SILVER SUN

A Sailor Ranko fanfic
by Jason Heinrich

Based on the Sailor Ranko story and webcomic by Duncan Zillman and Rebecca Heineman. All Sailor Moon characters are owned by Naoko Takeuchi.


CHAPTER 3: THE SEED OF AN IDEA

Angwyn leaned against the window of her quarters, gazing out into the lunar night. Here at the palace she couldn't see the stars as well as she had been able to out at the farm, but at the moment it wasn't the stars that captivated her attention. Lit from within and without, the crystalline and metallic architecture of the capital city gleamed brightly, illuminating the landscape beneath the dome for kilometers. Though waning, the Earth shone brightly overhead, adding its pale blue light to the scenery. "You know," Angwyn commented, "I don't think I'll ever get tired of this view."

"Hmm?" Cytheria glanced up from the magazine she was reading over on Angwyn's bed. They were both waiting for Minerva to arrive for the day's tutoring session. "Oh, the city is beautiful, isn't it? I guess I kind of take it for granted after all these years."

Angwyn raised an eyebrow as she looked at her friend. And Cytheria had become a friend over the last couple of weeks since she had moved into the palace, a fact that Angwyn considered to be infinitely strange, given that the two of them had pretty much nothing in common. Cytheria wasn't just royalty, she was a senshi, while Angwyn was a commoner. Cytheria was a fashion maven, while Angwyn preferred to stick with a simple wardrobe. Cytheria was a huge extrovert and a sometimes embarrassing flirt, while Angwyn, who was friendly and certainly not shy, had always nevertheless preferred to keep to herself. And of course Angwyn was just a teenager, while Cytheria, despite looking to be in her mid-twenties, was – actually, Angwyn had no idea how old her new friend was.

"I, uh, I know this is really rude..."

"How old am I?" Cytheria guessed with a grin.

Angwyn scratched the back of her head in embarrassment. "Um, yeah."

Cytheria paused to think about it. "You know, I'm actually not sure. After a while you stop counting and just enjoy the birthday parties." She sat up. "Funny you should mention it though. Minerva said she was going to review history today, which reminds me of the Asteran Rebellion. That's when I became a senshi, and I was 23 at the time, so that makes me... ugh, I hate math."

Angwyn, on the other hand, had inherited her father's talent with numbers. And everybody knew the year of the rebellion. Her eyes went wide. "Whoa. I guess I always knew that the senshi had been around for a while, and in school we learned that it was Sailor Saturn who stopped the rebellion, but it never really occurred to me that you were there with her."

For just a second Cytheria's face fell at the mention of Sailor Saturn, but she quickly regained her composure. "So how old am I?"

"547."

"Hmm." Much to Angwyn's surprise, Cytheria laughed. "Ha! I've aged pretty well, I'd say," she said, tossing her long blonde hair. "I doubt I look a day over 200!"

Minerva chose that moment to step through the door, to be treated to the sight of two girls giggling madly. "Do I even want to know what you two are going on about?" she asked with a wry grin.

"Just discussing the best cure for wrinkles and gray hair known to date," Cytheria replied. Angwyn snickered again.

"Um, okay." Minerva had no idea why that was so funny, and decided that it didn't matter. She set a small stack of books down on Angwyn's desk then sat lightly on its edge. "So Angwyn, are you ready to get started? We'll be covering History today."

"Told you," Cytheria whispered.

Angwyn suppressed a smirk and shrugged at Minerva. "I suppose I'm as ready as I'll ever be," she replied.

As Angwyn sat down at the desk, Cytheria stood and headed for the door. "Well, this is where I say goodbye. I'll see you both at dinner tonight."

"What, you're not going to stay for the lesson?" Minerva called after her.

"Nah, I've lived through half of what you're going to talk about anyway," she answered. "Have fun!" And with that she was gone.

Minerva shook her head at her teammate and took her seat across from Angwyn at the desk. This would be her second day of tutoring, the day before being used mainly to gauge Angwyn's level of knowledge in the various academic subjects. It was close enough to the end of the school year that Angwyn would have to finish her studies with Minerva, and this suited the senshi just fine. It gave her the flexibility to customize Angwyn's curriculum, which in turn helped her to meet Queen Serenity's directive to prepare the girl in case her magic returned. Today's history lesson would lay the groundwork for that training.

"I reviewed your school curriculum, but why don't you summarize for me what you've learned so far this year in your History class," Minerva began.

Angwyn thought about it. "Well, we covered early human history. We learned about how King Pardius finally united the various tribes on Earth, and how it was his grandson King Markus that initiated the time of exploration and colonization that led to the birth of the Moon Kingdom. Queen Serenity – well, she wasn't a queen back then – Serenity was one of the colonists here on the Moon. She knew magic and became so powerful that she was able to make the magical dome and cause the ground to be able to grow plants.

"The Moon colony got so popular that it became sort of the lead colony of all the colonies, with Serenity as its leader. Eventually the colonies united into the Moon Kingdom and named Serenity as their queen."

Minerva nodded at Angwyn's accurate, if somewhat imprecise, summarization of the founding of the Moon Kingdom. "Can you name the colonies that were the charter members of the Moon Kingdom?"

"Well, all of the planets had outposts, but only the Moon, Mars, and Astera had permanent populations at the time."

"And outside of the Moon, which of the colonies was the largest?" Minerva asked.

"Astera."

"Why was that?"

Angwyn had to think about that one for a second. "It was the only one of the colonies with a really good atmosphere, I think. Mars' atmosphere was breathable, but the planet was smaller and before it was terraformed the air was too thin. Astera was more like Earth, so it was easier to live there. My teacher said that if it wasn't so far away from Earth, it probably would have been even bigger than the Moon colony."

"Good," Minerva acknowledged. "Since we're speaking of Astera, did you cover the rebellion?"

She wants to talk about the rebellion too? Angwyn thought. "No, I think that's at the beginning of next year's History book. We did learn a little bit about it back in middle school history though."

"Tell me what you learned."

"Well, not a whole lot. I do know it was 524 years ago and lasted almost a year. The colonists on Astera didn't want to be part of the Moon Kingdom anymore, I'm not sure exactly why. They rebelled, and when a Moon Kingdom ambassador was killed, we went to war. I know the senshi fought and won many battles, but the Rebellion didn't end until Sailor Saturn destroyed the entire planet."

Minerva sighed as she recalled the events of those dark days so long ago. "That's basically correct, though the 'official' version that they teach in schools is a bit sanitized. Let me tell you the whole story."

Angwyn sat up a little straighter. This sounded like it was going to be far more interesting than the boring lectures she was used to.

"For hundreds of years after the inception of the Moon Kingdom, all of the worlds of the kingdom lived harmoniously, sharing common culture and philosophy, and striving for the common benefit of the entire kingdom. Though it was a thriving colony, Astera was rather remote, and so when the first rumors of unrest and talk of independence reached the court here on the Moon, they were dismissed as just that: rumors. However, the rumors grew rather than fading away, and when Astera recalled their ambassadors from the Moon, we finally realized that they were serious and had turned their back on the rest of the solar system. When our ambassador was killed, it became painfully apparent just how serious they were.

"Serenity traveled to Astera herself to try to make sense of the situation, but she never set foot on the planet."

"Was she fired on?" Angwyn asked.

"No," Minerva answered. "On the contrary, she was welcomed with open arms, and with the governor's deepest apologies over the death of the ambassador. However, she sensed an evil presence clinging to the world itself. She immediately returned to the Moon to meditate on what she had felt."

Angwyn was leaning forward now. This was something they definitely hadn't taught in school, and she listened with rapt attention. "What was it?" she asked.

"It was malevolent being, a non-corporeal creature that had taken over the planet's star crystal as its own. It was..."

"Wait," Angwyn interrupted. "Queen Serenity said I had a star crystal. Planets have them too? What are they, exactly?"

Minerva raised an eyebrow. "You don't know?"

"Well, I know it has something to do with my Spark, but what does that have to do with planets?"

Minerva rubbed her temple as she quickly reformulated her lesson plan. "I'm sorry, I assumed that since you knew of star seeds – Sparks, as you call them – that you knew that they were the kernel of not only all intelligent life, but also of all gravigenetic objects in the galaxy."

Angwyn blinked. "Uh..."

"In other words," Minerva explained, "star seeds are points of interaction between this physical dimension and those above it. Every sentient being has one: it's what marks the difference between a Mau and a regular house cat, for example. In space, under the right conditions, they also act as the gravitational seed around which star or planetary formation begins. Thus the name 'star seed.'"

"I see," Angwyn said, unconvincingly. "So when you say dimensions, you mean like in Invaders from the Fifth Dimension?"

"NO," Minerva said. "That show is pure fiction, as are parallel realities and pocket universes. There's never been any scientific evidence to indicate that they exist. No, I'm referring to the physical dimensions of our own universe. As you know, we exist in three dimensions: length, width, and height. Scientists who have studied star seeds have confirmed the existence of at least two additional spatial dimensions, and speculate that there may be several more."

"Wow," was all that Angwyn could say.

Minerva continued, "Anyways, I was going to point out that certain people are able to use their star seeds to access and manifest the energy and physics of those higher dimensions within our own plane of existence. We call this magic. Under extreme stress, such as in the center of a planet's core or when an extraordinary amount of power is pulled through it, the star seed will crystallize. This magnifies the crystal's ability to channel power exponentially."

Angwyn creased her forehead as she tried to keep up with Minerva's explanation. "So this creature took over Astera's star crystal and that made it really powerful?"

Minerva nodded. "Exactly. It used its power to manipulate the minds of the Asterans to rebel against the queen. It needed an army. See, it was only using Astera and its citizens to achieve its true goal: it was after the most powerful crystal in the solar system."

"Queen Serenity's Silver Crystal," Angwyn breathed.

"Yes. When the entity's attempt to lure Serenity to Astera failed, it launched a full invasion of the Moon. The royal navy was able to repel the first attack, but could make no further progress against the Asteran forces. Concerned that the entity might try to control the other planets' crystals, and in dire need of an advantage to end the conflict quickly, Serenity decided to use the entity's own tactics against it. She chose eight women, trusted members of the royal houses whom she felt could bear the responsibility, and bound their star seeds to the crystals of the eight remaining planets."

Angwyn watched Minerva in awe as the woman rose from her chair and raised her arm, a small wand appearing in her hand. "MERCURY PLANET POWER, MAKE UP!" she cried, and was bathed in light as she rose into the air and spun around. When her feet touched the ground a moment later, Sailor Mercury stood before Angwyn, fists on her hips. She gestured to her blue-skirted uniform. "This is what we became: empowered by the planets themselves, we were the Queen's elite warriors, her Sailor Senshi. Together with the royal navy, we were able to steadily push back the Asteran forces. Battles were fought and won, Asteran insurrectionists on the other colonies were stopped, and within a few months we had blockaded Astera itself. But that's where our successes stopped. Any regular forces we sent down to the planet were subjugated by the entity, and the shear number of people the entity controlled made attacks by the few senshi ineffective. And ultimately nothing we did mattered anyway, since the entity had bound itself to the planet's star crystal and there was no way to remove it."

Mercury looked at her gloves and started pacing slightly. "Sailor Saturn was the first of us to point out that the only way to remove the entity from our solar system was to destroy the planet itself. I know the idea had occurred to at least a few of us, but Saturn was the first to vocalize it. Of course Serenity was totally against the plan, objecting to the loss of life, but the other Outers backed up Saturn, pointing out that the populace of Astera was brain-dead anyway, and beyond help by that point." She paused and sighed. "One thing we didn't learn until later was that Saturn knew she possessed the power to do the deed, and had in fact been restraining the urge to let it out on more than one occasion."

Mercury abruptly stopped pacing and sat down. "Eventually the queen admitted that Saturn's plan was the only way to truly achieve victory. I was on the bridge of the battle cruiser that dropped Saturn onto the planet, along with all the other senshi and even Serenity herself. I think we were all hoping for a miracle: that Saturn could call out her attack and then jump back into the dropship and get off the surface before the planet exploded." She hung her head. "That wasn't meant to be. The entity launched an all-out attack on Saturn the moment she landed, but they never stood a chance. She simply spoke her final attack and lowered her Silence Glaive.

"I'll never forget what happened next, and I pray that I never have to see it again. A massive wave of Holy magic washed across the entire world. I can't really describe it; it was like an unbearably brilliant blackness that swept the surface of the planet clean. But it didn't stop there: when the magic came back together on the opposite side of the planet, it plunged straight down into the core. Astera had always been a little unstable tectonically, and the strain of Saturn's attack was too much. The world shattered into millions of pieces, and the war was finally over."

With a brief flare of light and a flurry of ribbons, Mercury reverted back into Minerva. She looked haunted by the retelling of her story, and the weight of over 500 years seemed to drag down her shoulders. "Every single one of us was overwhelmed by the carnage we had just witnessed and the loss of our friend, but none took it harder than Queen Serenity. You see, that first Sailor Saturn was her daughter."

Angwyn's chin, which had been resting in the palm of her hand, slipped and nearly hit the desk. "WHAT? She had a daughter before Princess Pandia?"

Minerva shook her head. "She wasn't her birth daughter. The girl's family were close friends of the queen, descendants of some of the original settlers, with whom Serenity had grown up. Serenity adopted her after her parents were both killed in an accident."

Angwyn's eyes fell to the the table as all her energy seemed to drain away. Minerva glanced at her in concern as the teenager mumbled something under her breath. Minerva had to play it back in her head a couple of times before she figured out what Angwyn had said. "Sounds familiar." Minerva winced as she mentally kicked herself. Way to reopen that wound, genius.

Minerva hastily continued, "After Astera, Serenity decided that Saturn's power was too dangerous. She placed a barrier on Saturn's magic, preventing her from awakening the next time she was reincarnated. To this day, nobody, not even the current Sailor Saturn herself, knows who she is."

Angwyn glanced up at her tutor, pondering. "What if she's needed again? I mean, you couldn't have won the Asteran Rebellion without her. What if another enemy comes that can only be defeated by Saturn?"

"I certainly hope it never comes to that," Minerva shuddered. "Queen Serenity only told us that if Saturn was needed, we would know what to do."

"That's kind of cryptic," Angwyn said.

Minerva shrugged. "She can be like that."

"So why are you telling me all this?" Angwyn asked. "Besides being the most depressing History lesson I've ever had, it doesn't really have anything to do with this year's History book."

"The point, Angwyn, is this," Minerva answered. "At some point it is likely that your magical ability will return. However, since your star seed has crystallized, you may find yourself having to control even more power than before. Sailor Saturn possessed more raw power than all of the rest of the Senshi put together, but she never allowed it to consume her until the very end, when she purposefully sacrificed herself for the love of her queen and her kingdom. You're not Sailor Saturn and you'll never have to contain the enormous energies of life and death, but when the time comes, will you be strong enough to control the gift that you have been given, and not allow it to control you?"

Angwyn sat silently for a moment. Hope and fear tore at each other in her heart: hope for the return of her magic, her mother's legacy; and fear that it could overwhelm her. Finally she answered in a small voice, "I'd like to think so."

Minerva smiled. "Well, you won't be alone. I'll be coaching you in the mechanics of how magic works, and Sailor Jupiter has agreed to be your 'Physical Education' instructor."

Angwyn frowned. "PE? Why her?"

"Jupiter is our expert in hand-to-hand combat. Specifically, she's a martial arts master, and nothing will help you to learn control over your own body and spirit better then martial arts. Who knows, perhaps any increased self-awareness you gain may be the key to help you rediscover your magic."

Angwyn shrugged. "Maybe. You got any other surprises for me?"

Minerva was a bit taken aback by Angwyn's suddenly cool demeanor, but decided to let it slide. "No, that's it for this afternoon. Why don't you freshen up, and I'll see you at dinner. Don't forget, the queen's expecting us in the dining hall at 5 o'clock sharp."

Angwyn quietly groaned. She hadn't forgotten. Everyone who lived in the palace dined with the court once a week, and tonight was her turn, along with the Inner Senshi and dozens of other lords, ladies, and assorted nobles. She just wished the queen would forget for one week. This was only her third time at the royal dinner, and already she found them dreadfully boring.

Minerva had collected her things and was about to open the door to leave when Angwyn suddenly remembered a question that had popped into her head earlier in the lesson. "Hey, wait!" she called out.

Minerva glanced back with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"During your story you kept referring to the enemy creature as 'the entity.' Did it have a name?"

Minerva's other eyebrow went up. "Actually, yes it did, but it hasn't been spoken in hundreds of years."

Angwyn's curiosity was piqued. "Why's that?"

Minerva turned around and leaned against the door. A small smile graced her lips. "It's silly, really. People believed that if they spoke the creature's name, it would return in vengeance and destroy the Moon Kingdom." She shrugged. "It was a bunch of superstitious nonsense, but people will believe what they want, I suppose."

"So you wouldn't mind telling me?"

Minerva paused, then laughed. "You know, I've been so set in the habit of not speaking its name – out of respect to others, of course – that part of me still rebels against saying it out loud." She laughed again and reached back for the door.

"Its name was Metalia."


Beryl leaned against one of the walls of her little "youma factory" and observed with satisfaction as two of her nursery youma concentrated on a dense ball of life energy hovering between their hands. With a final contraction, the yellow glowing orb flashed with light, leaving a small yellow crystal in its place. The smaller of the two youma deftly caught it as it fell between the two of them.

Her satisfaction grew as the larger youma placed her hands over the crystal and began muttering an incantation, focusing the magic that would imprint upon the crystal exactly what this new youma would become. Finally, after a couple of minutes she grew silent and withdrew her hands. The smaller youma turned and presented the crystal to Beryl, who took it and examined it for a moment before handing it back with an approving nod.

Next to the three of them sat a large ball of sticky mud, nearly clay-like in its consistency. The smaller youma carefully set the crystal directly on the center of the ball, then stood back. For a moment nothing happened, then abruptly the crystal sank into the gray surface. For a second the sphere glowed the same yellow color as the crystal, and with a hiss and a crackle the surface of the new youma egg hardened into a stone shell.

"Good," Beryl praised the two youma. "Take this egg to the new hatchery chamber, then you may go rest and feed. The patrol will not be back with more energy for a couple of hours yet."

"Thank you, Lady Beryl," the youma said. Bowing, they turned and wheeled the egg down the passageway to the hatcheries. Beryl watched them go, pleased with the progress she had made in only a few weeks. Now that her nursery youma were able to create new eggs without her assistance, she would be free to focus on the next phase of her plan. The new infiltrator youma, of which the just-created egg would be the first, would fill an important role in that plan.

Born of the earth, the initial worker youma that Beryl had created had proven to be remarkably efficient burrowers, carving out this series of tunnels and chambers under an unassuming farm just on the outskirts of her village. The owners of the farm had been old and reclusive, with no known family, so Beryl knew they wouldn't be missed. The couple had provided the energy necessary for one of her first harvester youma.

Few people in the village questioned or even noticed the disappearance of that "invisible" segment of their society, the vagabonds and the homeless. Beryl had known, however, that if she wanted to keep her little army-building operation a secret, she would need to invent new means of collecting the energy that she needed. The harvesters were her answer. Disguised as humans, they would mingle with the residents of the village, leaching energy off of anyone nearby. It wasn't nearly as efficient as just sacrificing a human and extracting the raw energy from their blood, but it was infinitely more subtle, and ultimately just as effective. In fact, with over a hundred youma now under her command, Beryl was already starting to wonder how much longer she could hide her operation. Metalia's little mind control trick helped fend off the few people who noticed unusual activity at the old farm, but Beryl's youma army was reaching the limit that could be sustained by the village's population. Already, most of the energy harvested went to feed her existing youma, and each new youma she created decreased the supply that much more. And she couldn't harvest much more from the village without people starting to notice.

Beryl mood turned and she frowned as she considered her options. There really was only one. For the time being she would have to relocate her army to the capital. This had the dual advantage of being near her new office in the palace as she served there as her district's representative, and of being the location of the largest source of human life energy on the planet. Unfortunately, it also put her magically-created youma uncomfortably close to the few magically-sensitive people on Earth. She knew that it was a necessary risk for the near future, but given the size of the army that she intended to create, it would only be a matter of time before they were discovered. What she really needed was some place where thousands of youma could live and hide completely hidden from discovery, yet able to emerge in any location for harvesting and eventually attack. Sort of like that ridiculous program from the Moon, she thought. 'Invaders from Another Dimension' or something. Is that even possible? Beryl mentally shrugged. She wasn't thrilled with the idea, but she figured she would have to ask Metalia about opening a portal to a parallel world. Unbidden, a familiar chill ran down her spine. She decided the question could wait.


The next day, Beryl stood in an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of Adalandis, the capital city of Earth, accompanied by a disguised harvester youma that she had named Marquet for this trip. She would have preferred to bring her new infiltrator, which traded the harvesters' ability to store life energy for a much lower, nearly undetectable magic signature, but the youma wouldn't hatch until tomorrow.

Beryl beamed at her dusty surroundings with satisfaction. "It's perfect!" she declared.

Marquet didn't see how this warehouse was any different from the previous six that they had visited, but she didn't question Beryl's judgment. She had learned quickly in her admittedly short life that while Beryl generally treated her youma well, you didn't want to get on her bad side. Two of the original worker youma had discovered that the hard way when Beryl had announced her intention to switch energy collection methods from sacrifices to the less efficient harvesting. When the youma had voiced their disagreement with the plan, they received a dramatic demonstration both of Beryl's temper, and of her magical aptitude. There was very little dust left when she was finished with them.

"Yes, this will do nicely," Beryl said, bringing Marquet's attention back to the present. She had crouched down by a hole in the floor, and was rubbing some dirt between her fingers. "This soil is ideal for creating youma, and that stream outside will provide us plenty of water. Plus, those trees on the other side of the stream will provide the perfect cover so we can come and go as we please." She rubbed her hands on her trousers, and her grin became almost manic. "As soon as this court session is over, we'll bring the workers and they can start excavating!"

Marquet glanced out one of the high windows of the warehouse at the sinking sun. Choosing her words carefully, she said, "It is... fortunate that you found such an ideal location for our new home, My Lady. Especially since there are only a couple of hours remaining before the opening reception of this court session."

Beryl blinked, and followed Marquet's gaze out the window. "Ah, indeed. It wouldn't do to be late to my first official function now, would it?" She glanced down at her outfit, soiled from hours of tromping through old warehouses. "And I certainly can't allow my dear Endymion to see me like this!" Her eyes lost focus for a moment as she daydreamed of the handsome prince.

With a shake of her head, Beryl came back to reality. Turning on her heel, the new representative strode out of the warehouse and began making her way back to the center of the city, where the palace and governmental complex stood. Marquet had to hurry to keep up.

Two hours later, as the sun slipped below the horizon, Beryl strode confidently into the atrium of the palace's grand ballroom, where she was met by a young soldier in formal dress, filling the role of doorman. She handed him her invitation, and after scanning it briefly, he returned the card. "Welcome, Lady Beryl," he said. "May I take your coat?"

"Yes, thank you," Beryl replied, shedding her outer garment. She was pleased by the rather obvious double-take the young man made when her gown was revealed. "Revealing" was a good word for it. Made of a lightweight silky material, its plunging neckline and form-fitting cut left little of Beryl's figure to the imagination. In addition, the deep black fabric seemed to absorb light, causing her auburn hair to appear practically aflame in comparison. As she moved, points of light would reflect from within the blackness of the fabric, giving the impression of stars in space, as if this one dress – and the woman wearing it – contained all the secrets of the universe.

Grinning at the doorman's disconcertion, Beryl stepped into the ballroom. As cute as the young soldier was, her prey was much higher up the food chain. It was time to introduce herself to the court.


Angwyn was somewhere dark and cold. "Hello?" she called out, but her voice sounded empty somehow, as if the darkness had swallowed the sound as soon as it had left her lips. She tried to walk, but her legs didn't seem to want to move. "Is anybody there?" she called again.

Surprisingly, someone answered. "You're not royalty. You can't use magic. What makes you think you're worthy of living in the palace?" Angwyn spun around to see Queen Serenity, her arms crossed and a frown on her face.

"But you said..."

"It doesn't matter," Mercury interrupted. "She wouldn't be able to control her magic anyway."

"Hmph," said Jupiter, looking out the window. "She's nobody. Now my old boyfriend, HE was a mage second to none!"

Venus looked at Angwyn sadly. "I thought you were my friend? You can't even light a little candle."

Tears streamed down Angwyn's cheeks. "But I can! I know I can, you just have to give me more time!"

"It's too late anyway," said a familiar voice, and she turned back toward the queen to see her mother standing there. "You weren't strong enough or fast enough to save us." Her father stood beside Cara, his skin horribly burned, and a scowl of disapproval on his face.

A light shone out of the darkness behind her, and as she turned to see what it was, Cytheria answered her mother, "It's no wonder. How can she be expected to save anyone without pants?"

Angwyn gasped as she realized she could feel a draft on her legs. Looking down, she gasped again to see the short pleated skirt of a senshi uniform, colored a bright crimson to go with her hair. She looked up at the source of the light. Hovering before her was a walnut-sized bipyramidal crystal, brilliant and clear save for streaks of red and yellow that never seemed to stay in one place. Instinctively knowing that it was her star crystal, she reached out for it, but was forced to draw back and shield her eyes as it flared with light. Its brilliance quickly became overwhelming, growing brighter and brighter until it was as if the Sun itself was directly before her.

Suddenly, an idea struck Angwyn and she spun around to face her naysayers. Silhouetted by the Sun, she raised her hands, and flames leapt from her fingertips. "Ha!" she cried in triumph. "My magic is back! I do have the power!"

"But you still can't control it," Minerva said quietly.

"What do you mean?" Angwyn retorted. "Of course I –" She stopped as she realized that the flames had started to burn her gloves. Frantically, she attempted to brush the fire out, but that just knocked sparks onto her skirt. Within seconds her entire uniform was ablaze. As her hair erupted into flames she screamed out in terror–

And sat bolt upright in bed, her heart pounding. With a shuddering breath she pulled her legs up, resting her chin on her knees. Not again, she thought, as she slowly rocked back and forth. Stupid dream.

Behind her, unnoticed, her bracers hung from the bed post, glowing faintly.


A couple of hours later, Angwyn sat at her favorite spot in the overlook park, gazing absently at the city as the rising sun shone its amber rays through the crystal spires. It was the first time she'd been there since her birthday, and she was finding that it wasn't as comforting as she had hoped. Cytheria sat next to her, unrecognizable to anyone around them, as she had used a disguise pen to avoid the paparazzi. While her presence was required – Queen Serenity had insisted that Angwyn have an escort any time she was outside of the palace grounds – Cytheria accompanied Angwyn primarily as a friend.

"So I take it this wasn't the first time you've had this nightmare?" she asked.

Angwyn shook her head. "This is the third night in a row, ever since Minerva gave me that little history lesson." She rubbed her eyes. "I'm starting to get afraid to go to bed."

"To be honest," Cytheria said, "it doesn't sound that terrible. Granted, it's been a while since I had a nightmare, but I think some of mine have been worse."

"Try burning alive for three nights in a row, then tell me that," Angwyn retorted.

Cytheria was silent for a moment before asking, "So are you really that concerned about being able to control your magic when it returns?"

Angwyn considered the question for a moment before answering. "I don't know. I mean, I figured it would come back gradually and I'd have a chance to get used to it, but I don't know that for sure." She sighed. "And I was so excited when she told me that she thought I'd get my magic back." She sat in silence for a short while before turning to Cytheria. "How do you do it?"

"Do what, control my magic?"

Angwyn nodded. "You have an entire planet powering your senshi abilities. Doesn't it ever get hard to contain it all?"

Cytheria glanced around to make sure no one could overhear before answering Angwyn's question. "Not really. To be honest, I've not really thought about it. The senshi powers have just come naturally as I've needed them. If anything, they're a bit stingy. I don't know how many times more power would have been useful."

"But Sailor Saturn demonstrated that a planet's power can fuel some pretty awesome attacks," Angwyn pointed out.

"True. But now that you mention it, Saturn was the only one of us who ever had to limit her power. Perhaps the magic that Queen Serenity used to create the Senshi acts as a dam of sorts, and limits the amount of power we can use."

"Maybe. Or maybe not." Angwyn was starting to become more animated now, as she applied some of her father's engineering knowledge to the question at hand. "Minerva said that magic came from higher dimensions, or something like that." Cytheria shrugged, so Angwyn plowed on. "Maybe the planet doesn't provide the power, but acts more like a capacitor. It buffers the energy and only allows it out at a fixed rate. So the best way to control the flow of energy would be to not even try, but to let the planet do it for you..." She trailed off, staring at the rising Sun. "I wonder if she'd go for it," she said to herself, biting her lip.

Cytheria looked sharply at her young charge. Five hundred years of observing people and their behavior led her right down Angwyn's train of thought. "You can't be serious," she said. "All of the planets are taken!"

Angwyn continued to look into the sunrise. "Minerva said that everything that's held together by gravity has a star crystal at its core. So it wouldn't have to be a planet..."

"Queen Serenity is not going to make you a senshi," Cytheria declared, but Angwyn wasn't listening.

"Sailor Sun," the redhead whispered, as if trying the name on for size.

"NO," Cytheria huffed, trying to ignore the little voice in the back of her head that was cheering for a new teammate. Lowering her voice, she continued, "Look, even if the queen did agree to make you a senshi, which she won't, you can't be the senshi of a star!"

Angwyn frowned. "Why not? It has a star crystal, doesn't it?"

"Yes, but..."

"So what's the problem?"

Cytheria blew her bangs out of her eyes. "Look," she said. With a flick of her wrist, a small wand appeared in her hand. Angwyn recognized it.

"Hey, Mercury had one of those."

Cytheria nodded. "They're all a little different, but each of us has one of these transformation wands. You see this crystal?" She pointed to the orange gem set into the end of the wand. "It's created from a stone from Venus itself. It provides a link directly to the planet. A new senshi needs that link to draw the power necessary for their transformation."

"But not an old senshi, like you?" Angwyn smirked.

"Watch it," Cytheria warned, but there was a twinkle in her eye. It was good to see Angwyn smile again; the girl did it so infrequently. "Yeah, after a while the link between our star crystals and our planets' crystals became strong enough that the wands became unnecessary. But you would need one, and you can't exactly land on the Sun and bring a piece of it home."

"There must be a way," Angwyn said, looking back at the sunrise. "If anyone would know, it would be Queen Serenity." She stood to her feet, and Cytheria joined her, returning the wand to subspace with another flick of her wrist. As they started back down the hill, Angwyn continued, "I'm going to ask her."

Cytheria sighed in resignation. "Good luck with that."


Author's Notes:

This chapter's obscure reference is courtesy of Star Trek Voyager.

Minerva seems awfully sure of herself in regards to alternate realities and pocket universes. I have a feeling that's going to come back to bite her (and the rest of the Moon Kingdom) in the future. Speaking of Minerva, I should point out that while she didn't need the wand, transformation phrase, or light show, she was using them to demonstrate her original Sailor Mercury form to Angwyn. As Venus demonstrated at the end of Chapter 1, centuries of experience has streamlined their transformations considerably.

I know this chapter is rather exposition-heavy, but it's necessary to lay the groundwork for what will come. At this point, Angwyn still has a lot to learn. Things will pick up a little in the next chapter.

Also, welcome to all of you that have added this story to your favorites and watch lists. Knowing so many people are waiting for the next chapter inspires me to get these things finished. I'm still pretty slow, though. :)