Sailor Stardust—Chapter 3

A Sailor Moon Fan Fiction

A knock on the door roused Ren from sleep. She looked at the small digital clock on the coffee table—it was 12:01AM. She had fallen asleep on the couch again, using a book as a pillow. She was supposed to be guarding space at that moment—she should be grateful someone decided to visit so late.

She opened the door to Tsukino Usagi. "Tsukino-chan, what is it?"

"I'm sorry to be calling this late," Tsukino apologized, "but, well, Haruka told me and I…"

"Told you what?"

"That you're Sailor Stardust."

Ren didn't speak for a full five minutes, just stared at Tsukino, standing in her apartment doorway. Ren's father hadn't come home yesterday—probably another project at the office—so they were alone.

"Why would she tell you?" Ren asked.

"We're a team…"

"I'm not going to bite your head off," Ren moved aside and motioned Tsukino inside. "Come in and sit down."

"Thank you, Hoshino-san."

Tsukino sat down on the couch while Ren made them some tea. They sat together on the couch while it steeped, saying nothing.

Tsukino broke the silence: "Were you going to go patrol space tonight?"

"Yes, but I fell asleep," Ren chuckled. "I suppose I should thank you for waking me."

"Would…Galaxia get angry at you for being late?"

Ren froze before she could answer. Galaxia was not cruel, but she did keep a tight schedule. While Ren's tardiness would not cost her much, she had heard that sometimes Scouts had a sense taken away temporarily.

"No," Ren lied, "she won't do anything to me."

"Could I come help you?" Tsukino asked.

"What?" Ren stopped on her way to get the tea.

"I want to come and help you patrol space."

"I don't know…"

"Please?"

Tsukino had gotten up off of the couch and had taken Ren's hand. The other girl's willingness to help shocked Ren a little. No one had ever offered to help her before. Well, sans the first offer the other day to join the Inner Senshi as a team. But this, another to help her in her sacred duty….

"Only if you promise not to breathe a word of this."

"I promise."

"Then forget the tea, let's go."

Both transformed, Sailor Stardust and Moon sat on a large-ish piece of rock that Stardust had stopped in mid-orbit around another object. She tapped her fingers absently on her staff. Sailor Moon sat up straight, legs tucked beneath her, her hands folded on her knees. Stardust didn't know why, but being this close to the other Scout, she saw the resemblance between Tsukino and her Scout double. Of course, Haruka had told her all about the Inner Senshi after she and Michiru had finished telling her about the Earth's impending doom.

It did all make just a bit more sense. Sailor Moon was popular, but the odds that someone would do up their hair in the same style was highly unlikely. Stardust stood up as the space in front of their rock began to shimmer.

"Galaxia," Stardust knelt as her mistress solidified before her.

"Sailor Stardust," Galaxia's face was grim as she looked down on her soldier. "Tell me, my soldier, is your duty difficult? Is it a burden?"

"Never, mistress!" Stardust did not look into Galaxia's eyes—she would not be able to hide her heart, then.

"Then tell me, why were you late tonight? The sun set on the city of Tokyo quite a while ago."

"I…I fell asleep, mistress."

"Did I not grant you the gift of full wakefulness? So that you did not have the problem of sleep to hinder your sacred duty?"

"Indeed you did, mistress."

"Then explain how you could have fallen asleep." This last phrase was not shouted, merely emphasized.

"I…I cannot explain, my mistress."

"Sailor Stardust, as punishment for your behavior, I am taking your eyesight for the next fortnight."

"Yes…mistress."

Galaxia lifted Stardust's chin until the Scout was looking into the kind eyes of her mistress. A small spark, and then Stardust could see nothing. She felt tears prick the corners of her eyes but not fall. This form of punishment would cause her to rely on her other senses to defend the spaces between the other planets. It was a small joke on her mistake with Beryl and the Moon Kingdom: Galaxia was punishing her for both. Stardust would never live down her first and most horrible mistake.

"Sailor Moon," she heard Galaxia address the other Scout, "it is admirable that you wish to help Sailor Stardust in her duty. But it is hers and hers alone. For this night I will allow you to stay with her, but from now on you must stay away from this post."

With those words, she was gone.

"I thought you said that she wouldn't do anything to you!" Sailor Moon put her tender hands on Stardust's shoulders, guiding her into a seated position.

"I know I did," Stardust blinked at the inky blackness that would be her sight for two weeks. "I lied."