"M'lady! M'lady, you must get up."
"Okay! I'm up!" Selene said in response to being shaken awake and feebly pushed away whoever was shaking her.
Selene groaned as she sat up in her bed, her silver eyes heavy with sleep and her silver hair stuck to her face, poofed up, and tangled. Selene rubbed her eyes and let out a little yawn as her handmaiden, Naru, went to open the sheer white curtains to let some natural morning light into the room.
"Oh, what time is it Naru?" Selene asked as she swung her legs out from under her fluffy silver and blue blankets and onto the cold marble platform her bed was on.
"It's daybreak, ma'am," she said and brought Selene's sheer pink robe over to her and Selene thanked her as she stuffed her feet into her fluffy white slippers and slipped her long robe over her short pink silk nightgown. Selene stood and pulled all her hair into a long ponytail as her only goal was to keep it out of her face.
"Perfect," Selene said as she grabbed her holo-computer off her nightstand and made her way towards the large marble doors that lead into her private wing.
"M'lady, where are you going? I've drawn your bath, you don't want it to get cold! And Lady Luna is going to be here soon!" Naru called, but Selene was already out the door with her computer powered up and different documents and files running across the holographic screen.
Selene walked down the whte hallway and took a left towards her private study. The right hall led to her private dining room and the two double doors in front of her lead to her formal meeting chambers. She turned, and as usual, stopped and looked away from the computer for a moment to look up at eight large doors that lead into plain, empty rooms in an empty hallway. The only thing that made them distinct from each other was that each door had one of the planetary symbols etched into it. Although Selene knew that they were getting filled soon, they had always made her lonely with their imposing emptiness
They were the primary reason she never used anything in her wing, and always ate with her mothers in their dining room, attended meetings in her mother's meeting chambers, and if she needed to have a private audience, she always just had it in one of the many meeting chambers around the castle.
Selene just shook her head and continued on to her private study so that she could get some work done and hopefully ignore the day and the outside world entirely. She had heard two maids talking about the god forsaken event last night before bed, and she wished she hadn't.
The rest of the sailor senshi were coming to the palace tomorrow to officially serve at her side. Selene was also turning eighteen which means, if she thought she had duties and responsibilities now, she was very much mistaken. She already got wind that she was getting to broker her very first trade agreement in two days, and had the honor of planning her mom's birthday that was in two weeks. She was also going to become the bearer of the silver crystal which should be fun.
Selene sighed and entered her study and shut the door behind her. She walked around her large desk and sat in the fluffy chair behind her light colored desk with a sigh and hooked up her computer to the mini mainframe built into her desk, and what she had been looking at on the holographic computer screen was now projected up in front of her.
Selene got in about a solid hour of studying advanced case law before she began to hear commotion outside her door followed by three sharp knocks. The petite woman sighed and squeezed her long, pointed ears before calling for the person to come in as she shut off the mainframe and her personal computer.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry I'm late, Artemis and I were dealing with some things your mother requested- oh my god!" Luna, your head of staff and one of your advisors, said once she got a good look at Selene who was still in her robe and slippers, had tangled and messed up hair, and hadn't taken her bath yet.
"I told you, Lady Luna..." Naru said with a slight grimace. The red head looked at Selene with sympathy in her eyes and Selene appreciated it. Luna was not going to go easy on her.
"Princess Serenity, what...you were supposed to be ready for hair and makeup by now! Good lord, Selene, I don't usually say this, but you need to pull your head out of the computer and get ready," Luna said with a sigh and ran her hands down her face. "Listen, I'm having to cancel your morning and midday lessons, and Galaxia is probably cancelling your evening training, so you have all day to do whatever you want, just please let me get you ready."
Selene sighed and nodded, letting Luna and Naru take her back to her room and get her ready for the day. First, she got into the bath and made sure she was clean, and then she got dried off and put on her white, Chinese styled archive robes. She decided that she could spend her day with the Mistress in the Archives, and to go in as a Lady of the Archives, she had to be wearing her special robes.
Luna applied a light amount of makeup to Selene's face and Naru put her hair in its usual style, down but her bangs were pulled into two thick buns on the back of her head. Luna allowed her to forego the tiara and wrapped a thick piece of white fabric over her head as a headband/head wrap type thing. After this, Luna released the two girls to go to the archives, and Selene was grateful.
She'd be able to successfully avoid the world that was preparing for her for the day there.
The Archives were down further in the palace because they went deep under the moon's surface, so Selene and Naru made their way down to the crystal doors that lead into The Archives.
"Well, Naru, I'm going to be in here for awhile," Selene said as she stopped in front of the crystal doors, knowing Naru wasn't allowed inside. "You can go do whatever you would like. I'll dispatch a guard to come retrieve you when I'm ready to go to bed tonight."
"Of course, Selene," Naru said with a small curtsy. "I will make sure to come pick you up promptly."
Selene waved at Naru before with a bright smile before pushing her way into the Archives and pulling herself into a more serious state. She made her way into the large crystal room that acted almost as a lobby or a central area where all the telepads between the eight other planets were, and had the staircase that led down into what would be considered the actual archives.
Selene bowed to a few of the higher ups within the Archives as she walked towards the large crystal stairway in the center and made her way down into the archives. She had decided she was going to remind herself of planetary etiquette within the Alliance, and made her way around to sections on the other planets and pulled all the information she would need to keep herself occupied for a couple of hours.
She was walking to a table to sit down, when she noticed someone out of the corner of her eye. The woman was the only one not in the mandatory robes, and was instead wearing black armor pieces with dark purple Grecian robes pulled overtop and the silver crest of Saturn pinning the robes. Selene smiled and walked towards the woman who seemed to be deep in thought as she stared at the holo-computer screen in front of her.
"Hello, Princess Saturn, is this seat taken?" Selene asked with a radiant smile, and the woman looked up once she heard Selene's voice and smiled.
"Ah, Lady Amarynthia, I was wondering where you were. And, please, sit," Saturn said and Selene smiled as she set her computer and all the information disks down before taking a seat next to Saturn.
"Sorry, I've been a bit distracted today. So, what are you being 'forced' to read today?" Selene asked teasingly as she leaned on the table, still looking at Saturn with a smirk, and propped her head up with her hand.
"Troop formations and battle strategies of the early Silver Millennium," Saturn said, following up her statement by making a gagging sound that made Selene laugh.
"That's rough. I've had to read those before and they are not fun," Selene said and Saturn shook her head.
"When I found out I was going to be a senshi, the picture that popped into my head wasn't really an image of me sitting in an ancient library day in and day out reading things that don't seem to pertain to my job," Saturn said with a sigh.
"What was the image that popped into your head?" Selene asked and Saturn shrugged as she leaned back in her chair looking up, her short black hair swishing around as she did so.
"I don't know to be honest. When I was younger, it was fighting weird looking monsters and protecting my home, but as I grew up, I think it became more an image of me protecting and advising a princess who would keep everyone safe...I think the only thing that stayed the same were the weird monsters," Saturn said causing the both of you to chuckle as Selene thought on Saturn's words.
When Selene first learned that she was the princess what she did was not what popped into her mind either. She spent a significant amount of her time on Mercury growing up because that's where kids were sent to go to school. Selene had heard stories from Princess Mercury's sister and the Crown Princess of what she was having to do such as learn to throw balls and parties, and find a husband. To say the least, she hadn't been looking forward to learning to be a princess.
However, Serenity discovered very quickly that she was not destined to be like normal Princesses since her first day of training consisted of her getting balls of fire shot at her in a battle simulation and Luna beginning to teach her about how to write a formal trade agreement. Her point was that she understood Saturn.
"Well, I hope you aren't let down by the duties you have in real life, Royal Bodyguard Saturn," Selene said and Saturn shook her head with a sigh.
"I doubt that I will have as much fun being a glorified bodyguard and babysitter as I would have had fighting weird monsters across the system," Saturn said and Selene chuckled.
"Hey, Saturn!"
Selene and Saturn looked over to where the shout had come from and Selene smiled at the three girls that were making their way over, guessing that they were three of five outer senshi if Selene was remembering the planetary colors correctly.
Selene noticed as they got closer that they were all very tall people. Selene had thought that she was tall at six foot, but then she had met Saturn who was seven foot and some change, and two of the other senshi were probably taller than Saturn. The shortest even had at least a good five inches on Selene.
The one that had shouted was very intimidating to Selene for the sole reason that she looked like she could stomp her into the ground with minimal effort. The look on her face was more lackadaisical than the emerald haired woman next to her. Her blonde hair was cropped, and her dark blue eyes seemed to be lazily scanning the room and Selene, particularly Selene. She, however, had quite a few visible scars and the navy symbol of Uranus on her head.
The shortest one seemed the most calm and serene out of all of them. Her teal hair loosely flowed just past her shoulders, her green eyes seemed peaceful like a still sea, and she, like Saturn, was quite the lethe figure as opposed to Uranus who had quite a bit of muscle. She didn't have any visible scars, but the turquoise insignia of Neptune was on her forehead.
The last woman just gave off a generally mysterious and serious aura that was kind of off putting. The emerald haired woman seemed to be boring holes into Selene with her piercing magenta eyes and the matching magenta insignia of Pluto on her forehead. She, like the blonde, had a few scars on her visible skin.
All three of them were wearing outfits similar to Saturn. They were all wearing the armour pieces with grecian styled robes over top that were pinned with the silver crests of their respective planets. Pluto was wearing dark green armor and black robes, Uranus was wearing golden armor with navy blue robes, and Neptune was wearing silver armor with turquoise robes.
"What are you guys doing here?" Saturn asked with a smile as she stood to greet her fellow senshi and friends.
"We felt bad that you have to come to the Lunarian archives alone all the time, so we decided to come and join you since we have the day off," Sailor Pluto said, a smile gracing her face and somewhat killing her off putting aura, as the three reached the table and exchanged hugs with Saturn.
"So you must be the pretty Lady of the Archives Saturn has told us so much about," Uranus said teasingly and Selene was glad she was wearing enough foundation that the blush that rose to her face wouldn't be that obvious, and she could see that Saturn was blushing out of the corner of her eye. She also caught Saturn socking Uranus in the shoulder hard enough to make the blonde yelp.
"Well, I don't know about all of that, but I am Lady Amarynthia of the Royal Archives. You must be Princess Uranus," Selene said politely and held out her hand for Uranus to shake with a slight bow of her head.
"Well, I've begun to go by Sailor Uranus these days. I've assumed that we won't be needing the titles of Princess at our new jobs," Uranus said with a smile and shook Selene's hand. Selene moved and greeted both Neptune and Pluto before sitting back down at the table, now between Neptune and Saturn.
"So, I hear that you guys will be coming to the wonderful Lunar Kingdom tomorrow. Are you excited?" Serenity asked and the senshi looked between each other with small smiles and a few shrugs.
"Well, we are all going to miss our homes, you know, but...our other life alternative as princesses that weren't heirs to the throne were to be pawns in alliances that would be formalized through marriage. In the end, being a senshi beats being married off to go knows who," Pluto said and Selene blanched.
"That's...a bit morbid, I'm sorry," Selene said and Neptune shook her head with a small laugh.
"We're sorry, Lady Amarynthia, we do tend to have darker senses of humor and poke fun at tougher subjects. I'm sorry if she made you uncomfortable," Neptune said and Selene shook her head no.
The next few hours passed pleasantly. Although Selene and Saturn were the only ones doing any real studying, Selene had liked being in the company of the four senshi. Even when they were recounting a story or poking fun at each other, things Selene didn't really partake in as she didn't know three of them that well, she still enjoyed listening. She felt the five of them had connected in the few hours at the archives and she was happy for it. Maybe when they met for real soon it would be easier since they knew her.
"Hey," Selene heard behind her and jumped when she saw an extremely tall Jovian woman standing behind her. "Let's go, you're late for the meeting King Cronus called yesterday for all the senshi to attend."
The Jovian woman was quite beautiful with her piercing green eyes, brown hair that had a few braids in it and was pulled into a low ponytail, and she was wearing the same clothes as the other senshi were wearing, but her armor was silver like Neptune's and her robes were a pretty green color that was lighter than Pluto's. She had the silver crest of Jupiter pinning some of her robes and the green insignia of Jupiter on her forehead.
"Shit, sorry," Saturn said as she stood up along with the other senshi that had previously sat around the table, panicking as she tried to pick up all her information chips. "We're coming."
"Hey, I've got them," Selene said gently as she stood up and grabbed the chips out of Saturn's hands and put them next to her own before turning to address all the senshi she had been sitting with. "Thank you for keeping us company, today. Safe travels, and I hope we get to see each other for real tomorrow."
"Bye, Thia, and I will make sure to come and find you," Saturn said and then smirked behind her. "And I guess I'll bring those losers with me."
"Rude," Uranus said playfully before she pulled a giggling Selene into a side hug. "Stay sharp, we'll come find you tomorrow."
"Goodbye, Lady Amarynthia, it was lovely to meet you, and I look forward to seeing you tomorrow," Neptune said and gave Selene a small bow before Pluto stepped forward and held out her hand with a smile.
"It's been our pleasure, Lady Amarynthia," Pluto said, and Selene shook the princess' hand and watched as she joined the now complete group that was the five outer senshi. They seemed to chat for a moment before all five left to go upstairs and warp to wherever their meeting was.
Selene sighed and sat back down, tomorrow was going to be a long day.
….
Selene was two seconds from losing all of her marbles.
"Princess Serenity, are you okay?" Naru asked tentatively as the two walked down the hallway towards Queen Serenity's dining chambers for breakfast. Naru knew what an annoyed Selene looked like, and she saw all the signs clear as day on the petite woman's face. She had the pulled back ears, the small crease in between her eyebrows just below her crescent moon, the signature, patented Selene scowl, and with how tightly she was gripping the moon wand in her hands told Naru everything.
"I'm just...stressed," she said a bit tersely, realizing how tense she was and relaxing her face and her hands. "However, if one more person tells me happy birthday, I'm going to lose my marbles."
"Happy birthday, Princess!" two servants said happily at the same time, giving Selene a quick bow. The two moved along their way, leaving Selene with a severely annoyed look and Naru to roll her eyes.
"I'm so sorry you're upset about your birthday, Selene," Naru said sarcastically and a small smile broke out on the taller woman's face as she rolled her eyes.
"You're the worst, you know that?" Selene asked Naru playfully as the girl moved to open the dining hall door for Selene.
"Of course, Your Highness, who else would want to spend time with you?" Naru said and Selene's mouth dropped in offense when she opened the door. Selene quickly shut her mouth and replaced it with a graceful smile as she stepped into the dining hall.
"Your Majesty, Queen Consort Galaxia, Consort Dowager Hallah, I would like to present Crown Princess of the Silver Millennium, Princess Serenity," Naru said as she followed Selene in and bowed, Selene following, but just bowing with her head as opposed to Naru, who was bowed at the waist.
Selene didn't have time to raise her head before she was crushed in a tight hug. Selene felt her lungs get crushed as she felt herself get picked up off the ground, and twirled around. So, she was dizzy and even she, who needed almost no air to breathe, was struggling to get anything into her lungs.
"Look at my little Moonbeam!" Galaxia said loudly, making it obvious in her voice that she either is crying or was crying at some point. "She's all big and grown up! Ready to take on the world and do what she was born to!"
"I know!" Serenity said loudly, crying also if the tears that were soaking Selene's dress were anything to go by. "I don't think I'm ready for my little Moonbeam to be all grown up and go out into the world to make her own path!"
"Um.." Selene said from where she was being smothered by her distraught mothers and their tears. "I'm not really going anywhere, moms...I can't leave the palace, Luna won't let me…"
"Girls, girls," a woman said and Selene thanked her lucky stars when she saw her Grandma Hallah come around the table with a bright smile on her face as she looked at Selene. "I'm not ready to lose my only grandchild to the next life, let her breathe."
Selene was grateful when both of her mothers released her and instead looked down at her lovingly with their tear streaked faces, her grandmother joining the fray as well. Selene smiled at them all from where she was sitting on the floor with Hallah kneeling down to be on their level also.
"We know you aren't going anywhere, Moonbeam...but it's just kind of weird to think about everything that's changing around here now that you're of age. You're going to be second-in-command of the entire Alliance, you're going to be a diplomat, and a true princess. Not to mention Sailor Moon and the wielder of The Legendary Silver Crystal," Serenity said excitedly, wiping the tears from her eyes, and Selene grimaced.
"Thanks for the reminder," Selene mumbled.
She wasn't exactly against her birthday, but she also wasn't extremely excited. She had been assisting in the affairs of state and military since she could speak. She's even brokered a trade deal mostly by herself, but now she has to deal with the responsibility she didn't really have to deal with before. There was no real falling back on her mothers for support, and now others were looking to her for guidance and help.
"What's with the long face, Moonbeam?" Galaxia said, her smile faltering as she looked at the look on Selene's face.
"Well...It's just that I'm a little scared about what all of this really means. Before now, all I had to do was stand around, look pretty, and be a warrior, but now...now I have to make decisions, plan balls, lead the Lunarian court, make and oversee peace treaties, lead armies...I don't think that i can do it," Selene said as she pulled her legs to her chest.
"I've got this," she heard Galaxia say quietly before she felt an arm wrap around her and someone, probably Galaxia, pull Selene into her side. Selene looked up at her mom who was looking down at her with love and understanding.
"You know what I had to do before I married your Mama, Moonbeam?" Galaxia asked and Selene shook her head no as Selene looked up at her mom. "Well, Moonbeam, all I had to do was roam aimlessly around the universe, and beat the shit out of things. Then, I had to formally marry your mother and become the Queen Consort, and become a General, and rage wars against empires that threatened my people, manage the court while you were young, deal with Alliance politics, and more."
"How did you do it? Go from working by yourself to working on behalf of the Alliance and the trillions of people that live here?" Selene asked and she almost punched her mom when the ombre haired, golden eyed woman just shrugged.
"I don't really know. As I stood up on that altar, I was petrified. I thought that I had gone insane, and that your Mama had gone insane for wanting to marry me as opposed to someone who, I don't know, knew how to run this place, but...I knew in my heart that this was what I was meant to do, that I ended up exactly where I'm meant to be. Whether it made sense or not, I knew I was doing the right thing by following my heart, and if I did, with your Mama, that I could do just about anything."
"...Do you think I can do it?" Selene asked and Galaxia chuckled.
"Of course," Galaxia said as Serenity came to sit on Selene's other side. "We both think you're going to do amazingly."
"Um, Queen Serenity, Princess Serenity, Queen Consort Galaxia, and Consort Dowager Hallah, I hate to break up this moment, but your food is getting cold and we have a tight schedule to keep. All of you have to be at a very important private ceremony very soon."
Selene looked up at Luna, the head of her staff and her head advisor, who was gesturing at the table where the food was set out and the chef and an assistant were kind of looking at each other with confusion.
"Lady Luna is right my dears," Hallah said as she stood up with the help of one of her handmaidens that had rushed over to help her. "We have a big day ahead of us, and to do that we need to get some food in our stomachs."
Galaxia pushed herself to her feet, and helped Serenity to hers along with one of Serenity's handmaidens. Hallah and Naru helped get Selene to her feet, trying to keep her white dress clean and intact. Naru started fixing Selene's tiara, and then the white wing hair clips in her hair, and then made sure that the white ball gown she was wearing fell like it was supposed to, and Selene finally pushed her hand away when Naru went for the giant bun on the back of her head where all her hair had been piled.
"Naru, I'm fine, I look fine," Selene said and Naru gave her a look before escorting Selene to her seat at her mother's left side, next to Luna.
Breakfast went well, although Selene participated significantly less than she normally would. Hallah and Serenity spoke a bit about stories from Serenity's childhood, Galaxia told a few stories from her travels, and Luna, Artemis, Galaxia, and Selene all spoke about their experiences on Mau and with Sailor Mau. Selene laughed and spoke when appropriate, but her heart wasn't in it. She was too worried about what came next.
"Your Majesty, it's time," Luna said and the table immediately became more serious as all eyes landed on Selene and her mother.
"Thank you, Luna," Serenity said and stood, Selene following her mother's lead and standing as well. "Follow me, Princess Serenity."
Selene dutifully followed her mother out of the dining hall, her head bowed and her hands gripped tightly around the moon wand. The pair walked through the empty halls of the Silver Millennium silently until they reached the throne room where two royal guards were stationed. They were the only two other people that Selene had seen, which just made everything way more ominous than it already was.
The two guards opened the doors for the two women to pass through before quickly shutting the large white doors behind them. Selene looked around at the familiar throne room that seemed even more regal and imposing under the circumstances. It was a large, open marble room that had swirling silver symbols and shapes inlaid in the floor. There were large marble columns to the sides for decoration with silver silk wrapped around them. They looked like they held up the glass ceiling that gave way to the brilliant starry sky. The other windows had been pushed open to let a gentle, artificial breeze in that caused the sheer white curtains to wave gently.
Selene sighed and relaxed a bit as she and Serenity walked towards the raised platform where four thrones were sitting. The platform had two levels, the first part of the platform was up a few steps and on either side were wide silver thrones, both with an opal carved moon insignia on top, and those were the thrones for the heir and their spouse. Up a few more steps was the tallest point of the platform, where two magnificent marble and golden thrones sat proudly, a golden carved moon insignia on top of them. Off to the sides up on small platforms were eight more plain thrones with each of the planetary symbols where the senshi would sit.
Selene and Serenity walked up to the top of the platform and through two big wide doors that Selene had always been told she wasn't allowed through. Selene's eyes widened when she walked into the domed room with a giant chunk of crystal sitting in the center and a pedestal sat right in front of it.
"Welcome to the Chamber of Prayer, Selene. This is where the Crystal Tower is housed and where the holy sword, the weapon of the leader of the senshi, is kept. This room protects us, and, should something terrible befall the kingdom, all you need to do is pray to the tower and it shall lend you its power," Serenity said before pausing and taking the necklace that had the Silver Crystal on it. "This place is also where, for centuries, the Silver Crystal has been passed down from generation to generation...I'm proud to say that you and I will continue this tradition."
Selene nodded and handed the Moon Wand to her mother and bowed at the waist before her mother.
"Princess Serenity, today I bestow you with the Legendary Silver Crystal as the Heir to the Silver Millennium, and all the responsibility that comes with wielding this power," Serenity said as she clasped the Silver Crystal around Selene's neck. "I also bestow upon you new powers to channel and protect this power with. I bestow upon you the Moon Rod and the Crystal Star transformation broach."
Selene stood back up straight and clipped the broach on the bow that was in the top of her sleeveless white gown and gripped the Moon Rod with both of her hands and looked up at her mother, the fear she felt probably clear in her eyes.
"Oh, my dear Moonbeam," Serenity said softly as she placed her hand on Selene's cheek. "Everything has changed…"