Little Lost Rabbit by Ikuko
Part 1
G to PG
Luna's narrative
I still do not own Sailor Moon
_______________________________________________________________________________
Against stupidity
Gods themselves
contend in vain.
Schiller, F.
"Die Jungfrau von Orleans"
Well, I declare, it was quite a fuss with all these ambassadors coming
to the Earth. All scouts identity was nearly compromised. Thank goodness Prince
and Pluto acted so promptly and saved Princess's incognito. However, the human
population of the Earth became aware of the fact that there were immortals with
immense power that protected the planet. The shield if invisibility also had to
be lifted from the Moon kingdom. What happened had happened, and nothing could
be done about it. But from now on we had to increase our caution in normal life
as well as in scout business.
We faced new problems every day: the Moon court had to be held properly,
diplomatic relationships established with ambassadors as well as with Earth
governments, and we had palace to run, and so on and on without end. The next bit
of the story is very familiar to everybody from the school course of history. I
do not really have to repeat how soon the new delegations arrived to the Moon, the
excitement that all the Earth observatories had on their arrival, and the rush
the Earth governments put on to sent the delegation of their own to the moon.
The new era of diplomacy has begun. In the recognition of the Solar System Scouts
service to the entire Universe and in the honor of the most powerful person the
Galaxy the Avatar Council was moved permanently to the Moon Palace. If you will
ask me, it was a questionable favor, because it gave us more trouble than ever
before. To make things even more difficult, new delegations from every corner of
the galaxy were arriving every day, and all of them had different customs and
traditions, and they were not always friendly towards each other. Fortunately,
Pluto was an expert (among other things) in interstellar Low of Avatars, and was able
to settle most of the misunderstandings and even keep an appearance of Moon
Royalty having control over the situation.
Most of the delegates were from the worlds we had never even heard about,
but some were all too familiar. To our great surprise one day when we were
meeting the latest spaceship to arrive we found that the guests are non other
than Star Lights! Star Fighter, in his civil male form smirked at the princess:
"Hi, meatball head, long time no see!"
"Star Fighter" Uranus eyes could kill him on the place "can we have a word with
you and your friends of the record". Outers surrounded StarLights and very
efficiently explained to them that keeping Usagi identity in secret was in their
best interests, as a princess as well as Sailor Moon. Knowing how attached Star
Fighter was to Usagi, we could relay on their secrecy.
After that, appearance of Meteorite scouts and other old friends did not get
us off guard. All of them agreed to keep whatever they knew about us for
themselves and were willing to support the policy of the Moon kingdom with their
votes. What did shock us, was sudden arrival of the Dark Moon family, yet
untouched by dark energy and completely ignorant of the terrible role they are
to play in the destiny of the Earth. Time travel is really confusing: for some
reason we thought that they are not to be born until thirtieth century. But
there they were: mischievous and witty Rubeus, very young but spunky Saffiru and
shy and romantic Demando. They were the same and very different at the same time.
Seeds of the future trouble were obvious though: Demando fell head over hills for
the Princess at the very first meeting. It took all combined power of the scouts
to restrain Prince Endymion from the murder. In his head he understood that his rival's
affection is still completely innocent and hopeless, and until he will fall to the
power of the Death Phantom thousand years in the future he is no threat to the
Princess. But the hurt of seeing his love helpless in the arms of the future
Demando was still too fresh in his heart. At least we did not have to worry about
Dark Moon family keeping Sailor Moon secret: they were yet to learn it much later.
For now they came with the mission of gratitude, like most of other delegates.
After few weeks of total disaster things began to shape up a little. As
you know, the Sailor Senshi appointed Sailor Pluto as a public speaker for the
Moon court, Sailor Mercury as a secretary and Sailor Neptune as a head of court
etiquette. Actually, all Senshi were pretty busy. Sailor Mars was in charge of
solving religious differences between delegations arrived from different planets
as well as between different fractions of multi-national Earth delegation, and
despite her reputation of having a fierce temper, she was very good at it and
had shown unusually deep understanding of the matter. Uranus was in charge of
the defense, and Jupiter took over palace "housekeeping" matters. Sailor Moon
was seen only on the Earth on a very few occasions of local disturbances, and
never on the Moon. We were very careful not to disclose that Sailor Moon and
Princess are one and the same, as well as to protect Usagi's privacy. However,
the fact that Princess is a Messiah of life did became known. Usagi did not
participate in any diplomatic activity at all. The princess was seen the least
of all. Even when Prince Endymion had to appear as the Earth representative at
the Avatar council, he was usually alone or was followed by one or more senshi
with diplomatic duties. Rumors said that the princess was still attending some
private polishing school, for she was very young indeed and very inexperienced
in her public appearances. And, of course, you can not discard the effect the
Moon court had on the people minds. It was the hottest topic of every
conversation. People were discussing the court news just as they were gossiping
about British royal family before.
It's a blessing that we did not have any attacks at that time. We all
hoped that peace came at last and tried to enjoy the hassles of the civilian
life. And we did have more than enough of that. Just take the ambassadors:
every one of them considered him or herself more important than everybody else,
and often refused to be satisfied with interview with official public speaker
(Pluto, of course). They all demanded an audience with the Princess herself! We
could not very well tell them that princess still needs a little more polishing
before she can comport herself properly at the official occasions, could we?
Neptune and I spent every waking hour every day as her personal teachers of
manners, diplomacy and history of interplanet relationships, but we still had a
long way to go. Prince still conducted most of public appearances alone, with
admirable dignity answering the most ridiculous questions that the Earth
reporters in particular were always ready to ask:
"No, the Avatar Council will not admit a delegate of the Earth humans as a full
member unless he can prove that he possesses the power over the planet energy."
"No, I am not available. The Moon Princess is my fiancée"
"Yes, humans will be able to become my subjects if they are willing and
deserving it. We are planning to work our the proper procedure in the next
several hundred years"
"Rule over you? Why on the Earth would I want to do THAT?! Who, in his right
mind, would want all the trouble, gossip, and insinuation one will receive as
thanks for governing humans? I will do my duty to sustain and protect this
planet, to provide the hospitality to mortals and immortals alike and to lead my
court. But as for ruling over you - sorry. You guys are welcome to the honor
yourself. I will let you play your games of domination and "strategic interests"
and will not interfere unless you will come to the brink of physically
destroying yourself."
Now, did we have fun or not? On some occasions he dared to bring the
Princess who had strictest instructions not to talk. Alas, there was no way we
could trust her to hold a press conference on her own. Poor thing was really
trying, succeeding only in making herself less and less confident. She had not a
minute free. In order to protect her identity on the Earth, she had to attain
school as usual, and be seen at home by her parents. We also had to fit
diplomatic duties and polishing lessons in the same twenty-four hours. Thank
goodness, that her being late for class and falling asleep during the lessons
was rather expected by everyone and did not rise any suspicions. Getting her out
of daily detentions that she had no time for was a bigger problem. Venus
seriously objected serving time after school day in and day out impersonating
her dear friend.
To tell you truth, it was quite amusing to see my dearest clumsy girl
attempting to behave "as a princess". I still remembered her during Silver
millennium, so refined and sophisticated, a perfect princess she was trying so
hard to become in this life. But you know what? I think I loved my dearest child
even better the way she was now. This impossible girl with her hilarious antics
touched souls in a way that finest and kindest of princesses never could. I
suspect that I was not alone in it: I've seen the faces of scouts and the Prince
lit with a kind of amused tenderness that would never dare to appear toward the
princess.
And to think that I was glad then that Usagi was too naïve to understand
her power over others, that she might get spoiled if she knew just how much love
she wins every day even from strangers. How sorry we all were soon enough that we
did not try to show her just how precious and loved she was already. But I am
getting ahead of myself. Where was I? Oh, yes. I was telling you how hard Usagi
tried to learn to behave like a princess and how frustrated she was with the
little progress she was making. Eventually, after weeks of training and many
hours of amusement for me and Neptune, we had the princess ready for a short
interviews, as long as the important matters were not to be mentioned. She just
won't stay calm and collected (and attentive) when the talks were over her poor
head. Oh, she was by no means stupid, just impatient and emotional as a child she
was. Unfortunately, meetings with ambassadors with no important matters discussed
were becoming fewer and fewer.
After all delegations expressed their ever-repetitive deep gratitude for
saving their respective worlds, quite logically they started inviting the
princess to their planets. Of course they could not possibly agree where she
should go first. It began to look like they are fighting over spheres of
influence over her. But the real nightmare was yet to come.
The Council had it's own hierarchy, which seemed very complicated at
first. Higher members of Council were very snooty toward all scouts, except for
the Princess, and maybe Jupiter and Outers. But later Mercury spelled it to us:
it was as simple as "the bigger your planet is, the higher you sit". Mercury,
Mars and the Prince were not treated like dirt only because they were close
friends of the Princess. Pluto was feared for her unusual powers over time, and
though she was of a small planet, enjoyed some respect. At least scouts had
considerable influence as the official court of the Princess, if not in the
Council meeting hall, but in the rest of the Palace. As for the delegation of
the human representatives of the Earth they were held in little respect if any
by all the delegates, and were tolerated only as special guests of the Princess.
Unfortunately, it took too long for them to realize it. In the midst of the
arguments during the Council meeting in the presence of both Highnesses the
Earth delegation declared that Princess as an underage person should not leave
Solar System. Do not ask me, what they were thinking, perhaps they wanted a
little of influence over the powerful princess too. It was, at the very least,
unwise: first, the entire reception hall exploded with the indignation:
mortals that were present only as observers tryed to regulate what the avatar to
do. Second, it opened a very tempting opportunity for authorities of other
planets to claim the rights to become guardians of the slip of a girl that held
the greatest power in the Universe.
The high official of the Black Nebula opened the dispute:
"We came to know that since her highness reawakening on the planet Earth she was
placed under care of mortal forster family, who obviously is unable to take
proper care and protection of the Princess. She was deprived from barest
necessities in terms of magic, she had no qualified servants, and even suffered
physical abuse from mortals if she did not do what they wanted."
"It's not true, my Mom loves me," cried out the Princess with tears in her eyes
"She wanted what was best for me!"
"Princess was deprived from food as a form of the punishment"
"But I failed the test, Mom wanted me to study..."
"I call to the council: the Princess is so young she can not judge her situation
properly. With her affectionate heart she protects those who abused her. She
should be placed under the Avatar council care, this is the least we can do for
the child that saved us all"
Sailor Mars took the stand:
"I call attention of the Avatar council to the fact that Solar System Scouts,
Lunar cat and the Avatar of the Earth are already official guardians and protectors
of the princess as appointed by her late mother."
"This claim requires further investigation. I doubt that the animal can be
considered as a guardian at all. And according to the Earth lows, most of the
scouts are also underage and can not serve as legitimate guardians."
"The outer scouts are of legal age, and as loyal subjects of the Moon Kingdom
are responsible for her well-being" Mars could hardly contain herself.
"The age is of little matter right now, because entire Avatar council consist of
responsible adults, more experienced and therefore more suitable as Princess
guardians. And as for being Moon Kingdom subjects - your auras do not exhibit
any signs of connection with the Moon Royalty, as they should if you were her
subjects. But why would not we ask the princess herself about it?"
In deadly silence all eyes turned to the Princess Serenity in amazement.
What does that shrewd ambassador means by that? It seemed that this question hit
princess squarely in the chest. Finally, she lifted teary eyes to her friends,
looking from one to another as in the hope to find forgiveness for some terrible
guilt, and at last stopping her gaze at the face of Mars:
"I am sorry... I am so sorry... I did not know what else to do... I could not loose
any of you..." She broke into tears and run out of the room. Inner scouts, not
knowing what to think, dashed to follow her when they were stopped by the same
raspy voice of the Black Nebula ambassador:
"As we see, the claim by the Solar System Avatars is completely unfounded..."
"Wait" the prince of the Earth finally found his voice" as her fiancée I have
the right to protect the princess"
"We are still too see if your engagement is legitimate"
"What do you mean? Princess had accepted my proposal, she is wearing my
engagement ring"
"Ahh, but she is still underage, and therefore her consent is not enough. Also,
as the Avatar of the planet where Princess lives you could exercise your power
as a host to make her agree to your proposal"
At this point Mercury and Jupiter had to grab Endymion by the shoulders to
prevent him from tearing the ambassador limb from limb. There was a noticeable
movement in the council. Demando seemed to get a hope for himself, and was ready
to back up the ambassador. Even Seiya got on his feet in emotional turmoil.
Endymion mustered some control:
"Our engagement was approved by the late queen of the Moon, Serenity's mother,
Avatar of the Moon at that time"
"So it was. But at that time it was yet unknown that the princess was to be a
Messiah of life and the strongest Avatar in the Universe. Queen Serenity even as
a mother had not the right to decide the fate of the one so important to the
world as that before Princess came to age. It is a responsibility of the entire
Avatar Council to consider all eligible candidates and find the most deserving
one in the Universe as Messiah's consort"
"But... But she loves me! She was ready to die to stay with me! Are her own
feeling of no consideration at all?"
"The Council will always act in the best interest of the Princess. With all due
respect, Prince Endymion, you should realize that you are only an Avatar of a
minor planet circling the third-rate star on the outskirts of the galaxy, with
very limited powers and influence. The power of the Princess is incomparable to
yours or to any of Solar System Avatars, save maybe Saturn. If you really love
her, you should give her a chance to choose the best partner in the Universe. Do
not be so selfish as to think that you and only you are capable of loving her.
Can you honestly say that you gave her the happiness she deserves?"
Endymion froze in doubt and shame. He could not utter a word in his extreme
agitation. Finally, he sat down, completely overwhelmed by emotions. The
reception hall was in uproar. Delegates shouted something, but nothing could be
heard in the cacophony of voices. Sailor Pluto, grave and solemn, at last closed
the morning session of the meeting.
Day after that was like a terrible nightmare for everybody. Usagi was
hiding from us, and as hard as scouts tried to find out what was the story with
them not being her subjects she would not give them another answer but tears and
asking for forgiveness. Prince was of no help in comforting her because of his
own guilt trip and deepest depression I had ever seen him in. We tried to keep
to the routine with the polishing lessons, but had less success than ever, with
Usagi losing her confidence completely. I had a very bad feeling about all of
it.
The Council agreed that neither scouts nor I can be legal guardians of the
princess and was in the process of selecting of the committee of avatars to
serve as temporary replacement of ones. Her mortal family was not even
considered. Thank goodness Mrs. Tsukino did not know about all of this, it would
break her poor kind heart. She was a good mother for the Princess, she really
was.
The engagement between Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion was presumed
illegitimate. It was announced that Serenity's hand is free for claiming by any
deserving Avatar. Prince faces charges in corruption, abusing minors and
misusing his position as a host of Imperial Princess and messiah. Scouts in
their turn were accused that they did not do their duty as protectors of the
Princess, on the contrary, she had to protect them, risking her precious life
for a single planet. It was proven by the aura readings that Scouts were no
longer legally subjects of the Moon Kingdom, being disowned by the Princess some
couple of years ago. The reason for it remained unknown, because Princess
refused to give any explanations to it. The Prince, as confused as everybody
else, nevertheless confirmed the invitation for all scouts to reside on Earth.
Usagi found herself robbed from her family, her friends and her only love,
and all that in the name of her well being. She was so miserable that scouts
decided to postpone their questions and give her all love and support they
could. Ironically, it had the effect opposite to the one intended. She seemed
terrified, and finally broke into tears again, run to her quarters and locked
herself in. We decided to leave her alone for a wile, waiting for her to calm
down and explain what was so horrible. For a few minutes there was only weeping
behind the door. Then, her unsteady voice rang the familiar incantation, and
unmistakable power of Silver Crystal echoed through the palace. In a matter of
seconds, scouts stormed the door, but it was too late. Princess laid lump on the
balcony, seemingly asleep, if not for expression of sheer terror on her face and
ragged breath. The catastrophe that lingered above our heads inevitably came
upon us. We've lost the best treasure we had before we ever knew we had it.
_____________________
End of part 2
Feedback is appreciated
Only constructive criticism will be accepted.
Ikuko.
Part 1
G to PG
Luna's narrative
I still do not own Sailor Moon
_______________________________________________________________________________
Against stupidity
Gods themselves
contend in vain.
Schiller, F.
"Die Jungfrau von Orleans"
Well, I declare, it was quite a fuss with all these ambassadors coming
to the Earth. All scouts identity was nearly compromised. Thank goodness Prince
and Pluto acted so promptly and saved Princess's incognito. However, the human
population of the Earth became aware of the fact that there were immortals with
immense power that protected the planet. The shield if invisibility also had to
be lifted from the Moon kingdom. What happened had happened, and nothing could
be done about it. But from now on we had to increase our caution in normal life
as well as in scout business.
We faced new problems every day: the Moon court had to be held properly,
diplomatic relationships established with ambassadors as well as with Earth
governments, and we had palace to run, and so on and on without end. The next bit
of the story is very familiar to everybody from the school course of history. I
do not really have to repeat how soon the new delegations arrived to the Moon, the
excitement that all the Earth observatories had on their arrival, and the rush
the Earth governments put on to sent the delegation of their own to the moon.
The new era of diplomacy has begun. In the recognition of the Solar System Scouts
service to the entire Universe and in the honor of the most powerful person the
Galaxy the Avatar Council was moved permanently to the Moon Palace. If you will
ask me, it was a questionable favor, because it gave us more trouble than ever
before. To make things even more difficult, new delegations from every corner of
the galaxy were arriving every day, and all of them had different customs and
traditions, and they were not always friendly towards each other. Fortunately,
Pluto was an expert (among other things) in interstellar Low of Avatars, and was able
to settle most of the misunderstandings and even keep an appearance of Moon
Royalty having control over the situation.
Most of the delegates were from the worlds we had never even heard about,
but some were all too familiar. To our great surprise one day when we were
meeting the latest spaceship to arrive we found that the guests are non other
than Star Lights! Star Fighter, in his civil male form smirked at the princess:
"Hi, meatball head, long time no see!"
"Star Fighter" Uranus eyes could kill him on the place "can we have a word with
you and your friends of the record". Outers surrounded StarLights and very
efficiently explained to them that keeping Usagi identity in secret was in their
best interests, as a princess as well as Sailor Moon. Knowing how attached Star
Fighter was to Usagi, we could relay on their secrecy.
After that, appearance of Meteorite scouts and other old friends did not get
us off guard. All of them agreed to keep whatever they knew about us for
themselves and were willing to support the policy of the Moon kingdom with their
votes. What did shock us, was sudden arrival of the Dark Moon family, yet
untouched by dark energy and completely ignorant of the terrible role they are
to play in the destiny of the Earth. Time travel is really confusing: for some
reason we thought that they are not to be born until thirtieth century. But
there they were: mischievous and witty Rubeus, very young but spunky Saffiru and
shy and romantic Demando. They were the same and very different at the same time.
Seeds of the future trouble were obvious though: Demando fell head over hills for
the Princess at the very first meeting. It took all combined power of the scouts
to restrain Prince Endymion from the murder. In his head he understood that his rival's
affection is still completely innocent and hopeless, and until he will fall to the
power of the Death Phantom thousand years in the future he is no threat to the
Princess. But the hurt of seeing his love helpless in the arms of the future
Demando was still too fresh in his heart. At least we did not have to worry about
Dark Moon family keeping Sailor Moon secret: they were yet to learn it much later.
For now they came with the mission of gratitude, like most of other delegates.
After few weeks of total disaster things began to shape up a little. As
you know, the Sailor Senshi appointed Sailor Pluto as a public speaker for the
Moon court, Sailor Mercury as a secretary and Sailor Neptune as a head of court
etiquette. Actually, all Senshi were pretty busy. Sailor Mars was in charge of
solving religious differences between delegations arrived from different planets
as well as between different fractions of multi-national Earth delegation, and
despite her reputation of having a fierce temper, she was very good at it and
had shown unusually deep understanding of the matter. Uranus was in charge of
the defense, and Jupiter took over palace "housekeeping" matters. Sailor Moon
was seen only on the Earth on a very few occasions of local disturbances, and
never on the Moon. We were very careful not to disclose that Sailor Moon and
Princess are one and the same, as well as to protect Usagi's privacy. However,
the fact that Princess is a Messiah of life did became known. Usagi did not
participate in any diplomatic activity at all. The princess was seen the least
of all. Even when Prince Endymion had to appear as the Earth representative at
the Avatar council, he was usually alone or was followed by one or more senshi
with diplomatic duties. Rumors said that the princess was still attending some
private polishing school, for she was very young indeed and very inexperienced
in her public appearances. And, of course, you can not discard the effect the
Moon court had on the people minds. It was the hottest topic of every
conversation. People were discussing the court news just as they were gossiping
about British royal family before.
It's a blessing that we did not have any attacks at that time. We all
hoped that peace came at last and tried to enjoy the hassles of the civilian
life. And we did have more than enough of that. Just take the ambassadors:
every one of them considered him or herself more important than everybody else,
and often refused to be satisfied with interview with official public speaker
(Pluto, of course). They all demanded an audience with the Princess herself! We
could not very well tell them that princess still needs a little more polishing
before she can comport herself properly at the official occasions, could we?
Neptune and I spent every waking hour every day as her personal teachers of
manners, diplomacy and history of interplanet relationships, but we still had a
long way to go. Prince still conducted most of public appearances alone, with
admirable dignity answering the most ridiculous questions that the Earth
reporters in particular were always ready to ask:
"No, the Avatar Council will not admit a delegate of the Earth humans as a full
member unless he can prove that he possesses the power over the planet energy."
"No, I am not available. The Moon Princess is my fiancée"
"Yes, humans will be able to become my subjects if they are willing and
deserving it. We are planning to work our the proper procedure in the next
several hundred years"
"Rule over you? Why on the Earth would I want to do THAT?! Who, in his right
mind, would want all the trouble, gossip, and insinuation one will receive as
thanks for governing humans? I will do my duty to sustain and protect this
planet, to provide the hospitality to mortals and immortals alike and to lead my
court. But as for ruling over you - sorry. You guys are welcome to the honor
yourself. I will let you play your games of domination and "strategic interests"
and will not interfere unless you will come to the brink of physically
destroying yourself."
Now, did we have fun or not? On some occasions he dared to bring the
Princess who had strictest instructions not to talk. Alas, there was no way we
could trust her to hold a press conference on her own. Poor thing was really
trying, succeeding only in making herself less and less confident. She had not a
minute free. In order to protect her identity on the Earth, she had to attain
school as usual, and be seen at home by her parents. We also had to fit
diplomatic duties and polishing lessons in the same twenty-four hours. Thank
goodness, that her being late for class and falling asleep during the lessons
was rather expected by everyone and did not rise any suspicions. Getting her out
of daily detentions that she had no time for was a bigger problem. Venus
seriously objected serving time after school day in and day out impersonating
her dear friend.
To tell you truth, it was quite amusing to see my dearest clumsy girl
attempting to behave "as a princess". I still remembered her during Silver
millennium, so refined and sophisticated, a perfect princess she was trying so
hard to become in this life. But you know what? I think I loved my dearest child
even better the way she was now. This impossible girl with her hilarious antics
touched souls in a way that finest and kindest of princesses never could. I
suspect that I was not alone in it: I've seen the faces of scouts and the Prince
lit with a kind of amused tenderness that would never dare to appear toward the
princess.
And to think that I was glad then that Usagi was too naïve to understand
her power over others, that she might get spoiled if she knew just how much love
she wins every day even from strangers. How sorry we all were soon enough that we
did not try to show her just how precious and loved she was already. But I am
getting ahead of myself. Where was I? Oh, yes. I was telling you how hard Usagi
tried to learn to behave like a princess and how frustrated she was with the
little progress she was making. Eventually, after weeks of training and many
hours of amusement for me and Neptune, we had the princess ready for a short
interviews, as long as the important matters were not to be mentioned. She just
won't stay calm and collected (and attentive) when the talks were over her poor
head. Oh, she was by no means stupid, just impatient and emotional as a child she
was. Unfortunately, meetings with ambassadors with no important matters discussed
were becoming fewer and fewer.
After all delegations expressed their ever-repetitive deep gratitude for
saving their respective worlds, quite logically they started inviting the
princess to their planets. Of course they could not possibly agree where she
should go first. It began to look like they are fighting over spheres of
influence over her. But the real nightmare was yet to come.
The Council had it's own hierarchy, which seemed very complicated at
first. Higher members of Council were very snooty toward all scouts, except for
the Princess, and maybe Jupiter and Outers. But later Mercury spelled it to us:
it was as simple as "the bigger your planet is, the higher you sit". Mercury,
Mars and the Prince were not treated like dirt only because they were close
friends of the Princess. Pluto was feared for her unusual powers over time, and
though she was of a small planet, enjoyed some respect. At least scouts had
considerable influence as the official court of the Princess, if not in the
Council meeting hall, but in the rest of the Palace. As for the delegation of
the human representatives of the Earth they were held in little respect if any
by all the delegates, and were tolerated only as special guests of the Princess.
Unfortunately, it took too long for them to realize it. In the midst of the
arguments during the Council meeting in the presence of both Highnesses the
Earth delegation declared that Princess as an underage person should not leave
Solar System. Do not ask me, what they were thinking, perhaps they wanted a
little of influence over the powerful princess too. It was, at the very least,
unwise: first, the entire reception hall exploded with the indignation:
mortals that were present only as observers tryed to regulate what the avatar to
do. Second, it opened a very tempting opportunity for authorities of other
planets to claim the rights to become guardians of the slip of a girl that held
the greatest power in the Universe.
The high official of the Black Nebula opened the dispute:
"We came to know that since her highness reawakening on the planet Earth she was
placed under care of mortal forster family, who obviously is unable to take
proper care and protection of the Princess. She was deprived from barest
necessities in terms of magic, she had no qualified servants, and even suffered
physical abuse from mortals if she did not do what they wanted."
"It's not true, my Mom loves me," cried out the Princess with tears in her eyes
"She wanted what was best for me!"
"Princess was deprived from food as a form of the punishment"
"But I failed the test, Mom wanted me to study..."
"I call to the council: the Princess is so young she can not judge her situation
properly. With her affectionate heart she protects those who abused her. She
should be placed under the Avatar council care, this is the least we can do for
the child that saved us all"
Sailor Mars took the stand:
"I call attention of the Avatar council to the fact that Solar System Scouts,
Lunar cat and the Avatar of the Earth are already official guardians and protectors
of the princess as appointed by her late mother."
"This claim requires further investigation. I doubt that the animal can be
considered as a guardian at all. And according to the Earth lows, most of the
scouts are also underage and can not serve as legitimate guardians."
"The outer scouts are of legal age, and as loyal subjects of the Moon Kingdom
are responsible for her well-being" Mars could hardly contain herself.
"The age is of little matter right now, because entire Avatar council consist of
responsible adults, more experienced and therefore more suitable as Princess
guardians. And as for being Moon Kingdom subjects - your auras do not exhibit
any signs of connection with the Moon Royalty, as they should if you were her
subjects. But why would not we ask the princess herself about it?"
In deadly silence all eyes turned to the Princess Serenity in amazement.
What does that shrewd ambassador means by that? It seemed that this question hit
princess squarely in the chest. Finally, she lifted teary eyes to her friends,
looking from one to another as in the hope to find forgiveness for some terrible
guilt, and at last stopping her gaze at the face of Mars:
"I am sorry... I am so sorry... I did not know what else to do... I could not loose
any of you..." She broke into tears and run out of the room. Inner scouts, not
knowing what to think, dashed to follow her when they were stopped by the same
raspy voice of the Black Nebula ambassador:
"As we see, the claim by the Solar System Avatars is completely unfounded..."
"Wait" the prince of the Earth finally found his voice" as her fiancée I have
the right to protect the princess"
"We are still too see if your engagement is legitimate"
"What do you mean? Princess had accepted my proposal, she is wearing my
engagement ring"
"Ahh, but she is still underage, and therefore her consent is not enough. Also,
as the Avatar of the planet where Princess lives you could exercise your power
as a host to make her agree to your proposal"
At this point Mercury and Jupiter had to grab Endymion by the shoulders to
prevent him from tearing the ambassador limb from limb. There was a noticeable
movement in the council. Demando seemed to get a hope for himself, and was ready
to back up the ambassador. Even Seiya got on his feet in emotional turmoil.
Endymion mustered some control:
"Our engagement was approved by the late queen of the Moon, Serenity's mother,
Avatar of the Moon at that time"
"So it was. But at that time it was yet unknown that the princess was to be a
Messiah of life and the strongest Avatar in the Universe. Queen Serenity even as
a mother had not the right to decide the fate of the one so important to the
world as that before Princess came to age. It is a responsibility of the entire
Avatar Council to consider all eligible candidates and find the most deserving
one in the Universe as Messiah's consort"
"But... But she loves me! She was ready to die to stay with me! Are her own
feeling of no consideration at all?"
"The Council will always act in the best interest of the Princess. With all due
respect, Prince Endymion, you should realize that you are only an Avatar of a
minor planet circling the third-rate star on the outskirts of the galaxy, with
very limited powers and influence. The power of the Princess is incomparable to
yours or to any of Solar System Avatars, save maybe Saturn. If you really love
her, you should give her a chance to choose the best partner in the Universe. Do
not be so selfish as to think that you and only you are capable of loving her.
Can you honestly say that you gave her the happiness she deserves?"
Endymion froze in doubt and shame. He could not utter a word in his extreme
agitation. Finally, he sat down, completely overwhelmed by emotions. The
reception hall was in uproar. Delegates shouted something, but nothing could be
heard in the cacophony of voices. Sailor Pluto, grave and solemn, at last closed
the morning session of the meeting.
Day after that was like a terrible nightmare for everybody. Usagi was
hiding from us, and as hard as scouts tried to find out what was the story with
them not being her subjects she would not give them another answer but tears and
asking for forgiveness. Prince was of no help in comforting her because of his
own guilt trip and deepest depression I had ever seen him in. We tried to keep
to the routine with the polishing lessons, but had less success than ever, with
Usagi losing her confidence completely. I had a very bad feeling about all of
it.
The Council agreed that neither scouts nor I can be legal guardians of the
princess and was in the process of selecting of the committee of avatars to
serve as temporary replacement of ones. Her mortal family was not even
considered. Thank goodness Mrs. Tsukino did not know about all of this, it would
break her poor kind heart. She was a good mother for the Princess, she really
was.
The engagement between Princess Serenity and Prince Endymion was presumed
illegitimate. It was announced that Serenity's hand is free for claiming by any
deserving Avatar. Prince faces charges in corruption, abusing minors and
misusing his position as a host of Imperial Princess and messiah. Scouts in
their turn were accused that they did not do their duty as protectors of the
Princess, on the contrary, she had to protect them, risking her precious life
for a single planet. It was proven by the aura readings that Scouts were no
longer legally subjects of the Moon Kingdom, being disowned by the Princess some
couple of years ago. The reason for it remained unknown, because Princess
refused to give any explanations to it. The Prince, as confused as everybody
else, nevertheless confirmed the invitation for all scouts to reside on Earth.
Usagi found herself robbed from her family, her friends and her only love,
and all that in the name of her well being. She was so miserable that scouts
decided to postpone their questions and give her all love and support they
could. Ironically, it had the effect opposite to the one intended. She seemed
terrified, and finally broke into tears again, run to her quarters and locked
herself in. We decided to leave her alone for a wile, waiting for her to calm
down and explain what was so horrible. For a few minutes there was only weeping
behind the door. Then, her unsteady voice rang the familiar incantation, and
unmistakable power of Silver Crystal echoed through the palace. In a matter of
seconds, scouts stormed the door, but it was too late. Princess laid lump on the
balcony, seemingly asleep, if not for expression of sheer terror on her face and
ragged breath. The catastrophe that lingered above our heads inevitably came
upon us. We've lost the best treasure we had before we ever knew we had it.
_____________________
End of part 2
Feedback is appreciated
Only constructive criticism will be accepted.
Ikuko.