The Summer Queen

by Sighned-Anonymous

Steffon Baratheon does not return with a bride for Prince Rhaegar, but Rhaella has an idea. She looks to the Moon for a bride, and the World of Ice and Fire is never the same again. Princess Serenity/Rhaegar Targaryen VERY AU.

5. La Luna

Hello all! Here is the final chapter of The Summer Queen. It's been a whirlwind from start to finish. I started writing this story on April 18, 2018. Thank you so much to all of my readers, reviewers, and everyone who followed this story. Writing it was one of the most enjoyable things I have done this year, and it really got me into a better mental state and made me truly enjoy writing again.

This chapter has been half written for over a month and I finally finished it just before posting chapter four. I sat down to edit this because I wanted it to be complete and I wanted you all to get the next chapter as soon as possible. I love you all.

TW: Miscarriage

---

294.

Mars does not feel fear but Rhaeye does. It is too much, this vision, too much for her mind to handle. Something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong and now she knows exactly what it is. The Sacred Fire has been telling her that something was not in balance but she had thought it was something else, that it could be anything else but this. Rarely is she given visions that do not need interpretation. Rarely does the Sacred Fire speak to her without complicated riddles and whispers of a shadow of death and destruction.

This vision is different. It is exacting. It is the truth without interpretation. The Sacred Fire has spoken, has been speaking even, and Rhaye things it may already be too late.

She has returned. The name that has not been spoken. The Queen will not kneel. The Dark Queen. The Cursed Queen. The uninvited guest.

Queen Nehelenia of the Dark Side of the Moon. Thousands of years ago, the light of the Silver Crystal attracted the darkness. It craved companionship and that is how the Dark Side of the Moon was born. Deep within the Moon on the other side of every mirror lived another Moon and another world ruled by the Queen who was all that Darkness could be. Surrounded by death, horror, and destruction, Queen Nehelenia was the antithesis of Selene. She was Chaos in human form. She was the evil that could not even survive in the hearts of mortals.

The Lunarians forgot about her existence. But slowly and surely her bonds were broken until one day when the young Princess Serenity was born. An uninvited guest appeared and brought the Darkness as a friend. Queen Nehelenia of the Dark Side of the Moon. The Cursed Queen had come, blood on her hands and curses on her lips.

Queen Selenity sealed her away, back to her own universe, back to the world where Darkness existed without light. She sealed her within the mirror with most of the strength that she had but she could not stop the evil Queen from sending one last curse upon the light. But curse aside, Queen Selenity had sealed her away. She had bid her never to return, and Selene's word was law.

So how had Nehelenia escaped? How had she broken the seal? How had she come back from the Dark Side of the Moon?

And how could they have forgotten? How had she forgotten how their ceremony had been interrupted? How could any of them have forgotten such a terrible thing happening on the most important day of their lives? She remembered the day she became Princess Mars like it was only yesterday and yet until the vision she had forgotten that Nehelenia had appeared and cursed the newborn Princess in Queen Selenity's arms. How could they have forgotten that the Darkness could only exist within the Light?

She paced back and forth across the temple and then ran as fast as she could towards Queen Selenity. She needed answers, and she needed them now. When she rapts upon Queen Selenity's door and it opens only moments later, Mars can tell that the Moon Queen knows something is wrong.

"My Queen," she says, "Please tell me. Please tell me that Nehelenia is within the mirror, and that my vision is false. Please tell me that I am not a prophet, because it would be better to be a false Priestess and be wrong than to be right."

Selenity swallows and Mars cries out in distress, "How, My Queen? How did we all forget about the evil that lurked on the other side of the mirror?"

Selenity sits down at her window and looks at the mirror across her room. It's the mirror from Rhaeye's vision, the on that Selenity had used as a conduit to lock Nehelenia away. It's presence seems evil now, foreboding, as though the Queen is watching their every move and their every word as the sit in the Queen's chamber. There is nothing good near that mirror, and even now, Rhaeye can feel the darkness that seeps from the inconspicuous panes of shined glass.

"My darling Princess Mars, little Rhaeye. It is my fault. I made this mistake as sure as Nehelenia made hers. What I tell you cannot be told to others, cannot be told to Serenity until the time is right. It is not the time now, and only you, the Prophet will know when it should be said."

Rhaeye looks distressed and whispers, "Your Grace, I cannot lie to Serenity. I vowed that I would not."

"You did not," Selenity says forcefully, "You vowed loyalty to your Queen and your Princess. Rhaeye, you cannot speak of this until the time is right. You will know when to tell your sisters what I tell you now. I am fading as we very speak and if I cannot trust you I cannot trust anyone at all. The only other who knows of what I speak is Pluto, and we both know that some gifts come with her unusual position."

Queen Selenity is of course, talking about the unique powers of Sailor Pluto, who can bend time at her will, and therefore retains every memory of every Pluto before her. Rhaeye is given prophecy, is given knowledge that the gods know to share. But Pluto, Rhaeye shivers, she is given knowledge to carry out the will of the gods, and it is not always in the favor of the Silver Millennium.

Rhaeye hesitates but then gives her word that she will not mention any of what Selenity says until the time comes for her to pass the information on. It kills her inside to know that she is actively lying to her sisters; but she made a vow and she will keep it for honor and for duty.

"Many thousands of years ago, the Light came to the Moon and Selene embraced the Darkness."

Rhaeye is already taken aback. This is no story that she knows. Selene, the Goddess of the Moon, of light, married the Darkness? The ultimate cold; pure and unrivaled evil?

"Our legends tell of the Goddess Selene crying tears that sprouted our people from the Sea of Serenity and it is true. She did cry tears; but they were not for her lover but for her sister. Her young sister, the Goddess Helene brought the night just as sure as Selene brought the day. But one day, Helene strayed too far from the Moon, far past the place where all life forms. And she awoke something, something evil, something that cannot be named.

"It took control of her, and from then she was the Cursed Goddess. She brought night wherever she went and blotted out the rays of the sun until she arrived back at the Moon. She wanted to rule the night and the day and Selene could not allow it, could not allow her sisters to kill the planet below the Moon that they had protected for eons of life.

"Helene tried to kill Selene by sending a poisoned blade through her chest but they were interrupted by her young niece, the Goddess Aphrodite."

Rhaeye is stifling her horror because she knows where this is going. She knows the poisoned blade. She knows whoAphrodite was, who she is now. She doesn't want to hear anymore. She doesn't want to know. Why did she insist that she had to know? She cannot stop the terror from building and for a moment she wishes she could be just Rhaeye, and not Princess Mars or Sailor Mars. Just Rhaeye.

"And Aphrodite surprised Helene, stole the sword, and ran the Cursed Queen through. It was not enough to save either of them. They were both dying, poisoned by the same blade. Helene bled onto the Moon, and as her lifeblood mixed with Selene's tears, two crystals were formed from the flowers that had come from Selene's hair. Two children were born that day, not one. She made Aphrodite promise."

"How?" Rhaeye whispers, "Where did the other dg?"

"You know the answer to that question," Selenity said and everything clicks.

"Nemesis. The Black Moon."

Selenity nodded sadly, "As she was dying, Selene mad Aphrodite promise to protect their children and in her guilt at what she had done, Aphrodite swore that her daughter would forever protect the daughters of her aunt's line. The two grew together but where Selene embraced the light, Helene shunned it and on her thousandth birthday, as her cousin gave birth to her first daughter and heir, Helene vanished, taking the Black Crystal with her to a planet that mirrors our own, the Black Moon. When Selene found out she laid a spell upon Helene, that her and hers would never step upon the Moon while her daughters still resided there."

Rhaeye is crying now because it isn't right. It isn't fair.

"This evil has been beside us this entire time?" she cries in anguish, "And yet we have done nothing?"

"Nephelenia and I were born in the same year. Almost sisters, perhaps," Selenity said sadly, and then she continues, "She had never tried to come to the Moon because she was cursed from stepping foot on the Moon. But Serenity's birth broke the curse and so she came and she laid a curse upon me."

"How?" Rhaeye demanded, "How did the seal break?"

"Can you not guess?" Selenity asked, with misery on her face.

Rhaeye is silent until comprehension comes, "You left the Moon to have Serenity… Because you prayed to have her at the Cauldron, you had to leave the Moon."

Selenity starts crying then and Rhaeye is terrified because she has never seen the formidable Moon Queen cry, has never seen her in a moment of weakness, "It was foolish! I thought it was a myth when my mother told me. I did not think that Nehelenia could come when I was gone for such a short period of time. I should have known! I encountered it there, the one that has no light and no love and I thought that I had escaped it but it followed me! Followed Serenity. And when she came I did not have the strength to destroy her so I sealed her away. But I could only seal her back to her own realm by reinforcing the same spell that Selene had cast, and it was already fractured, weakened. And… I have never had the control over the Silver Crystal that even now my daughter displays. Serenity has near perfect control over the crystal, where I am like Queen Serene, who barely is able force the stone to bend."

"So you could not completely recast Selene's spell," Rhaeye says in understanding until a look of horror flickers across her face "But that means…" Rhaeye says quietly, "That means that when you were going to betroth Serenity and Prince Diamond-"

"Yes," Selenity says, "I thought perhaps that the throne itself was cursed and so I left it on the Moon. I surmised that if the Crown disappeared entirely that it could not be cursed at all. Clearly I was incorrect." Selenity says it so quietly and then Rhaeye shoots up from her seat.

"Then it is broken again!? Neither you or Serenity rule from the Moon. There is nothing but the remains of the palace there! How could you keep this from us? We could have destroyed her years ago, when all of us could transform! If all sixteen of us were together we could have destroyed her, or at least funneled enough strength through you and Serenity to strengthen the spell that Selene cast!"

Selenity begins to weep and the sound kills Rhaeye because she knows she was too harsh with the woman before her. But she just doesn't understand how Selenity could have made such a grave mistake. "I know. I know I should have but I could not. I was ashamed, am still ashamed that I made such a terrible mistake, that I have signed a warrant to my daughter's demise. The seal is broken, and it is my own fault. But I cannot seal her away again. I cannot control the Crystal. I can barely bend its will to my own. Serenity is the only one that can seal her away, and it will come soon. They have abandoned Nemesis. They are planning something. She is coming."

Rhaeye sobs with her Queen then because soon she will be the only one in the world to know that Nehelenia was no myth, and that the curse that was placed upon Selenity has not been broken. She must carry this burden on her own and she thinks it may kill her because she already feels as though she is dying inside.

---

It turns out to be vital that Selenity has informed Mars of what she did and the true history of Nehelenia because Selenity fades only a turn after their conversation. Serenity weeps for hours, and the children are unable to comfort her. Sweet Rhaenys, the most peaceful of their children holds her mother for hours but still she can do nothing by cry. The day of the funeral, Serenity sniffs quietly as she allows Selena and Serena to help her into a black dress for mourning. The carriage ride to the beach is long, and Serenity sits in silence next to Rhaegar as their children watch the landscape go by. Even Aegon is silent, and the twins, who are usually the most excitable of her children are uncharacteristically stoic.

They have a traditional Lunarian ceremony on the Valyrian peninsula. Selenity is lying on a boat in her white dress. She wears no jewels, and carries nothing out of the world than what she came into it with. Her guardians, several of which have also faded, are laid in boats beside her. The older Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Venus are all alive, but they prepare to fade as well. As soon as Serenity leaves, they will leave as well because their vows do not end with death. Before they enter their boats they turn to those who will take up their mantles.

This is the last time they ever transform, and so the ceremony begins. Older Jupiter begins by presenting a green stick and handing it to her daughter. There are no words or tears, just a nod of duty. This happens three times, until Venus the Elder pulls the Holy Blade from her side and she presents her stick and the sword to her daughter. As each Soldier hands over her transformation wand her garb fades into the simple dress of her people and then as one they step into their boats.

They have been together for centuries, and are sisters the way that her guardians are her sisters. She has lost her mother, and her sisters are losing their mothers too. Today is a true day of mourning for all Lunarians.

Serenity knows what happens now, and she sniffles quietly as she holds Aegon tightly in her arms. The boats are sent off one by one until they are floating into the vast ocean. Princess Mars lifts her flaming bow and sends five flaming arrows simultaneously at the boats which burn. They wait as the boats catch aflame and then in the distance they see an array of bright colors flash and the boats are gone. Their mothers are gone. Maybe they are with the gods, or perhaps they are in the Cauldron, where all souls go to be reborn.

Serenity is in pain now, because she just got her mother back, after being without her for so long and now she is gone and will never come back. Because she's dead. She wants to cry more but she knows she shouldn't. Her sisters have lost their mothers too and they all stand on the beach, wet with the salty tears of the ocean. Rhaeye kneels and prays and all Serenity can do is weep.

Aegon cries the entire carriage ride back to the palace and Serenity knows it's because he can tell she is upset. Rhaegar has been quiet but sympathetic. He was without parents himself, and so as Serenity chokes back her tears the entire ride, Rhaegar holds her hand and doesn't say a word.

That night, as the breeze blows through New Valyria and the tears upon her face begin to dry, she and Rhaegar create new life in death.

---

295.

The new guardians are celebrating their third name days when the next Princess of Mars is chosen. It is a joyous event, and the young girls get along as well as they could be expected, given their ages.

Princess Jupiter is especially rowdy, and Princess Mars is as somber as her predecessor. Princess Mercury is incredibly shy and likes to hide behind her mother's skirts, which the young Princess Venus is incredibly unimpressed by. They are all adorable children, and Serenity cannot help but feel guilty that these girls will never have a childhood. They will always have a duty, from the moment they take their vows.

When they all meet Serenity for the first time they are both excited and scared, especially Princess Mars. They put their hands to her belly and are rewarded with a righteous kick from their future charge. Little Mars's eyes glaze over and then she looks up at Serenity and says in the clearest voice Serenity has ever heard on a child of three, "It's you. Not her."

The older Princess Mars can see the apprehension on Serenity's face and so she leads the young girl away from her sisters while the others continue to play games and try to talk to the future Princess. When they are far enough away Mars kneels to the ground and says, "You cannot tell her yet."

"Why not?" the raven haired girl questions. It isn't insubordination in her voice. It's curiosity, and Rhaeye can see it in her eyes. It's the same way she had once spoke to the last Sailor Mars, Rhaene.

"She isn't meant to know yet. Selene will tell you when you are supposed to share your visions, Rhaeya."

"Oh," the girl says and then frowns, "I upset her?"

"Her Grace," Rhaeye corrects patiently. This child must know her place, must know that though she is a Princess now she is not the Princess, "I am sure you did. Do not feel guilty," she hastens, "Motherhood brings out many worries and I am sure she thought the worst."

Rhaeya looks hesitant and then hugs Rhaeye tightly, clutching at the Priestess' long red skirt the same way that Serenity's children did when they were young. "I miss my mama."

Rhaeye's heart clenches because hadn't she felt the same way? Hadn't she missed the Red Planet and her mother when she was sent to the Moon? She'd been so jealous that the other girls had had their mothers to teach them, when all she had was a stranger with a similar name. Rhaene was a good enough mentor but Rhaeye had not needed a mentor. She had needed a mother. So there and then, Rhaeye vows she will treat this girl with the kindness she had craved. When this girl takes her vows, she won't be looking into the eyes of a stranger. Rhaeye will give her the guidance she never had.

When they return to the festivities, Serenity is watching them with thinly veiled concern. She pulls Rhaeye aside and questions her. All Rhaeye can reply is that Rhaeya has not learned how to interpret her visions yet. It puts Serenity at ease and once again Rhaeye has lied to her Queen.

---

Rhaegon's wedding is the most prominent event of the year, even with Rhaena's wedding closing in. It's a massive affair, and it takes months to prepare for the event that will overtake all of King's Landing for an entire turn. Her son is getting married to Elaenna Velaryon. She is the daughter of a noble Valyrian family and a member of a loyal house of the Crownlands that has never done wrong by the Targaryens. Serenity suspects that House Celtigar is jealous of the fact that they will not contribute blood to the next Emporer but they are content in the promise that Jaehaerya will marry a son from their house.

Elaenna is a shy thing, with classic Valyrian looks. She has a wide mouth with straight teeth and a sloping nose that suits her thick eyelashes and kind smile. She is a very sweet girl, and her new family is very pleased with her overall attitude. She takes to the young ones very well, and loves to cuddle with Aegon, even when he is sleeping. Serenity thinks that Elaenna reminds her a bit of herself when she arrived in Westeros and is more than pleased to see the pair make their pledge before the gods. Elaenna is crowned only days later and the Velaryons vow to build more ships so that their grandchild, who will one day be an Emporer, can rule over the entire Known World.

Viserys is painfully jealous because he's been betrothed to Margaery for years and yet they are still not wed because her moonblood has yet to come. He's miserable over it, simply because he wants nothing but to love her and although the two have held hands, and even kissed, Margaery spends most of her time at Highgarden, and far from her betrothed's grasps. Serenity knows that Olenna Tyrell has kept the Rose of Highgarden tucked away in the Reach for this exact reason but she can't help buy pity Viserys, who is constantly sending ravens all the way to Highgarden.

They host a massive tourney for Rhaegon and Elaenna's wedding, in which over a thousand men enter to win the top prize of fifty thousand gold dragons and a castle in Essos. But this event is important for more than just a celebration of Rhaegon and Elaenna. With Rhaegar spending most of his time in Essos, Serenity is to keep Westeros content in his absence. The two conspire to watch for unusual activity at the tourney, and Varys little birds keep them fully in the know of everything happening in the Known World.

Tyrion has his eye on his sister Cersei, who has three golden haired children by the executed Hightower. Tywin has remarried her to a cousin of the Tyrells and she looks anything but happy. He knows his sister, and he knows how she is and so he orders the Queen's handmaidens to alert him of any visitors to the room. Only six days into the tourney Cersei is visited by Lyanna Stark.

Varys and Rhaegar find this odd. "They've no connection at all," Rhaegar says pointedly, "They have nothing in common."

"Mayhaps they wish to wed their children," says Varys, "Tywin Lannister would love to put a Lannister in control of two of the Kingdoms."

"Perhaps," says Tyrion, "But perhaps not. Lyanna was in there for only minutes, according to Seraphina. Not enough time to broker a marriage, certainly. Is there a particular reason that we cannot just ask Lyanna, Your Grace? The Crown has a strong relationship with the Starks, after all." They do have a good relationship, even though Ned is purposefully absent from this meeting.

Varys looks at Rhaegar with a glint in his eyes and then Rhaegar turns away, "We will have no contact with Lyanna Baratheon."

Tyrion doesn't question it because he assumes that his good-sister and Lyanna are fueding and the matter doesn't come up again.

Only two turns from Rhaegon's wedding, Rhaena marries Harold Hardyng, and Rhaenys is formally betrothed to the Duke of Copernicus' grandson, Jaecenor.

---

It is painfully hot here. Too hot. He hates it more than anything except for the freezing cold of Nemesis. But even the cold is preferable to this unbearable heat and these idiotic people. Many of his people are gone now, died under the siege. All but the Royal Family, who have escaped South are long deceased to fever and starvation. Diamond cannot say he's unhappy about it. Ruling is exhausting when the people are as useless as his.

So he has come to the breast of his mother, sought her protection and her wisdom. His sweet, sweet, mother with her soft curls and her wide violet-blue eyes. She is gone now, seeking allies in this dirty place. Sapphire looks just like her, but he, the Crown Prince of Nemesis looks far more like his grandmother. Their beauty has made them gods in this barbaric place and it was easy to take from their ignorant hands.

He is a Prince, yes, but these people worship him as though he rules them. They do anything he says, and anything he commands He has bent their wills to his and there will be nothing standing in the way of complete control over the rest of the Known World. He must take it all if he is to take the one thing that matters the most.

His beautiful Princess Serenity. He thinks about her every moment of everyday. Her long white hair, and piercing silver eyes. Her skin, so smooth and light it looks as though it is a cool glass of fresh milk. And her bosom is finer than that of any he has seen. He knows the color of her dusty peaks and each night when he beds the Lysene whore he thinks of what it would be like to have Serenity. What would their lives be like if her mother had never married her off to that human brute? How could she not see how she ruined her daughter's beauty?

She would be preserved with him; preserved forever.

---

Jaehaerys and Jaehaerya are acutely aware that they will no longer have one younger sibling, but two. Aegon has been the youngest for a while, and while the twins accept that he exists, they are having a very hard time doing the same for their coming sister.

Jaehaerya especially is very unhappy about the prospects of having to share her toys with her new baby sister. Aegon says little but Serenity can tell he is displeased that he will soon have to share both his mother's time and her teat. But he has gotten on with his cousin, Braedon, Daenerys and Robb's son. Serenity hopes that will quell his irritation enough that he may be interested in his new sibling rather than jealous. After all, their new daughter would be treated very differently from their other children.

Serenity has tried not to play favorites with her children but has always given a little more love to Rhaenys, who had always been guilty about the circumstances of her birth, and she would spend more time with her new daughter simply because this child would inherit her family's legacy. She would be Princess of the Silver Millennium, and Princess of Queenscrown. She was different.

Rhaegar is happier than Serenity has seen him in a while. When he is at King's Landing he enjoys teaching his son how to rule. Their time together has strengthened their bonds. Rhaegar has been an attentive father since Rhaenys had been born, and he tries to teach Rhaegon the important parts of fatherhood because it is only four turns from Rhaegon's wedding when Elaenna confides happily in her good-mother that she is with child.

She is holding baby Braedon, all red and still squalling with his mother's violet eyes but his father's red-brown hair. Elaenna is rocking him in her arms and she smiles so widely when she tells Serenity and Daenerys that her moonblood has not come in three whole turns. She does look a little plump, Serenity thinks, as she congratulates her good-daughter.

It happens in the dead of night two turns later. Serenity is in Rhaegar's arms, her belly between them. The chill is coming and she is curly next to him so tightly that the sharp knocking on their chambers terrifies her from her sleep. Rhaegar stumbles from their bed as he slips on a robe and they see Ser Oswell has a look in his eyes that Rhaegar does not like. Something terrible has happened. It is the only way they would wake him at this hour.

"It is Her Grace the Princess Elaenna, Your Grace," Oswell says gravely, "She is…" he looks so pained when he whispers, "Miscarrying."

Serenity sits up and rushes to put on a heavy robe over her nightgown and doesn't even bother to tie her hair as she rushes towards her son's solar. She is still far when she can hear the sobbing and the calm words of Princess Mercury. Ser Arthur is already there and opening the door for her and Serenity wants to cry at what she sees.

Rhaegon is an even tempered young man but he looks keenly distressed and sensing his upset, Rhaegar pulls his son from the room as Princess Mercury tries to treat the new princess. There is nothing Serenity can do but to hold her good-daughter as this thingis expelled from her womb. It has scales, and is partially transformed and Serenity weeps for Elaenna because although she and Rhaegar have never lost a child she can imagine the pain.

Elaenna is sobbing while she tearfully names her partially formed son, "Daeron," she whispers, for the young dragon knight. Princess Mercury wraps him in the cloth that Elaenna had painstakingly embroidered and tells the kingsguard to prepare a pyre and ring the bells for what should have been the next crown prince. Serenity and Daenerys hold the young woman as she cries and cries.

Serenity realizes she cannot think of what it feels like to lose a child because each of her pregnancy gave her a child.

In the joy of Rhaena's wedding and the mourning of Elaenna's miscarriage, Serenity can feel her daughter dropping. She's close to the birth now, and Serenity is both excited and scared. One day this little Princess will be a Queen, will wield the most powerful force in the universe.

It is her own name day only days after her grandson is lost when she feels the sharp pains in her side. The air is cold, and the Keep has a draft that seems to linger. It is winter now and this birthing is painful. It is long, and hard, and it takes far more time and energy than it took to have Aegon. But as she gives a last cry of exhausted pain she has a new daughter and she can feel it.

She can feel something. It's a warmth. Not of motherhood, but of power. This daughter will be Selene. There is a hum in the air, as though there is true contentment. Her child is at her breast and as she looks into her silver eyes, and feels her downy white hair she knows.

"Selene," she whispers when Rhaegar finally enters the chamber, "This is Selene the VIII."

Rhaegar seems to put on the appearance of being happy but he looks troubled. He is perhaps thinking the same thing that she is. There can only be Selene and her heir or Selene and her mother.

As soon as their newborn daughter marries and has children, Serenity will fade. It's a painful thought, and it is something that he has had in the back of his mind since he had first learned of it. Her people were immortal, and here she was, their Queen. Without immortality.

But Serenity doesn't seem to care the way that he does. She kisses her daughter and coos at her gummy smile. She proudly shows her to the rest of their children and gives Rhaegon the biggest kiss when he and Jaehaerys promise to take care of their baby sister.

Rhaegar thinks this is a good thing. Selene will need more love from her siblings and her mother because Rhaegar promises not to love her. He will love her even less than he loves Rhaenys because he knows that one day, Selene's guardians will send a flaming arrow to a boat holding his wife's corpse and she will burn. Her daughter will be her demise, and their marriage will be over.

---

The wind is howling when Saturn's letters finally reach King's Landing. The Princess of Death has been successful, and is able to report that she has taken the Far East almost single handedly. She had gone with the smallest army, one made up of only her own footmen and had gotten the cities to willingly bend the knee.

Rhaegar is amazed that Saturn has done this without killing anyone at all. When he tells the Small Council, his wife's guardians are unsurprised.

"That is surely a feat," Ned points out, "We did not manage that in any other city."

"It is," Venus says, "But it is to be expected that Saturn could accomplish such a thing. She is quite talented."

Rhaegar wants to shiver at the mention of Saturn's talents because he knowshow deadly she is. The Soldier of Silence did not often use her powers but when she did it was a force to be reckoned. She is young, the same age as Viserys and behind her violet eyes Rhaegar swears he sees true death. Rhaegar still remembers the devastating eruption of her power at the Wall and how it had killed over a dozen Walkers in a single blow.

"Then Essos is conquered," Petyr says, "You are an Emperor, Your Grace, of two continents."

"Then we must still conquer Sothoryos," Jon Arryn comments, "But that should not be difficult."

"Aye," Ned agrees, "Princess Neptune has been controlling the seas between us and them. They should fold without much problem."

That is when Princess Mars intercepts, "No," she whispers, "That is not the case." She must speak now, before this farce becomes so deep that it becomes folly.

Venus' eye twitches in the way that Mars has become quite familiar with. It is the face she makes when she knows something, when she can tell something is wrong and she looks at Princess Mars with something, "You know something. Do share, sister." It is a command and Princess Mars sighs because it's going to come out now.

"Serenity should be here for this," Mars begins, "It pertains to her."

Rhaegar's eyes crinkle and he sends Ser Arthur to retrieve his wife. He does not want any prophecies about his wife, any at all. She has sacrificed enough already because of prophecies. He pushes that thought out of his head because if he ponders on it long enough he will remember why he cannot bare to look at Rhaenys.

When Serenity arrives, she is concerned. Very infrequently does she sit in on council meetings. She can only think of a dozen times where she has, in fact. It's not that she isn't interested in affairs of the state, but that her attentions are usually focused elsewhere – like on the orphan children in Flea Bottom.

Mars looks around the room and then pulls out a dagger. Ser Barristan goes for his sword, but Venus stops him. "Peace," Mars says, "We must take a blood oath that this information will not leave this room."

The guardians all put their hands out and then the members of the Small Council holds theirs out hesitantly. Serenity and Rhaegar also put their hands out and the blood drips into a bowl.

"You must swear not to speak of this with anyone outside of this room."

They all agree, and the blood oath takes hold.

"It will perhaps be bloody to conquer Sothoryos," Mars begins, "Because our enemy is there."

"Diamond?" Rhaegar spits angrily, "That is all the more reason to take the continent."

"Yes," Mars says but then she pauses, "But there is another enemy. Far more dangerous."

"Out with it," Venus coaxes, "We cannot win this battle unless we know what you are speaking of, Rhaeye."

Mars sighs and then sits next to Serenity as though all the problems in the world are on her shoulders. "Before Queen Selenity faded I had a vision. A terrible vision indeed, and one that reminded me of the day we took our oaths."

Jupiter frowns, "That was a glorious day."

"Was it?" Mars questions, "Think hard, sisters. Remember what truly transpired that day."

Mercury's brows crease at the same time the Venus gasps, "How-"

"We were made to forget," Mars says, "Or so the Queen told me. They sealed our memories of her, but it's weakened now that Queen Selenity is faded."

"Who?" Ned asks and several others in the room are glad he has questioned what the women are speaking of.

"When the Moon became the Moon there was not one but two. The Dark Moon."

"Nemesis," Serenity supplies, "But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Our own lore tells us that Selene wept upon the moon for her lover slain and out came Selene I. But in fact, it was not a lover who was slain, nor was it solely tears that wet the Sea of Serenity. It was the blood of Selene's sister, who all from Nemesis can claim progeny."

"But-But," Mercury stammers, "That isn't what is in the books. Nemesis is not-"

"Our history was rewritten because Helene's heirs have been banned from stepping upon the Moon. But we are not on the Moon."

"You think Nehelenia is Helene," Venus says bluntly.

"Who is Nehelenia?" Jon Arryn questions curiously but also alarmed with how white the Soldiers have gone.

"She is the Cursed Queen," Venus says. "I remember now, what happened the day we took our vows. There was an uninvited guest. She came, and she laid a curse upon Queen Selenity and then she was sealed away into the Queen's mirror. How could she have escaped?"

"But it was not truly a mirror," Mars says, "The mirror represents the other side and was simply a foci to repair an older seal. The realm the Nemesis exists within is a mirror of our own. So truly, Queen Selenity sealed her back to her own planet. But that seal has been broken, the same way it was broken before."

"Because we are not on the Moon," Serenity whispers through bloodless lips, "She has escaped?" Suddenly Serenity feels terrified for her new daughter, terrified that Nehelenia has come to curse her daughter the same way she cursed her mother.

"Then we assassinate her," Petyr says forcefully, "We must have a plan. I could send for the tears of Lys."

"We cannot," says Mars, "For there are other forces at play. Queen Nehelenia has complete control over the Dark Crystal in a way that none of her predecessors have. And the curse she left is still active."

"What curse?" Rhaegar asks, "How can it still be active? My good-mother is faded."

Mars can feel the tears welling in her eyes and she looks at Serenity and Serenity knows. "The curse involves me."

"I could not tell you or your mother would go to the Gods with fear in her heart. Nehelenia cursed your mother, my sister." She takes a deep breath and recites,

"Three curses I Lay Upon Your Throne

As true as the words of the wise crone

One to die before your heir is grown

To kiss and cry before she is shown

Two to lose all that you have known

In Fire and Ice when Venus is blown

Three to turn your Kingdom into stone

To die too young, in fear and alone."

The room is silent. No one wants to speak about what they have heard.

Serenity breaks her silence and asks "Nehelenia cursed my mother to die?"

"Yes," Mars says with sadness in her voice, "And it worked. She died before you were crowned, the Silver Millennium is ended, and the Moon Kingdom is lost."

Serenity chokes on her tears. How had this happened? How had Nehelenia ruined them all so thoroughly? She must say her piece now. She must speak. Serenity swallows and then looks up, "There's more."

Mars turns to Serenity and she knows what she is about to say. Something they have hidden since Serenity came to Rhaeye crying about her dream in the middle of the night.

"I had a dream many moon ago that woke me from my slumber and that I have never forgotten. I saw a vision of Selene who warned me that Chaos was coming."

At her words the guardians all hiss and say a silent blessing above their hearts.

"Who?" Qarlten demands.

"It is not a who," Serenity says, "It just is. Chaos is the bringer of death, of evil, of true darkness."

"So, we are fighting not one enemy but three?" Ned asks, "Those are not good odds."

"No," Serenity says, "If my dream is to be believed, Chaos is now Nehelenia. They are one in the same, now."

"Then she is even more dangerous than expected," says Mercury, "We should be wary."

"How can she be both?" Ned wonders, not particularly understanding what he has been told.

"I'll explain," Serenity interjects as Mars opens her mouth, "All of life comes from a single fixed place in the universe. It's called Sagittarius Zero. It's at the opposite end of this galaxy. When life ends it is reborn there and when live begins it starts there. It's where I was born."

Rhaegar knows this story now, because Serenity had once told him that her mother had gone there to beg the gods to give her a child.

"My mother went there many years ago to ask for me. She stood at the cauldron and asked the Celestials to give her a life and they gave her me. But just as I come from there, so does everything else."

"Where there is light there is also the dark," Mars mutters ominously and Serenity breaths in deeply.

"How could this have been kept from us for so long? How could they do this?" Venus finally rages, "We are threatened by the Cursed Queen and yet we have not the information we need until now?"

"We must stand against her," Rhaegon says, "If we want lasting peace we must crush her."

The council meeting is adjourned with plans to take Sothoryos and end Nehelenia.

That night Serenity dreams again, but of another prophecy, of another curse.

---

296.

The only thing that stops Serenity from falling into the pits of gloom over her mother's passing and the threat of Nehelenia is the wedding of Viserys and Margaery. It is especially cold now, but the pair marry across the Narrow Sea in Valyria.

It is an extravagant ceremony that Mace Tyrell insists upon paying for a large portion of. Rhaegar rolls his eyes at this, because truly in his mind it doesn't matter who pays for the wedding. But Mace is nothing if not a bumbling fool who desires clout over everything else, so Rhaegar allows him what he wants even if that means dancers from Yi Ti and fire breathers from Asshai. After all, Mace Tyrell's gold dragons had paid for an entire fleet of ships. The Northerners had sent timber to the Neptunians, who built superior warships. And Mace Tyrell had paid a pretty coin, likely vying for a seat on the council as Master of Ships or perhaps he is hoping for their house to become a Princeship. It is obviously a worthless idea, as Lucerys Velaryon had served his father well, had served him well, and his son Monford is as talented as his father had been. But the Tyrells don't need to know that their money will be fruitless in securing a Tyrell on the Small Council. The only member of the family that Rhaegar believes would be useful is the Queen of Thorns herself, who he knows is faking being half blind and half deaf to fool the enemies of House Tyrell.

Margaery has truly bloomed into the Rose of Highgarden. She'd been a pretty girl, but she was now a beautiful young woman and judging by how eagerly Viserys kisses her when they wed, he agrees.

Olenna Tyrell is deliriously pleased with the match, as only a week after the wedding, Viserys is crowned King of New Valyria, the title that his good-sister's mother had had before she passed. Olenna certainly recognizes that Rhaegar has no plans to elevate House Tyrell to a Princeship the way that Dorne had long kept their title. After all, Rhaegar had not made the Velaryons a royal house. If rumors are true then his lovely good-daughter, Elaenna will soon bear him his first grandchild who he will wed to the issue of Viserys and Margaery.

Rhaegar cannot think of any other time when the Great Houses have submitted to his family so thoroughly aside from Aegon the Conqueror. But this is hisEmpire. He is the High King of Westeros and Essos. And he hasn't truly seen half of the lands that he lords over.

But they are his, and one day they will be Rhaegon's.

His legacy was achieved in fire and blood, and when they take Sothoryos there will only ever be peace.

---

It was a beautiful wedding, the brunette thinks as she crosses the Narrow Sea with her son.

"Mother," Jon asks, "Would it be acceptable for me to leave now? The crew have said they will teach me how to navigate waters."

"Aye," Lyanna says and her son promptly leaves. As soon as the door closes her smile drops.

What an annoying boy, an annoying ship, and an annoying world. This place is nothing. It is so dirty, and unkempt. And the worst part about this ridiculous planet is that it is absolutely filled to the brim with mortals!

Lyanna turns to her mirror and then blinks hard and her features completely change. Gone is the dark brown hair and grey eyes that are a known Stark trait and in their place is violet eyes and jet black waves. A long face is now a heart shaped one.

Lyanna is a beauty but Nehelenia is a goddess.

Nehelenia hates this disguise but it is truly useful. Pitiful Lyanna Stark Baratheon had gone off in a carriage to take a trip home from the Moon Bitch's side as a lady at court and Nehelenia had intercepted her on the way. As soon as she had devoured Lyanna from soul to bone she had seduced Robert Baratheon to do her complete bidding and then set off back to King's Landing where she had enticed her enemy's husband. High on a fertility potion she had taken him. He hadn't stood a chance, and in the beginning he had been very unwilling. But she took him and when he became aware and banished her back to Storm's End she had smiled politely knowing that she had leverage.

She had their son. Jon hadn't the faintest idea that he was Rhaegar's son, and had no idea that he was truly a Prince in his own right. Jon was unimportant, truly. He was plain, uninteresting, boring. He had too much belief in honor and rules and no mind for politics or ambition. Even when she had thought her plan to marry him to the Moon-Bitch's daughter to ruin her life a bit more he had been uninterested. He'd thought it was for strengthening their ties to the throne, but truly she wanted to lure one of the Moonspawn to her castle where she could slit her throat and then send the Moon-Bitch her head sewn to the corpse of a dragon. Such a pity it didn't work out.

Nehelenia sneers at the thought of her other sons. One was a weak fool and the other was too pacifistic. Diamond had fallen for the Moon Bitch's charms and though she knew he was too weak to ever defy her, he coveted what he could not have and that made him both arrogant and foolish. Sapphire was no better, as he had no desire for them to leave the safety of Nemesis. A memory charm had made him more pliable.

Soon she thinks as she devours several of the servants whole, Soon, I will have my revenge.

---

The Sacred Flame had been dark for too long. It worries Princess Mars because she knows that they are not without enemies. Has Selene forsaken them? Or has she lost her connection with the Sacred Flame now that a new Princess Mars is come?

The young girl has a strong connection with the Flame and they spend hours together in front of it, where Rhaeye teaches Rhaeya how to interpret her visions. Rhaeya suffers from migraines, and Rhaeye remembers when the visions were so strong and so painful that she thought her head was splitting in two in agony. Rhaeya is in misery and one day she slams her hand near the Sacred Flame and there is blood and the fire burns.

She has never heard of a shared vision, had never shared a vision with the last Princess Mars. But she and Rhaeya are together now, sharing a vision that Rhaeye is both glad to have received but ill at ease at the thought of.

There is blood everywhere and it is running as freely as the elixir they drink. The bodies around them are melting, as though they have no more skin and are nothing but sacks of flesh. And there is Nehelenia, as dark as the night she brings.

Venus is dying, and as Nehelenia laughs the world burns.

Everything burns.

The world is cold now, and as Mars watches Nehelenia fall to the fire she sees her Queen. Serenity is as beautiful as ever and she is a vision in white but she is stained with the blood of their people. She glides to Mars and puts a flower in her hair, as she holds a silver blooded child in her arms.

"It is me. Not her."

And the words shake Rhaeye to her core. She has heard those words before and although this is her first time in this vision, Rhaeya looks unphased. This is certainly what Rhaeya had seen many moons ago. She had seen this death, and this destruction and already knew the horror to come.

The crown upon Serenity's head is gleaming, even as it begins to melt and Serenity is sitting, lying on her throne as she reaches out towards Rhaeye. But then she is running, past a heart tree, through a lake, onto the beaches of Valyria.

When she turns around Serenity is holding her hands to a wound in her chest. There is so much blood and Rhaeye is terrified. This is the first time she's had such a vision, a vision of her charge dying. Serenity looks her in the eyes and then lifts her hands away to show the blood on her hands.

"It is me. Not her," she whispers again as a small white haired girl dances around them, lotuses in her hair.

A white light appears as everyone drowns in the fire and ice and Rhaeye hears Serenity scream.

The vision is over and Rhaeye is sick. She vomits as Rhaeya watches impassively.

Rhaegar Targaryen was not the Prince who was Promised and the destruction of the Others was not the War of the Dawn.

The true battle for the Light had yet to come.

---

The voyage starts in the early hours. Winter has spread to the south and the ships are leaving the crownlands in a long line. Princess Neptune has overseen the building of thirty long ships that will hold thousands of soldiers who will fight in the coming war against Nehelenia. She is what lies south of the sea, and so Princess Neptune changes the tides. She pulls the waters in their favor, sends storm after storm at Sothoryos. She hopes to tire them out, exhaust their resources, and press enough strain so that they will be more easily defeated.

They must bend them before they can break them, and destroy Nehelenia before she gathers the supplies and manpower she needs to launch a full scale attack at Essos and Westeros.

The Dragons are out for blood, and Rhaegar himself joins in the journey to take the last of the Known World. Rhaegon and Viserys are also on the backs of their dragons, and further behind, Daenerys and Rhaena have refused to stay behind in King's Landing with Serenity and the youngest of the children.

The Ironborn are sailing towards the Summer Islands already, and the Neptunians with their sea-like adaptations need no ship to swim towards the southernmost continent.

And they are met in glorious battle.

Their longboats are no surprise to their southern neighbors who have met them in long ships with large metal bolts attached to them. Rhaegar knows what they are immediately and calls to his children to mind the machines that are going to send metal spears that could pierce their dragons. Over the ocean, a dragon falling would mean the death of one of his family members, and a large wave that could put their entire fleet off balance.

Rhaegar decides that he will attack from behind. From the skies he can see that far under the water the Neptunians are swimming at extreme speeds and as they reach the enemy ships he releases the hottest dragonfire he can manage from Balerion. From below the ships, the Neptunians are safe in the water and when the fire ends they board the remaining ships and begin hand to hand contact.

This signals the Ironborn to make their way to shore where they can board the islands and take every bit of the continent that they can. They must make their way to a palace, one that Mars had seen in a vision that she says that Nehelenia and Diamond have been living within for some time.

He will send his sword through their skulls and will not feel an ounce of regret for his actions. They will bleed. They will die.

Rhaegar Targaryen is the Emperor of the Known World by the time the dawn rises.

He should have wondered why taking the continent was so very easy.

Too easy.

---

Across the sea and at the same time that Rhaegar is taking Sothoryos, Prince Diamond is plotting his final plan. His ship arrives late in the night to a near empty port at King's Landing. He has bribed a smuggler who provides him with the things he needs to make this mission possible. It must be now. The Westerosi are distracted. They are off conquering Sothoryos.

He scoffs when he thinks of the place. Dirty, with disgusting half men looking creatures. The destruction of the continent he had spent the last year on meant little to him. Nemesis was his home.

Serenity was his home.

He knows that the pitiful man that Serenity married is off fighting, because he knows that they believe he is in Sothoryos. She will be unprotected, unguarded save for the whore guardians that follow her every move. But he has brought the Spectre Sisters and they are a distraction. They will engage the Sailor Soldiers in battle and while their attention is turned, he will sneak into the fortress and take what should have been his. What was rightlyhis.

She had been promised to him and now he would have her.

Getting in is simple with the help of his golden haired lover. His third eye allows him to take complete control over even the most strong-willed of men. So when he encounters a man in a white cloak who wields a sword of shining metal he ensnares him in moments. Ser Arthur Dayne is nothing but his puppet now, and he warns the Prince each time they encounter someone who might be a problem. By the time they have reached the Queen's chambers, Prince Diamond has taken over two dozen men and women under his control.

As he stops in front of the door he savors exactly what is about to happen. He is about to get the thing that he has desires the most and has always desired the most.

He turns to the violet eyed man and smiles so eerily that the man blinks, "You will cut down any who approach this room. When I leave here with Serenity you will guide us to safety."

Ser Arthur assents and stands, stony in front of the Queen's quarters.

Diamond does not even knock when he shoves Serenity's doors open. The Queen sits up immediately and Diamond relishes the look of fear on her face. How could she not have predicted this? How could they not realize that the invasion of Sothoryos was simply a distraction meant to keep them occupied while the true war was waged?

She is different than she once was. Her hair is longer, and instead of the snow white hair she had had before her hair has turned to frosty silver. It was the same silver that her mother's hair had been, and Diamond knew that this particular shade of shocking silver came from use of the Silver Crystal. Her eyes are the same sharp silver but her bosom is heavier, and her back seems straighter, somehow. And she is looking at him, looking at him with such fierce loathing that it sets his loins aflame.

Beside her a toddler is sleeping. Diamond guesses that it is Aegon, his love's youngest son, and in her arms is her youngest daughter, who his spies tell him is named Selene. So she's the Moon Princess, then. It is no matter to him. He cares not if his wife has other children, only that she gives him a son to continue their line.

Diamond closes the door and points a knife at her toddler son before Serenity can open her mouth to call for the guards.

"Don't scream, my love," he says, "It will do you no good."

She is glaring at him with those eyes and Diamond is mesmerized. How beautiful she looks even in her rage.

"Diamond," she spits, "Why are you here?"

"Silly Moon Queen," Diamond purrs as he takes a seat on the bed beside her, "You know why I am here. I have come to take what is rightfully mine." He pulls the sleeping boy fully into his arms, holding the knife dangerously close to Aegon's neck.

"Nothing here is rightfully yours," the silver haired woman responds acidly, "You would do well to leave before Princess Jupiter arrives and fries you to death with cursed lightning!"

Diamond leans down taking a heady look at her and then looks at her son with eyes that linger too long and make Serenity a bit more afraid.

"She won't come. No one will come, my Serenity."

"Rhaegar will come and he will kill you," Serenity bluffs and then she clutches Selene tighter when Diamond laughs boisterously.

"We both know that isn't true, Serenity. He's off at war. They all are. No one will save you, now. Your knight is at the door with orders to kill anyone who comes. Do you want to see your precious handmaidens die if you call for them?"

Serenity glares at him hard and that's when Diamond knows he has her. The beautiful moonflower will never allow someone else to die on her behalf. It is simply not in her nature.

"Dress," Diamond demands, as he takes Aegon from his mother's reach, "Or your son dies."

Serenity looks at him with such hate that Diamond is surprised that she stands up, throws her trousseau open and hides behind a screen to pull on her gown. As she pulls on a fur cloak she shoves the knife that had come with her midnight lemon cake up her sleeve.

He can see the outline of her body from the other side of the screen, and reminds himself that soon he will hold her breasts in his hands.

She is carrying Selene on her chest and is silently angry as they leave her chambers and Ser Arthur leads them towards a secret passageway. This is her only chance to escape. If he brings her back to Nemesis, he will pull the planet from orbit and she will have no way to safely return. But she must get Aegon from his arms first. She will not leave her child behind to die at this monster's hands.

As if on command, Aegon begins to fuss and cry and hearing her brother's cries, Selene begins to quietly sniff and then starts wailing.

Diamond hold the boy out in his arms, "Shut up, brat!" he's shaking Aegon and Serenity starts pulling on Diamond's cloak. This is her chance. If she makes her move now she can perhaps stop the White Prince's plan before they leave the safety of the Red Keep.

"Please! He doesn't know, please! I will take him! Give him to me, please. Please,"

Diamond looks at her suspiciously, no doubt realizing that if he gives up Aegon he loses quite a bit of his leverage. But he wants the boy to stop screaming so he shoves him to Serenity who pulls him to the ground as she adjusts the sling that is holding Selene.

"Aegon," she says over his cries, "Egg," she says more forcefully, "You must be silent now."

He hiccups before nodding his head, "Mama, who?"

Serenity ignores him, "You must be brave now, Egg."

Diamond is tapping his feet impatiently and he is just within reach. Just a little bit closer and-

"Mama, who?"

Serenity flinches and then looks to her son, "This is Prince Diamond, my love." She says no more. She does not want to scare him.

Diamond takes a step closer but Serenity has no desire to scar her youngest son for life and she says quietly, "Egg, I need you to do something for me. Can you do this?"

Aegon nods eagerly. He alwayswants to please his mama, because she kisses him and gives him the biggest smiles and cuddles him when he is sad because Jaehaerys is teasing him. He would do anythinghis mother asks.

"I need you to cover your eyes and not move them until I say so."

Aegon obediently covers her eyes and then Serenity leans forward to give her son a kiss on the head and as she does so she drops the blade into her hand and slices the only place within reach.

In her early lessons with Princess Venus she had been taught several ways to defend herself and Diamond's pained scream tells Serenity she has done exactly what she meant to when she sliced his thigh.

There's so much blood and the screaming terrifies Aegon so much he starts crying and asking what's happened. Diamond wants to retaliate, and he is opening his third eye but leaning down to grab his thigh has put him at the height Serenity needs. Ser Arthur is impassive and so Serenity stabs the knife straight into the White Prince's demon eye. He screams in agony and then in the next breath he is dead with his brains seeping from his eye.

As he breathes his last breath, Ser Arthur becomes aware and is frighteningly asking Serenity if she is okay, what has happened and all she can do is hold her children and weep.

---

It takes an entire fortnight for Rhaegar to return to King's Landing. He has been out of touch, establishing power in Sothoryos. Most importantly, he has been searching for Nehelenia. But she is nowhere to be found.

Pluto is tight lipped and Rhaegar knows that Pluto knows exactly where Nehelenia is but is refusing to share. It infuriates Rhaegar, and he spends countless hours trying to convince Pluto to reveal what she knows by reminding her that it is Serenity's life that hangs on the line. Pluto seems to not hear a word he is saying.

When he returns to King's Landing he is horrified by what he sees and hears. The Sailor Soldiers went up against a powerful enemy – the Spectre Sisters and very nearly lost. During that battle, Serenity was nearly abducted by Prince Diamond and then his wife was forced to murder the man. In front of their children. King's Landing is in shambles. Whole neighborhoods are destroyed in the battle between the Sisters and the Sailor Soldiers. Countless smallfolk are dead and it is all Rhaegar can do to keep the grieving rioters at bay.

All Serenity does is cry and Rhaegar knows that she is not mourning the death of Prince Diamond but mourning the death of her innocence. Serenity had never killed a person in her life, and truly had not even had designs to hurt another. After all, he and Rhaella had come up with the plans to remove Aerys and Serenity had just cried silently and agreed to support her husband in fear of losing their firstborn child.

But according to Ser Arthur, Serenity had brutally killed Prince Diamond. Rhaegar wants to be happy that the madman is dead but truly he feels very little. His wife is unhappy, and he himself is in pain for the fact that she is in pain. His son Aegon has not spoken since the event, perhaps traumatized by the sound of a man dying. Still, Nehelenia is still a threat. Diamond is neutralized but they have no less enemies than when they started save for the White Prince.

Worst of all, Rheagar feels crippling guilt that Diamond even got close enough to his wife to cause her this pain. She was supposed to be safe in King's Landing, protected by knights, her guardians, and the dragons of her children. How had Diamond managed to get into the Red Keep? Serenity and Ser Arthur surmise it was with the aid of his third eye but Rhaegar is still wary.

They are missing a piece of this puzzle, and Rhaegar knows that if they don't find it soon, their lives may all be forfeit.

It is quiet now, almost too quiet. Rhaegar controls the world. He is not a king but an Emperor, yet still Nehelenia has not been found. What use is power if he cannot use it the way he wants? What use is being the ruler of the world if he cannot protect his wife? Protect his family? Protect his people?

Nehelenia is a threat, and a dangerous one at that. She is more than just something that lingers in his mind. She is something that looms over him, looms over Serenity. The Sailor Soldiers are even worried. That alone tells him that he should be wary. But he refuses to be afraid, for he is the blood of the dragon. He is the Prince who is Promised. He is the one who will defeat the dark.

But there is still a shadow looming over him, looming over everyone. The Martian astrologers say that there will be an astral phenomenon that will terrify the smallfolk.

The Moon will turn red.

The Martians are not happy about this. Out of every planet they had been the least open to leaving their sacred land, and some of the Martian prophets believe that the soil of the Moon is poisoned because it has been forsaken.

Rhaegar notices that Princess Mars does not correct them.

---

It takes days for the blood moon to occur and the smallfolk riot in the streets over the omen in the sky. The Sailor Soldiers, Kingsguard and all the knights in King's Landing are especially watchful for lootings and rioting in the days of the lunar eclipse. Serenity watches from her window as the light of the blood moon turns the cherry blossoms an eerie red. From her side she swears she sees movement from the corner of her eye but when she turns there is no one there. So she climbs out onto her balcony and begins to take the hidden stairs down towards the godswood within the Red Keep. She does not keep the old gods, but her favorite greens are here and it is a moment of clarity for her. Her children are asleep, and her husband is preoccupied. She needs a walk under the moon, as unsightly and unsettling as it is. The godswood is peaceful. It is nothing like anywhere else. Her favorite grove of moonflowers are here, planted by her husband as an anniversary gift many years before.

She is content. Until she sees Lyanna Baratheon. Her face falls. She does not want to see this woman, does not want to have to speak to the woman who seduced her husband from their marriage bed. Serenity is stiff, but Lyanna seems oddly relaxed.

"Serenity," Lyanna says and Serenity takes a confused step towards the Northern beauty. Lyanna has never called her by her name, never broken formality as wild as she is.

"Lady Baratheon," Serenity says evenly, deciding not to fight with the woman. She must exit now, because she is so uncomfortable. Her hair is standing on end. This is wrong. So, so, wrong.

"I was wondering if you would be foolish enough to leave your sanctuary on this night," Lyanna says, her face shining in the moonlight.

Serenity frowns and begins to open her mouth at the impudence but Lyanna speaks again. "Your mother was just as foolish. She should have known not to leave the Moon. She was not nearly as wise as she thought she was."

Serenity is angry now and spits, "How dare you speak of her that way? You are speaking of the Queen Mother. It is treacherous to speak ill of the dead!"

But Lyanna just laughs, "You are no queen of mine, dear Selene."

And the way she says it gives Serenity chills. Lyanna is advancing, coming closer and her hair is growing, her face is changing and she is becoming something new. She is something else.

Her laughter is grating and Serenity is worried now. Something is wrong. This is not Lyanna Baratheon.

"Who-"

"Can you not guess?" the woman laughs, "You were looking for me for so long and yet you do not know what I look like? We are two sides of the same coin, sweet Selene."

Serenity is jarred and takes an alarmed step back, "Ne-Nehelenia?"

She smiles so widely that her blood red lips uncover her razor sharp teeth and the Cursed Queen looks towards the bloody moon and then to Serenity.

"It is my night, sweet Selene. The Blood Moon is cursed, as I am cursed. As you are cursed."

There is no knight to guard her, no soldier to save her. She is alone with the great evil. This woman is not Prince Diamond, driven to stupidity by lust. She cannot trick Nehelenia. Nehelenia has a single goal in mind. All she wants is to take the Silver Crystal and kill Serenity. And no one is coming to save her. The ground has been shaking, and she can hear the dragons shrieking. Something is happening on the water and there is fire along the horizon. Nehelenia has done something, has attacked King's Landing with the might of Nemesis.

"Lyanna is such a boring woman," Nehelena sighs, "Wearing her face was the least interesting thing I've done in six hundred years, truly," But she turns towards Serenity so maliciously that Serenity's hairs stand on end, "Except taking what you loved the most. There was nothing more satisfying."

Serenity's eyes widen and she understands. "You-"

"Yes," Nehelenia says in a serpentine hiss, "Me. You didn't think your precious dragon boy would willingly take another to bed?" she cackles, "I took him, you stupid whore. And it was sweet, sweeter than many of the lovers that I had. But he gave me Jon." Nehelenia sneers, "Useless boy. Unlike the one youmurdered."

This is when Serenity knows there is no way out of this confrontation. Nehelenia had figured out that Serenity had been the one to kill Diamond, and there was no way that the Cursed Queen would forgive the murder of her son.

"You could have been great, you know," Nehelenia says as she wanders around the clearing of the godswood, "But you are as weak as your mother. Too light, too good. What does the light do for any of us?"

Serenity angers at that, and in an uncharacteristically strong voice she replies, "Light makes love! And love is no weakness, Nehelenia. Love is the strength that will allow me to defeat you."

Serenity expected something, anything, except for the hysterical laughter that came from the Queen of the Dark Moon. "You cannot defeat me, child. You are nothing. You are no one."

"I am Selene," Serenity says, eyes aflame in anger.

"You are nothing without your protection. You are nothing but a weak, scared little girl trying to be a god. You will die this night, that I promise on my blood."

And the battle has begun. Nehelenia has sent the darkest energy that Serenity has ever felt directly at her and Serenity barely has time to call upon her scepter to try to deflect some of the energy. It is crushing, imposing, and old. Nehelenia has lived longer, has been one with the Dark Crystal for centuries. And she is Chaos now, the ultimate evil. This is hate like Serenity has never felt, and in her horror Serenity realizes that the darkness feels like pleasure, the way that Rhaegar's tongue feels between her legs.

Serenity cannot hope to defeat the first evil itself and as the thinks this her resolve begins to weaken and her arms begin to wobble under the immense pressure of Nehelenia's darkness. How could she keep herself safe from its seduction? And as she thinks this her scepter shatters and the energy hits her and she crashes straight into a tree. Everything hurts. Blood is seeping from her nose and the terrible cramping that has begun in her womb tells her that her child is bleeding out onto the ground. The pain is so horrendous that her mind goes blank and Serenity thinks this may be the moment she dies.

But all hope is not lost. Mars has come, and she is sending flaming arrow after arrow to her sisters to warn them of the great evil as she tries to protect Serenity against Nehelenia. But she is nothing compared to the Evil Queen and Serenity watches as Nehelenia grabs Mars by the throat, lifts her and pushes an arrow she caught from the skies straight through Mars' throat. All Serenity hears is a gurgle and she watches as Sailor Mars' uniform becomes the priestess robes of Rhaeye and her lifeless body is thrown to the floor, blood flooding the grounds of the weeping heart tree.

"Annoyances," Nehelenia says as she licks the blood from her fingers, gorging herself on the life she just devoured, "All of them. Worthless. Just like you. They are nothing. I'll kill them all and make you watch. Then I'll fuck your husband and slit all your children's throats while I eat his corpse. And then I'll kill you, slowly, so you can feel what it is like to die."

Serenity prays and prays, wishing for something, anything, wishing for strength. The white pillar is across the sea but in her mind's eye she can feel it pulsating, can feel the Crystal granting her desire -

And she hears the screech of a dragon. Balerion has arrived with Rhaegar on his back. She is saved! He is her strength, Serenity knows, and though she does not need a man to save her, Rhaegar's voice crying out to her gives her the strength that she lost.

But Nehelenia looks wholly unimpressed and is bored as the black dragonfire hits her. It does nothing but annoy her and she shoots an obsidian crystal straight into the sky and straight through both Balerion and Rhaegar and her king is falling, plummeting at high speed with his dragon to the ground. He lands with a sickening crunch, though luckily not under his great beast who is screeching in pain beside them. He is groaning, and Serenity crawls over to him, crying out to him as Nehelena cackles into the blood light.

She holds Rhaegar's head in her lap, his blood draining into the ground around them joining their lost child and Rhaeye's lifeblood underneath the cherry blossom tree. The tears have stopped now, because she has no more left to cry. Nehelenia is taking everything – her mother, her sisters, her babe and now her child. Serenity looks up, "I will end you. I will do more than seal you away. You will be nothing! Do you hear me you wicked witch? Nothing!"

And as her tears dry, the Silver Crystal forms and everything changes. She stands, blood staining her white gown and she thrusts the crystal forward, knowing that to use the Crystal without a barrier is folly, "You will hurt us no more! You will pay for the lives you have taken! You will lose!"

"But I do not need to win, sweet Selene. You can destroy this body. You can destroy me. But you cannot end what is already in motion. Even when you win you will lose. You will lose everything," the Cursed Queen promises, "For you cannot survive the revenge that you seek. You will die." And she says it with a laughter that Serenity hates, truly hates. She wants this woman gone, wants her family back, wants to trade the life of the Cursed Queen for the life of her dead child, Rhaeye, and soon, her dying husband.

Serenity is glowing now. She is white with power, aflame with her birth right, brighter than she has ever been. This is not the glow that had been present since the Long Sleep, which had turned her into Selene. It is something new, something different. She is the Crystal and the Crystal is her. In this moment she is Selene. She is a god.

"I am Serenity, Daughter of Selenity. I am Selene, Queen of the Moon Kingdom, and I send you back to Galaxy Cauldron!" She won't settle for the spell that keeps Nehelenia away, won't settle for a curse that will do nothing but break. She wants Nehelenia to be gone, to be over, to never come back. Darkness cannot exist without Light, but she can force the Darkness to the opposite end of the universe.

And in that moment, Venus is there, and she is shoving the Holy Blade through Nehelenia's back. The blood is everywhere, black and red touching the ground of the clearing in a mixture of decay. The heart tree is weeping red tears, the white leaves dripping the blood that has covered everything in the clearing of the godswood.

The Silver Crystal is still shaking, and its power is so strong that Serenity can barely hold on. But she can feel it, can feel the lover Rhaegar has for her, can feel Mars calling to her from the other side. So she holds on, holds on harder and harder until the light of the Silver Crystal is so powerful that in her wounded, poisoned state, Nehelenia is falling to the purity.

"I, Queen Serenity VII and I send you back to Galaxy Cauldron, where all life begins and all life ends!"

Nehelnia shrieks as she wrinkles, as she loses her immortality, as the years she has lived catch up with her. She shrivels up and as the light of the moon turns white and as the blood moon is gone the Cursed Queen shatters and she withers into dust that is no more dangerous that the soil on the Moon.

But Nehelenia is right. It doesn't matter that Serenity has won, because she has still lost. Her surprise attack has left thousands dying and Rhaegar is barely breathing. They have lost a child, and Serenity is still bleeding. Rhaeye is dead. Others are probably dead. Venus is lying on the ground, suffering from taking the backlash of the Dark Crystal.

Serenity and Rhaegar's eyes are locked and Serenity is crying because never did she think her husband would die for her. Never did she think she would outlive him. They were meant to die together, so she would not be lonely in her old age in eternal life. She gave up her immortality to avoid a life of loneliness, but now she will be alone in the world, as her children all die and the world ages.

"Sere-?" he gasps as he touches her hands.

"Please-" she cries, "Don't speak! We can heal you. I can heal you!"

It's a lie and the both know it because she's been praying this whole time and the Crystal is cold. The Crystal refuses to save Rhaegar and Serenity knows this means that Rhaegar was always meant to die in this moment. The Silver Crystal cannot change fate. It can only heal those who are not meant to die.

She can only breathe life into those who must still live.

Rhaegar is lost to her, lost to their children, lost to the gods.

"I love you," he whispers. He says it so quietly she almost misses it, but her tears are falling, right on Rhaegar's face, and his blood is everywhere, as red as the moon had been moments before. It's on everything and it's staining her dress. She's bathing in his blood, Rhaeye's blood, their child's blood.

"I love you more," Serenity says, trying to pretend this isn't happening, that her husband isn't dying in her arms.

"I – sorry," Rhaegar shudders, "Should have – loved you – more ways."

Serenity is weeping now because this is so Rhaegar, to wish that they could push back time, that he could right his wrongs. That they could have been together for longer, and loved each other firmer. She suddenly hates herself for ignoring him for so many turns. She could have had more time with him. They could have had more time together if she hadn't been so spiteful over something he had no control over.

"Me too," Serenity sniffs through the tears, "I love you, Rhaegar Targaryen, more than anything. And, if you must go I will love you even when you are gone. If you must leave me then I will mourn you. I will never love another; I swear it."

And Rhaegar tries to smile but then his eyes go dull and he takes a shallow, shuddering breath and then his chest ceases to rise again. Rhaegar is dead. And around them the Red Keep is burning. She has lost everything.

As the moon reaches high in the sky, no longer bleeding, a light flashes and Serenity reels back in horror. How? How could this have happened? They have worked too hard, defeated the great Darkness, brought the light of the moon back! Nehelenia is gone. There should be peace. They had earned happiness, and yet how could she be happy with Rhaegar dead in her arms?

But Venus is burning, bright in the sky, with heat and acid spitting across the skies and suddenly the world is still.

The smallfolk are all watching, screaming in horror and terror as Venus collides straight into the sun, as the planet of acid and fire is absorbed whole into the burning star. It is over. They cannot survive this, cannot survive the Doom. The prophecy has come to pass. Was it all for nothing? Did they leave their homes for nothing? Did she marry Rhaegar for nothing?

No. She refuses to believe that she married her husband, brought children into this world for nothing more than a dream. The Crystal is still in front of her, glowing with an intense heat, shining with the same white light that had destroyed Nehelenia. Only the Crystal can stop the Doom that is coming. Only she can control the Crystal to force it do her bidding. She must bend its will, bend it so that she can save her people; save her children.

But this must be their fate. This is what should have been. This is how the world was meant to end. After all, Mars' prophecies had never been wrong.

It seems like everything is moving in slow motion. The sun is burning, and spitting fire and the temperature is rising and the smallfolk are screaming in terror because it is so hot that she feels suffocated, feels like she is burning from the inside out. They cannot die like this. She must try, even if it is all for naught.

But she remembers the prophecy of Azor Ahai, remembers the things that were said to her by little Rhaeya. She had become Queen in smoke and salt, and the orange star was burning while the eclipse had come.

It's you. Not her. It's you. You. Not her. Not her. You. As you are cursed. As you are cursed. You. Cursed.

And Nehelenia is whispering in her ear, reminding her of the words she spoke into truth.

"Three curses I Lay Upon Your Throne

As true as the words of the wise crone

One to die before your heir is grown

To kiss and cry before she is shown

Two to lose all that you have known

In Fire and Ice when Venus is blown

Three to turn your Kingdom into stone

To die too young, in fear and alone"

It's you not her and Serenity's soul seems to shatter in that moment.

The curse had not been on her mother, but had been on her. She had lost her kingdom, was losing this planet to Venus' demise. And if it was to be believed, she would die. She would die tonight as her kingdom turned to stone. But she must try, even if she dies. She must try. The curse must be broken. Her kingdom must be saved. And so she puts all of her focus on the Crystal, knowing that to do so once is folly, and to do so twice is death. And as the Sun spits fire straight towards her people who are burning, screaming, dying, she looks more fierce than she has ever before.

Please,she prays, I ask you to do this not for me but for them. I ask you to save them, to keep us safe. I ask you for their lives, even if in exchange for mine.And she says it over and over, until she is speaking it aloud, screaming it into the abyss as the fire comes closer and closer. She feels wetness in front of her and from where he lays in lap, Serenity realizes that her blood is dripping down her face.

"Stop!"Venus is screaming, "You will die, Serenity. Please! This is not the way!"

"I ask you this!" Serenity shouts as the Crystal burns brighter and brighter and the fire has come and it is burning, "I ask you to give us another chance. If the gods are true, if the stars are kind, I ask for our souls us to another time, and another place where we can be happy, if we are meant to be."

And at that moment the Silver Crystal shatters into a million steel shards and Serenity finally knows what it is like to die. Her pupils are blown and as she collapses into her husband's blood under the cherry blossom tree the last thing she sees is Saturn dropping her glaive and then a bright white light engulfs them all and Serenity doesn't know if it's the Doom or death but there is no pain.

There is only nothing.

---

2018.

If she didn't hurry up she's going to be late. Her German class had gotten out on time, but the Central line had been delayed and so what should have been a short trip from Holborn to Notting Hill Gate and a leisurely walk to the address she had been given was going to be a frantic run. She couldn't be late to this job. Her friend Molly had gotten her this job through her modeling connections and this guy was willing to pay her forty quid an hour to babysit two kids. She was supposed to babysit for a few hours tonight, and if it went well, Molly said that guy would ask for her at least two to three times a week while he was working.

Her parents offered to help out their daughter as best they could, but Serenity's family subsided on a single income. Her father had a well paying job at BBC as a foreign correspondent, but printed news was becoming obsolete. Her mother hadn't worked since she had gotten married, and Sammy, Serenity's younger brother, still had several more years of school tuition to pay. They had enough to worry about without Serenity's school fees and rent. Plus, this job would help fund the fees to take her teaching qualifications so that she could put her language degree to good use.

If this job went well, Serenity could pay for her dumpy flat in Whitechapel and have enough money to put away to support her other "job". Sailor Moon and the Sailor Soldiers weren't paid for stopping crime in London, and they certainly didn't get much thank from the media for risking their lives to stop knifings, alien invasions, and petty thieves. This job was vital to feeding her and paying for her books.

When she finally gets to the door she knocks hesitantly, straightening out her favorite tapered black dungarees and blouse and adjusting the backpack she had carried to class that had her schoolwork, a coloring book, a pack of colored pencils, a set of Legos and a few soft toys.

The door opened later to reveal a kindly looking elderly woman who beckoned her in, sat her down on a couch that cost more than Serenity's tuition and brought her tea.

"Mr. McQueen will be here in a moment, dearie," the woman said and true to her word, Mr. McQueen is in front of her within moments.

She nearly drops her tea and biscuits because holy crap –

"Serenity Grey?" he questions with a smile, and Serenity swoons. He's even hotter in real life than he is in magazines. His platinum hair is thrown into a half up messy bun and falls about his shoulders. His eyes are naturally a deep violet, even though fans swear he wears contacts, and he is coveredin tattoos, not unlike Raye. He's wearing a t-shirt but Serenity can see his two full sleeves of art and she knows from magazines that his chest is mostly covered as well. "I'm Rh-"

"Rhaegar," Serenity says, "Rhaegar Targaryen." As soon as she says it, she knows it's a mistake. Not only is this man going to think she's insane, but she's about to lose the possibility of the only job prospect she's had in the last three months.

And Rhaegar blinks and then sits down across from her. It is the first time that name has been said aloud. Most would recognize his face, after all, Rhaegar McQueen is one of the most successful stars in the United Kingdom. The twenty-six-year-old actor has done everything from Harry Potterto the West End. He was the lead singer in the indie rock band, Sagittarius, that had blown up a few years ago. Mina has even opened for the European leg of their tour earlier this year. The question is how she had seen him on screen since she was a pre-teen and never realized that he was the one from her dreams?

"You remember," he finally says.

Serenity hesitates and then nods, "Yes. I remember."

Rhaegar smiles slightly, "You look the same, I think. But your hair is shorter now."

Serenity feels so uncomfortable and self consciously touches her silvery locks. Is it supposed to be this weird? Meeting your soulmate? That's what he was, after all. When her memories had returned to her she had remember what she said, what she had wished for. I ask you to give us another chance. If the gods are true, if the stars are kind, I ask for our souls back. Bring us to another time, and another place where we can be happy, if we are meant to be

"How did you find me?" she finally asks. Because there's no way this is a coincidence. It's impossible. London is a big city and the world is an even bigger place, and there was no way that this was an accident. It's meant to be. Probably.

Rhaegar smiles, "I ran into Venus," he said, "Her name is Mina now."

"I know," Serenity says shortly.

Rhaegar looks unbothered and continues, "She's a hopeless romantic. So she mentioned this to your flat mate, Molly, and well, you know the rest."

Serenity starts sniffling and to her horror she's crying now because it's all so real. It was just a dream before, a memory at the end of a long tunnel that separated her from the long dead Princess Serenity. The dreams had started when she was a child and only five years prior she had woken one morning and there had been two sets of memories. Sixteen-year-old Serenity had no children, but remembered holding a host of silver-blond haired children to her breast.

The rest of the Sailor Soldiers had woken around the same time and that is when Mina had promised that they would not have the same fate. She had trained Serenity, forced her to learn how to be Sailor Moon so she could protect herself, so that if the evil ever returned that it could not hurt Serenity more than she hurt it.

Rhaegar is sitting next to her in only moments, with a tissue and he doesn't hesitant as he takes her into his arms, and hugs her tightly. It feels right and Serenity almost hates it because Princess Serenity vi Lunaryon might have known Prince Rhaegar Targaryen but Serenity Grey does notknow Rhaegar McQueen "I know it's early, and I know you might be afraid, but I love you, truly. With everything I am. I've dreamt of you my whole life. I've searched for years and I was giving up."

That infuriates Serenity because she's here to babysit. His children are proof that he's lying and it kills her, "You did give up! You have children!"

It hurts, she thinks, because Serenity had foolishly held out for him, knowing that maybe he wasn't even out there to love her. Serenity had dated in high school, and had even considered having sex with a boy she thought was nice until she remembered her past and in that moment she couldn't do it. How could she when someone else was there, waiting to love her?

Rhaegar snorts and then kisses her cheek fondly, "Viserys and Daenerys are not my children, my Moon Princess."

Serenity gasps and shoves him in excitement as she jumps to her feet, "They're here? You have them? Where are they?"

Rhaegar gives her a mock wounded look but Serenity can tell he's as happy as she is that his siblings have also been reborn, had been destined, "Why are you more excited to see them than you are to see me?"

Serenity glares at him hard, "Viserys romanced me even when he was a toddler and henever cheated on me."

Rhaegar gives her a dark look and Serenity wishes she hadn't said anything at all, "We can't have this argument for the rest of our lives every time you get angry with me, Serenity. You know I did not want to cheat on you then, and I wouldn't now."

That makes her feel a bit guilty because this Rhaegar hasn't done it, and from what she knows, the other Rhaegar hadn't wanted to either. But he loves her, and he shows her the nursery where little Daenerys is sound asleep and where Viserys is playing with a model train set.

He is just as sweet as she remembers and Serenity can't stop her eyes from welling up a little as the boy turns around with a wide grin from his toys. He looks alarmed at her tears though, the same shocked look he had given her on the day of their coronation, "Sister, leaking!" Serenity can't help but remember the weight of Viserys on her chest, waking to him sleeping on her, and holding him tight as he fed from her breast. He is his brother, yes, but she always saw him as her first son.

Rhaegar and Serenity both take a sharp breath as Viserys rushes to hug Serenity's neck tightly from where she is kneeling on the ground, "I missed, sister."

Her tears are salty and she hates crying and the way it gives her a headache and solves nothing but she has missed Viserys, missed Daenerys, missed her children. His head is buried in her neck and Viserys smells just as he smelled before, like sunshine and the sea and Serenity remembers hugging him for the first time, dancing with him by the water, and watching him wed the Rose of Highgarden.

Serenity Grey is only twenty-one years old but she has spent the past five years mourning the children that never came from the body she resides in. She missed Rhaegar, missed their children, missed their smiling faces and the warmth in their eyes.

They play for hours, long after Mrs. Dalton, the elderly housekeeper, leaves and that night Serenity and Rhaegar make love well into the night.

---

Six months later, Serenity moves into Rhaegar's townhouse. She throws a final party with her flatmates, and they see her off with hugs and tears. Truly they are all happy for her. Serenity's finally graduated, passed her qualification exams, and she's got a serious boyfriend who's offered to live with her.

They're visiting her family on the outskirts of London. Sevenoaks is a quiet town and Serenity is exceedingly nervous. Ikuko, Serenity's mother is a stern half Japanese woman, but a loving mother and she had been badgering Serenity to meet her possible son-in-law soon. Serenity has never brought a boy home, and she's fraught with nerves because not only is she bringing Rhaegar to her modest home but Viserys and Daenerys. Rhaegar puts the last of their bags into the back of his G-Wagon and they're ready to leave his townhouse in West Kensington. Viserys and Daenerys are in the back seat, and Viserys is begging to go to a pig farm that's near Serenity's parents house because his new daycare friend, Margaery Spencer brought her mini-pig to show and tell the day before. Viserys is painfully jealous even though he keeps vowing to marry both Margaery and Serenity which Rhaegar mildly informs him won't happen since hewill be marrying Serenity and because bigamy is illegal. Viserys doesn't understand but is easily distracted for the rest of the car ride by a picture book of Peppa Pig.

They reach the cottage home relatively quickly, and Serenity is surprised when everything goes off near perfectly. Sammy is somehow not an asshole or a kiss-ass to Rhaegar and Ikuko fawns over Rhaegar, feeding him bowl after bowl of curry because doesn't he know he's too skinny? Rhaegar and her father seem to get along, even when they go to sleep in the same bed that night which shocks Serenity because she thought her boyfriend would end up sleeping on the couch. It seems like Ikuko has laid into Ken Grey about not bullying Rhaegar ("That poor parentless child!" she kept saying over and over and Serenity wanted to roll her eyes because literally what the fuck, mom?). Rhaegar seems unbothered, and Serenity knows it's because although Aerys and Rhaella were not siblings this time, Aerys was no better of a husband or a father than he was in his last life.

Either way, Viserys and Daenerys charm her parents and they don't ask Rhaegar invasive questions about his work except when Ken eagerly asks if there's going to be a third movie in the series that had rekindled Rhaegar's interesting in acting after Sagittarius took off. Serenity steps on her father's foot with a dirty look and Rhaegar just laughs and gives a half-assed answer that makes the journalist in Ken sure that there will be another sequel to his favorite movie.

They're driving back to central London and Serenity feels truly blessed when she receives a short text from Mina.

Did you know Oberyn and Ellaria were also reborn? Met these two at a club last night. Anyways, can you come with me to buy emergency contraceptive near yours? I always feel judged when I go to Boots around mine. xx

Serenity rolls her eyes because that's so Mina. She's a proud girl, a romantic, and Serenity wants to kick her sometimes because she never seems to remember to consistently take her birth control. Especially since Mina is known as Aphrodite, the musical sensation that had taken the world by storm. If she got caught buy Plan B- Serenity shivers.

Her sister guardians have all been reborn in this life. Amy was studying to be a neurosurgeon at Cambridge just like her mother. She's the top of her class, and has been travelling between the United Kingdom and Germany for years. Lita was across the channel at Le Cordon Bleu learning to become a pasty chef so she can open her bakery. It had been her dream since her parents had died in a plane crash when she was young, and so she pursued it relentlessly. Raye is a full fledged practicing High Priestess of a coven of wiccans which pisses off her father, who's an MP and annoys her grandfather, who's priest at a local Parish. Amara and Michelle have found each other again, as an androgynous race car driver and her committed violinist life partner. They adopted an orphaned baby girl named Hotaru, who had revealed herself to be Saturn pretty early on. Trista is an Astronomer who's stationed in Norway but she hand sews avantgarde fashion in her free time while she freeze her ass off in the cold. But there all here, and Rhaegar makes their life complete.
They've been dating for a year and half when Rhaegar brings her to a restaurant in Soho. It's their favorite place. It's small, dumpy, cheap, and when Rhaegar wears sunglasses nobody even knows that a celebrity is eating udon noodles and a tempura vegetable combo for nine quid. They get green tea ice cream and although they usually get cake at the cash only bakery across the road, their favorite server, a high school girl named Pattida presents her with a cup of soft serve ice cream that has a giant diamond ring sitting on the top.

Anyway, Rhaegar proposes to her in their favorite restaurant on a really boring Tuesday night and Serenity thinks it's perfect because she's a simple girl. She just likes being romanced. All Rhaegar needs to do is give her flowers and treat her well and Serenity is in for the long haul.

The press is amazed that their engagement was so simple and are even more shocked at the small ceremony they have in her parent's backyard. Lita helps her mother decorate everything in tulle and chiffon and there are fresh cut flowers, aromatic candles and rose petals everywhere. Rhaegar invites some of his actor friends and his bandmates from Sagittarius and Serenity invites the rest of the Sailor Soldiers, their partners and her best friend since primary school, Molly. In total, there are less than fifty guests. It's over fast and they are all celebrating with Lita's handmade desserts and dinner and when Serenity throws her bouquet, Mina catches it and winks exaggeratedly at Oberyn who drily reminds her that triadic marriages are illegal.

They're married for two years when they have their first son. It's the exact opposite of grand affair; entirely different than the parades of celebration for her last first pregnancy. Mina goes to buy a pregnancy test at Superdrug and then picks up some juice and a bag of Percy Pigs at M&S and they wait for the pee to come for ages. The stick says positive but Serenity only half believes it so she drinks more orange juice and pees on six more sticks, which Mina says is overkill. She's pregnant.

She has an entire Pinterest board about ways to tell your husband he's going to be a father because she's been waiting for this moment since they got married. In the end she buys a soft rabbit from the Jellycat section at Selfridges and then puts the pregnancy test into a baby book where they can record everything that happens to their first child. Rhaegar cries when she tells him and Viserys and Daenerys are excited about having a niece or a nephew. Sammy comes over to babysit because pregnancy makes Serenity tired and forces her to crave all sorts of things she can't eat like unpasteurized cheese and champagne gummy bears. They have a homebirth with a midwife because they don't want the press swarming them at the hospital and their son is born with ten fingers, ten toes, and downy white blonde hair. They name him Rhaegon.

Sort of by accident, Rhaena is born only a year later and Serenity realizes it's because she's definitely forgotten to take her birth control. When she tells Rhaegar he laughs for half an hour because he remembers Serenity grumbling about having to pick up emergency contraceptive for Mina and she swats him so hard that he stumbles a bit but he's still laughing.

Viserys is extremely unimpressed by Rhaena, and when they tell him he's going to have a neice or nephew all he says is "Another one?" in horror as he drops his favorite set of Legos.

This causes Rhaegar to laugh even harder and this time Serenity kicks him straight in the shin, which Viserys copies. Daenerys can't stand on one leg yet so she just claps her hand. Rhaegar stumbles again but ends up stepping on a Lego, which makes him curse, which makes Serenity hit him again, which makes Viserys hit him again, which makes Daenerys clap even louder. It's a vicious cycle and Serenity can't believe how many amazing things have happened to her. Her life is great the way it is. She's got friends, she's got a doting husband, and she has Viserys, Daenerys, Rhaegon, and Rhaena.

Serenity feels blessed when Rhaenys is born, red faced and squalling. Rhaegar is anxious, remembing what happened the last time that Rhaenys was born but this time everything goes smoothly, and their youngest daughter is perhaps the strongest baby they have.

Everything is truly blissful until Russia and the United States go to war and as the nuclear missiles fall Serenity makes a wish to save them all, to save all of the people on the planet and the world becomes ice. How? she wonders. They had lived a whole life for the world to end, and she will not let it happen again, will not allow the second chance she has at life to be spoiled and so they sleep.

They sleep and sleep and when they wake, Serenity has saved humanity from another coming of the Doom, and she knows that she is Selene once again. It is different this time, brighter, warmer. The glow is still there, but unlike the first time she was Selene, she is onewith the Silver Crystal. It is her and she is it. But she is no longer Sailor Moon. She is something more, something different. Perhaps she is a god. Perhaps she is truly Selene.

Maybe it's her destiny to rule, because she is given a Crown by the people who are grateful that she has kept them alive, saved their world. At twenty-six years old, Serenity becomes Queen of the New Silver Millennium with thoughts in the back of her mind that make her fear for the Darkness. Nehelenia's curse is broken, she knows, but the thought that she could lose everything again is always in her heart. But it's a new time, and a new place and it takes conferences, arguments and bitterness from almost everyone but eventually she rules over this planet as her mother ruled over the moon. It is a time of peace. It is what Westeros should have been, if Nehelenia had not turned the world to ash.

And Serenity realizes that the prophecy has been fulfilled; both of them. Rhaegar and Serenity have brought the age of gods because there are no humans anymore, but Lunarians. They are all immortal, due to the long exposure of the Silver Crystal. Humanity is something more. It has evolved. This is a new world, where all achieve the lifetime that her people once had. Things are different now that she rules. They aren't doomed anymore. There will only be peace. She won't let anyone lose their lives to preventable things anymore. Chaos is gone. He will return, perhaps, but for now he is locked away in the Cauldron and he will not return until the seal is broken.

They are together for a thousand years before it is her time to fade. Crown Princess Selene will take the throne, and it takes a thousands years because her ability to control the crystal came slowly. Mercury thinks it is because the Crystal had bonded so thoroughly with Serenity. But eventually it leaves her, and just as it had in another life and in another place, her sisters begin to pass. And so when Serenity breathes her last she thinks about the life she has had with her husband, and how happy she is that they will all be together again, in another life. And she thinks to herself allow us all to find each other and love again.

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I hope you guys all enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it. How many of you guys figured out Nehelenia was pretending to be Lyanna? How many of you figured out the curse was on Serenity and not Selenity? And that she was the Prince who was Promised? Comment below and if you liked this story please leave a final review. I hope you all have an amazing summer!