Illusions of power

Prologue- The prophecy that ruined my life

A daughter of the Sun and Moon

A descendant of Selene

The purest tear shall bring her hope

A son of Mars shall bring her love

The darkest shadows shall attack them

But the greatest betrayal hides within

The child shall banish all the evil

Yet they shall not know her faith

Only when her future crosses

Will her highness find her fate…..

Queen Rowan of Pluto issued thousands of prophecies all of which came true. This prophecy is her most famous and the last one she made before she died thousands of scholars from Mercury, Pluto, Mars and Saturn tried to decipher it and finally came up with an answer to it: when the queen of the moon who was descended from Selene united with the king of the sun they would have a child of amazing power who would drive back all evil, she would love someone from Mars; when she was older she would face the evil and defeat them insuring universal peace. The final translating of the prophecy nicely coincided with the marriage of Queen Selenity the seventeenth and King Apollo the twelfth of the Moon and Sun kingdoms. After a year the queen had a baby boy named Quatre who they named heir to the Sun Kingdom after three more years the queen fell pregnant again and gave birth to twin daughters Relenity and Serenity. Relenity was named the prophesised child as she was first born and was named high princess of the moon kingdom and Serenity was named second princess of the moon kingdom.

Serenity snapped the perfectly kept book shut loudly she was sick of it sick of everything the stupid prophecy had ruined her life and was still ruining it now. Serenity had at first had not understood that Luna wasn't her real mother weren't mothers supposed to raise their daughters and if she was a princess wouldn't she be the queens daughter. It was only when she was ten that she understood that her mother the Queen couldn't be bothered with her she had her amazingly talented older twin sister Relenity (who was going to save the universe someday) to look after and spoil. Serenity hated her mother for not caring; acting indifferent when she saw her in the corridor all because she wasn't as special as Relenity. But then she was also grateful she got lot of freedom she knew all of the servants by name she played with the maids and stable boys and had a good time but still she wanted her mother to love her. Her older sister Relenity was spoilt, bratty and had a very short temper she knew about her twin sister and still chose to ignore her. The only part of her family that she cared for were her father who visited once a year and her older brother Quatre who loved her even though she wasn't special. Quatre would sneak into her room and curl up with her on her bed and tell her all about his friends Heero, Duo, Trowa and Wufei until she knew them almost personally, he also told her about the scouts who were training to be Relenity's royal guard. Quatre was a big softie and took mostly after their father golden blonde hair and bright cerulean eyes just like her except his eyes were slightly darker.

Four months ago Quatre his friends and Relenity's guard the inner scouts had all arrived she hadn't seen hide nor hair of Quatre since almost like he was ignoring her. Hearing noises and people laughing she looked outside the window; Quatre and Relenity were there with a group of people she thought to be Quatres friends and Relenitys guards they were coming in from the rain amongst them she saw the most handsome man she thought she would ever see he had messy chocolate hair and deep Prussian eyes and of course her sister Relenity was hanging all over him. She turned away had Quatre finally forsaken her also; she sprinted down the corridor and ran into the courtyard making a beeline for the stables mounted her dappled mare Tanga and she rode straight for the woods the rain not bothering her.

Relenity looked up and saw her sister turning away from the window hurting her twin always gave her much pleasure like getting a new dress or piece of jewellery. Her face lit up at the thought of the all black dress awaiting her in her wardrobe she was definitely going to impress Heero after all the prophecy did predict that she would love a man from Mars, another even larger smile overtook her face as she thought about all the power she would someday gain how she didn't know but it was hers and as such she was the most important and most powerful being in the universe. She knew exactly why she hurt her sister she was pure and innocent long golden blonde hair and tropical blue eyes she stood out whilst Relenity was a carbon copy of their mother lavender hair and purple eyes. As she came out of her musings she saw Serenity's keeper Luna coming down the stairs in their direction she frowned slightly she had done her best to keep everyone away from Serenity but it seemed Luna was determined to ruin this plan.

Luna walked down the steps towards the large group with her head held high her long blue hair blew around her with the strong winds that were signalling a large solar storm. Solar storms were very rare occurrences on the Moon but they were deadly the very air became electrified, the sky turned pitch black and lightening hit the planet 4000 times per second all of The moons inhabitants had to stay in large underground bunkers and to wait out the storm which could take many hours. Luna had come to warn the small group and to ask them if they had seen Serenity Luna saddened at the thought of her 'daughter'. She had been so excited at the thought of seeing her brother and his friends when he seemingly ignored her she had been devastated and had become quite depressed with all the servants trying to cheer her up.

As she drew closer Quatre noticed her and looked around expecting to see his youngest sister pop up out of nowhere, Luna curtseyed and said "Excuse me but have any of you seen Serenity she has gone missing and I must find her before the storm grows any worse". Quatre immediately assumed a look of worry "what do you mean she's missing Relenity said she was very ill with the flu and no-one could visit as it was contagious". Everyone looked to Relenity as Luna replied "No she was actually quite upset that you never visited and Serenity has never been ill in her entire life not even as a baby". Relenity just shrugged her shoulders and casually said "maybe it was Serenity or maybe it was someone else a servant perhaps". Luna looked murderous as did Quatre the others only understood that for some reason Relenity was trying to keep them from seeing her sister. "Luna don't worry I'll find her before the storm comes why don't you go search inside maybe she's in the library". Luna nodded and left quickly to search the library Quatre turned to his sister and pinned her with a venomous glare and growled "Why were you lying about Serenity she wanted to see us". "Quatre she's practically a servant she brings down my image and the image of the royal family she runs around half wild in the woods most of the time!"

"She's my sister and you're sister maybe if you got to know her you'd realise that she is a nice person to be around but you're too wrapped up in your own stupid meaningless life!" and with that Quatre stormed off in the direction of the gardens to search for his sister his friends and even the inner scouts following leaving Relenity standing there by herself. Her eyes turned murderous immediately she mentally blamed her sister for her humiliation and resolved to find her first and make her pay.

Usagi kicked another rock into her stream and watched the ripples spread out across the glassy surface. Usagi considered the stream her stream as she had carved her name into the wall near the small waterfall that in good weather she could slide down. This place was her sanctuary away from Luna worrying and the family that acted like she didn't exist a huge Willow tree overlooking the lake was perfect for lying on with thick branched to ensure that she didn't fall off. Relenity had her riches, subjects and castles but in Serenity's opinion this was her castle her riches were flowers her subjects were animals and her castle was her Willow tree. Apollo & Gypsy ambled out of the woods and came to lie next to her emitting low purrs to calm her. Apollo was a huge white panther and Gypsy was a huge black wolf Usagi had known them since they were small and she first found her sanctuary she could confide in them and in a way they would talk back to her using purrs and growls to show their interest or their displeasure, real growls were usually reserved for mentions of her mother or Relenity. Both Gypsy and Apollo seemed restless and soon Serenity realised why she couldn't feel it in her sanctuary but the winds had been picking up and it was raining lightly at first but it was getting heavy; icy tendrils of terror snaked through her as she realised what was happening the beginning of a solar storm and she was too far away to get home safely. As she quickly brainstormed thinking of what her tutor said to do in case she ever got caught in a storm the only thing she could remember him saying was pray that it's quick. Apollo and Gypsy looked up whilst Serenity was thinking and saw a tall woman at the edge of the glade holding a large key shaped staff they relaxed and looked back at the frightened form of Serenity as she fought to keep back her tears. "Don't worry the storm will not harm you Serenity it knows who you are and it will help you realise your potential do not hide from it" Serenity jumped and looked in shock at the tall woman on the other side of the glade yet strangely she felt no fear, Tanga nickered from where she was tied near the tree but didn't appear to be worried by the appearance of the stranger. Serenity tried to make out the strangers appearance but a mist seemed to hide her from view from the looks of the figure and the sound of her voice she could guess it was a woman. "Let me help" answered the tall woman as though she could read Usagi's mind and knew that she was nervous she stepped out of the mist and revealed herself. She was very tall with long hunter green hair in a half bun she had eyes the colour of red wine and was wearing a dark green sailor fuku. Usagi breathed the name lightly in reverent awe "Sailor Pluto guardian of time and space". The tall woman now identified as Sailor Pluto nodded and replied "yes I' am Sailor Pluto but you can call me Setsuna as that is my name, I'm here to tell you about your destiny and because of the circumstances I wanted to come personally". Usagi didn't reply she seemed to be in a comatose state but snapped out of it when Gypsy lightly bit her hand and said "Say something Usagi". Usagi looked at Gypsy in shock and asked "Y-You can talk since when? How? Why didn't you say anything before? Can Apollo talk as well?".

"Yes I can talk, Setsuna told us not to talk and she sent us to protect you and to keep you company" answered Apollo before Gypsy could reply.

Usagi sat still for a few minutes the only sound was that of the rapidly billowing winds and the pounding of the rain against some sort of barrier that was keeping the rain out, finally Usagi lifted her head and looking Setsuna directly in the eyes asked the million dollar question "Why?".

"Serenity where are you?" Quatre shouted for the thousandth time the storm was getting worse and still Quatre's little sister had not been found even though they'd searched everywhere. Queen Selenity and King Helios left the safety of the shelters to make the scouts and the knights come inside to safety. Quatre was furious and blamed it all on Relenity saying that Serenity wouldn't be out there if she hadn't lied to them all about Serenity's wellbeing. The knights backed Quatre up and the scouts said nothing but refused to take Relenity's side in the argument. As the argument turned into a full scale riot the storm grew worse and a bolt of lightening struck not far from Minako knocking her backwards Trowa quickly picked her up and ran with her to the storm shelters the others quickly following knowing that for Serenity it was probably too late. They ran down the shelter steps as the steel bunker doors were bolted shut and were attached with metal wires to the ground. Ami sat next to Quatre nervously and tried to comfort him as there was no way that Serenity could survive a storm of this magnitude it was the biggest storm ever to hit the Moon Kingdom in its entire recorded history. "Quatre maybe she took shelter underneath an outcropping or in a cave she could still be ok" comforted Ami. Quatre looked at her with a haunted eyes and answered his voice thick with emotion "We both know that it's not possible the storms the worst ever seen no-one could survive". Then he started to cry soft tears that rolled down his cheeks and hit Ami's fingers startled she pulled him into an embrace as he mourned the loss of his little sister.

On the other side of the room the other scouts and knights watched the young couple everyone knew how Ami and Quatre felt except for themselves and they all hoped that Ami could continue to comfort him. Heero's quick mind was working out the calculations for Serenity's survival it was slim she had more chance of ruling the entire universe than surviving the storm. The winds would reach hurricane force and would cause horizontal rain fast enough to bruise skin the only light would come from the continual bolts of lightening hitting the ground. From the reactions of the servants, Luna and Quatre Serenity was very loved but her mother and twin sister didn't seem to care and appeared as though they would rather Serenity never came back. He looked over at the bed where Minako was being treated for an ankle injury that she received when she was thrown backwards Trowa was glaring at the doctor as though he could make him go up in flames he didn't know it but Trowa had it bad for the Princess of Venus. If Heero looked hard enough he could see the relationships between all the scouts and the knights: Rei and Wufei had a love hate relationship she called him a sexist pig and he called her a weak onna everyone could really see the love, Trowa was silent all the time but around Minako he would try to have a conversation with her, Duo joked around more with Makato trying to make her laugh and wheedling cookies and snacks from her and Quatre had the attention of Ami they were both quiet and loved to read and go on nature walks