A Soldier at Last
The three girls had grown much since their
first day at the Silver Palace six years before. When Artemis and Luna
had first led them on a tour of the High Queen's home, they had been awed—and
a little bit frightened—by the glittering Lunarian castle. Now, it seemed
pleasantly smaller, and they had come to know it as they knew their own
homes. In all their six years residing here, however, there was one part
of it they had seen only from a distance: the Crystal Tower.
After Selene's Passing into the Realm of Gods,
her daughter had ordered the building of the Crystal Tower to pay homage
to her immortal mother. In the room at the very top, Setsuna knew that
there was a small, but elaborate shrine to Selene, although she had never
seen it with her own eyes. The Crystal Tower was so sacred a place that
only as a full Sailor Soldier would she be allowed to pray there, along
with the few who were privileged enough to know her given name. Prayer,
however, would not be the intention that led her to the Crystal Tower for
the first time. It was before Selene's most holy shrine that Setsuna would
become Sailor Pluto.
As Luna and Artemis led the Outer Princesses
across the palace grounds toward the sacred tower, Setsuna trembled with
the same reverent apprehension that she had felt in her youth as she walked
through the Silver Palace for the first time. Back then, she had been but
an innocent child of six, facing what she had believed to be the most important
years of her life. Setsuna trapped her lower lip between her teeth and
chewed nervously. She was not so innocent now.
Luna and Artemis stopped walking, for they
had reached the door to the Crystal Tower. Lost in the fog of her own thoughts,
Setsuna stopped as well; only half aware of what she was doing. Two uniformed
men stood guard at the entrance to the shrine. Setsuna noted that both
were armed with gleaming broadsword, although she knew they were only there
to frighten off those who would set foot upon this holy ground with less
than harmless intentions, not to slay them; to spill blood on ground sacred
to the patron goddess of this kingdom would be a grievous sin indeed.
Luna walked up to the door, and solemnly touched
it with her paw to indicate that she wished the guard to open it; from
this point on, she and Artemis were forbidden to speak. Her silent request
was granted, and both guards bowed deeply as the girls and cats crossed
the threshold, and entered the Crystal Tower.
The moment of truth was nigh. The ceremony
that would take place before Selene's shrine would make Setsuna a Sailor
Soldier in the eyes of the gods. There would be a second ceremony in a
day or so, in which the girls would be presented to the kingdom, but that
would be a mere formality. Here in the Crystal Tower, under the witness
of the High Queen and their families, was where the magic happened, so
to speak. Setsuna's great destiny stared her in the face, its gaze hard
and unblinking.
In spite of this—or perhaps because of it—Setsuna
felt her nervousness dissolve as she ascended the staircase, melting into
a strange and utter contentment. Although she was but twelve years of age,
no one could rightly call Setsuna of Pluto a child any longer. Her spirit
was that of a budding young woman, and she was on her way to becoming a
full Sailor Soldier. Frightened though she may be, Setsuna knew she was
ready.
Queen Serenity was already there when Luna,
Artemis, and the girls reached the room at the top of the Crystal Tower.
Selene's fifth descendant stood before her divine elder's shrine, her eyes
lowered respectfully, her hands folded in prayer. Lady Moira, Lady Nuala,
and Lady Eriu stood behind her, also praying. Setsuna quickly spotted her
father and grandfather, both clad in garnet and green, standing along one
wall. Michiru's father and elder brother, the Lord Liam and Prince Dylan,
were there as well, along with Haruka's father, Lord Camulus.
Lord Hades caught Setsuna's eye. Smiling warmly
at his daughter, he offered her a fatherly wink, but not a word of greeting,
though it had been quite some time since they had last met. He was not
permitted to speak until the ceremony was over. Like the royal advisors,
the Sailor Soldiers' families were only there to witness the ceremony;
they did not take part in it.
Queen Serenity raised her blue-violet eyes
to the three new arrivals as the pair of felines who had led them there
took their proper place at the feet of the princesses' kinsmen.
"Welcome, Children of the Goddesses," said
she. The High Queen, too, would serve as a witness to the princesses' transition.
Unlike the others, however, she was allowed to speak, for she had her place
in the ceremony.
"Come forward, Children of the Goddesses,"
Serenity went on, "and kneel before Selene's holy shrine." The girls obeyed.
From that moment on, Setsuna was lost in a delirious fog, floating through
the ceremony with a dreamy sort of awareness.
"…in the name of thy sisters—Lady Uranus,
The Loyal; Lady Neptune, The Valiant; Lady Pluto, The Mild—may they always
serve thee faithfully…" Serenity prayed. 'They'? When the Queen said 'they',
who was she referring to, the girls or the goddesses? Oh well, it mattered
not. Setsuna vowed always to serve Selene, and she was certain Lady Pluto,
The Mild would do the same. The prayer was completed, and Setsuna heard
Lady Eriu's voice:
"Ruler of the Distant Sky, come forward."
Haruka stood and approached her mother, who held Lady Uranus's Space Sword
in her hand. Involuntarily, Setsuna stole a look at her grandfather, standing
along the wall, solemnly watching as Haruka pledged her loyalty to the
Kingdom of the White Moon. As if he felt her eyes upon him, Chronos glanced
sharply at his grandchild. Setsuna looked away, but not quickly enough
to avoid meeting the god's eyes for a moment. Suddenly, she felt her initial
uneasiness returning. Although she had taken care to close her mind off
to all thoughts save her own, it somehow seemed to her that she heard her
grandfather's voice within her head. Destiny is forever. She heard
him say. It is the ruler of us all. Destiny? Setsuna recalled a
moment from her youth, shortly after Princess Serenity was born, when she
sat at the High Queen's feet, and asked her a very important question.
Destiny? But Her Majesty told me that love
was the force that ruled all mortal beings. Her own voice said, and
Setsuna realized that this was a memory of the week she had spent on Pluto
in honor of her seventh birthday. She had nearly forgotten about it.
The two often go hand in hand, granddaughter.
Chronos replied. They are both the commanders of mortals and gods alike.
Even Serenity herself bows to their power. Both are equally mysterious,
and sometimes, equally dangerous. Embrace them, love, but beware. With
that, Setsuna's mind fell silent, and her ears will filled with Lady Nuala's
voice.
"…take this token, the Deep Aqua Mirror of
Lady Neptune…" the Queen of Neptune said to her daughter, who bowed her
head reverently. Once more, reality fell victim to the trance in which
she had found herself. This time it was an unidentifiable voice, possibly
that of a god or goddess that spoke to her without words, telling her of
innocence she was yet to lose.
"Ruler of the Life Beyond Death," said Lady
Moira, "come forward." Setsuna was jerked back to the present. Masking
her disquiet, she rose, and advanced toward her mother. No, it was not
her mother she approached. It was Sailor Pluto. Setsuna approached Sailor
Pluto, meeting her gaze boldly. The Sailor Soldier's fingers were wrapped
around the handle of a great staff, which was topped by the glowing Garnet
Orb of Lady Pluto.
"Daughter of the race of Lady Pluto, do you
swear by this holy treasure of our celestial mother that you will always
be loyal to the Kingdom of the White Moon, and to Serenity's line?" Setsuna
suppressed a shudder that passed over her like a premonition of doom. She
did not understand why it had come upon her, and so she chose to ignore
it, although it would not be so easily pushed aside.
"I so swear," she said; though her mind was
screaming, swear it not! Setsuna gritted her teeth. Why should I not swear
it? It is my fate, is it not? Lady Moira held out her staff.
"Then take this, my daughter, the Garnet Rod
of Lady Pluto, that you may serve Selene forever." Setsuna said nothing,
but stretched out a gloved hand to take the staff from her mother. As her
covered fingers touched its glittering handle, a river of ice dripped down
her spine. Gods above, it almost seemed as if the staff was burning beneath
her fingertips! Too shocked even to react, Setsuna dazedly took the staff
into her own hand, ignoring the searing heat that penetrated her silky
gloves. The pain was but a ghost anyway, brought on by some subconscious
nonsense, some unacknowledged concern.
Strange that this, which I have always known
was my own to carry, should feel so misplaced in my hands. She mused.
Why does this feel so wrong? Why am I so suddenly frightened of fulfilling
this destiny that I know is mine? Setsuna felt Chronos' eyes upon her
back; she knew the gaze she felt was his as surely as if she had seen so
herself. Trying not to let it irk her, Setsuna fixed her eyes upon her
mother, tightening her grip on the Garnet Rod.
Lady Moira held out her hand. The air above
her palm began to shimmer. As Setsuna watched, transfixed, the glow stretched
and colored, molding into an elaborate and beautiful wand. Setsuna knew
Moira was only making a show of her magic by making it glitter so; if she
wished for her wand, she need only reached for it. Still, she could not
suppress the slight smile of amazement at the former warrior's abilities
that tugged at the corners of her mouth. When her mother began to speak,
however, the grin faded, simply forgotten in the deep solemnity of the
occasion.
"This wand is the harness for the power of
Sailor Pluto," said Lady Moira. "Take it from my hand; and do as your soul
commands you." As your soul commands you. The words echoed strangely in
Setsuna's head as she lifted the wand from her mother's palm. Immediately,
she was at the mercy of that most wise part of her being, which knew infinitely
more than her conscious mind. She was supposed to do exactly as it commanded
her, but how was she supposed to know what to do when her subconscious
was at war with itself?
Return the Garnet Rod to the Queen of Pluto,
said one part of her, but the call of the other side was louder. Setsuna
laid the talisman at her feet, demonstrating complete trust in its connection
to her. Trust that, were it to be lost, it would find its way back to her,
its rightful owner.
No, you must not! Give back the talisman,
and the wand as well! The cries were again overshadowed. Setsuna raised
the wand above her head.
They are not yours! That part of her
shrieked, though its voice sounded small and tinny. Give them back!
Return them! And then, the voice faded completely.
"Pluto Planet Power," Setsuna cried, gripping
the wand until her knuckles turned white, "Make UP!"
A bright silver curtain of power flared up
around Setsuna, hiding her from view. Still, all eyes were upon the spot
where they knew her to be. Had anyone thought to look at Chronos, they
would have seen a single tear in the corner of his eye, sparkling like
a diamond in the light of his granddaughter's magic.
The light faded. Setsuna, once again clothed
in the crimson silk gown of the Princess of Pluto, stared soberly at the
wand in her hand. Her uniform, as well as the Garnet Rod and the power
of her Dead Scream attack, was now sealed within it. Never again could
she wield her attack unless she was clothed in the uniform of Sailor Pluto,
holding the Garnet Rod in her hand. Never again would she wear her uniform
or hold the Garnet Rod except by using the wand to bring them to her. The
wand was the physical link between Setsuna of Pluto, and the Soldier of
the Afterlife. Then, it too was gone, vanished into another dimension,
where it would stay until she called for it. Setsuna allowed herself a
broad smile. At last, her destiny had been fulfilled. But behind her pride
and elation lingered the vague sense of something amiss, a dreadful feeling
that something very wrong had just occurred.
Several days later, Setsuna, Haruka, and Michiru
were gone from the Silver Palace. After being presented to the Kingdom,
they had bid good-bye to the High Queen, Princess Serenity, the royal advisors,
and the Inner Princesses. Then, each returned to her home planet, where
she would stay until duty called her away again.
Setsuna was strangely quiet those first few
days that she was home. She drifted aimlessly through the palace, hovering
in each room she entered for no more than a moment before wandering off
again, a soft sigh lingering behind her like a pregnant storm cloud that
refuses to drop its rain. Many of the servants were somewhat unsettled
by her behavior.
"Majesty, you really must do something about
that daughter of yours!" Lady Moira's waiting woman complained. "It is
most disquieting the way she wanders about like a lost soul." Moira simply
dismissed the matter; Setsuna was probably worrying about that first call
to arms, which was likely to come at any time. Moira would speak with her
about it, but it probably would not change her manner all that much.
Chronos did not think Moira's mothering would
help much either. He had seen the deeply troubled look in Setsuna's eyes,
and he had the terrible feeling he knew the reason it was there. A visit
to the Gates of Time confirmed his every suspicion. As he closed the Door
to the Future, locking it tightly until the next time he visited, Chronos
realized what he would have to do.
"I am truly sorry, my sisters," he murmured,
"but I must do this. Destiny is my only master." He sighed. Setsuna and
Sailor Pluto had become one. Her transition was complete. But only Chronos
knew exactly how much his granddaughter had really changed.
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Author's Note: So sorry this chapter took so long, guys! It hasn't
been edited yet, so forgive if you find any mistakes. I'll fix 'em soon,
I promise. I expect the next few chapters are gonna be a little late coming
out because I'm working really hard to bring my grades up, and schoolwork
always comes before stories. *sigh* But, fear not. I do plan on finishing
this book, and I've already got chapter one of Saturn's story written out,
and I'm working on outlines for all the others, so this series should be
finished at some point in my lifetime ;). Oh, and by the way, I thought
of a title for the series. I'm calling it "Children of the Goddesses."
Betcha can't guess where I came up with that, huh? Anycrap, that's just
so you'll know what I'm talking about when I get the other stories out.
Toodles for now, and keep those reviews coming. Wow! 42 reviews! I'm so
excited! But I still want more!