Deviant Destiny
"Good-bye, Haruka! Good-bye, Michiru!" Setsuna
called to her friends, waving happily as she and Lady Moira boarded their
ship. "I shall see you both in a week!"
"Good-bye, Setsuna!" Haruka called back. "Have
a happy birthday!"
"Happy birthday, Setsuna!" Michiru echoed,
bouncing up and down as she waved so that her aquamarine curls danced about
her shoulders. "We will miss you, so hurry back, alright?" Setsuna laughed.
Bounding down the ramp, she ran back to her friends, and hugged each in
turn.
"I will be back soon, I promise!" she said
in a voice that was halfway between a laugh and a wail. As glad as she
was to be going home to Pluto for her seventh birthday, it was difficult
to leave her friends.
"Setsuna, darling!" Lady Moira chuckled. "Your
father is going to think we flew into a space portal, and vanished into
the Realm of Gods!" Grinning, Setsuna hugged her friends again, and ran
back up the ramp into the ship.
"Good-bye! Good-bye!" Haruka and Michiru called
as the ship slowly lifted off. Setsuna watched the pair grow smaller and
smaller until she lost sight of them completely. Then, she stayed at the
window until the moon was nothing but a silver-white speck against a star-filled
black sky. Only then did Setsuna retreat to her chambers aboard the ship.
After glancing about the familiar environment for a moment or two, she
took a seat by the window, putting herself into a position nearly identical
to the one she had been in on the day she had arrived on the moon. This
time, though, she had no faeries in her belly. She smiled to herself. After
almost a year, she was finally going to see her father and grandfather
again. Closing her eyes, Setsuna pictured their faces, and imagined the
warm welcome they would give her when she came home at last after so long.
Lord Hades had gone to meet the ship bringing
his wife and daughter home to Pluto after nearly a year on the moon. In
the throne room, Chronos paced in growing agitation. He was not exactly
looking forward to his granddaughter's return. That is not to say that
he had not missed the child. Of course he had. She was the very apple of
his eye, but he was afraid. He was scared that after a year, he would still
see what had been present in her garnet eyes the day she left Pluto. The
message Lady Moira had sent to her husband, announcing their plan to return
home for Setsuna's seventh birthday, had mentioned how much progress Setsuna
had made in the development of her powers. Chronos could only hope she
had come far enough that his aberrant suspicions could be laid to rest.
This was ridiculous. Of course they would
have. It was her destiny to become the Soldier of the Afterlife. Gods,
it was in her blood! Her mother was a Sailor Soldier! Setsuna was a descendant
of the goddess of Pluto, Queen of the Dead! The greatest finality, though,
came with the fact that Setsuna was her father's daughter.
If one was female, the only way to acquire
any planetary magic was to be born a royal, as a woman's power came from
being a descendant of a goddess. Men, on the other hand, were another story,
for it happened sometimes that a common woman gave birth to a boy child
gifted with powers from his native planet, which almost equaled those of
the planet's Sailor Soldier. That had been the case with Chronos's son,
Hades. Never mind the fact that Chronos was a god. Hades' immortal parentage
had nothing to do with his powers, for his were aligned with the afterlife
like those of the Plutonian royalty, not with time as his father's were.
In any case, the boy's mother was as common as they came. A pale, wild-eyed
waif, she had lived day-to-day, flitting through the streets of Pluto like
the hummingbirds native to the planet as she stole for her daily bread.
That is, she had until Chronos, enchanted by the soulful mortal woman hiding
beneath the dirt and rags, had convinced her to be his wife. As a wedding
gift, Chronos had given his young bride a fine house to keep her safe from
the cold. In return, she had born him a child—a boy who, at a very young
age, demonstrated extraordinary abilities. Chronos had loved both his wife
and son well, but to his sorrow, the mortal woman had died long before
he had discovered the nature of their offspring's powers.
Such a child as Hades was a rare thing. It
was impossible to know when one would be born, but when such a boy was
brought into the world, the course of action the parents were to take was
clear. Chronos had brought his son before the King and Queen of Pluto,
who accepted them both with open arms. As tradition stated, Hades was raised
as a priest of Pluto, and betrothed to the Princess Moira with the intent
of strengthening the bloodline. The blood of a Sailor Soldier, mixed with
the blood of a gifted father, flowed through Setsuna's veins. There was
no room for any sort miscalculation in her destiny, nor was there room
for the nagging doubts that haunted the god of time. Setsuna was walking
the path she had been born to walk. To steer her from it with such ridiculous
notions as the ones flying about in Chronos's head would be to wage war
against fate, a battle only fools fought.
"Grandfather!" Setsuna squealed. Her mother
and father following calmly behind, the little princess raced into the
throne room and threw herself into her grandfather's embrace. "Oh, Grandfather,
how I have missed you!"
"And I you, my dear one." He replied. There
was no need for him to look into her eyes to discover if the reason for
his suspicions still lingered there. It was stronger than ever. He need
only be near her to arouse his doubts. By the gods!
"Come, child." Chronos said, taking Setsuna
by the hand. "Tell me all that you have learned since last I saw you. Our
time together is short."