention. Just a few yards away, the Senshi of the Silver Millennium were sparring as Generals Zoicite, Kunzite and Nephrite looked on in admiration and… yes, in love.

"What do you mean?" Mina asked.

Lita scowled. "They don't realise who it is that they are leaving themselves so open to," Lita grated. "That, one day soon, the men that they love are going to kill them with a smile…"

"They aren't those people yet, Lita-chan," Mina replied. "In fact, I don't think that they ever will be." That caught Lita's attention. Mina smiled gently as she basked in the waves of true love rippling from the three pairs of soul mates. "Maybe it is the benefit of having had more of my memories from this time than you from the start, but I never really hated the Generals." Lita's mouth dropped open in surprise. The bubbly blonde grinned, pleased to have confounded her friend. "I could remember the real Kunzite and Zoicite from the beginning, Lita. I could tell at once that those… monsters… that we were fighting weren't really them. I guess I would have broken down if I hadn't managed that. To have to fight my soul mate to the death…" A single tear ran down Mina's face.

"Hey! Are you okay?" Lita asked, grabbing Mina's hand and squeezing it reassuringly. Simultaneously, she wished that she could manage that trick of disassociation. It would make being around Nephrite so much easier.

"Just remember the good times," the Senshi of Love and Light said quietly. "Remember all the times that Nephrite made you glad to be alive. That way, there is no room for bitterness, no matter how lonely life gets."

With that, Mina jumped to her feet and strode off, leaving a befuddled Lita staring off into space on the perimeter of the training area. She had a lot to think about now.

***

Serena strode into Princess Ami's laboratories, her face reflecting her usual easy-going demeanour. She smiled slightly at seeing Amy standing next to her past self. Both were in their Senshi fukus, and were, therefore, almost completely indistinguishable. Only the fact that her Sailor Mercury was shorter and had slightly darker hair set her apart. "So what is the big deal, Amy-chan?" Serena asked her wise friend.

"We have constructed a containment chamber for the Nightshade Crystal that, hopefully, your squad will collect from the Negaverse," Ami announced. She held up what looked like a thermos flask with transparent sides. Ami unscrewed the cap. "Simply put the sample into the container, replace the lid and twist." Ami followed her own instructions. There was an electronic whine and the container was filled with a blue light. "The light is from an Earth-built stasis generator, which Lord Zoicite was kind enough to supply to us," Ami announced. "It will keep the sample completely inert and isolated from the surrounding continuum until the time has come to analyse it."

Serena blinked at that glut of information and looked at Amy in a helpless way. Somehow the future Sailor Mercury managed to restrain a girlish giggle. "She means that it will keep it completely safe, and will stop it from infecting anyone," Amy explained.

Serena nodded wisely. "Yeah, I knew that," she lied. "So how are we supposed to find this thing?"

Amy pointed to a nearby workbench where five TACS handsets lay. "We have calibrated these TACS units to search for the Nightshade Crystal's distinctive magical dampening field," Amy explained. "They should lead you straight to a large concentration of the stuff."

Serena picked up one of the handset and turned it on. She was glad that as soon as she did so, the display lit up with 'Nightshade Crystal Seeking Function.' At least she wouldn't have to figure out how to use this complex bit of technology. "This is good," Serena said. "Well done, both of you." Amy blushed brightly and looked a bit bashful, grinding the tip of one of her boots into the floor. Princess Ami just barely managed to stop herself from looking smug. "So, we only have to wait for Senshi Venus to be up and healthy before we can go."

"You don't have to wait at all," said a familiar voice. Princess Minako stood at the door behind Serena. She was wearing her gold and orange fuku. Although she looked a bit pale and shaky, she also looked resolute.

"Are you sure, Mina-chan?" Ami asked her commander in a worried tone of voice. "Your bio-etheric energy patterns still haven't settle down to normal and…"

"I'm sure, Ami-chan," Minako replied. She turned to Serena and grinned. "That's our Mercury, always worrying. But if we waited to be 100% by her standards, none of us would ever get out of the healer's ward."

Serena touched the past Senshi Venus on the shoulder in gratitude. She could feel that the other woman wasn't entirely healed yet, but she also appreciated that she didn't want to hesitate while Rini's life was on the line. "Thank you, sister," she said quietly. She turned back to Amy. "Ames, call Lita, Princess Rei and my mother. We're heading off to the Negaverse!"

To be continued…