Title: Overture
Author: Amarylis Cemetery
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: All Sailormoon characters belong to Takeuchi Naoko and Toei, etc.; this piece of fan-written fiction intends no infringement on any copyrights.
Fandom: Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon
Pairing(s): Usagi/Mamoru?
Word count: 2456
Feedback: Would be lovely. But I'm not going to hunt you down if you don't.
Summary: AU, U/M Aware of her status but not of her past, Usagi struggles against the Dark Kingdom, unwilling to allow the senshi into her heart. Will she succeed on her own, or will she be forced to accept their help - and their friendship?
Notes: Beta-ed by Nell. Okay, this chapter gave me some trouble, and I'm really unsatisfied with it. This was basically the, "Hey, I'm going to explain some stuff!" chapter, and I didn't pull it off to meet my own happiness. Too much telling, not enough showing, I think. When I figure out a better way to handle it, I'll repost. But, as is, this is also the birth of Mercury! I love Mercury. : D Bookworms are love. Expect to see more Mercury action before Mars makes her appearance (which she will. Eventually).

Chapter Four:
Moon

With a gasp, Usagi's eyes snapped open, and she found herself standing in the middle of a large room. Everything was silver, white, and gold, except for the towering crystal structure before her. At the base was a kneeling woman, head bowed and silvery lavender hair spilling around her. Usagi was shocked to see the woman with her very same hairstyle, and took a step back in disbelief. Where was she?

The woman started at the sound of Usagi's heels clicking on the floor, standing gracefully to turn and face her. Her hair dragged on the floor as she walked towards Usagi, and on her forehead was an upturned, gold crescent moon that had small pearls on the sides that disappeared into her hairline. She had large, blue eyes that smiled down at Usagi, lips quirked into a grin of their own. Her long, silky white gown covered her feet and trailed behind her in a train. In the center of her chest was a large, silver-white bow, held together by a larger crescent moon, a cousin to the one on her head.

"Serenity," the woman spoke softly, the upturned line of her mouth widening into something beautiful. Usagi was taken back by the sight, but confusion set in faster than awe.

"Who?"

The look on the woman's face flickered briefly.

"Oh, my darling," she sighed, reaching a hand out to cup Usagi's face. "You've forgotten. I should have expected this," she conceded, and her eyes became disappointed. "I have just been hoping you wouldn't." She let go of Usagi's cheek and smiled again, though it was tinged with sadness. "I'm Queen Serenity, of the Silver Millennium. I ruled on the satellite of the Earth, the Moon, and you were my daughter, Princess Serenity."

Blinking, Usagi faintly shook her head. "I think I'm dreaming," she whispered vaguely, staring at the woman in shock. She blew a strand of hair from in front of her face when it fell into her vision. Then she froze, and reached up to her head, grasping the locks that made up her tails and stared disbelievingly at them.

Her hair was silver.

Something within her snapped, and her mind reeled. No. No, no, no! Some deeply buried feeling of panic bubbled to the surface before she could think of the reason.

With a cry, she stumbled back, nearly tripping over the skirts of the long, white gown she was dressed in, shaking her head. "This is a dream, right?" she asked, desperate. "This is a dream, right?"

The woman, Queen Serenity, grabbed her shoulders, a concerned look blooming across her face. "Serenity?" Her voice was worried. "Serenity, are you all right?"

Usagi stopped squirming, and just looked up at Serenity, suddenly very afraid. "Please tell me this is a dream!" she cried, pleading. She was shaking with some uncontrollable fear, and her terrified eyes darted across the room. Something inside denied it all, and she felt as though her heart would break if she believed anything Serenity told her.

An expression of understanding flitted over Serenity's face, and she wrapped her pale arms around Usagi's body, rocking her back and forth, whispering comforting nonsense words.

"I'm sorry, my dear," Serenity murmured. "I thought you were ready for this, but I was wrong. I'm sorry."

"Ready for what?" Usagi asked, still trembling, though she honestly didn't want to know. She didn't want to know anything.

Serenity pulled back and looked her in the eye. "The truth." She leaned forward and kissed Usagi's brow, and Usagi felt heat erupt under the Queen's lips, in the same shape as the one on the woman's corresponding head. "My darling," the Queen sighed. "For now, I want you to stay calm, and I'll tell you enough for you to grasp the situation."

Usagi nodded slightly, knuckles white as she clenched the fabric of her dress. The Queen eyed her compassionately and wrapped her thin arms around Usagi's slight form.

"I'm sorry," Serenity murmured again. "Maybe you'd be more prepared if you were awakened as a Soldier first. After you'd fought some." She sighed. "Well, there's nothing that can be done now." She gave Usagi a hard look.

"I know this will probably be hard for you to accept, but you were my daughter, in a previous life. While I'm bound from revealing to you all of the details at the moment, I can tell you that you and everyone you cared about were involved in a terrible battle." She looked at Usagi sadly. "You died, back on the Moon. But now, in this life, you have the ability to fight back, and finish this war once and for all."

Usagi shivered and averted her eyes. "Why?" she choked, as though something was stuck in her throat. "Why am I so afraid?"

Smoothing Usagi's hair absentmindedly, Serenity turned her eyes to stare somewhere into the distance. "I think the part of you that was my daughter wishes to remain dead," she admitted. "She wants to forget and remain unknowing. Even though it's no longer an option, my Serenity wants to sleep forever, and she will likely remain that way until she can see the need for action."

As the Queen moved away, Usagi clutched at her own arms, shivering with something akin to terror. Her hands shook uncontrollably, as a physical manifestation of her denial. The thought of the Princess being somewhere inside her frightened her; she was Usagi, wasn't she? She had always been Usagi. She'd never been some legendary princess of the Moon, and she didn't want to be. Sure, as a child, what girl didn't wish to be a princess, even fleetingly? Now, though, all she wanted to be was Usagi. She didn't know who this Princess was, and she didn't want to.

Serenity cupped her hands and her eyes slid closed, a soft glow emitting from her palms. The light died down, and the Queen grasped a large brooch, holding it out for Usagi to take.

"This brooch will allow you to become a Sailor Soldier, a warrior, so that you may battle against your killers." Serenity told her of the rebirth of Usagi's enemy as well as Usagi's own, how they would undoubtedly come after her so that they may finally dispose of her. She told Usagi of a power that lived deep inside Usagi's heart, and that her enemies would be after it.

Some vague part of Usagi cried out against it, but she forced herself to listen.

"Now," Serenity continued, "you do have a choice. You can either accept your standing as a princess and a soldier, and take this brooch from me. Or you can decide to deny everything, and this whole thing will fade away from your memory like a dream." Her eyes nearly pleading, the Queen said, "I beseech you to think about this before choosing. You have plenty of time to think about it; while you're here, time in your world has stopped. Don't make a rash decision."

Throat thick and clogged, Usagi turned away from the Queen's imploring gaze, and stared out at the crystal tower as though it would give her comfort. Of course she was having a hard time believing this. It had to be a dream - things like this didn't happen in real life. She was Usagi, a clumsy school girl with bad grades. She wasn't a princess or a soldier, no matter what the so-called Queen told her. It just couldn't be real. No possible way, right?

When she noticed her breaths becoming short and shallow, Usagi tried to calm herself, tried to breathe deep and gulping. Okay, she told herself, I can think about this rationally. So, for the first time, she decided to humor the woman, and pretend as though this business was the truth, despite every gut reaction to turn tail and run. Okay, so, if I'm the princess, she mused, then this is my responsibility, I guess. I mean, if she's coming to me, it has to be. The question is, what am I going to do about it?

She sighed. On the one hand, she could ignore it and go back to living how she had been. But, she recalled, brows creasing as she became bothered, if she was being called on now, then whoever killed her must be back already, must have their powers already. If that was the case, they would definitely be after her, regardless of whether or not she could protect herself. She also ran the risk of her enemy having the ability to wipe out the human race on Earth, as they obviously had on the Moon.

So, on the other hand, she could take this responsibility on her own. The only problem with that was - if all this was true, at least - that she could potentially die, again. Sure, being a Sailor Soldier might have some perks (though, she couldn't think of any at the moment), and maybe she'd know how to fight or something, but... Usagi shook her head. If she didn't, people might die, including herself. If she did, people might die, as well as herself.

But if I did, spoke her mind traitorously, then I might win. And no one would die.

Exasperated, she let her head fall against her palm. Could she live with the knowledge that she could've done something while everyone around her died?

Well, that answered the question.

The part of her that panicked at the thought of everything being true fluttered wildly, and Usagi swallowed hard, blinking back irrationally frightened tears.

Steeling herself, she turned back to Serenity and gave the woman a hard look. Her hands fidgeted with the cloth of her skirt, absently stroking the softness of the fabric as the implications of her decision settled in her mind. Across from Usagi, Serenity waited patiently for her daughter - wow, that will take some time to get used to, thought Usagi vaguely - to announce the choice.

"What do I have to do?" asked Usagi, voice filled with determination. A bright, relieved smile broke across the Queen's face and she strode forward to embrace Usagi.

"I knew you'd do the right thing," were the whispered words in her ear before the tall woman released her. Again, Serenity held out the seemingly innocent brooch.

Usagi grasped it.

Shaking her head, Sailormoon blinked harshly, dispelling the memory from her head. Now was not the time to be dwelling on past decisions, she decided, hard gaze sweeping across the city scene. Absently, her hand covered the brooch that lay on her bust and her eyes narrowed.

She bounced from one building top to another, glancing down into alleys as she passed. Keeping an eye out for any disturbances, she passed over one of the prestigious cram schools, and her bun covers shrieked at her. Wincing, she tapped the side of her mask and watched as the scene unfolded before her eyes. Somewhere inside the school, a youma was attacking in one of the computer labs.

Almost cursing, Sailormoon jumped to the ground and raced up the stoop.

When she arrived, the walls were riddled with holes, sharp strips of paper jutting out dangerously. She looked around to see the students passed out on the floor, except for one lone girl in the back. Powering up her tiara, she flung it at the youma who was attacking the girl, and was only mildly satisfied when it missed, but halted the monster in its assault. The girl, she noted, scrambled out from under it, and ran towards Sailormoon.

The youma followed closely behind, however, and the girl gave a shriek as she threw herself to the ground. With a jolt, Sailormoon realized that the girl looked and sounded entirely too familiar.

Ami! her mind cried as she recognized her new friend, and she quickly called her tiara to her hand. Seeing that Ami was out of her Twilight Flash's view, she let the gem's bright light burst from the tiara on her forehead, blinding the youma.

Suddenly, she heard Ami's voice cry, "Mercury Power, Make Up!" Her eyes widened in shock as Ami, fitted from head to toe in Soldier garb, stood from her hiding place.

"Shabon Spray!"

A thick mist flooded the room, and Sailormoon swore when her vision was suddenly impaired. Ami, you moron, she hissed mentally, the youma was already blind. All you've done is put us all on the same level again!

She could vaguely see a shadowed shape in the mist, but determined it to be Ami, since it was too short for the youma. Glancing around, she walked around carefully, wary of both the student on the floor and the sharp paper still sticking out from the walls. She heard a gasp of pain and realized that Ami must've fallen onto one of papers, nearly groaning as she turned around and headed back to Ami.

Ami's form became visible, and she was kneeling on the ground, holding her forearm as her white gloves were stained with blood. Sailormoon leaned down to frown at Ami.

"Look," she started, watching as Ami's startled gaze met her own eyes, "I appreciate the help. Really, I do. But I'd already blinded the youma before you used your attack. You need to be more careful, too. Didn't you realize that the monster's weapons were still in the wall?"

Ami flushed, looking down in shame. "Sorry," she apologized. "I don't mean to be a bother."

Sailormoon sighed quietly, and kept her voice low as she began to speak again. "It's all right. You can call me Sailormoon," she told her friend, unwilling to let the girl know her real name, even though they knew each other already. It was the first time she was thankful for the Soldier fuku's ability to mask her features so she couldn't be recognized. Well, not unless the person knew it was her, and she wasn't about to tell anyone, let alone some new friend she made.

A part of her ached at the thought.

"I'm Sailormercury," Ami responded, a light entering her eyes behind the blue visor. Sailormoon grinned at her.

"Nice to meet a fellow Soldier. Now, do you think you could get rid of the mist, please?"

Blushing again, Ami stood, cupping her hands in front of her. The mist receded into her palms, clearing the room so that Sailormoon could see again.

"Thanks, mon ami," she said cheekily, smirking as Ami's face paled. She didn't know French very well - though she was taking classes (along with English, but that was a requirement) - but she knew enough to understand both meanings to the statement. "Now, I think it's time to take care of that youma, don't you?"