The Ghosts of Tranquility Crater Ch.2
By wingedpixie
Disclaimer: Yep, Sailor Moon and such still don't belong to me, but the stuff I wrote in the 1st disclaimer pretty much summed all of that up.
AN: Thanks for all the reviews. A nice surprise. ^.^
She couldn't do it. Even as she grasped the card within, Minako could not bring herself to take it from the envelope. The orange billows of her gown's fabric rustled as she sank to her knees on the corridor floor. Up to her face her hands rose, one still clutching the terrible letter, and she sobbed for a dusty, cratered kingdom, for its people who went about their lives as though they were running on tracks, and for a monarch who talked of a past that had never existed. It was a dark day for the Moon Kingdom's First Minister.
A passing scullery maid, dressed in deep reds, hurried discreetly by.
Serenity's feet padded softly over the grass of the inner courtyard. Faintly the blades glowed as they bent beneath her weight, leaving a trail of phosphorescent footprints like the train of a gown behind her.
Every spring, dancers so thin that their bodies made right angles when they bent to lace their shoes, would flit and waltz and leap delicate patterns onto the ground. Often the bottoms of the shoes would have wooden shapes sewn onto them, the performers' feet acting as stamps each time they brushed the ground.
She could remember watching from a balcony, seeing the dancers vault up and away from their glowing tracks, then land in a twirl and a sidestep. They could never leave the moon, these precious acrobats; exposed to the heavy gravity of a larger planet, their thin, angular bones would shatter. Normal people bred into spun-glass ballerinas.
Always perfect, always geometrical, the patterns they traced curved around the center of the courtyard, where Serenity walked. It was here that The Queen rested, an imposing marble sculpture with diamonds on each of her fingernails. In one hand a sword as tall as Serenity was tightly clasped, the knuckles of the hand standing out. Above the face a diadem of crystals spiraled out into sharp, shining points. And at the massive carved feet the suggestion of skulls had been etched, a quiet reference to the War of Comets, which had made the Lady Venus' career.
Though of course she remembered the war, in truth Serenity knew little of it. Far away the blood had been spilt, and even farther were the eyes of her childhood friend Minako, as she knelt at her sovereign's feet with the treaty in her hands. A tiny scroll and a signature were all that was required from the moon's ruler. She had signed it; she always did.
And that very night The Queen had gone up in the midst of the phosphorescent grass, greeted by the graceful forms of the dancers, and the joyous cries of homebound soldiers. It was the symbol of a triumphant Moon Kingdom. It wore the face of Serenity, and she called it The Queen, because she could see nothing in it of herself.
Now her hand rose to the draped knee of the statue, beyond her reach. The stone was cool against her palm.
"Mama?" a voice asked, high and childish, what sugar would sound like if it could speak. Her heart skipping, Serenity turned; behind her a young girl stood, two bushy, pink pigtails framing her round face, two buns in the shape of rabbit ears perched atop her head. The small mouth curled downward in concern.
"Chibi-Usa!" Serenity cried, dropping to one knee and opening her arms. She barely heard the tearing of the fine silk of her Parliament dress, nor did she mind the grey lunar dust coating her legs. With a faint smile the girl rushed forward, her small hands tangling in her mother's hair. Abruptly she sneezed and brought her hand away, covered in white.
Pulling a lace handkerchief from a hidden pocket, Serenity laughed. Gently wiping the tiny fist, she explained. "They powder my hair to make me look older. Silly, isn't it? Especially since everyone knows we don't grow at all.
"But you have, haven't you? Look at you, almost as tall as me!" She held the girl away from her for a moment, pretending to marvel at the child's short stature. Fondly she stroked the soft, pink hair. Her daughter, her heart. She couldn't imagine life without this walking piece of her soul, and yet she lived that lonely nightmare everyday.
"Mama, why are you crying?"
"I don't know, Chibi-Usa," whispered Serenity, cradling the girl to her chest. Slowly she rocked, ignoring how sore it made her knees.
"She isn't real, Usagi," Rei had said, her violet eyes dangerously narrowed. Again and again they had showed her the photos from junior high and high school. Even the laughable shot of Lady Venus and Lady Mars, struggling to be in the center of their little group's college graduation portrait, and Lady Mercury off to the side looking embarrassed in her valedictorian robes. After that, the photos became less cheerful, but in none of them was there a sign of a pink-haired child. The others simply didn't remember.
"Mama," Chibi-Usa stated, her face suddenly grave, and her fingers wandering to Serenity's cheek. "You have to come find me."
All too soon the heartbeat next to her own began to fade, and then she was holding nothing at all. Serenity knew, as the last warmth of the smaller body wisped away, that the instincts she felt within could not be lying to her. She knelt on the grass with The Queen for company, and another, smaller set of glowing footprints leading to the center of the courtyard where she sat.
By wingedpixie
Disclaimer: Yep, Sailor Moon and such still don't belong to me, but the stuff I wrote in the 1st disclaimer pretty much summed all of that up.
AN: Thanks for all the reviews. A nice surprise. ^.^
She couldn't do it. Even as she grasped the card within, Minako could not bring herself to take it from the envelope. The orange billows of her gown's fabric rustled as she sank to her knees on the corridor floor. Up to her face her hands rose, one still clutching the terrible letter, and she sobbed for a dusty, cratered kingdom, for its people who went about their lives as though they were running on tracks, and for a monarch who talked of a past that had never existed. It was a dark day for the Moon Kingdom's First Minister.
A passing scullery maid, dressed in deep reds, hurried discreetly by.
Serenity's feet padded softly over the grass of the inner courtyard. Faintly the blades glowed as they bent beneath her weight, leaving a trail of phosphorescent footprints like the train of a gown behind her.
Every spring, dancers so thin that their bodies made right angles when they bent to lace their shoes, would flit and waltz and leap delicate patterns onto the ground. Often the bottoms of the shoes would have wooden shapes sewn onto them, the performers' feet acting as stamps each time they brushed the ground.
She could remember watching from a balcony, seeing the dancers vault up and away from their glowing tracks, then land in a twirl and a sidestep. They could never leave the moon, these precious acrobats; exposed to the heavy gravity of a larger planet, their thin, angular bones would shatter. Normal people bred into spun-glass ballerinas.
Always perfect, always geometrical, the patterns they traced curved around the center of the courtyard, where Serenity walked. It was here that The Queen rested, an imposing marble sculpture with diamonds on each of her fingernails. In one hand a sword as tall as Serenity was tightly clasped, the knuckles of the hand standing out. Above the face a diadem of crystals spiraled out into sharp, shining points. And at the massive carved feet the suggestion of skulls had been etched, a quiet reference to the War of Comets, which had made the Lady Venus' career.
Though of course she remembered the war, in truth Serenity knew little of it. Far away the blood had been spilt, and even farther were the eyes of her childhood friend Minako, as she knelt at her sovereign's feet with the treaty in her hands. A tiny scroll and a signature were all that was required from the moon's ruler. She had signed it; she always did.
And that very night The Queen had gone up in the midst of the phosphorescent grass, greeted by the graceful forms of the dancers, and the joyous cries of homebound soldiers. It was the symbol of a triumphant Moon Kingdom. It wore the face of Serenity, and she called it The Queen, because she could see nothing in it of herself.
Now her hand rose to the draped knee of the statue, beyond her reach. The stone was cool against her palm.
"Mama?" a voice asked, high and childish, what sugar would sound like if it could speak. Her heart skipping, Serenity turned; behind her a young girl stood, two bushy, pink pigtails framing her round face, two buns in the shape of rabbit ears perched atop her head. The small mouth curled downward in concern.
"Chibi-Usa!" Serenity cried, dropping to one knee and opening her arms. She barely heard the tearing of the fine silk of her Parliament dress, nor did she mind the grey lunar dust coating her legs. With a faint smile the girl rushed forward, her small hands tangling in her mother's hair. Abruptly she sneezed and brought her hand away, covered in white.
Pulling a lace handkerchief from a hidden pocket, Serenity laughed. Gently wiping the tiny fist, she explained. "They powder my hair to make me look older. Silly, isn't it? Especially since everyone knows we don't grow at all.
"But you have, haven't you? Look at you, almost as tall as me!" She held the girl away from her for a moment, pretending to marvel at the child's short stature. Fondly she stroked the soft, pink hair. Her daughter, her heart. She couldn't imagine life without this walking piece of her soul, and yet she lived that lonely nightmare everyday.
"Mama, why are you crying?"
"I don't know, Chibi-Usa," whispered Serenity, cradling the girl to her chest. Slowly she rocked, ignoring how sore it made her knees.
"She isn't real, Usagi," Rei had said, her violet eyes dangerously narrowed. Again and again they had showed her the photos from junior high and high school. Even the laughable shot of Lady Venus and Lady Mars, struggling to be in the center of their little group's college graduation portrait, and Lady Mercury off to the side looking embarrassed in her valedictorian robes. After that, the photos became less cheerful, but in none of them was there a sign of a pink-haired child. The others simply didn't remember.
"Mama," Chibi-Usa stated, her face suddenly grave, and her fingers wandering to Serenity's cheek. "You have to come find me."
All too soon the heartbeat next to her own began to fade, and then she was holding nothing at all. Serenity knew, as the last warmth of the smaller body wisped away, that the instincts she felt within could not be lying to her. She knelt on the grass with The Queen for company, and another, smaller set of glowing footprints leading to the center of the courtyard where she sat.