Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon.
Chapter Eighteen
Seleine P.O.V.
She was dead. I wasn't sure how to process it. One of the senshi that I was trusted to protect and take care of was now dead. I was no longer with the senshi. I was with my shittenou. We were talking strategy. I couldn't comprehend what they were saying. The senshi were merely a few feet away and mourning their lost leader.
I looked over my shoulder. Rei was holding Minako. She had bowed her head and was sobbing. Makoto and Ami were a wreck as well. The outer senshi did their best to keep a brave face, but they were in tears too. Yaten was a blank slate. He only stared at Minako's lifeless body. Seiya and Taiki were near Yaten. They were waiting for him to break down. They had lost so much this evening.
And then my sister. Oh, my poor sweet Serenity was no longer sweet or innocent. She was a different human being entirely. I could feel her bloodlust and anger. All she wanted was to kill, and it terrified me. She had changed so much in such a short time. I had searched her face for the little girl that I thought I knew. But she was gone. Her anger had taken over her body completely.
"Seleine?"
"Yes?" I said blinking my eyes. Nephrite was staring at me.
"What are we going to do now?" He asked me.
I turned and looked at Kunzite. He merely nodded his head. "Survive. Like we always do."
I turned back toward the senshi. They were all utterly broken. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to lead them through this war. More of the senshi would certainly die. "It's time," I said.
The senshi turned toward me. "We can't just leave. We just lost Minako and Usagi and you want to leave like it was nothing?" Ami cried. More tears came out of her eyes.
"I understand that you are in pain, but we don't have time to mourn right now," I began.
"Don't have time? Our princess just turned evil. Let's take the damn time to mourn," Makoto screamed at me. Her eyes were wet, but she was ready to murder just like Serenity had been.
"Seleine's right," Rei said. Everyone turned their heads toward Rei. I myself couldn't believe she had just agreed with me. "We don't have time to mourn. We have to try and get Usagi back. If we don't, Minako will have died for nothing."
Ami and Makoto were speechless. They stared at Rei with their mouths wide open. Then they looked at Minako. They kneeled down by Minako and said their goodbyes.
I turned to Saphir. "Take Minako's body to the field where we met at. There's an abandoned temple one mile south of it. Take her there and keep her safe. Cloak her; I don't care what you do, just keep the body safe. Then go with the starlights and Kakyuu. You're staying behind," I said.
"What?" Seiya said.
"She's right. Someone needs to stay and protect the city," Kakyuu said. The starlights looked down but didn't dare argue with their princess. "You're going to see her, aren't you?"
"I don't really know what my other options are," I answered.
"Be careful," she said and turned back to her starlights.
I drew in a deep breath and welcomed the weight that was now on my shoulders. "Come," I said and turned on my heel. I heard feet moving and knew they were following me. We all walked back to Rei's shrine.
"Why are we here?" Hotaru asked me.
"We need a big area with little eyes watching us," I said. I looked at the senshi and shitennou. They were tired and heartbroken. "Hold hands and close your eyes. Focus all of your power on me."
I held Setsunna and Rei's hands. Michiru, Ami, and Makoto were all suspicious. I opened my eyes and glared at them. They immediately took hands.
I tilted my head back and thought of the Moon Queens.
"You can't just bring them here! We're breaking all of our rules by even speaking to you!" Ishtar screeched.
"We just lost our princess and a dear friend," I said.
"And whose fault is that?" Marici asked. She wasn't looking at me though; she was looking at Haruka.
I heard a gasp behind me. I looked over to Setsunna. She was on her knees bowing. My shittenou were doing the same.
"My queens. I apologize. I had no idea we were all coming here," Setsunna pleaded.
"No need to apologize child. Seleine is right. It's time we all meet face to face," Diana said. Setsunna slowly brought her head up.
"Tell them what you told me," I commanded.
Amaterasu looked at me for a long moment. Our eyes connected. I wasn't backing down. They may be afraid of their daughters and what the future will bring, but I was not.
"Very well," Amaterasu said. She stood up and walked toward the senshi. "We are the moon queens of the past."
The senshi gasped and dropped to their knees. Amaterasu smiled and rose her hands up. Slowly, the senshi rose up too. Then she plunged into the tale. They told the senshi everything. I wish I had heard something that would spark an idea, but nothing. Nothing came to me to create a plan.
"Now Seleine. Your right hand came to us. What did you wish to talk to us about?" Amaterasu asked me.
I didn't know how to start this conversation. Everyone in the room would be shocked. Some might demand for my head.
"I want you to impregnate me with Chibi-Usa," I said.
Silence. It was completely silent in the huge room. I heard an intake of breath behind me.
"You can't be serious," Kaminari asked me.
"What other options do we have?" I asked them. I looked in every one of the moon queen's eyes. Then I turned to my mother. "I can't be queen. And I have to be honest, I'm not entirely sure I can bring Serenity back. With Serenity being dark, we can't have her as queen. Therefore, the only option is to have her successor come along."
"We can't just impregnate you with Chibi-Usa. It's not that simple," Diana said.
My mother was looking at me. My eyes hadn't left hers and her eyes never left mine.
"Do you all know what happened today?" I asked. They all looked down, except for my mother who was staring at me intently. "We lost. We lost our princess and a beloved friend."
"You can't be serious Seleine," Setsunna pleaded with me. I turned to her. She took my hand. "If you become impregnated with Chibi-Usa, Serenity will still take the throne; she'll come after you and kill you and Chibi-Usa."
"That's why I want to be impregnated quickly. I want you to give me a short term. Have me pregnant for a week or something," I said.
"We can't just impregnate you. If you and Endymion were to have relations, we could speed up the process of your pregnancy, but we can't just impregnate you with the wave of our hand," Thanatos said.
"But you all had children and I haven't read anywhere about your husbands," I said.
All of the women looked down at the ground and blushed. "That is because I was the only one to have a husband," Amaterasu said. "Moon queens were always meant to carry the weight on their own. My husband, Apollo, wanted to control the moon kingdom. He didn't understand his place properly. I wanted a partner to rule with, not a king to bow down to. So, I taught my daughter, and my daughter taught her daughter after that, that we would go down to Earth and have a man impregnate us."
I gulped. I was a fool for not knowing that. I felt like my whole purpose of coming here was moot. I came here and disrupted the senshi's mourning for nothing.
"She's right, though," my mother said. "Serenity can't be queen, and neither can Seleine. There's another way."
"No," Ishtar said. "That is strictly forbidden."
"What?" I pleaded.
"Bring Chibi-Usa from the future to the present," my mother said.
I hadn't thought of that. That could really work. If we went far enough into the future, we can get to Chibi-Usa just before she's to take the throne.
"It's forbidden. It's the one rule we have that will not be broken," Ishtar said frantically.
"Why?" I asked.
"My daughter tried to do that a very long time ago and chaos erupted," Ishtar choked.
"But under the circumstances, we might reconsider. After all, this is the strongest moon queen we'll probably ever see," Lucina said.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Metzi asked me. "You would be losing everything you ever wanted."
"I have everything I've ever wanted. Now all I want to see is peace. I would like to see my sister on the throne, but I will not let Chaos prevail," I said.
"Very well. I'll send you to the future," my mother said.
"Wait. We need to discuss this further," Ishtar screeched.
"We are out of time Ishtar. This is the only way," Amaterasu said.
Ishtar looked to Amaterasu. She wanted to argue but knew she was right. "We'll give you two days. Two days and you will have to be back."
I looked down at my watch. I hadn't even noticed I was in my civilian form. It was noon. "We'll be back," I promised.
"Circle together," my mother ordered. We all joined hands again. The queens started chanting. I think it was something in Latin. It was too hushed that I didn't fully understand.
I suddenly felt light-headed. I closed my eyes and felt like I was falling. Then it stopped. I was in a cloudy atmosphere.
"Where am I?" I said aloud.
"We're in your mind darling," my mother said.
I turned to her. We were the only ones here. "Why?"
"We need to talk. I need to apologize for the things I've said to you," she said.
"Mother-"
"No. Let me finish. Seleine. I did love you, but I had to harden my heart. When I found out that you were the heart of darkness, I had to be prepared for you to turn your back on us. Then the accident with Serenity happened. She was the future queen. I couldn't risk her getting hurt. But now, you're the one I can't risk getting hurt."
"Why are you saying all of this?" I asked.
She smiled. "Because this is the last time you'll see me. This is the last time you'll see the moon queens from the past," she said.
"What? Why?" I asked alarmed.
She sighed. She looked away from me for a moment to collect herself. Then she looked back at me. "Because all of the magic we possessed is now gone. Sending you to the future took all of the power that we had. But we knew it was for the best. Good luck my daughter. Be safe," she said.
Then she started to blur. "Wait! Mom!" I screamed. Tears started to stream down my face.
"I love you," she said with a smile.
I blinked and suddenly I was on a grassy field. I was laying down. My head felt like I just got off of a ride at an amusement park that made me spin uncontrollably. There was also a horrible taste in my mouth. I looked around me. There was no one in sight.
I didn't know how to breathe. My mother told me all in the span of two minutes that she loved me and that I would never see her again. How was I supposed to process this? I felt a tear roll down my face. I wiped my tears away. I can't cry now. I have to put on a brave face for the senshi. Their leader needs to be strong and unrelenting. I'll think about this more tomorrow.
I got on my feet and surveyed my surroundings. We were on the moon kingdom alright. I smelled the beautiful moonflowers. I walked up a hill. My legs felt extremely tired while walking up the hill. Halfway up the hill, a thought dawned on me. I wasn't sure what future I was about to see. I decided to transform.
I walked up the rest of the hill. I looked over the other various hills and saw the moon palace. A wave of emotions enveloped me. So much has happened in the past twenty-four hours that I was surprised I was still functioning properly.
"Seleine!" I heard a familiar voice scream.
I looked over my shoulder and saw my entourage making their way toward me.
"I never expected to come back here," I said when I knew Pluto was directly behind me.
"Neither did I," she admitted.
I looked at the palace. It was much bigger than it was before. It was also a silvery white. It used to only be white. It was incredibly quiet. There were no children playing outside. Something felt wrong.
I turned to Pluto and knew she was feeling the same thing. We started walking toward the palace. The sky suddenly turned dark. A storm was coming. We walked all the way to the palace gates. I stood in front of them. I was afraid to knock. I wasn't sure what to expect.
Building up enough courage I decided to knock. I walked up to the door and lightly pushed the palace gates. They opened immediately. That's when a surge of power forced us back. We all landed five feet from the gates and on our backs.
I was up on my feet in a flash preparing for the next attack. I didn't see anyone around me. I was suspicious. They were hiding. Whoever attacked was playing a game with us. They were powerful. But clearly not experienced in war enough.
I heard them appear behind me and threw my sai over my shoulder. I only slightly missed. Then I went to combat with power. Whoever I fought didn't believe in hand to hand combat. I threw fire and lightning at them, but to no avail, I wasn't hitting my mark. I got frustrated. That's when the power from the other day came around.
The power was black. It was addicting. All I wanted to do was succumb to it. This time, I hit my mark. At first, I didn't recognize who I had been fighting. Then it hit me; I was fighting Queen Serenity. Immediately, I dropped my hands.
"Who are you? Why have you come to the Moon Kingdom?" She demanded with an immense amount of hostility.
The senshi and shitennou then all came behind me. Serenity looked at all of them. Recognition showed on her face.
"How is this possible?" She asked.
"We're from the past," Rei said looking at her princess.
Serenity looked baffled. Then she looked at me. "I know of them, but who are you?" She asked me.
I smiled and stepped forward. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Seleine and I'm your sister."
Her eyebrow arched. She was going to kill me. "I don't have a sister," she said.
"Give me your hand," I said sticking my hand out.
She looked down at my hand. She looked back up at me. "Why?" She asked.
"For once. Trust a stranger," I said. Horrible advice really. But I didn't have time for this. I grabbed her hand and forced the memories through our connection.
She gasped and threw her head back. When I let go she dropped to the ground. She kneeled down for a minute. Once she caught her breath, she looked back up at me.
"Seleine?" She asked me.
I smiled and felt the tears tickle the back of my eyes. Her memories were completely restored. Her memories weren't the only ones restored. I turned around and faced my senshi. They all looked at me. They weren't quite as hostile as they were before, but they weren't exactly happy with me either. I turned back to Serenity.
"Where are the rest of the senshi?" I asked her.
Her eyes suddenly darkened. "They are no longer with us."
"What do you mean?" Jupiter asked.
"Jupiter. You look. You look so young," she choked out. Tears started streaming down her face. "I don't know what happened. They all just started dying."
She looked at the senshi. Then her brow furrowed. "Where's Endymion and Venus?" She asked.
I'd completely forgotten about Endymion. "Shit," I said. I turned to Pluto.
"I'll check the gates and see how he is doing," she said.
I nodded and turned back to Serenity. "Endymion is somewhere on Earth," I sighed. I ran a hand through my hair. Then I looked back up at her. "Venus is dead."
Serenity looked down at the ground. "She was the first to die here too. She just started fading for some reason."
I nodded my head and urged her to continue. "Eventually, all the other senshi started fading. Now it's just Endymion, my daughter, and I. Now Endymion has grown ill. I fear for my daughter. How did Venus die?"
I was afraid to tell her. I wasn't sure how to start telling her that she became dark back on Earth.
"You killed her," Mars said. She stepped forward. I snapped my head toward her and fought the urge to attack her right then and there.
I turned my head back to Serenity. Her eyes grew wide and were blank. She was sorting through her thoughts. This must be a lot for her to have to take in. "I've gone dark haven't I?"
"What?" I asked her.
"Someone from the future came to me and told me about the evil queens. I don't remember you coming into my life after mother killed you," she told me. "Everything changed. Your Serenity must have changed quite a bit since meeting you. The truth came to her obviously, and it turned her world upside down.
"My powers have changed here recently. They've turned fowl. Something just isn't right about them. I'm right, aren't I?"
I nodded my head. She sighed deeply. "Well, I suppose you came here for a purpose. What can I do for you?"
