Chapter Twenty-Nine - No Unwanted Accident
***
"All right. Acting First through Third Deltas, stand down until I tell you what to do. Acting Fourth through Seventh Deltas, take the Epsilons, the Etas, the Zetas, and the Psi out to the launchpad to get those envoys ready to leave for Crystal Tokyo. We want to leave in under an hour, so make it quick!" Prince Tamashiiro clapped his hands. "You...what number are you anyway?"
"Fourteenth, sire," the Lambda doctor answered.
Prince Tamashiiro nodded. Fourteenth Lambda wasn't so bad. The Civilian classes in Andromeda weren't controlled like the Military, so there was an unlimited amount in any one class. Fourteenth Lambda was actually quite high, considering the hundreds - perhaps throusands - of educated, university-level professionals in the Andromedan solar system.
"Fourteenth Lambda, go assist my father. He'll probably need a bit of debriefing and information about the situation we're in here." The emperor was old, and he had been sleeping for much of the tail end of the trip in his quarters, through the short altercation with the forces of Earth and the bumpy entrance into the atmosphere.
The first ship's crew, including the prince, emperor, and the first three Deltas, had rested for three days, waiting for the second starship to arrive on Earth. Late last night the second starship had asked for landing coordinates. The Deltas and one of the Eta pilots had given them the coordinates to landing site a few kilometres outside of Alice Springs, Australia, where they had landed. Within an hour, the second starship had landed in Alice Springs - without any problems from an Earthian force. They seemed to have went back to their base in Crystal Tokyo to assess their damages.
A few hours later the Seventh Delta returned to tell Prince Tamashiiro that the envoys were ready, the Psi soldiers and the Epsilon were in their envoy, and the Zetas and Etas were also ready to leave. "The only ones we are waiting for are you and the first three Deltas, your majesty," he said.
Prince Tamashiiro turned and nodded at the three Deltas, whom he had been conferring with on his plans for Crystal Tokyo once they arrived. "Let's go," he said. "No sense in keeping Crystal Tokyo waiting. We've got the benefit of the surprise; they'll never expect us to show up this morning."
***
"I still don't understand, though," Aiyana said. She'd propelled herself off the desk and was now pacing the length of the small office. "If the truth was that you weren't unfaithful to your wife, and you and my mother had a perfectly innocent reason for my appearance, then why did you find the need to keep it secret and never come to see me?"
"Because," King Endymion said. "Your appearance totally disrupts the timeline. You see, Aiyana, if you were to receive the kingdom, you'd completely destroy the timeline's dictations that a descendent of the Moon Kingdom should rule as queen of the kingdom, and more importantly, that someone directly connected to my line should become the king and control the kinzuishou."
Aiyana whipped around and faced King Endymion. "What do you mean by that?"
"Didn't I tell you that the Earth was my planet?" King Endymion said. He jumped up and began to pace himself. "Even though the Moon Kingdom was installed on the Earth, the kingdom was blended with mine, and the kingdoms are now one. The law still sticks. The firstborn of the possessor of the planet's blood becomes the future ruler of the kingdom - doesn't matter if the child is the offspring of both. For instance, if this kingdom were stationed on the Moon, Chibi-usa would become the queen because, even though you are older than her, she is the firstborn of Serenity, and the Moon is her planet.
"However, since this is my planet of origin, my firstborn offspring is due to inherit the line of the kingdom. And you are my firstborn." King Endymion stopped pacing and faced Aiyana. "You, my dear, are the heir to the kingdom and the next ruler in line for Crystal Tokyo."
Aiyana's eyes widened in shock. "I'm...I'm a princess?"
"Not only are you *a* princess, but you're the *crown* princess, being the oldest and the heir."
Aiyana sank into the leather recliner, utterly shocked. "This...this is all mine?"
"By law and by blood, this kingdom is partly yours and is supposed to become all yours someday."
Aiyana looked at the floor. "So you aren't going to contest it?"
"I can't," King Endymion said. "The law states that the heir to the throne becomes the crown princess by her sixteenth birthday. Chibi-usa is only thirteen, and she hasn't been inaugurated yet. If she had been inaugurated, it wouldn't matter that you were older - no inauguration can be revoked." Endymion shook his head. "But because she is only thirteen, she still had three more years to go. Three more years to wait!
"I was going to tell Serenity, I really was. I was going to come get you, once Chibi-usa turned sixteen and was inaugurated. Then it wouldn't matter. But your arrival now...has displaced everything. Since I can't hide it anymore, I also must follow the law."
"You can't change the law?"
"No. That's expressly stated in the charter of Crystal Tokyo. The king can propose laws, veto laws, and propose changes, but he can't just up and change a law. It takes review by an especially appointed council for that purpose, and the review would come too late. You're already a year overdue for the inauguration, and the law would force me to inaugurate you, at most, three months from now."
"If you had waited until Princess Lady Serenity was sixteen, I would be twenty years old. How much getting could you have done?"
"Not much, actually," the king admitted. "But because you are the crown princess, there are certain things that protect you. For one, I have special sanction to keep you out of prison. So even if you were to run a rampage right now, if I so chose, I could override even the council's choice to place you in prison.
"Secondly, you have to be inaugurated no later than three months after either one, your sixteenth birthday, or two, your discovery of bloodline, unless special circumstances arise that cause the inaguration to be postponed." Endymion shook his head. "I don't think the council worded that right. I'm not even completely sure why that clause was inserted in the law. I suppose it was just so that there would be provisions for young princesses like Usagi - who were sent to a new life and didn't find out that they were the princess of their kingdom until over one thousand years later. It was provided so that Serenity would be able to become queen of the kingdom."
"I'm going to be queen of this kingdom," Aiyana said, mostly to herself.
Endymion nodded, a little unhappily. "The reason why I kept it a secret is because there was always supposed to be a Moon Queen on the throne. Serenity's line controls the ginzuishou, and there is no other line that can control it like her. My daughter...my other daughter...Chibi-usa, also has that ability. She is being trained in the powers of the ginzuishou and the progress of the kingdom.
"And it's been perfectly arranged so that there shall be a successor to my power on this throne as well. Back in the days of the Silver Millennium, I had a young priest who protected me, the priest Helios. Helios is also able to control my sacred stone, the kinzuishou, and also carries the blood of the Earth and it's powers within him. Fortunately for us, Chibi-usa happened to fall in love with Helios, and so if she marries him - as she has expressed a desire to, although it's a little early for that yet..." Endymion smiled, a little wistfully. "Of course, I'm not one to prevent a marriage if my daughter truly loves him and he loves her in return, both of which I know are true. I had to go through that when I was younger with Serenity, and I wouldn't want to put my daughter through it."
Aiyana smiled a little at the look on Endymion's face. It was a look of love - fatherly love. She wondered if he had ever wore that look on his face while writing letters to her, or reading the letters Hotaru had sent, or looking at a picture of her. Did he love her half as much as he loved his other daughter, even if she was not the offspring of his beloved Serenity? Aiyana could tell that was half the reason that Lady Serenity was such a jewel in his eye - she had heard the young princess looked almost exactly like her mother, and she had mannerisms resembling the queen as well.
"But I digress. It was the perfect arrangement - to carry on both of our lines. And Helios was training another young priest - chosen by destiny, he would say - to follow in his footsteps; hopefully, any daughter of theirs will find interest in him. Helios says it's destined, and he is a priest."
"But you aren't interested in any of Helios' priests." Now Endymion smiled again, a genuine smile that was close to the wistful smile he'd had on his face when speaking of Lady Serenity. "You love the son of Venus, Masaya."
Aiyana turned red. "Masaya-sensei is my friend," she said.
"He's more than a friend. I haven't even seen the two of you together since that day you were jogging around the palace, and I could tell that something was beginning between you then. Besides, Hotaru told me in one of her letters that you loved him, and she knows you better than you know yourself."
King Endymion turned thoughtful. "Now that I think about it, it might even work," said King Endymion. "The roles would be a bit reversed, of course. But you do carry the partial bloodline of the Earth within you, and the power of Saturn is close enough to my own to work along with destiny. After all, it is the Earth Planet. As for Masaya - jumping ahead of the real situation, of course - the lines of Venus and the Moon are closely related. He would not be able to use the ginzuishou, of course, but with a direct connection through Chibi-usa, he could learn how to approach..."
"King Endymion," said Aiyana, redder than before, "you are really getting ahead of yourself."
Endymion paused and laughed, nodding. "Yes, I am, aren't I?" he said. His eyes were sparkling when he laid them back on Aiyana.
"In any event, even if I could change the law...I'm not *so* sure I would."
"Really?"
"Really. Aiyana..." King Endymion looked away, past her, through the window of the office behind her. "You have shown yourself to be capable and compassionate. Your mother shows great faith in you, and I have reason to, as well. You've always done well in your studies, just as Chibi-usa has, and you have a certain grace to you befitting a queen. And..." He trailed off, his eyes coming back to meet hers.
"I have always loved you...my daughter," he continued. "You won't believe how much it hurt me when you refused to return my letters." His expression went watery. "I cried when I received your last. It sounded so hurt, so angry. I was angry at myself. I wanted to be there for you. The joy I had in raising Chibi-usa...I wanted to share that twice over, with you as well. I've always wanted more than one child. My parents died when I was very young. I longed for a family all my life, but all I felt was emptiness. My parnts weren't there for me as I grew up. I was determined to be there for my children when I became a parent. And I still managed to break that resolve."
Endymion banged his hand down on the desk. He was obviously distressed; the pained expression on his face and his taut face and arm muscles displayed that. Aiyana felt her features go soft, and she stepped forward to touch his shoulder.
"Will you be here for me now?" she asked softly.
Endymion turned to look at her. He smiled gently when he saw her eyes. *The resemblance *is* uncanny.*
"Of course I will," he answered.
Aiyana wrapped her arms around his middle, startling Endymion with a short hug. For the second time in two days, she was crying softly again. "Then I forgive you...Father."
King Endymion wrapped his own arms around his daughter and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," he said. "But what about you? I'm afraid I don't know much about what's going on with you. I do know that you have a daughter yourself, though...how did that happen?"
Aiyana kept her eyes low on the ground as she told the king the tale of her time with the Deltas. But she didn't need to look up to know how the king was reacting. He jerked involuntarily the whole time, and the pressure of his arms increased. When she was finished, he was shaking with rage.
"I could just about hunt the universe and personally break with my own hands..." King Endymion shook his head, then unclenched his fists.
"No use," said Aiyana, looking back up at the king. "What's done is done...and I love Mikomi-chan. She's no unwanted accident."
"You weren't unwanted, either," Endymion said, looking down at her. He had caught the tone in her voice and wanted to allay any of her fears. "An accident, maybe...but no unwanted one."
***
"The king says he wants to be debriefed every two hours. It's been two hours, so go get him."
"Too late. I'm already here."
Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Nephrite, and Zoisite turned around to face the doorway. Earlier that day, they had gone to the hospital to check on the progress of the other four. Mars had been badly hurt, and she was comatose at the moment. She needed an operation, and Mercury felt helpless - she wanted to do it herself, but she was not a surgeon. The bar sticking through Kunzite's leg *had* been bone - he'd broken his left leg in two places and his right in three. He also had a dislocated arm. Sailor Venus and Jadeite were okay besides minor scratches.
The four's eyes opened wide when the saw who was standing a little behind and to the left of King Endymion. Gently latched onto the shoulder of her father was Aiyana, the traces of a smile on her face.
"I hope you don't mind that I brought my daughter along," he said, smiling faintly as he walked towards the control panel.
Zoisite and Nephrite's jaws dropped to the floor. Sailor Mercury coughed, and Sailor Jupiter smiled triumphantly.
Zoisite and Nephrite exchanged shocked stares and then looked from their king, to Aiyana, and back to the king. "*Daughter?!*"
"It's a long, long, loooooooooong story," Endymion said. "But I can't hide it anymore, and frankly, I don't want to hide it anymore. It's been eating away at me for years."
"Can I ask one question?" Sailor Jupiter asked, raising her hand. "I knew beforehand, of course, but I want to know *why*."
"Why isn't the question, Mako," Endymion said. "It's how that's the question."
He told Zoisite to get what he wanted to show them ready and in the meantime explained what he had just told Aiyana a few hours before - how she had come about.
When he was finished, Sailor Mercury sighed in relief. "You won't believe how many different explanations I tried to think up," she said, giggling a little. "I felt so bad - accusing you of unfaithfulness. I didn't want to do it, I really didn't! But the facts were there. I can't believe I never thought of that!"
"Who would?" the king asked, waving it away. "I would have thought the same myself if I were in your shoes! Who thinks about something like that?"
Mercury and Jupiter laughed, nodding and agreeing.
Zoisite had finally booted up the computer to what he wanted to show the king. On the screen was the picture of the large starship. "We're trying to assess what kind of damage the ship did to our ships. The physical crew is studying the ship now, but we thought we'd review the footage of how the missile hit Rei's ship."
Aiyana turned around to see what everyone was suddenly getting so worked up about. Suddenly, she jumped out of her chair and ran to the screen, pressing her face up close to it.
"What is *wrong* with that girl?" Nephrite asked. "Move away from the screen!"
"Oh, kami-sama." Aiyana turned away from the screen. "Was this ship anywhere in the general vicinity of Earth?"
"Yes, of course," Zoisite said, annoyed. "Why else would we be looking at it? It entered the atmosphere of Earth three days ago. It also hit two of our ships that our very good friends were on."
Aiyana's eyes widened. "Oh, kami-sama," she said again. "This is bad."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------
AN: What King Endymion meant about Saturn being the Earth Planet is the Japanese translation of the name for Saturn. In Japanese, Saturn is named Do-sei, or Earth Star/Earth Planet. Earth more refers to soil than to the actual planet. In addition, the god Saturn was the god of agriculture and the harvest, which directly relates to the powers of life and Earth. So that's where that connection came in.
Also, all that crap about Moon and Venus...if you'll remember, in the Sailor V manga, Sailor V (who is Sailorvenus) used Moon Power to transform, and her brooch was in the shape of a crescent moon. She also disguised herself as the Moon Princess, and there were little crescent moons all over the Sailor V fuku. It's quite clear that Takeuchi-sensei intended for the lines to be somewhat related, or at last for Sailorvenus to have close enough ties to Sailormoon. Also remember that Sailorvenus' power is the closest to Sailormoon's - she stands for purity and love; Sailorvenus' powers are based around love and gold.
That's where those connections come in to make it possible for King Endymion to speculate about a Crystal Tokyo ruled by Masaya and Aiyana.
***
"All right. Acting First through Third Deltas, stand down until I tell you what to do. Acting Fourth through Seventh Deltas, take the Epsilons, the Etas, the Zetas, and the Psi out to the launchpad to get those envoys ready to leave for Crystal Tokyo. We want to leave in under an hour, so make it quick!" Prince Tamashiiro clapped his hands. "You...what number are you anyway?"
"Fourteenth, sire," the Lambda doctor answered.
Prince Tamashiiro nodded. Fourteenth Lambda wasn't so bad. The Civilian classes in Andromeda weren't controlled like the Military, so there was an unlimited amount in any one class. Fourteenth Lambda was actually quite high, considering the hundreds - perhaps throusands - of educated, university-level professionals in the Andromedan solar system.
"Fourteenth Lambda, go assist my father. He'll probably need a bit of debriefing and information about the situation we're in here." The emperor was old, and he had been sleeping for much of the tail end of the trip in his quarters, through the short altercation with the forces of Earth and the bumpy entrance into the atmosphere.
The first ship's crew, including the prince, emperor, and the first three Deltas, had rested for three days, waiting for the second starship to arrive on Earth. Late last night the second starship had asked for landing coordinates. The Deltas and one of the Eta pilots had given them the coordinates to landing site a few kilometres outside of Alice Springs, Australia, where they had landed. Within an hour, the second starship had landed in Alice Springs - without any problems from an Earthian force. They seemed to have went back to their base in Crystal Tokyo to assess their damages.
A few hours later the Seventh Delta returned to tell Prince Tamashiiro that the envoys were ready, the Psi soldiers and the Epsilon were in their envoy, and the Zetas and Etas were also ready to leave. "The only ones we are waiting for are you and the first three Deltas, your majesty," he said.
Prince Tamashiiro turned and nodded at the three Deltas, whom he had been conferring with on his plans for Crystal Tokyo once they arrived. "Let's go," he said. "No sense in keeping Crystal Tokyo waiting. We've got the benefit of the surprise; they'll never expect us to show up this morning."
***
"I still don't understand, though," Aiyana said. She'd propelled herself off the desk and was now pacing the length of the small office. "If the truth was that you weren't unfaithful to your wife, and you and my mother had a perfectly innocent reason for my appearance, then why did you find the need to keep it secret and never come to see me?"
"Because," King Endymion said. "Your appearance totally disrupts the timeline. You see, Aiyana, if you were to receive the kingdom, you'd completely destroy the timeline's dictations that a descendent of the Moon Kingdom should rule as queen of the kingdom, and more importantly, that someone directly connected to my line should become the king and control the kinzuishou."
Aiyana whipped around and faced King Endymion. "What do you mean by that?"
"Didn't I tell you that the Earth was my planet?" King Endymion said. He jumped up and began to pace himself. "Even though the Moon Kingdom was installed on the Earth, the kingdom was blended with mine, and the kingdoms are now one. The law still sticks. The firstborn of the possessor of the planet's blood becomes the future ruler of the kingdom - doesn't matter if the child is the offspring of both. For instance, if this kingdom were stationed on the Moon, Chibi-usa would become the queen because, even though you are older than her, she is the firstborn of Serenity, and the Moon is her planet.
"However, since this is my planet of origin, my firstborn offspring is due to inherit the line of the kingdom. And you are my firstborn." King Endymion stopped pacing and faced Aiyana. "You, my dear, are the heir to the kingdom and the next ruler in line for Crystal Tokyo."
Aiyana's eyes widened in shock. "I'm...I'm a princess?"
"Not only are you *a* princess, but you're the *crown* princess, being the oldest and the heir."
Aiyana sank into the leather recliner, utterly shocked. "This...this is all mine?"
"By law and by blood, this kingdom is partly yours and is supposed to become all yours someday."
Aiyana looked at the floor. "So you aren't going to contest it?"
"I can't," King Endymion said. "The law states that the heir to the throne becomes the crown princess by her sixteenth birthday. Chibi-usa is only thirteen, and she hasn't been inaugurated yet. If she had been inaugurated, it wouldn't matter that you were older - no inauguration can be revoked." Endymion shook his head. "But because she is only thirteen, she still had three more years to go. Three more years to wait!
"I was going to tell Serenity, I really was. I was going to come get you, once Chibi-usa turned sixteen and was inaugurated. Then it wouldn't matter. But your arrival now...has displaced everything. Since I can't hide it anymore, I also must follow the law."
"You can't change the law?"
"No. That's expressly stated in the charter of Crystal Tokyo. The king can propose laws, veto laws, and propose changes, but he can't just up and change a law. It takes review by an especially appointed council for that purpose, and the review would come too late. You're already a year overdue for the inauguration, and the law would force me to inaugurate you, at most, three months from now."
"If you had waited until Princess Lady Serenity was sixteen, I would be twenty years old. How much getting could you have done?"
"Not much, actually," the king admitted. "But because you are the crown princess, there are certain things that protect you. For one, I have special sanction to keep you out of prison. So even if you were to run a rampage right now, if I so chose, I could override even the council's choice to place you in prison.
"Secondly, you have to be inaugurated no later than three months after either one, your sixteenth birthday, or two, your discovery of bloodline, unless special circumstances arise that cause the inaguration to be postponed." Endymion shook his head. "I don't think the council worded that right. I'm not even completely sure why that clause was inserted in the law. I suppose it was just so that there would be provisions for young princesses like Usagi - who were sent to a new life and didn't find out that they were the princess of their kingdom until over one thousand years later. It was provided so that Serenity would be able to become queen of the kingdom."
"I'm going to be queen of this kingdom," Aiyana said, mostly to herself.
Endymion nodded, a little unhappily. "The reason why I kept it a secret is because there was always supposed to be a Moon Queen on the throne. Serenity's line controls the ginzuishou, and there is no other line that can control it like her. My daughter...my other daughter...Chibi-usa, also has that ability. She is being trained in the powers of the ginzuishou and the progress of the kingdom.
"And it's been perfectly arranged so that there shall be a successor to my power on this throne as well. Back in the days of the Silver Millennium, I had a young priest who protected me, the priest Helios. Helios is also able to control my sacred stone, the kinzuishou, and also carries the blood of the Earth and it's powers within him. Fortunately for us, Chibi-usa happened to fall in love with Helios, and so if she marries him - as she has expressed a desire to, although it's a little early for that yet..." Endymion smiled, a little wistfully. "Of course, I'm not one to prevent a marriage if my daughter truly loves him and he loves her in return, both of which I know are true. I had to go through that when I was younger with Serenity, and I wouldn't want to put my daughter through it."
Aiyana smiled a little at the look on Endymion's face. It was a look of love - fatherly love. She wondered if he had ever wore that look on his face while writing letters to her, or reading the letters Hotaru had sent, or looking at a picture of her. Did he love her half as much as he loved his other daughter, even if she was not the offspring of his beloved Serenity? Aiyana could tell that was half the reason that Lady Serenity was such a jewel in his eye - she had heard the young princess looked almost exactly like her mother, and she had mannerisms resembling the queen as well.
"But I digress. It was the perfect arrangement - to carry on both of our lines. And Helios was training another young priest - chosen by destiny, he would say - to follow in his footsteps; hopefully, any daughter of theirs will find interest in him. Helios says it's destined, and he is a priest."
"But you aren't interested in any of Helios' priests." Now Endymion smiled again, a genuine smile that was close to the wistful smile he'd had on his face when speaking of Lady Serenity. "You love the son of Venus, Masaya."
Aiyana turned red. "Masaya-sensei is my friend," she said.
"He's more than a friend. I haven't even seen the two of you together since that day you were jogging around the palace, and I could tell that something was beginning between you then. Besides, Hotaru told me in one of her letters that you loved him, and she knows you better than you know yourself."
King Endymion turned thoughtful. "Now that I think about it, it might even work," said King Endymion. "The roles would be a bit reversed, of course. But you do carry the partial bloodline of the Earth within you, and the power of Saturn is close enough to my own to work along with destiny. After all, it is the Earth Planet. As for Masaya - jumping ahead of the real situation, of course - the lines of Venus and the Moon are closely related. He would not be able to use the ginzuishou, of course, but with a direct connection through Chibi-usa, he could learn how to approach..."
"King Endymion," said Aiyana, redder than before, "you are really getting ahead of yourself."
Endymion paused and laughed, nodding. "Yes, I am, aren't I?" he said. His eyes were sparkling when he laid them back on Aiyana.
"In any event, even if I could change the law...I'm not *so* sure I would."
"Really?"
"Really. Aiyana..." King Endymion looked away, past her, through the window of the office behind her. "You have shown yourself to be capable and compassionate. Your mother shows great faith in you, and I have reason to, as well. You've always done well in your studies, just as Chibi-usa has, and you have a certain grace to you befitting a queen. And..." He trailed off, his eyes coming back to meet hers.
"I have always loved you...my daughter," he continued. "You won't believe how much it hurt me when you refused to return my letters." His expression went watery. "I cried when I received your last. It sounded so hurt, so angry. I was angry at myself. I wanted to be there for you. The joy I had in raising Chibi-usa...I wanted to share that twice over, with you as well. I've always wanted more than one child. My parents died when I was very young. I longed for a family all my life, but all I felt was emptiness. My parnts weren't there for me as I grew up. I was determined to be there for my children when I became a parent. And I still managed to break that resolve."
Endymion banged his hand down on the desk. He was obviously distressed; the pained expression on his face and his taut face and arm muscles displayed that. Aiyana felt her features go soft, and she stepped forward to touch his shoulder.
"Will you be here for me now?" she asked softly.
Endymion turned to look at her. He smiled gently when he saw her eyes. *The resemblance *is* uncanny.*
"Of course I will," he answered.
Aiyana wrapped her arms around his middle, startling Endymion with a short hug. For the second time in two days, she was crying softly again. "Then I forgive you...Father."
King Endymion wrapped his own arms around his daughter and hugged her tightly. "Thank you," he said. "But what about you? I'm afraid I don't know much about what's going on with you. I do know that you have a daughter yourself, though...how did that happen?"
Aiyana kept her eyes low on the ground as she told the king the tale of her time with the Deltas. But she didn't need to look up to know how the king was reacting. He jerked involuntarily the whole time, and the pressure of his arms increased. When she was finished, he was shaking with rage.
"I could just about hunt the universe and personally break with my own hands..." King Endymion shook his head, then unclenched his fists.
"No use," said Aiyana, looking back up at the king. "What's done is done...and I love Mikomi-chan. She's no unwanted accident."
"You weren't unwanted, either," Endymion said, looking down at her. He had caught the tone in her voice and wanted to allay any of her fears. "An accident, maybe...but no unwanted one."
***
"The king says he wants to be debriefed every two hours. It's been two hours, so go get him."
"Too late. I'm already here."
Sailor Mercury, Sailor Jupiter, Nephrite, and Zoisite turned around to face the doorway. Earlier that day, they had gone to the hospital to check on the progress of the other four. Mars had been badly hurt, and she was comatose at the moment. She needed an operation, and Mercury felt helpless - she wanted to do it herself, but she was not a surgeon. The bar sticking through Kunzite's leg *had* been bone - he'd broken his left leg in two places and his right in three. He also had a dislocated arm. Sailor Venus and Jadeite were okay besides minor scratches.
The four's eyes opened wide when the saw who was standing a little behind and to the left of King Endymion. Gently latched onto the shoulder of her father was Aiyana, the traces of a smile on her face.
"I hope you don't mind that I brought my daughter along," he said, smiling faintly as he walked towards the control panel.
Zoisite and Nephrite's jaws dropped to the floor. Sailor Mercury coughed, and Sailor Jupiter smiled triumphantly.
Zoisite and Nephrite exchanged shocked stares and then looked from their king, to Aiyana, and back to the king. "*Daughter?!*"
"It's a long, long, loooooooooong story," Endymion said. "But I can't hide it anymore, and frankly, I don't want to hide it anymore. It's been eating away at me for years."
"Can I ask one question?" Sailor Jupiter asked, raising her hand. "I knew beforehand, of course, but I want to know *why*."
"Why isn't the question, Mako," Endymion said. "It's how that's the question."
He told Zoisite to get what he wanted to show them ready and in the meantime explained what he had just told Aiyana a few hours before - how she had come about.
When he was finished, Sailor Mercury sighed in relief. "You won't believe how many different explanations I tried to think up," she said, giggling a little. "I felt so bad - accusing you of unfaithfulness. I didn't want to do it, I really didn't! But the facts were there. I can't believe I never thought of that!"
"Who would?" the king asked, waving it away. "I would have thought the same myself if I were in your shoes! Who thinks about something like that?"
Mercury and Jupiter laughed, nodding and agreeing.
Zoisite had finally booted up the computer to what he wanted to show the king. On the screen was the picture of the large starship. "We're trying to assess what kind of damage the ship did to our ships. The physical crew is studying the ship now, but we thought we'd review the footage of how the missile hit Rei's ship."
Aiyana turned around to see what everyone was suddenly getting so worked up about. Suddenly, she jumped out of her chair and ran to the screen, pressing her face up close to it.
"What is *wrong* with that girl?" Nephrite asked. "Move away from the screen!"
"Oh, kami-sama." Aiyana turned away from the screen. "Was this ship anywhere in the general vicinity of Earth?"
"Yes, of course," Zoisite said, annoyed. "Why else would we be looking at it? It entered the atmosphere of Earth three days ago. It also hit two of our ships that our very good friends were on."
Aiyana's eyes widened. "Oh, kami-sama," she said again. "This is bad."
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AN: What King Endymion meant about Saturn being the Earth Planet is the Japanese translation of the name for Saturn. In Japanese, Saturn is named Do-sei, or Earth Star/Earth Planet. Earth more refers to soil than to the actual planet. In addition, the god Saturn was the god of agriculture and the harvest, which directly relates to the powers of life and Earth. So that's where that connection came in.
Also, all that crap about Moon and Venus...if you'll remember, in the Sailor V manga, Sailor V (who is Sailorvenus) used Moon Power to transform, and her brooch was in the shape of a crescent moon. She also disguised herself as the Moon Princess, and there were little crescent moons all over the Sailor V fuku. It's quite clear that Takeuchi-sensei intended for the lines to be somewhat related, or at last for Sailorvenus to have close enough ties to Sailormoon. Also remember that Sailorvenus' power is the closest to Sailormoon's - she stands for purity and love; Sailorvenus' powers are based around love and gold.
That's where those connections come in to make it possible for King Endymion to speculate about a Crystal Tokyo ruled by Masaya and Aiyana.