Author's Notes:
This starts a month after Marie Maia's army is defeated in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. The Gundams have been destroyed. In Sailor Moon…well, you'll find out. I use references to and use manga attacks for Sailor Moon and the other Senshi.
I don't own SM, or Gundam Wing so don't sue me. If you need to contact me with anything, flames, or even a one liner saying the story was good, my email is Guardian4@atlantic.net. Please put Fanfiction in the subject line.
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The End Is The Beginning
Chapter 1: Meeting the Gundam Pilots
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Eternal Sailor Moon stared at the fallen rocks around the entrance to the cave. She had lived in these caves and tunnels for centuries. Ever since Galaxia had left. Soon it was time for Crystal Tokyo to arise, or so Pluto said. She sighed and walked deep into the caverns. She and the Senshi had watched all the wars between the colonies and the Earth Sphere and Oz. It was so sad. And all through it, they could not come out and help those Gundam pilots.
Moon walked into her room and kneeled next to the ever-present stasis capsule that held her love. With tears in her eyes, her gloved hand traced the smooth surface. Until the Earth was free, he would never awaken. Pluto had said he would awaken when Crystal Tokyo was born.
"Endymion," she whispered.
For two centuries, she had stayed with the other Senshi in these dark and dreary caves. They could not be seen by anyone, nor help in any war. She glanced at the back of her cave/room. Two more sleep capsules lay. Luna and Artemis had slept peacefully ever since they had disappeared from their civilian lives. Pluto had said it was the right thing to do for them. Moon looked at the ceiling. She had to admit that she missed ChibiMoon and Diana. They had left…well, what did it matter anymore?
"Sailor Moon?" a voice whispered behind her.
Moon turned around and saw Sailor Mars standing in the entrance. They hadn't been in their civilian forms for centuries. She wouldn't be surprised if they had forgotten how to detransform.
The other Senshi's outfits were slightly different than when Galaxia had invaded. All the bows on the back of their fukus reached down to their ankles. On the sides of their gloves their element flew all the way up from the wrists to their elbows, fire for Mars. Even the Outer Senshi had them on their fuku gloves. In the center of their heart gem their planetary symbol was engraved over a crescent moon. On their choker were their weapons symbol, Mars's being a bow. Other than that, their super outfit had not changed. Moon's eternal fuku had only changed colors to show her rise in power, to strictly blue, silver, and white, those three most prominent on her three layered skirt, blue down to white. Her pink puffs had disappeared, something she was rather grateful for. She had never liked that part of her fuku. Other than that, nothing had changed. Red went to silver, gold to white, and the dark blue to a paler one. Her crescent moon had remained the same.
"Yes?"
"It's time, Serenity."
Moon sighed. It was time to show themselves to the Gundam pilots. Only with the Gundam pilots behind them would Crystal Tokyo rise. Fortunately, they could wait until Marie Maia's army was destroyed. But now was the time; while things were slightly settling.
Sailor Moon, with one last look at her sleeping beloved, left with Sailor Mars to where the others were waiting. She nodded and they concentrated.
"Sailor Teleport!!" they cried and appeared outside the cave. The cave entrance was collapsed with rocks, courtesy of Uranus who had done a World Shaking on it centuries ago when they had taken up residence deep within the Earth.
"Come on," Venus told them and they bounded gracefully across the ground to where Mercury's computer said the Gundam pilots were. She was right, as usual. They were in a circle, talking about the recreation of the Gundams. Further along in the sky was a space shuttle and in the distance, a ground vehicle was speeding toward them.
The pilots stopped talking as the Senshi approached. Sailor Moon stood with Venus and the other Inner Senshi to her left and Uranus and the other Outer Senshi to her right. A moment of tense silence followed. A few eyebrows twitched at their outfits, but stayed in place. The Senshi gave them points for stoicism.
Suddenly Mars cried out, "Mars Flame—"
The bow appeared in her hands as well as an arrow, ready to fly. Another few tense seconds followed as the forces stared at each other. Wufei pulled out a sword in case of a fight, which he thought was imminent.
"Sniper!"
The arrow flew right past Quatre Raberba Winner's head and pierced a shadow behind the Gundam pilot. It gave a cry of pain and the boys whirled around. It had long arms with claws for fingers and was seven feet tall. It had a slit for a mouth with fire flickering behind it. Its eyes were completely blood red and it attacked the Senshi without pause, screaming, "For the will of Metallia!"
"Dead Scream!"
"Deep Submerge!"
The attacks flew at the youma and it dissolved into dust. The Senshi stared with grim faces at the ashes. So Metallia had broken free from the seal that Princess Serenity and the Inner Senshi had banished her to, just like Pluto had predicted.
"What were you doing?" Duo Maxwell cried in astonishment. "You could have killed Quatre!"
With narrowed eyes, the Gundam pilots stared at the strange people in front of them. Heero Yuy held up a gun to Sailor Moon's head, seeing she was obviously the leader. With a flurry of motion, all eight others had placed themselves in front of her, the one in dark blue and yellow in the forefront.
Uranus didn't bother to turn to the other Senshi as she asked, "Venus?"
Venus, second-in-command, nodded and turned to her comrades, "Come on, Inner Senshi. Let's get her out of here. Outer Senshi, you know the drill."
Sailor Moon made a token protest and Uranus snapped at her, "This is not the situation. It has turned ugly and we cannot talk with them now, thanks to Metallia. She is more powerful now than ever. We cannot risk you dying, not after how long we have waited for this time to come. Go!"
Mars and Mercury grabbed her arms and the Inner Senshi jumped away, like gazelles as they leaped over the ground. The Outer Senshi made a line in front of the Gundam pilots. They were only supposed to stay until the Inner Senshi and Sailor Moon were gone to make sure no one followed them. That was the drill.
Pluto and Saturn turned to go, but stopped when Uranus and Neptune did not follow. "Come on," Saturn whispered.
"No. I cannot forgive him for threatening Sailor Moon when we did not threaten them," Uranus told them through clenched teeth as she glared at Heero.
Pluto and Saturn nodded and ran after their friends, understanding their need. Neptune and Uranus stayed behind and it was silent for some time as they stared each other down. Finally Heero pulled the trigger and Neptune and Uranus dodged the bullet.
"World Shaking!"
"Deep Submerge!"
The Gundam pilots dodged. Above, in the sky, a voice echoed, "Stop attacking or we will be forced to fire!"
The voice sounded like that of Noin, but the two Soldiers did not pay attention to it or stop attacking. Lasers from the shuttle flew at the two Senshi and they attempted to dodge from them. Uranus and Heero were locked in a stalemate that neither refused to give in to. Neptune held off Duo and Wufei narrowly. They were just as good as the Soldiers, which was not unexpected to them since the Senshi had watched the pilots for some time. They were about to retaliate with their elemental attacks when an explosion echoed from behind them, coming from the direction of where the other Senshi had disappeared.
Uranus and Neptune exchanged horrified glances. "Princess!" they yelled and ran as fast as they could. The pilots followed, staying a discreet distance behind them.
"Sailor Moon, look out!" Mars yelled and dove at her friend, taking the blast meant for her princess on herself. The force behind it threw them both to the ground twenty feet away from the battlefield. Mars gritted her teeth as she continued to hold her body tightly over her leader's.
"Mars-chan! Move! I don't want you to be hurt!" cried Moon, tears streaking her cheeks. Mars ignored her as the attacks continued and began to bloody up her back.
"Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!"
"Jupiter Oak Evolution!"
The attacks killed the youma just as Neptune and Uranus arrived. The pilots watched from farther back, their faces showing nothing.
Jupiter picked up Mars, who was unconscious with the pain in her back. Uranus picked up Moon, who had broken her leg with the impact against the ground. They looked at the Gundam pilots watching them and teleported to their underground hiding place in the earth without a word.
The boys looked at one another as Sally Po drove up in a truck. "What happened? I just saw you guys take off."
Wufei looked at his partner. "I don't know. Let me fill you in on what's been going on."
While Wufei talked with her, the other Gundam pilots pondered the strange people that had approached them. "Who were they and why did they attack that thing? What was that thing?" Quatre wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but they could have killed you," Duo stated emphatically.
"They seem particularly protective of the one with wings," Heero commented.
"Did you hear what those two yelled as they ran here?" Trowa asked to no one in particular. "They said princess. What is she a princess of?"
"I have no idea," Quatre said. "We definitely need more answers than questions."
"You're right about that," Duo muttered as silence fell.
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The Senshi teleported into the main area of their hideout, depressed and weary in spite of a small victory against their enemy. "I can't believe what happened!" Jupiter exclaimed angrily. "Just when we were about to get somewhere!"
"Metallia has a gift of completely destroying plans," Mercury commented dryly, typing on her computer.
Uranus laid Moon on the ground and let Saturn heal her leg. In a moment, she was done. Saturn stood up and healed Mars's back and detransformed her so her fuku could repair itself.
"It's funny," Neptune commented to the almost-teenage looking Saturn, "we haven't detransformed in positively ages. Having almost eternal life has its drawbacks. Sometimes it makes you lose track of time."
Saturn didn't say anything. She was still the youngest of them. She almost looked to be fourteen while the others still looked to be sixteen or seventeen, although Selenity knew they were much older than that.
Moon stood up and confronted Uranus and Neptune. "Why did you stay behind so long? Were you fighting? You were supposed to come right after Pluto and Saturn. While Venus may be second-in-command, I am the leader. We had all agreed that the Outers came back together."
If things had changed, nothing was more noticeable than the change in Sailor Moon concerning her leadership abilities. She had grown so much like Neo-Queen Serenity that she was scared. With them relying on her so much and her without Luna's guidance, she'd had no choice but to take on the responsibility as the leader by herself. Now they listened to her. She had chosen Venus as her second-in-command because that had seemed the natural way of things. Even Pluto had said that she held a deep ability to be a great leader.
"We stayed behind because—" Neptune started.
Uranus interrupted. "It was necessary. We didn't fight," she lied. All the other Soldiers knew this to be a bald-faced falsehood, but Sailor Moon preferred to believe her.
"All right, but we can't fight them. We need them, remember?"
She left for her room and the cave erupted into argument the moment she was gone.
"You lied to her!" Jupiter accused.
"Yes, but what would you have done?" Neptune retorted.
"Are you afraid she would yell at you?" asked Mercury, her visor and computer disappearing into her subspace pocket.
"No, we were afraid of hurting her. Although she now has some kind of battle face and is taking it seriously and even has some leadership abilities now, it doesn't mean she isn't the softhearted girl that we have all fallen for. She is our greatest friend and if she knew we were fighting, it would hurt her. We were just protecting her," Uranus told them.
"But you do not lie to the princess!" Venus objected.
Saturn and Pluto sighed. They did not see it fit to intervene. The Inners and the Outers, most notably Uranus and Neptune, did not see eye to eye. Though they had begun to understand each other and the others' methods, it did not mean they agreed to them. This was something they needed to work out on their own, if it was at all possible to work out.
"I don't care if it was to protect her, you don't just go and lie to her," Jupiter repeated.
"What would you have us do? Tell her to bow down to their opinions and let the Gundam pilots believe that with force and threatening that they can bully anything they want out of the Senshi?" Uranus asked furiously. "I—"
"Stop it."
The Soldiers looked at where Mars, or rather Rei, stood. "Fighting does no good. I actually agree with what Uranus and Neptune did. You see, it was bound to happen. The Gundam pilots needed to know that we are someone to be taken seriously and if they hadn't done it, it would have prolonged it unnecessarily and by that time, Sailor Moon would have been involved and probably hurt. Now they know not to trifle with us and to take us seriously. Do you think that Serenity would understand that?"
Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus had to shake their heads. They knew their friend would not have understood that. That was something that all fighters instinctively knew to do. Sailor Moon was not a true fighter in her heart. She would not have understood the need that fighters had to show equality.
Mars held up her hand and her henshin wand appeared. "Mars Flame Power…MAKE-UP!"
Fire surrounded her in rings and in seconds, she was in her Soldier form. "You know," she commented, "I almost forgot how it felt to be detransformed. Sure, you don't feel as powerful, but there's something else that you're missing in Senshi form. It's almost as if automatically your mind is always set on fighting, but when you're in civilian form, you can actually see things in a new light. Not in a way of how to turn something to your advantage in a fight, but at how beautiful it could be." Mars sighed. "I miss it. I can't explain it properly. You should detransform and see what I mean."
The other Senshi looked almost enviously at her. Why don't we? Jupiter wondered. What is it that prevents us? After another moment, they dispersed to their separate rooms to think.
Lying on her bed, Jupiter had to admit she missed being the person she was born as. But then again, there were some Soldiers there who would argue that they were born as Senshi, not civilian, that they only lived for fighting, but Jupiter couldn't believe that. Queen Selenity would not have reborn them only to be fighters once again. She herself had said that she had done it to give them a chance to live.
She stood up and leaned against the wall, but she couldn't stay still and began to pace. Sure, she understood why Uranus and Neptune had done what they did, but that didn't mean she liked that they lied to their princess about it. As a future monarch and deep friend, she deserved more than to be lied to by people she trusted.
Deciding she was tired of thinking about it and knowing there was only one way for her to stop thinking about it, Jupiter detransformed. She understood, then, what Mars had been saying about their civilian form. Mars…no, Rei, had said their mentality changed slightly. Now she understood and wondered how she could have given up Kino Makoto for so long.
"I see you got that idea too," said a voice in the doorway.
Makoto immediately recognized the voice of Aino Minako, a.k.a. Sailor Venus, second-in-command. Looking in her direction, she saw not only the youthful looking blonde, but also Mizuno Ami, Hino Rei, and Tsukino Usagi.
"You are not going to believe this," Minako said, winking, "but we got the Outer Senshi to detransform!"
"Not even!" she exclaimed, straightening.
"Yes, and even better, all nine of us are going out on the town!" was the enthusiastic reply as she threw her arms up in the air.
Makoto laughed for the sheer joy of it. It almost felt like they were teenagers again. She walked up to her friends and embraced them. This startled them for a moment since Makoto was not a 'huggy' type of girl.
She grabbed Minako and Usagi's hands and dragged them to the main cavern. Tenoh Haruka, Kaioh Michiru, Meioh Setsuna, and Tomoe Hotaru stood waiting for them. They all smiled at each other and looked at their civilian clothing.
Usagi wore white shorts with a light pink shirt and white tennis shoes. Ami wore a short black skirt with a striped white and black shirt. Minako wore a pair of blue overalls and a white shirt underneath. Rei wore a pair of black jeans and a red shirt with a design of a long bow on the front. Haruka had her customary tan jacket and slacks with a black shirt underneath and a cross dangling from her neck. Michiru wore a dress made of deep blue that fell to her ankles. It was a casual one even though she looked like a queen in it. Setsuna wore white jeans and a black shirt with a dark gold vest. Hotaru wore a black skirt with a matching black top. Makoto herself wore a dark green t-shirt and white pants.
They didn't really need to yell 'Sailor Teleport' to leave. They didn't even need to be together or hold hands to do it; not after their boost in power a century ago. They appeared a short distance away from a medium-sized city. As the girls wandered, no one paid them any attention.
Usagi was so enjoying being a normal person again, not Sailor Moon or Princess Serenity, that she did not look where she was going.
"Some things not even two centuries can change," Rei muttered as Usagi slammed full force into a young boy, knocking them both to the ground.
With her friends' help, Usagi and the boy stood up. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, inwardly berating herself on her klutziness.
"It's all right. Don't worry about it. What's your name?" asked the blonde-haired boy.
"Oh, Tsukino Usagi. Yours?"
"Quatre. Quatre Raberba Winner. Pleased to meet you."
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Done with Chapter 1. What'd you think? Email me at Guardian4@atlantic.net. Put fanfiction in the subject line please.