Author's Note: To start off this new chapter I'll give you a list of who is who. By now you should have guessed that Deirdre is Setsuna (Trista for dubbies) and the rest of our cast is introduced below. Think of my changing their names as this; they were different when they were reborn the first time so nyah!
P.S. – Juni Juni, this chappie is for you as the story's first reviewer!
Min Jung – Hotaru Aaron – Quatre
Anisa – Haruka John – Wufei
Cerise – Michiru Travis – Trowa
Ursa – Usagi Dom – Duo
Amalia – Ami Kenneth – Heero
Kei – Rei Darin – Mamoru
Flora – Minako Cyrus – Treize
Esta – Makoto Armand – Millardo
?????? - ??????
(Please keep in mind that these names were listed randomly and I have not decided what pairings may take place. If you have any opinions, tell me and I will try to make people happy.)
Deirdre cursed and gingerly picked up her hands. The railing on the stairs was covered with fine slivers of crystal, and they had cut her hand. She decided to put on the rest of the safety equipment before she went any further, and used her water bottle to washout her cuts before putting on the gloves. The remains of whatever power had caused the walls to glow only dimly lighted the lower floors of the Crystal Palace. At night the Palace would glow faintly or shine like a beacon at random, and today didn't look to be one of its good days. After all the trouble of getting the clearance to rummage through the ruins, the damn thing could have bothered to help a bit.
Her footsteps echoed off the walls as she headed down the hallway at the bottom of the steps. This was the last floor on the map she'd acquired, but it didn't look like the basement. The remains of tables and artwork were still where they had some to rest after the Unian invasion. Some had broken from the shockwave that had weakened the Palace's structure enough to force the occupants to flee. Now Deirdre was wandering through its passages, the first human in fifteen years. As she wandered around, looking for vault doors or boxes, she noticed in the back of her mind that there was no dust anywhere. The rug under her feet was still a warm pink and the painting she'd just passed looked as fresh and colorful as the day it had been painted.
The hall was a dead end. Deirdre let out a sigh of disgust and turned back to look at the way she'd just come. There had been no doors or other halls off this one. What was the purpose of this level, then?
Deirdre decided to snoop around a bit longer and paid close attention to the detail of the walls. There were no designs on the crystalline surfaces, but she eventually found herself staring at one section. The wall seemed slightly brighter here, maybe that was a sign that the key was hidden behind it. Deirdre looked around for some kind of button to press. Nothing. Okay, maybe all she had to do was shove it. Nothing. Would hitting it with a toolbox cause the whole Palace to collapse?
She glared at the wall. Maybe this wasn't it. As she turned to continue her inspection, there was a grinding noise. Deirdre turned back around to see the wall opposite the one she'd been pushing against open. "Hunh?"
The room looked like a temple or church, except there were nine pews set in a circle all facing one another. The room was huge, and the fact that it was underground didn't even occur it first because it was as if the sun itself had come to worship. On a pedestal in the middle of the room was a key. Deirdre held her breath as she went in. Her boots made thunking noises on the floor, and she hesitated before putting her toolbox down. The floor was a complex mosaic of different colored crystals. She felt like she could feel the ocean and wind, hear the fire crackle and the thunder boom, while she was safe and secure at home with her loved ones. It was an amazing thing.
The key shone with its own light, charged with purpose. Deirdre reached out and picked it up and froze. Nothing happened. "How am I—" there was a flash of light from the key and she felt her feet leave the floor. It was only the briefest of seconds, because suddenly she was standing in a world of gray. The only solid thing she could see was a huge gate made out of strange stone. Floating in front of the gate were three items. There was a tall wand, a golden scimitar, and a hand mirror. The wand looked a little odd, but there was a quick flash of light and the red crystal from before appeared in the heart shape at the top.
Deirdre looked around and sighed. Her toolbox was gone, but the key was still sitting in her hand. Guessing that she needed to take the wand, she reached out and picked it up. The staff fit her hand well and had a reassuring weight. Then Deirdre reached out and took the scimitar and mirror as well. Her hands full, she looked at the gate. Going on a hunch, she held up the hand with the key and wand and said, "Take me to the basement of the Crystal palace! Open!" The gate slowly opened and revealed more mist. Deirdre decided to go for it and stepped through.
Ursa Lowe looked at her report crystal and sighed. Her blond hair done up in its two buns with the tail end hanging down to her knees, seemed to lose its hold and one bun fell out. She sat up straight at her desk and raised her hands up to redo her hair. "Gods bless it! That's the third time today," she said. There was a knock at the door and she turned to see her sister's head peek in.
"Are you ready to go? The professor will only give us credit if we're on time," Flora said. She also had blond hair and blue eyes, except her hair was typically up in a bow, which was green today.
Ursa got up and grabbed her bag. "Are you ready?"
Flora scoffed. "Of course! Now hurry up."
Ursa checked the clock above her bunk and stopped. "We still have half an hour! It takes no more than ten minutes to get to Jupiter hall!"
Flora gave her older sister a smile. "You know I'm late if I'm not early." Ursa sighed and closed the door to their room. On the walk from their dorm to the lecture hall Ursa did her best to keep her sister from speed walking into people in her haste.
Finally (or too soon, take your pick) they arrived at 218 Jupiter Hall. There were five students in the room so far and about a hundred empty seats. Flora grinned as she took a seat beside her sister. "See? Now aren't you glad I'm here to take care of you?"
Ursa chuckled. "Take care of me? I can do that very well myself, thank-you! I have managed to survive here for two years already." They were both enrolled in Planetaria University in Crystal Tokyo. Ursa, the eldest was a junior with a major in government, mostly the history thereof. Flora was a freshman and undecided. They were roomed together at their parents' request, but surviving the experience.
The day's lecture was the history of Crystal Tokyo and it's founding. What the sisters didn't know was that it was going to change their lives in a deeper way than just extra credit for their classes.
Ten minutes later, the rest of the students came in. When the person giving the lecture arrived, no one noticed because they were all chatting. It wasn't until she stepped up to the podium that they realized the young woman with green hair was Miss Deirdre O'Neil. Her red eyes scanned the room as she waited for the shuffling feet and voices to fade. She smiled and said, "Good afternoon. Today I'll be giving you the lecture on Crystal Tokyo that you won't find in your text or on the Network. Today I will shatter whatever you thought you knew about the birth of Crystal Tokyo and the Silver Millennium."
A few students leaned forward. What could she have to say that could possibly contradict what they'd heard? She smiled slyly and placed a round, red crystal on the top of the podium. "During the Silver Millennium and the rule of Queen Serenity I, this was a common enough item." She waved a hand over it and there were several gasps as the crystal glowed and a hologram of the Crystal Palace appeared. It had to be a recent image, because the towers were crumbling and the buildings all around were made of other materials than crystal. "This is the Crystal Palace in our time. It was an amazing feet of architectural magic in its day, and is the last of its kind in our time."
She then waved her hand over the crystal, changing the image to a display of yearbook photos. "First, the beloved queen, who was born Tsukino Usagi."
Ursa and Flora stared. The girl in the old, 2D picture could have easily been Ursa as a high school student. "She has the same hair as me," Ursa said quietly.
Flora nodded. "And the same eyes, the same face. She is you! Wow, maybe we're related to her somehow."
As the two girls to the left daydreamed about becoming queens, Deirdre continued with her lecture. Eventually she said, "Next is Queen Venus, or Aino Minako. Before becoming a Senshi at her friend's side she was the beloved Sailor V in England." The girls traded looks again.
"Maybe we're related to both of them?" Flora offered. Ursa shrugged. They took a few notes, more to look like diligent students than because they needed them. While she made no sign of it during the presentation, Deirdre had noticed the two blonds and was keeping an eye on them. Their reactions were all she could have hoped for. This lecture wasn't only for their benefit, though. She watched as some students nodded off to sleep, and a few had also taken note of the resemblance between their classmates and the queens.
Then Deirdre took a deep breath and brought up her reputation killer. "The last of the Senshi, Queen Pluto, was not born at the same time as her companions. She was still around from the previous battle that had killed her comrades and her queen. For thousands of years she guarded the gates of time, and as a result she didn't go to high school and I don't have a mug shot. I do have a portrait of the entire court, which has the great fortune to include her." She waved her hand and the picture she'd first seen on the net came up.
There was dead silence. Those students that were awake did a few looks back and forth. Deirdre smiled. "Amazing resemblance, isn't it? However, I am not thousands of years old and the Senshi were not killed in combat to be sent into the future to be reborn." She waved her hand over the crystal and slipped it back into her pocket. Had they believed her? "Any questions?"
Flora raised her hand. Deirdre's eyes shimmered. "Yes?"
"How did you find any of this information?"
Deirdre smiled. "I have spent over half my life in museums' basements and have done some digging around in the ruins of the Crystal Palace. The information is all there for those who will use it." It was mostly a sidestepping of the question. With the Time Staff had come knowledge. Stepping through the time gate had sealed her fate and opened her mind.
Another student raised his hand. "How does that crystal work? I thought all that knowledge was lost."
This was also an expected question. "I found the crystal in the Palace and figured out how to use it through trial and error. Any more questions?" Nothing. "Then have a nice day." There was some muffled applause as students gathered their things. Deirdre hadn't been expecting much interest, but she was just sewing the seeds. In time, if Crystal Tokyo were to rise again, just that little bit of hope might be enough.
As the students left, Deirdre used her newly discovered Senshi powers to blend in anonymously and track the two girls. Ursa and Flora had no idea they were being followed until someone tapped them on their shoulders. When they turned, they saw Deirdre smiling at them. "I couldn't help but noticed that you stayed awake for my lecture."
Flora smiled, a little nervous. "Well, the pictures of the Senshi were pretty cool. I never knew they were once normal people like us. It's never mentioned, who they were before they became the magic-wielding women of justice, I mean."
Ursa nodded. "Yeah. It's kind of interesting to have their beginnings as humble nobodies. Then you wonder about the history of the Unian and Jurai Empires' rulers."
Deirdre nodded. "Yes, yes, it's good to question, but do it quietly. While we are pretty much left on our own, it's wise to remember we're not in control." Then she took out a couple of discs and handed them to the students. "Contact me sometime, or I'll call you. Remember what you've seen here." Then she walked away.
AN: I was hoping to get to the pilots in this chapter, but I'm running out of time. The next chapter will bring in the boys! Ja ne.
::As a side note, this is the revised copy. I changed it a teensy bit after Juni Juni's review. Thank-you!