Empire of the Dark Ami
by amiwakawaiidesu
(Based on characters and situations from "Sailor Moon", created by Naoko Takeuchi and not owned by myself.)
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CHAPTER FOUR
"Queen to King 3."
"King to Rook 1."
"Rook takes Bishop. I'm afraid your situation is unfavorable, Hoshi."
Hoshi grumbled, tipping over his king.
"I thought I had you there, Mother."
"You very nearly did. But appearances can be deceiving at this level of play. Strength can be weakness; advantages can be disadvantages."
"Well, you certainly are subtle, Mother."
"Oh, I endeavor," Kuroiami said, turning the chessboard around for a new game; "I endeavor…"
* * *
In June of the year 3055--on the old Christian calendar--Crystal Tokyo and the planet Earth were at peace. The endless wars that had ravaged the planet were now distant memories, and the Inner Senshi--the Solar princesses Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus--had long ago set aside their henshin sticks and Senshi powers; only the Outer Senshi patrolled the Solar System now, leaving the peaceful Earth to a new golden age.
And yet there was unrest in Crystal Tokyo. For many months, the great Neo-Queen Serenity had not been seen in public, and rumors were rife that she was deathly ill. Her daughter, the Crown Princess Serenity, was now a mature young woman in her own right--and evidently prepared to assume the crown--yet the old queen refused to relinquish her power.
In fact, the reason for Neo-Queen Serenity's sequester was simple vanity; she was aging rapidly, as the ginzuishou lost its power to sustain her youth. Not content with simply creating the paradise of Crystal Tokyo, the queen had felt it her duty to purify the entire Earth as well, flushing the poisons and toxins of an earlier age from the air, the sea and the soil; however, using such power had drained the power of the crystal, and now the queen's life force was fading as well.
It was, thus, a pensive King Endymion who came to visit Princess Mercury at the office where she worked as a doctor. Although Mercury was still officially the queen's physician, the princess had started a private practice as well since--at least until recent years--the queen had been in perfect health.
"May I speak with you a moment, Dr. Mizuno?"
"Oh, certainly…" Mercury said, hastily saving the research program on her desktop computer and shutting off the screen. "I was just going over some records."
Endymion smiled, slumping into a couch before her desk.
"You don't have to pretend with me, Princess Mercury; I know you've been studying Usako's condition. Indeed, that's what I came here to ask you about."
Mercury sighed, looking down at her desk and the various ominous graphs and charts she'd created; then, after a moment, she stood from her chair and walked across the room to Endymion, sitting beside him.
"I'm sure you know the indications aren't favorable," Mercury said. "But you must be able to sense that, the way your souls are joined together."
"Yes, I can feel it," Endymion said, clutching his chest. "But perhaps I just wanted to hear it from another person. I know that she'll die if she uses the crystal again."
"Have you tried talking some sense into her? Will she cancel the trip to Siberia?"
"No; she's determined to visit the nuclear waste dump, and finish purifying the Earth."
"But…"
Mercury hesitated a moment.
"…you could die, Mamoru."
"You haven't called me that for a long time, Ami-chan."
Ami looked away with tears in her eyes.
"Are you crying for Usako, or for me?" Endymion asked.
"I won't deny it," Ami said, "I have loved you all my life. Forgive me for saying that, but it would break my heart if I lost you."
Endymion reached over to rest his hand on Mercury's, now balled into fists in her lap.
"It is true that my soul is chained to Usako's," Endymion said, "but not my heart. The truth be told, I love you as well, Ami-chan."
Mercury looked up with surprise.
"But we are creatures of duty," the king continued, "loyal to our queen and our kingdom. And besides, a man who isn't faithful to his wife is hardly worthy of your love."
"I…just don't want to lose you," Mercury said; "losing Usagi would be bad enough, but to lose both of you together…"
"Hush now," Endymion said, pulling Mercury closer to him, "it'll be all right."
For a long moment, Mercury just sat there huddled next to the king, alternately grateful for his strength, and guilty for her weakness; it was the king who had come here asking for Mercury's help, after all, and here she was taking advantage of his kindness.
But it wasn't as if they hadn't been friends for centuries; it was just so easy to imagine being more than just a friend…
* * *
Two days later, six women in gowns of gleaming white, and a man in a lavender tuxedo, stood on a wind-swept plain in eastern Russia. Before them was a huge dome of concrete--an artificial mountain housing spent nuclear fuel rods and reactor cores--the last vestige of a bygone civilization's flirtation with nuclear energy.
"Is it really necessary to do this?" Princess Mars asked Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Yeah," Princess Jupiter said; "it's not like there's any serious danger of radiation leakage from this site."
"Nonetheless," Neo-Queen Serenity said, "the great work must be done. The Earth must be purified, for the sake of future generations."
The Solar princesses glanced at each other--and at King Endymion and Crown Princess Serenity--but no one knew what to say that would alter the queen's decision. Indeed, gaunt and haggard as the queen was, it almost seemed as if her force of will was the only thing keeping her alive.
"Mercury," the queen said, "would you start the camera please?"
"Hai," Mercury said, pressing a button on her minicomputer, and bringing a hovering holographic camera to life. A cousin of the Luna-P Ball (which Mercury had also built) the camera automatically focused its lens on the queen, then flashed a red light to tell the queen it had started recording.
"My friends," the queen said, glancing at her comrades, "and people of the Earth, it is incumbent upon me this day to complete a great work. Long ago, the Ancient Moon Kingdom was destroyed and our homeworld left a barren rock, yet this world--the mother world of the human race--welcomed us, and became our second home. Thus, to help repay this ancient debt, it is only appropriate that we should use the power of the Silver Crystal to purify the Earth, and cleanse it of its ancient injuries."
The queen brought forth the ginzuishou.
"Silver Crystal of Illusions," she intoned, "diviner of mysteries, creator of miracles…unweave the fabric of space-time, unfold the magic of the Ancient Lunar Kingdom, purify and transform!"
Suddenly, the ginzuishou blazed with light, then an even greater light erupted from inside the concrete dome of nuclear debris. For a moment, the Siberian plain was bathed in light--as if the very sun had descended to the earth--then the light faded to reveal a dome transformed; where once was concrete and streel, now was earth, grass and flowers.
"At last," the queen said, lowering her arms, "it is done."
Then she fell--like a marionette with its strings cut--limp and lifeless to the ground at her feet.
"Your Majesty!" Mercury cried, shutting off the camera. Then, fulfilling her duty as the queen's physician, she moved to kneel beside the queen and scan her body with her minicomputer.
"How is she, Mercury?" Princess Venus asked, mirroring the concern of all the princesses.
"I'm sorry," Mercury said, after a moment; "the queen is dead."
"Mama!" cried the crown princess, throwing herself on the queen's body. "Mama, you can't be dead!"
The king was no less shaken himself; on his knees beside the queen, he held a lifeless hand in his own, and--for all the world--he looked like a man who'd had his very heart cut out. And yet he was not dead--a fact that surprised no one so much as Endymion himself.
* * *
Thus it came to pass that Crystal Tokyo would soon see its second queen. One month later, Crown Princess Serenity was crowned in a public ceremony in the Great Hall of the Crystal Palace, with the crown placed on her head by the noble Sailorpluto, daughter of Chronos.
"In the name of the Ancient Kingdom," Sailorpluto said, "I dub thee Queen Serenity the Second."
Serenity's long hair then changed from pink to silver (eliciting an awestruck "ahhh!" from the crowd), and Sailorpluto knelt before the queen, along with all the assembled Sailor Senshi, the Solar princesses, and the king. Curiously, Mercury noted, the king now resembled his daughter more than he ever had before; with the recent shock of Neo-Queen Serenity's death, Endymion's black hair had faded to a stately gray that was very nearly silver.
But at least he's alive, Mercury thought.
Afterward, a grand reception--not open to the public--was held in the palace, and Sailorpluto quickly made a point of taking Mercury aside.
"Dr. Mizuno, may I have a word with you?"
"Certainly, Pluto. What can I do for you?"
"I have a concern about the queen--our former queen, I mean; as you know, her body is resting in state, but it seems peculiar that her body isn't decomposing."
"Wasn't she embalmed?"
"That's the thing--I learned only yesterday that the queen was not embalmed. Dr. Takahashi--who was to perform the procedure--told me that his hand was stayed by an awesome force, and a voice that told him not to embalm the body."
"That's peculiar; why didn't he tell us?"
"He said he didn't want us to think he's crazy. At any rate, since you were the late queen's physician, I thought you might be able to shed some light on this matter."
"No, not offhand," Mercury said, "but Luna might. Let's see if we can find her…"
Mercury then led Sailorpluto to the side chamber where she'd last seen Luna, Artemis and the now-teenage Diana--all transformed into human form for this special occasion. Given her closeness to the late queen, Luna wasn't in the mood to circulate among the guests in the larger crowd, but she nevertheless greeted Sailorpluto and Mercury warmly, and listened with interest to Sailorpluto's description of the late queen's condition.
"I've heard of that happening before," Luna said, "with other celestial queens. They say such queens retain their mortal form, even in death."
"I don't know how realistic that is," Artemis said; "wouldn't that mean the original Queen Serenity is still up on the Moon somewhere?"
"Likely not," Luna said patiently; "if you'll recall, Sailorsaturn destroyed the last remnants of the Moon Kingdom long ago; doubtless, the queen's mortal body was extinguished along with the rest of the kingdom."
"Okay," Mercury interrupted, "but what of the voice that spoke to Dr. Takahashi? And the force that stayed his hand? Is it dangerous? What does it mean?"
Luna and Artemis glanced at each other, and shrugged.
"I don't know," Luna said finally; "however, it might be prudent to perhaps delay the late queen's burial, or cremation."
"Why's that?" Mercury asked.
"Well, she might not be dead. She might just seem dead, to our crude scientific instruments."
* * *
For Mercury, Luna's words were haunting and troubling. She had thought that Endymion had somehow survived the sundering of his soul from Neo-Queen Serenity's, but what if the late queen was still alive? What if the king was still shackled to her, and could only survive as long as she did?
Dwelling on these thoughts, Mercury then parted from Sailorpluto and wandered still farther away from the reception; thus she was startled when she came across the king in a side corridor. Not seeing her at first, Endymion stood with his hand on his chest, and Mercury raced to his side in alarm.
"Your Majesty! Are you all right?"
Endymion looked up in surprise.
"Ami-chan? Yes, I'm all right."
"But you had your hand on your heart," Mercury said; "I feared…"
"…that I was dying? No. I was just amazed by this feeling I have in my heart now. I guess you might call it liberation."
"So you don't feel bound to Neo-Queen Serenity anymore?"
"That's the funny thing," Endymion said. "I do feel that she's still with me, and yet it's not like it was before. It's more like she's watching over me somehow, protecting me…"
"Oh," Mercury said, scarcely concealing her disappointment. "I see."
"You seem sad," Endymion said. "What's wrong?"
"I just thought…now that she's gone…"
But Mercury couldn't find the words to explain her feelings; even now, Usagi maintained her hold on Mamoru's heart, and Mercury hated herself for resenting her dead friend.
Forgive me, Usagi-chan, Mercury thought, but I hate you! Why won't you let Mamoru go! Why can't you let us have even a single day together!
"Gomen nasai…!" Ami said tearfully, turning to run away.
But Endymion caught her by the hand, holding her in place.
"Please let me go…!" Ami said, not wanting the king to see her tears.
But the king wouldn't let her go; instead he pulled her back to him, turning Mercury around so she spun on her high heels, then took her in his arms.
"Haven't I told you?" Endymion said to Mercury; "a heart cannot be chained."
"But Usagi…"
"Usagi loved me," Endymion said gently, "but she loved you too. I feel that love within me, Ami-chan--the love she had for both of us."
Confused, Mercury looked up at Endymion's eyes, and the king looked back at her with a tenderness that was clearly now more than friendship. For a long moment, he did simply look at her, brushing a blue lock of hair out of her eyes, then he lowered his lips to hers…
And they kissed. Emotions exploded inside Ami--her guilt and longing merging as one--and her heart seemed to somersault in her chest; yet she could not resist the sheer pleasure of this moment--letting her friend pull her to him even as she answered his hunger with her own. Impelled by the force of a dozen lifetimes apart, the lovers tasted, consumed, devoured each other--even as tears poured from Mercury's eyes, and silent sobs wracked her body.
* * *
Inevitably, a change of queens brought other changes as well. While away from the Earth, the Crown Princess had spent several years fighting a new enemy as the new Sailormoon--along with Sailorceres, Sailorpallas, Sailorjuno and Sailorvesta--and thus she had formed a very close bond with those Senshi. Less than three months after assuming the throne, therefore, she began to move her friends into place as advisors and ministers--replacing the Solar princesses.
The transfer of power wasn't altogether smooth, however; Sailormars--more than any other princess--resented being pushed aside, especially when the Outer Senshi retained their status as the protectors of the Solar System. Always a passionate person, and also the closest of the late queen's friends, Sailormars found it ridiculous that she and the other Senshi were simply being 'put out to pasture'.
"I think you're overreacting a bit," said Queen Serenity II, looking at Princess Mars across a large round table, around which the other Solar princesses and the king were also seated. "Nonetheless, I called this meeting for you to air your opinions, and I would like to hear them."
"Well," Princess Venus said, "I for one wouldn't mind a proper retirement. Being the Minister of Information was a lot of work."
"Oh, please," Princess Jupiter said, "it's not like you didn't have your staff do all the work for you."
"Well, yes," Venus admitted, "but I still had important responsibilities; I had to look *good*, to represent the Ministry."
Princess Mars rolled her eyes and sighed.
"What do you think of all this, Mercury?" Mars said to Mercury. Mercury, however, was glancing at King Endymion, and didn't hear the question.
"Excuse me, I didn't hear the question."
"Maybe it is time to retire," Venus said. "Even Mercury's spacing out."
Queen Serenity smiled slightly, glancing at both her father and Princess Mercury.
"I think we can forgive Mercury for spacing out," the queen said. "Wasn't there something one of you wanted to announce, Father?"
"Oh," Endymion said, "I thought I'd…er…leave that to Princess Mercury…"
Mercury blushed.
"But you are the king," Mercury said; "I think you should say it."
"No, you should say it."
"Well, one of you say it!" Jupiter interjected.
"Oh, heck, I'll say it," Serenity said. "My father and Princess Mercury are going to be married."
For a long moment, Venus and Jupiter just looked at Mercury and Endymion with jaws agape, then rushed around the table to congratulate them.
"Ami-chan!" Venus said, "why didn't you tell us!"
"You sly dog," Jupiter said to Endymion, punching him in the arm.
"We weren't sure if we'd have your blessing," Endymion said, reaching to Mercury and holding her hand. "It has only been three month since…Usako passed away."
"Well, it's not like we couldn't tell SOMETHING was up," Venus said; "the way you two were always sneaking off together."
On the other side of the table, meanwhile, Mars had been fuming silently--trying to restrain her own anger--but finally she could hold it no longer. Between the insult to her honor of being retired, the frivolous attitude of her fellow princesses, and now THIS…it was simply more than she could take.
"I can't help but wonder," Mars said to Mercury, icily, "if you might be getting married because you have to."
"Mars!" Jupiter said; "what a terrible thing to say!"
"Indeed," Endymion said, standing up from the table; "I demand you apologize to Princess Mercury at once!"
"Pompous windbag," Mars said, standing up as well, "who the hell do you think you are, asking ME to apologize? Honestly, Usagi's not even properly buried yet, and here you are going at like dogs in heat! I wouldn't think you could be such a vermin, but I guess you are!"
"Mars, please…" Mercury said, "…it's not like that…"
"Bah!" Mars said, slamming her chair into the table. "You can do what you like; as far as I'm concerned, this kingdom died with Usagi!"
Mars then spun on her heel and left.
"Don't worry about her," Jupiter said to Mercury, resting a hand on her shoulder; "she's just jealous."
Mercury didn't respond however, reflecting instead on the last words Mars had spoken.
What if she's right? Mercury wondered; what if the kingdom did die with Usagi? What if our marriage is just another nail in the coffin…?
* * *
In the months that followed, Princess Mercury felt a strange blend of happiness and sadness; Princess Mars never did speak to her again--and indeed, Mars left Japan altogether to be as far away from Crystal Tokyo as possible--but Princess Venus and Princess Jupiter both seemed obsessed with planning for the coming wedding. In a way, that was logical; with their former responsibilities terminated, they had a lot more free time on their hands. However, Endymion and Mercury agreed that they should wait at least until December for the ceremony--out of respect for the passing of Neo-Queen Serenity--and that meant that Venus and Jupiter had a lot of time to do a lot of planning. Although Endymion and Mercury had wanted a modest ceremony, the plans very rapidly ballooned into a giant celebration with hundreds of guests in the largest ballroom in the entire palace.
For her part, Mercury was sad that Mars would not be available to officiate, and it also troubled Mercury that Neo-Queen Serenity--the great love of Endymion's life--still hadn't been properly laid to rest. Through it all, though, Endymion's love sustained Mercury--along with her sense that Usagi's spirit was indeed hovering protectively over the two of them. Instead of hating Usagi for dragging Endymion's soul to the grave, Mercury began to feel very differently; she began to suspect that Usagi had wanted this all along--for two of her best friends to be together, when she herself couldn't be there for them.
If only I knew for certain, Mercury thought, looking out upon the lights of Crystal Tokyo one night in late November; do I have Usagi's blessing, or am I doing something terribly wrong?
Months earlier, Mercury had moved into the king's chambers in the palace--the home Endymion had previously shared with Neo-Queen Serenity--and it was certainly strange to see so many reminders of the late queen all around herself. The late queen had kept innumerable mementoes of her life with her husband and daughter--pictures, trinkets, video recordings--and this contributed to her sense of Usagi as a living presence in her life.
Well, I guess I should look at these dresses and make Venus happy… Mercury thought, lifting up a computer notepad with a high-resolution holographic display. The gadget--which belonged to Venus--was quite ingenious; using a stored image of Mercury's body, it could show how she'd look in thousands of different outfits, in thousands of different colors.
Of course, Venus had given it to Mercury specifically to help her select a wedding dress, but--being curious by nature--Mercury couldn't help but wonder how she'd look in other outfits, some very different from anything she'd ever consider wearing.
"Well that doesn't look right," Mercury muttered, dressing herself in one of Minako's old red dresses, with white lace trim; "let's try something else…"
Scrolling through the choices, Mercury then paused on something she thought Endymion would find amusing--a short black dress and spike heels.
No, Mercury thought to herself, you don't look good in black, Ami.
Suddenly, Ami's heart skipped a beat.
Wait a minute…where have I heard that before? 'Black Ami'…'kuroi Ami'…
"Kuroiami--!"
Oh my God, Ami thought, dropping the notepad and stumbling away from the window. Kuroiami must have created this place! It's a goddamn illusion…!
Just then, Endymion entered the room, and he raced to grab Mercury before she fell.
"Ami-chan, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Ami said, with a feeble smile, "…only I just realized you're a little too perfect. I always wondered why you didn't use the golden crystal to help Usagi purify the Earth--but then this is my fantasy, isn't it? Usagi dies a noble death--exhausting herself with the silver crystal--then I get the man I always wanted.
"Only you would never betray Usagi like you did. I knew that, but I just didn't want to believe it."
"Ami-chan, you're delirious. You don't know what you're saying."
But Mercury just shook her head.
"No, I know what I'm saying. I'll give you credit, Kuroiami; you played a good game. Just not good enough to win…"
* * *
"I prefer to think of it as a draw," Kuroiami said, gazing upon Ami's unconscious body and brushing a lock of hair out of Ami's eyes. "You got something, I got something--but a good game, nonetheless."
Though Ami did not know it, she was actually hovering in a circular chamber between two other hovering bodies--her friend Tsukino Usagi, whom she'd followed to this world from another universe--and another Tsukino Usagi, who was native to Kuroiami's world. Each Usagi held a ginzuishou--glowing softly with power--but that wasn't the only difference between the fair-haired girls and Ami; while Ami was finally sleeping naturally--having escaped Kuroiami's enchantment--her companions remained bewitched, living out futures they did not know to be false.
"Indeed," Kuroiami said, "you are a worthy foe. Perhaps one day, you could even be my friend…"
Kuroiami laughed.
"Well, I suppose that would be asking a lot. But you certainly are a worthy adversary. Now rest, gentle Ami, and we shall resume our game later, on another field…"
by amiwakawaiidesu
(Based on characters and situations from "Sailor Moon", created by Naoko Takeuchi and not owned by myself.)
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CHAPTER FOUR
"Queen to King 3."
"King to Rook 1."
"Rook takes Bishop. I'm afraid your situation is unfavorable, Hoshi."
Hoshi grumbled, tipping over his king.
"I thought I had you there, Mother."
"You very nearly did. But appearances can be deceiving at this level of play. Strength can be weakness; advantages can be disadvantages."
"Well, you certainly are subtle, Mother."
"Oh, I endeavor," Kuroiami said, turning the chessboard around for a new game; "I endeavor…"
* * *
In June of the year 3055--on the old Christian calendar--Crystal Tokyo and the planet Earth were at peace. The endless wars that had ravaged the planet were now distant memories, and the Inner Senshi--the Solar princesses Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus--had long ago set aside their henshin sticks and Senshi powers; only the Outer Senshi patrolled the Solar System now, leaving the peaceful Earth to a new golden age.
And yet there was unrest in Crystal Tokyo. For many months, the great Neo-Queen Serenity had not been seen in public, and rumors were rife that she was deathly ill. Her daughter, the Crown Princess Serenity, was now a mature young woman in her own right--and evidently prepared to assume the crown--yet the old queen refused to relinquish her power.
In fact, the reason for Neo-Queen Serenity's sequester was simple vanity; she was aging rapidly, as the ginzuishou lost its power to sustain her youth. Not content with simply creating the paradise of Crystal Tokyo, the queen had felt it her duty to purify the entire Earth as well, flushing the poisons and toxins of an earlier age from the air, the sea and the soil; however, using such power had drained the power of the crystal, and now the queen's life force was fading as well.
It was, thus, a pensive King Endymion who came to visit Princess Mercury at the office where she worked as a doctor. Although Mercury was still officially the queen's physician, the princess had started a private practice as well since--at least until recent years--the queen had been in perfect health.
"May I speak with you a moment, Dr. Mizuno?"
"Oh, certainly…" Mercury said, hastily saving the research program on her desktop computer and shutting off the screen. "I was just going over some records."
Endymion smiled, slumping into a couch before her desk.
"You don't have to pretend with me, Princess Mercury; I know you've been studying Usako's condition. Indeed, that's what I came here to ask you about."
Mercury sighed, looking down at her desk and the various ominous graphs and charts she'd created; then, after a moment, she stood from her chair and walked across the room to Endymion, sitting beside him.
"I'm sure you know the indications aren't favorable," Mercury said. "But you must be able to sense that, the way your souls are joined together."
"Yes, I can feel it," Endymion said, clutching his chest. "But perhaps I just wanted to hear it from another person. I know that she'll die if she uses the crystal again."
"Have you tried talking some sense into her? Will she cancel the trip to Siberia?"
"No; she's determined to visit the nuclear waste dump, and finish purifying the Earth."
"But…"
Mercury hesitated a moment.
"…you could die, Mamoru."
"You haven't called me that for a long time, Ami-chan."
Ami looked away with tears in her eyes.
"Are you crying for Usako, or for me?" Endymion asked.
"I won't deny it," Ami said, "I have loved you all my life. Forgive me for saying that, but it would break my heart if I lost you."
Endymion reached over to rest his hand on Mercury's, now balled into fists in her lap.
"It is true that my soul is chained to Usako's," Endymion said, "but not my heart. The truth be told, I love you as well, Ami-chan."
Mercury looked up with surprise.
"But we are creatures of duty," the king continued, "loyal to our queen and our kingdom. And besides, a man who isn't faithful to his wife is hardly worthy of your love."
"I…just don't want to lose you," Mercury said; "losing Usagi would be bad enough, but to lose both of you together…"
"Hush now," Endymion said, pulling Mercury closer to him, "it'll be all right."
For a long moment, Mercury just sat there huddled next to the king, alternately grateful for his strength, and guilty for her weakness; it was the king who had come here asking for Mercury's help, after all, and here she was taking advantage of his kindness.
But it wasn't as if they hadn't been friends for centuries; it was just so easy to imagine being more than just a friend…
* * *
Two days later, six women in gowns of gleaming white, and a man in a lavender tuxedo, stood on a wind-swept plain in eastern Russia. Before them was a huge dome of concrete--an artificial mountain housing spent nuclear fuel rods and reactor cores--the last vestige of a bygone civilization's flirtation with nuclear energy.
"Is it really necessary to do this?" Princess Mars asked Neo-Queen Serenity.
"Yeah," Princess Jupiter said; "it's not like there's any serious danger of radiation leakage from this site."
"Nonetheless," Neo-Queen Serenity said, "the great work must be done. The Earth must be purified, for the sake of future generations."
The Solar princesses glanced at each other--and at King Endymion and Crown Princess Serenity--but no one knew what to say that would alter the queen's decision. Indeed, gaunt and haggard as the queen was, it almost seemed as if her force of will was the only thing keeping her alive.
"Mercury," the queen said, "would you start the camera please?"
"Hai," Mercury said, pressing a button on her minicomputer, and bringing a hovering holographic camera to life. A cousin of the Luna-P Ball (which Mercury had also built) the camera automatically focused its lens on the queen, then flashed a red light to tell the queen it had started recording.
"My friends," the queen said, glancing at her comrades, "and people of the Earth, it is incumbent upon me this day to complete a great work. Long ago, the Ancient Moon Kingdom was destroyed and our homeworld left a barren rock, yet this world--the mother world of the human race--welcomed us, and became our second home. Thus, to help repay this ancient debt, it is only appropriate that we should use the power of the Silver Crystal to purify the Earth, and cleanse it of its ancient injuries."
The queen brought forth the ginzuishou.
"Silver Crystal of Illusions," she intoned, "diviner of mysteries, creator of miracles…unweave the fabric of space-time, unfold the magic of the Ancient Lunar Kingdom, purify and transform!"
Suddenly, the ginzuishou blazed with light, then an even greater light erupted from inside the concrete dome of nuclear debris. For a moment, the Siberian plain was bathed in light--as if the very sun had descended to the earth--then the light faded to reveal a dome transformed; where once was concrete and streel, now was earth, grass and flowers.
"At last," the queen said, lowering her arms, "it is done."
Then she fell--like a marionette with its strings cut--limp and lifeless to the ground at her feet.
"Your Majesty!" Mercury cried, shutting off the camera. Then, fulfilling her duty as the queen's physician, she moved to kneel beside the queen and scan her body with her minicomputer.
"How is she, Mercury?" Princess Venus asked, mirroring the concern of all the princesses.
"I'm sorry," Mercury said, after a moment; "the queen is dead."
"Mama!" cried the crown princess, throwing herself on the queen's body. "Mama, you can't be dead!"
The king was no less shaken himself; on his knees beside the queen, he held a lifeless hand in his own, and--for all the world--he looked like a man who'd had his very heart cut out. And yet he was not dead--a fact that surprised no one so much as Endymion himself.
* * *
Thus it came to pass that Crystal Tokyo would soon see its second queen. One month later, Crown Princess Serenity was crowned in a public ceremony in the Great Hall of the Crystal Palace, with the crown placed on her head by the noble Sailorpluto, daughter of Chronos.
"In the name of the Ancient Kingdom," Sailorpluto said, "I dub thee Queen Serenity the Second."
Serenity's long hair then changed from pink to silver (eliciting an awestruck "ahhh!" from the crowd), and Sailorpluto knelt before the queen, along with all the assembled Sailor Senshi, the Solar princesses, and the king. Curiously, Mercury noted, the king now resembled his daughter more than he ever had before; with the recent shock of Neo-Queen Serenity's death, Endymion's black hair had faded to a stately gray that was very nearly silver.
But at least he's alive, Mercury thought.
Afterward, a grand reception--not open to the public--was held in the palace, and Sailorpluto quickly made a point of taking Mercury aside.
"Dr. Mizuno, may I have a word with you?"
"Certainly, Pluto. What can I do for you?"
"I have a concern about the queen--our former queen, I mean; as you know, her body is resting in state, but it seems peculiar that her body isn't decomposing."
"Wasn't she embalmed?"
"That's the thing--I learned only yesterday that the queen was not embalmed. Dr. Takahashi--who was to perform the procedure--told me that his hand was stayed by an awesome force, and a voice that told him not to embalm the body."
"That's peculiar; why didn't he tell us?"
"He said he didn't want us to think he's crazy. At any rate, since you were the late queen's physician, I thought you might be able to shed some light on this matter."
"No, not offhand," Mercury said, "but Luna might. Let's see if we can find her…"
Mercury then led Sailorpluto to the side chamber where she'd last seen Luna, Artemis and the now-teenage Diana--all transformed into human form for this special occasion. Given her closeness to the late queen, Luna wasn't in the mood to circulate among the guests in the larger crowd, but she nevertheless greeted Sailorpluto and Mercury warmly, and listened with interest to Sailorpluto's description of the late queen's condition.
"I've heard of that happening before," Luna said, "with other celestial queens. They say such queens retain their mortal form, even in death."
"I don't know how realistic that is," Artemis said; "wouldn't that mean the original Queen Serenity is still up on the Moon somewhere?"
"Likely not," Luna said patiently; "if you'll recall, Sailorsaturn destroyed the last remnants of the Moon Kingdom long ago; doubtless, the queen's mortal body was extinguished along with the rest of the kingdom."
"Okay," Mercury interrupted, "but what of the voice that spoke to Dr. Takahashi? And the force that stayed his hand? Is it dangerous? What does it mean?"
Luna and Artemis glanced at each other, and shrugged.
"I don't know," Luna said finally; "however, it might be prudent to perhaps delay the late queen's burial, or cremation."
"Why's that?" Mercury asked.
"Well, she might not be dead. She might just seem dead, to our crude scientific instruments."
* * *
For Mercury, Luna's words were haunting and troubling. She had thought that Endymion had somehow survived the sundering of his soul from Neo-Queen Serenity's, but what if the late queen was still alive? What if the king was still shackled to her, and could only survive as long as she did?
Dwelling on these thoughts, Mercury then parted from Sailorpluto and wandered still farther away from the reception; thus she was startled when she came across the king in a side corridor. Not seeing her at first, Endymion stood with his hand on his chest, and Mercury raced to his side in alarm.
"Your Majesty! Are you all right?"
Endymion looked up in surprise.
"Ami-chan? Yes, I'm all right."
"But you had your hand on your heart," Mercury said; "I feared…"
"…that I was dying? No. I was just amazed by this feeling I have in my heart now. I guess you might call it liberation."
"So you don't feel bound to Neo-Queen Serenity anymore?"
"That's the funny thing," Endymion said. "I do feel that she's still with me, and yet it's not like it was before. It's more like she's watching over me somehow, protecting me…"
"Oh," Mercury said, scarcely concealing her disappointment. "I see."
"You seem sad," Endymion said. "What's wrong?"
"I just thought…now that she's gone…"
But Mercury couldn't find the words to explain her feelings; even now, Usagi maintained her hold on Mamoru's heart, and Mercury hated herself for resenting her dead friend.
Forgive me, Usagi-chan, Mercury thought, but I hate you! Why won't you let Mamoru go! Why can't you let us have even a single day together!
"Gomen nasai…!" Ami said tearfully, turning to run away.
But Endymion caught her by the hand, holding her in place.
"Please let me go…!" Ami said, not wanting the king to see her tears.
But the king wouldn't let her go; instead he pulled her back to him, turning Mercury around so she spun on her high heels, then took her in his arms.
"Haven't I told you?" Endymion said to Mercury; "a heart cannot be chained."
"But Usagi…"
"Usagi loved me," Endymion said gently, "but she loved you too. I feel that love within me, Ami-chan--the love she had for both of us."
Confused, Mercury looked up at Endymion's eyes, and the king looked back at her with a tenderness that was clearly now more than friendship. For a long moment, he did simply look at her, brushing a blue lock of hair out of her eyes, then he lowered his lips to hers…
And they kissed. Emotions exploded inside Ami--her guilt and longing merging as one--and her heart seemed to somersault in her chest; yet she could not resist the sheer pleasure of this moment--letting her friend pull her to him even as she answered his hunger with her own. Impelled by the force of a dozen lifetimes apart, the lovers tasted, consumed, devoured each other--even as tears poured from Mercury's eyes, and silent sobs wracked her body.
* * *
Inevitably, a change of queens brought other changes as well. While away from the Earth, the Crown Princess had spent several years fighting a new enemy as the new Sailormoon--along with Sailorceres, Sailorpallas, Sailorjuno and Sailorvesta--and thus she had formed a very close bond with those Senshi. Less than three months after assuming the throne, therefore, she began to move her friends into place as advisors and ministers--replacing the Solar princesses.
The transfer of power wasn't altogether smooth, however; Sailormars--more than any other princess--resented being pushed aside, especially when the Outer Senshi retained their status as the protectors of the Solar System. Always a passionate person, and also the closest of the late queen's friends, Sailormars found it ridiculous that she and the other Senshi were simply being 'put out to pasture'.
"I think you're overreacting a bit," said Queen Serenity II, looking at Princess Mars across a large round table, around which the other Solar princesses and the king were also seated. "Nonetheless, I called this meeting for you to air your opinions, and I would like to hear them."
"Well," Princess Venus said, "I for one wouldn't mind a proper retirement. Being the Minister of Information was a lot of work."
"Oh, please," Princess Jupiter said, "it's not like you didn't have your staff do all the work for you."
"Well, yes," Venus admitted, "but I still had important responsibilities; I had to look *good*, to represent the Ministry."
Princess Mars rolled her eyes and sighed.
"What do you think of all this, Mercury?" Mars said to Mercury. Mercury, however, was glancing at King Endymion, and didn't hear the question.
"Excuse me, I didn't hear the question."
"Maybe it is time to retire," Venus said. "Even Mercury's spacing out."
Queen Serenity smiled slightly, glancing at both her father and Princess Mercury.
"I think we can forgive Mercury for spacing out," the queen said. "Wasn't there something one of you wanted to announce, Father?"
"Oh," Endymion said, "I thought I'd…er…leave that to Princess Mercury…"
Mercury blushed.
"But you are the king," Mercury said; "I think you should say it."
"No, you should say it."
"Well, one of you say it!" Jupiter interjected.
"Oh, heck, I'll say it," Serenity said. "My father and Princess Mercury are going to be married."
For a long moment, Venus and Jupiter just looked at Mercury and Endymion with jaws agape, then rushed around the table to congratulate them.
"Ami-chan!" Venus said, "why didn't you tell us!"
"You sly dog," Jupiter said to Endymion, punching him in the arm.
"We weren't sure if we'd have your blessing," Endymion said, reaching to Mercury and holding her hand. "It has only been three month since…Usako passed away."
"Well, it's not like we couldn't tell SOMETHING was up," Venus said; "the way you two were always sneaking off together."
On the other side of the table, meanwhile, Mars had been fuming silently--trying to restrain her own anger--but finally she could hold it no longer. Between the insult to her honor of being retired, the frivolous attitude of her fellow princesses, and now THIS…it was simply more than she could take.
"I can't help but wonder," Mars said to Mercury, icily, "if you might be getting married because you have to."
"Mars!" Jupiter said; "what a terrible thing to say!"
"Indeed," Endymion said, standing up from the table; "I demand you apologize to Princess Mercury at once!"
"Pompous windbag," Mars said, standing up as well, "who the hell do you think you are, asking ME to apologize? Honestly, Usagi's not even properly buried yet, and here you are going at like dogs in heat! I wouldn't think you could be such a vermin, but I guess you are!"
"Mars, please…" Mercury said, "…it's not like that…"
"Bah!" Mars said, slamming her chair into the table. "You can do what you like; as far as I'm concerned, this kingdom died with Usagi!"
Mars then spun on her heel and left.
"Don't worry about her," Jupiter said to Mercury, resting a hand on her shoulder; "she's just jealous."
Mercury didn't respond however, reflecting instead on the last words Mars had spoken.
What if she's right? Mercury wondered; what if the kingdom did die with Usagi? What if our marriage is just another nail in the coffin…?
* * *
In the months that followed, Princess Mercury felt a strange blend of happiness and sadness; Princess Mars never did speak to her again--and indeed, Mars left Japan altogether to be as far away from Crystal Tokyo as possible--but Princess Venus and Princess Jupiter both seemed obsessed with planning for the coming wedding. In a way, that was logical; with their former responsibilities terminated, they had a lot more free time on their hands. However, Endymion and Mercury agreed that they should wait at least until December for the ceremony--out of respect for the passing of Neo-Queen Serenity--and that meant that Venus and Jupiter had a lot of time to do a lot of planning. Although Endymion and Mercury had wanted a modest ceremony, the plans very rapidly ballooned into a giant celebration with hundreds of guests in the largest ballroom in the entire palace.
For her part, Mercury was sad that Mars would not be available to officiate, and it also troubled Mercury that Neo-Queen Serenity--the great love of Endymion's life--still hadn't been properly laid to rest. Through it all, though, Endymion's love sustained Mercury--along with her sense that Usagi's spirit was indeed hovering protectively over the two of them. Instead of hating Usagi for dragging Endymion's soul to the grave, Mercury began to feel very differently; she began to suspect that Usagi had wanted this all along--for two of her best friends to be together, when she herself couldn't be there for them.
If only I knew for certain, Mercury thought, looking out upon the lights of Crystal Tokyo one night in late November; do I have Usagi's blessing, or am I doing something terribly wrong?
Months earlier, Mercury had moved into the king's chambers in the palace--the home Endymion had previously shared with Neo-Queen Serenity--and it was certainly strange to see so many reminders of the late queen all around herself. The late queen had kept innumerable mementoes of her life with her husband and daughter--pictures, trinkets, video recordings--and this contributed to her sense of Usagi as a living presence in her life.
Well, I guess I should look at these dresses and make Venus happy… Mercury thought, lifting up a computer notepad with a high-resolution holographic display. The gadget--which belonged to Venus--was quite ingenious; using a stored image of Mercury's body, it could show how she'd look in thousands of different outfits, in thousands of different colors.
Of course, Venus had given it to Mercury specifically to help her select a wedding dress, but--being curious by nature--Mercury couldn't help but wonder how she'd look in other outfits, some very different from anything she'd ever consider wearing.
"Well that doesn't look right," Mercury muttered, dressing herself in one of Minako's old red dresses, with white lace trim; "let's try something else…"
Scrolling through the choices, Mercury then paused on something she thought Endymion would find amusing--a short black dress and spike heels.
No, Mercury thought to herself, you don't look good in black, Ami.
Suddenly, Ami's heart skipped a beat.
Wait a minute…where have I heard that before? 'Black Ami'…'kuroi Ami'…
"Kuroiami--!"
Oh my God, Ami thought, dropping the notepad and stumbling away from the window. Kuroiami must have created this place! It's a goddamn illusion…!
Just then, Endymion entered the room, and he raced to grab Mercury before she fell.
"Ami-chan, what's wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Ami said, with a feeble smile, "…only I just realized you're a little too perfect. I always wondered why you didn't use the golden crystal to help Usagi purify the Earth--but then this is my fantasy, isn't it? Usagi dies a noble death--exhausting herself with the silver crystal--then I get the man I always wanted.
"Only you would never betray Usagi like you did. I knew that, but I just didn't want to believe it."
"Ami-chan, you're delirious. You don't know what you're saying."
But Mercury just shook her head.
"No, I know what I'm saying. I'll give you credit, Kuroiami; you played a good game. Just not good enough to win…"
* * *
"I prefer to think of it as a draw," Kuroiami said, gazing upon Ami's unconscious body and brushing a lock of hair out of Ami's eyes. "You got something, I got something--but a good game, nonetheless."
Though Ami did not know it, she was actually hovering in a circular chamber between two other hovering bodies--her friend Tsukino Usagi, whom she'd followed to this world from another universe--and another Tsukino Usagi, who was native to Kuroiami's world. Each Usagi held a ginzuishou--glowing softly with power--but that wasn't the only difference between the fair-haired girls and Ami; while Ami was finally sleeping naturally--having escaped Kuroiami's enchantment--her companions remained bewitched, living out futures they did not know to be false.
"Indeed," Kuroiami said, "you are a worthy foe. Perhaps one day, you could even be my friend…"
Kuroiami laughed.
"Well, I suppose that would be asking a lot. But you certainly are a worthy adversary. Now rest, gentle Ami, and we shall resume our game later, on another field…"
