Ta da!! The first chapter of Sailor Moon: Destiny is now up! I hope that you enjoy this exciting installment and look forward to next week's. PLease read and review!

-SXS

Forks in the Timeline; Usagi's Future Unclear

"Usagi-chan!! Hurry or we'll be late for school!!"

Still exhausted, I ran down the stairs and snagged my lunch from the table in the kitchen. On the way out the door, I slipped into my shoes and grabbed my bookcase. There outside my gate was Minako, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Can you be any slower? Come on before it's too late." Then we were off and running.

My name is Tsukino Usagi and I'm 17 going on 18. Today is my final day of high school and I will graduate. Soon, my destined future will become a reality. Soon, I will become Queen of the world.

Something that nobody but my closest friends know about me is that I was once the princess of the Moon Kingdom during the Silver Millenium. When the Moon Kingdom was destroyed by the Dark Kingdom, the queen of the moon, Queen Serenity, sent us all to Earth to be born again in a future where we could live peacefully.

However, the Dark Kingdom was also reborn and started to attck the people of Earth. That was when I met my destiny and became Sailor Moon, agent and defender of love and justice.

Minako is a sailor senshi too; Sailor Venus. In fact, most of my friends are sailor senshi. We protect the Earth from evil so it can reach the future of Crystal Tokyo, where I will become Neo Queen Serenity. It's a lot of responsibility to know that's on your shoulders, but I can handle it.

I tripped on a crack in the siewalk and flew into Minako who flew into someone's arms. Well...I hope I can handle the future. I got up quickly and saw that Yaten was holding Minako up.

"Oh, Yaten-kun! You saved me!" Minako threw her arms around him.

"Get off! And don't get used to it. It was an accident." Yaten pushed her away and she sulked.

"Ohaiyo, Yaten-kun. Taiki-san. Where's-" I started to say, but then a voice sounded from behind us.

"Oi! Odango!"

"Is he ever going to stop calling you that?" Minako asked.

"It's fine. I don't mind it." Seiya came running up and stopped in front of me. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, panting. He looked up at me and gave me the smile that he saved only for me.

"Sorry I'm late. Come on. Let's go before we get detention on the last day of school." We started walking again. Seiya draped an arm over my shoulder, something he did pretty much everyday. Minako glanced at me and giggled a little. I gave her a confused look and she just shook her head and rolled her eyes.

Seiya, Taiki and Yaten are senshi too, from another planet; Sailor Star Fighter, Star Maker, and Star Healer respectively.

A couple of years back, when we faced Galaxia and the Animamates, the three of them came looking for their lost princess. That's why they became the idol group Three Lights. At the same time, they were fighting side by side with us as the Starlights, though it was a while before we found out who they were. After Galaxia was defeated, the three of them went back to their planet with their princess to rebuild their it. But once it was rebuilt, they decided to come live on Earth to be with us.

A few blocks later, we ran into the rest of our friends. "Ohaiyo, minna!" I called out. Rei, Makoto and Ami stopped and waited for us to catch up.

"Ohaiyo!" they all said. Rei is Sailor Mars, Makoto is Jupiter and Ami is Mercury.

"Usagi-chan, where's Chibiusa-chan?" Ami asked. I thought for a moment and realized that I didn't remember seeing her this morning. Chibiusa usually walked with us, but I was so late getting up this morning.

"She was probably long gone before I was even awake," I replied. "She and Hotaru-chan are always out early."

Chibiusa is my daughter from the future who comes and spends time here with us. When we first met, she was young and mysterious and needed our help to stop the future from being destroyed. Now she stays here to practice being a senshi. She's Sailor Chibi Moon.

Hotaru is Chibiusa's best friend and Sailor Saturn. At first, we thought that she was dangerous and would destroy the Earth. She was also possesed by Mistress 9 but we defeated her evil side and saved Earth.

Hotaru and Chibiusa are the same age so they go to school together.

Just as we were about to turn the last corner to get to our school, someone called out from across the street. "Usako!" I turned and saw Mamoru run over.

"Mamo-chan!" I slipped from under Seiya's arm and gave Mamoru a kiss. "You came!"

"I wouldn't miss my Usako's big day." Then he turned to everyone else. "Ohaiyo, minna," he said. Mamoru is part of the team too; he's Tuxedo Kamen. Whenever we're in a pinch, he rescues us so we can finish a battle. In our past lives, Mamoru was a prince of Earth. Now he's my boyfriend, my sweet love, and in the future, he's King Endymion of Crystal Tokyo.

"Mamoru-san," Seiya nodded, but his expression was stoic.

"Seiya-kun," Mamoru nodded back.

Seiya and Mamoru never got along well. Perhaps it's because of the fact that I am a common denominator between them. They never say more than a few words to each other and they both try to impress me in front of each other and out do each other in front of me.

When Mamoru took my hand to continue the walk to school, Seiya took my other hand. I sighed. They would never learn to get along with each other. They shot quick glares to each other, then looked in the opposite direction. They also glanced at me over and over to see what I was doing. I continued my walk looking straight ahead and ignoring both of them.

We finally made it to the school. Rei had stayed with us because her school had already let out for the summer and she wanted to see us graduate. We all walked to the auditorium. Rei and Mamoru sat a few rows from the front while the rest of us went backstage to prepare for the ceremony.

Once we all had on our caps and gowns, my nerves started to kick in. It wasn't nerves for the ceremony (though there was a good chance I'd trip while going up to get my diploma) but more for the anticipation of what was coming after. That soon I would be queen of Crystal Tokyo and my beloved Mamoru and I would finally be married and we would have our daughter, Chibiusa.

"Are you alright, Odango?" Seiya asked from beside me. We were all sitting in chairs on the stage by now. The curtain in front of us was closed but we could still hear the audience talking excitedly.

"I'm just a little nervous. That's all."

Seiya took my hand. "It's ok. There's really nothing to be worried about." Having my hand in Seiya's made me feel a little calmer so I left it.

Finally, the curtain was raised and the audience cheered. I spotted Mamoru and Rei and waved with my free hand. They waved back. I heard Seiya grunt a little. I wished that he would be less jealous.

Despite the fact that it wasn't Mamoru's fault that he never contacted me when we were fighting Galaxia, Seiya could never forgive him. "He could have telepathically talked to you," he always said. "Just so you weren't worried about where he was." Usually I would just drop the subject. I didn't argue back because...sometimes what he said made some sense.

"Thank you all for coming out today to see our last year students graduate," the principal said. "Their hard work and dedication has brought them here today." I couldn't help but chuckle at myself when he said that. "Before we give out the diplomas, the valedictorian, or should I say valedictorians, would like to give a speech together. Mizuno-san, Taiki-san, it's all yours."

Ami and Taiki went up to the podium and began their speech. I wasn't really listening. I wasn't trying to be rude, but they used a lot of big words and I didn't feel like trying to figure them out. I had someone distracting me anyway.

"Ne, Odango," Seiya poked at me and whispered. "Wanna go for ice cream later? My treat." Ice cream. Always tempting me with something. It was a really hot day...

Just as I was about to agree, something crashed through the wall. The students on the stage were blasted from their seats. Everyone in the audience started screaming. I looked around the auditorium for my friends. Rei and Mamoru we already running out to transform. Yaten, Minako, Taiki, Ami and Makoto were entangled with the rest of the student body.

Seiya and I were lucky enough to be free from the mess of people so we followed Rei and Mamoru. "Everyone ready?" I asked. The other three nodded.

"Fighter Star Power, Make up!!"

"Mars Crystal Power, Make up!!"

"Moon Eternal, Make up!!"
Mamoru took out his rose and became Tuxedo Kamen and then the four of us returned to the auditorium. There where the wall was blown away were two sinister looking figures, back to back.

One of them had dark red hair in a high ponytail that had a gemstone holding it up and some hair falling over one of her blood red eyes. She was wearing a red tank top with a strap on her left shoulder and a strap that went around the left side of her neck and met under her right shoulder. The shirt was cut at a slant on the bottom. She also had on a red mini skirt, black high heels, black fishnet stockings and fingerless gloves.

The one next to her had light blue hair that was short and wavy. One strand fell in her face. Her eyes were an icy blue. She wore a dark blue bra with a blue gemstone in the middle. There was lace on the top and bottom and translucent silk flowed from the bottom and cut off just above her belly button. She had a skirt on that was long and opened to show most of her legs and trailed behind her. On her feet were sandals that tied onto her legs.

"Who are you?" I demanded. The blue one laughed and the red one looked bored.

"Who are we? You don't know? All the universe knows our names!" the blue one said, then laughed again. "Then again, the people of this galaxy are very out of touch with what's going on in their solar system."

"We are soldiers of the two united empires under Nenkaningen-sama! I am a soldier of the Tanjouseki Dynasty, Ganetto," the red one spoke now.

"And I come from the Rekigetsu Empire! I am Juunigatsu! Together we shall defeat you senshi, take over Earth and seek revenge upon it!" Juunigatsu giggled and Ganetto just sighed, disinterested.

"Damn," Fighter said. "They're here already." I looked to her but she wasn't paying attention to me. Did the Starlights know that this was going to happen?

"I don't care what your plans are," I said. "You interupted an important ceremony and for that I can't forgive you. In the name of the moon, I'll punish you!"

"You don't stand a chance," Juunigatsu said. "Koyomi!!" She thrust one of her hands forward and a calendar appeared before her. The pages flipped and stopped. A bright purple light came from the page and filled the auditorium.

I felt two hands grabbed me. Suddenly, the light from the calendar was being pushed back by the light of something else, coming from our direction. No one was using their powers, but we were somehow fighting off the purple light. The calendar disintegrated. Juunigatsu looked distressed and Ganetto looked confused.

"Netto-chan, what was that?!" Juunigtsu turned to her partner in despair.

"Don't call me that! But if I'm not mistaken, that was the talisman." Ganetto looked deep in thought for a moment. "We should return right away." She disappeared in a flash of red.

"This isn't over, sailor senshi!" Juunigatsu called. Then she disappeared in a flash of blue. I turned to the students who were still tangled up on the stage. The others looked to us with concerned expressions. I motioned to them to meet us outside and they nodded.

Once everyone was outside the school, we started to discuss the situation. "More enemies?" Minako asked, exasperated. "How could that possibly be? We defeated Chaos. That should have been the end of all evil."

"Apparently not," Ami said. "What were they saying about a talisman?"

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, it was powerful," Seiya said. Then I remembered what he had said earlier.

"You knew about this, didn't you?" He turned to me with a slight blush on his cheeks and chuckled nervously. "Why wouldn't you tell me about something like this?"

Seiya put a hand on my cheek and looked into my eyes. "I didn't want to worry you, Odango." I felt a blush start to creep onto my face. Then Mamoru cleared his throat and Seiya's hand dropped instantly. "Anyway, we didn't know much about it. Princess just told us that there were new enemies planning an attack on Earth and that we should be here."

"As for the talisman," Taiki continued. "She never said anything about it, but we have to find it. It seemed like it was close back there, though. I wonder what triggered it..." I thought back. As soon as Seiya and Mamoru had grabbed me, the light of the talisman began to shine. One of them had triggered it, but which one?

Just then, I heard a small voice call my name. We all turned to see Hotaru running up to us, tears streaming down her face. She was very out of breath and looked as if she would keel over in a second. I put my arms out and she fell into them.

"Take deep breaths, Hotaru-chan," I said. "Now, what's going on?"

Hotaru stayed silent for a few moments just trying to catch her breath. Then she finally spoke. "Chibiusa-chan...I...can't find...her...she's...gone..."

"Nani?!"

--

Two figures walked slowly into the great, round room where their leaders resigned. One flinched and the other kept her face compossed. They came closer but not close enough to see their leader's faces in the shadows.

"Ganetto. Juunigatsu. What is the meaning of this failure?" the one in the middle demanded.

Both girls bowed and Juunigatsu spoke. "We're so terribley sorry, Nenkaningen-sama. But the talisman showed up and-"

"Wait! The talisman?" The one on the right of Nenkaningen had a shocked expression on her face. "How do you know?"

"That's what we came to tell you about," Ganetto said. "We were about to use our Koyomi and the light of the talisman made it turn to dust. If it can do that when it's not even at it's full potential, imagine what else it could do."

"Yes." The one on the left of Nenkaningen smiled. "If we could get to it first, then we could be the most powerful beings ever."

"Not to mention, Rekigetsu, that it would mean that my revenge on the Earth, and the prince and princess, would be even greater." Nenkaningen also smiled. "Tanjouseki," he said turning to his left. "I want you to think of a way we can use a Koyomi to extract a talisman from someone. Rekigetsu, you are to help him." They nodded. "We shall rule yet."

--

Hotaru explained what had happened that morning. "I came to school as usual. I thought it was odd that Chibiusa-chan wasn't there yet but I figured that she must be a little late. But then the first half of the day passed and there was still no sign of her. I was so worried and so I came here to see if she was with you."

"I didn't see her this morning," I said. "What could have happened? She could be lost, or kidnapped. What if the enemy stole her? Oh my God. Where could she be?"

"I think I can answer that," a new voice spoke.

"Setsuna-san!"

"I think you should all come with me. There's something strange going on." Setsuna led us to an alley where Uranus and Neptune were already. When Uranus's and Seiya's eyes met they curtly nodded to each other. They didn't get on well either, but not as badly as Seiya and Mamoru.

"Should we transform?" I asked. Setsuna nodded. "Moon Eternal..."

"Mercury Crystal Power..."

"Mars Crystal Power..."

"Jupiter Crystal Power..."

"Venus Crystal Power..."
"Saturn Planet Power..."

"Pluto Planet Power..."

"Fighter Star Power..."

"Maker Star Power..."

"Healer Star Power..."

"MAKE UP!!!"

Once we were all transformed, Pluto said that we were to teleport to the Time Gates. This gave me a very bad feeling. I was afraid to ask why we were going there, but Maker voiced my question.

"What are we doing, Pluto?" she asked as we walked through the fog toward the gates.

"I've been noticing strange changes when I come to check on the timeline. They weren't major at first, but they didn't stop and soon they were becoming more prominent. Then, when I came today, this is what I saw." We were standing in front of the Time Gates. Pluto waved her staff and the doors opened, showing a strange scene.

The skies were dark, the ground was all rock, but in the distance, you could see a shining city. It looked like Crystal Tokyo. "I don't see the problem," I said.

"Look again." Pluto waved her staff again and now the gates showed the city, but it wasn't made of crystal like my future kingdom. Instead it was made of all sorts of gemstones of all different colors. It was beautiful, until the inside of the castle was shown.

There was a big round throne room with three thrones, each occupied. The faces of the people in the thrones were shadowed but it was obvious that it wasn't me or Mamoru. Chained to the thrones on either side were two people. A woman of small stature and a man. The woman had red hair that looked as if it was once elegant but was now unkempt. The dress she wore was raggedy. The man had short dark hair and was wearing only ripped pants. When they turned, everyone gasped.

"Princess..." the Starlights all said.

"Mamo-chan..." I whimpered.

"Who is that and why is our princess there like a slave?" Fighter demanded.

"That is Nenkaningen," Pluto explained, pointing to the figure in the largest throne in the center. "He recruited the armies of the Tanjouseki Dynasty and the Rekigetsu Empire to work under his command, promising that in the future, they would all rule. They are the most challenging force we've ever met, but mostly because of that." She pointed to something shining from above Nenkaningen's throne.

"That is a talisman, the Kinmotsuai No Tier. It has the power to either destroy Nenkaningen or to aid him to get to this future. No one knows where it is, but we must find it before they do or this will be our future."

"And, Chibiusa-chan..." Saturn had tears in her eyes. Pluto nodded. I started to cry too. To think that there was actually an enemy strong enough to change the future this drastically. It almost happened once with Nehelania, but we stopped her in time. What would happen now that future was so greatly altered before the battles had even begun?

"These timlines are running parallel to each other." Pluto then showed the future with Crystal Tokyo next to the future with the enemies. "The one that will become the true future of our world is still up in the air. It all depends on us. The only thing we can do now is fight. As for finding the talisman, I believe having the Three Lights get together again may help us." The Starlights nodded.

"Wait! Where are we?" Mercury asked. Pluto looked uncomfortable then waved her staff once again. The picture in the gates shifted to a graveyard.

At that point, mostly everyone was tearing. Was this truly our fate? I started to back away and backed into Fighter and Tuxedo Kamen. They both put a hand on my shoulders, then gave each other glares.

"We should go home," Uranus said. Pluto agreed and we teleported back to the alley we came from. We detransformed and stood silently, wondering what to do.

"The only thing we can do is fight," Setsuna said. "Fight for our future." Then she, Haruka, Michiru and Hotaru left. Mamoru and Seiya still had a hold on me.

"Seiya, we should go home," Yaten said.

"We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to find that talisman," Taiki agreed. Seiya looked from me, to them and back again. He seemed to ponder something, then leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek before running off. As he left, I almost thought I saw him turn and smirk at Mamoru. Why Seiya did the things he did was beyond me.

I looked to Mamoru and saw that he was looking appalled. The spot where Seiya kissed me felt hot and the rest of me was blushing. Mamoru swiftly took my hand and we went in the direction of my house after saying goodbye to the girls.

"The nerve of that guy," Mamoru said on the way home. "Kissing you when I'm standing right there."

"That's just what he does, Mamo-chan," I said. "And Seiya is my best friend and I don't care if you don't like him. I do." Mamoru grunted but said nothing else. When we were outside my house, Mamoru gave me a kiss and said goodbye. I waved to him as I watched him disappear down the street.

In my bedroom, I told Luna everything about what had happened. "Luna...Can we beat them? What if we don't find that talisman?"

"I don't know, Usagi-chan, but I wouldn't dwell on it. This is only the first time they have attacked. If the talisman was that close this morning, then it can't be too hard to find." I knew Luna was right, but I couldn't help but worry. The fate of my friends and I, of my daughter, of the whole world all depended on the Kinmotsuai No Tier and no one knew where it was.

So what does everybody think? I really hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for the next chapter. Here's a quick summary:

When Seiya asks Usagi to go to Crown's with him, it seems innocent enough to her; but not to Mamoru. He finds them together and freaks out causing a fight. Who will win? And what are these strange things the bad guys are looking for? Find out next week in Conflict of the Earth and a Star; Seiya and Mamoru's Fight. Ja ne! And remember, destiny is not always set in stone.