Sailor Moon Aeons.
Book 3: Crystal City.
Act 1: Generations.
Episode 10: The calm after the storm.
By Razor Knight
Last update: March 26, 2019
Considering everything that had happened to her in the last hour, Alma was not ashamed of being scared. Serenity had taken her - and the others - to a large room, somewhere. "Where are we?"
Serenity smiled. "In Crystal Tokyo. Inside the palace."
"Why bring me here?"
"I told you I wouldn't let them do anything to you."
"Why?"
"Do you enjoy killing?" Usagi asked.
"No. I just wanted to get back at assholes like those who... Do any of you even know how this feels?"
"We are not a bunch of spoiled, perfect beings," Hotaru said. "Me? I lost my mother when I was too young to remember, was given powers I was not really okay with for years. And some of my friends... Well, you can ask around later, it's their choice to tell their stories. However, you had the power to kill, to erase souls. That's quite a power for a young girl to have."
"Had?"
Serenity sighed. "I may give you your magic back, but I won't give you access to that skill. It has few 'good' uses and an untrained mage having it..."
"I think I understand. You're right, I was dangerous. I could have killed your-"
"Kill Kyouko? You weren't going to. That's why I didn't act until you attacked Mai. That's when you went from scared to suicidal, and I couldn't let the others kill you. Both for them, and for you."
Kyouko walked to Alma. "Besides, friendly warning? You're not the only one who can kill just by touching someone. I could have done it, but I am no murderer."
Alma went paler than usual. "You could have..."
"I've been a Senshi since I was eight, and trained for battle since day one. My 'two mommies,' as you called them, have kicked me around and taught me enough self-control to let me do what I did. I lied about it being a 'dumb move,' sorry. I was giving you a supposed hostage. A chance to make a move. I wanted to see if you were really so desperate as to break your own pattern, and you weren't, you just bluffed and tried to buy time. The one thing that wasn't in my plan was Younger Jupiter."
Mai sighed. "Speaking of which, can I go back home?"
Serenity turned to her. "You have questions, and we will answer them, but I want to deal with Alma first."
"... Okay." Mai could understand that. This Alma girl had... No, Mai herself couldn't imagine what she went through. She now realized how lucky she was for the boring life she had. "Wait, how do you know her name? Or mine, even?"
"Magic. I am the one Senshi who can use the powers of all others, in a limited way. I can, thanks to Pluto's power, see many possible futures, which is why I was ready to jump in at the right time. The fact Pluto isn't here shaking her head at me is proof that I didn't mess up. I can also see the past, and know you two are completely different. Alma's life... Much despite the rumors, I am no goddess, I can't fix everything that's wrong with thus world. But seeing how life can turn an innocent girl into an assassin... That makes me feel like a failure."
"You stopped me from killing her," Alma said, turning to look at Mai. "I can't imagine what I would have done after that."
Serenity winced. "I've seen versions of that. You most likely would have been broken by that, and either try and succeed to, as you called it, 'die a villain,' or you would have used your own power on yourself before we could stop you."
Alma laughed humorlessly at that. "Using my power on myself. I never thought about it. That would have been a simple solution for my problem."
"Please, don't say that," Serenity said. "You have a future now."
"Do I?"
"You spoke of this 'perfect' city with spite before, but would you be willing to give living here a try?"
"I- Wow, that's a tough choice. Live in a city that's always sounded too perfect to be true, or go back to a city where I'm seen as a monster, and my only 'friends' are a bunch of criminals I may have considered killing at some point?"
"Sarcasm doesn't suit you," Mai commented.
"Says you." Alma sighed. "I think whatever your conditions may be, they won't be worse than what I was doing before. Thank you for letting a nobody like me be part of your city."
Usagi decided to drop a 'bomb' right then. "A nobody? Alma, you have the potential to become one of the strongest mages on Earth, as far as non-Senshi mages go. You'll need training, but as long as you don't go on killing sprees, we can help with that."
"That's... Wow."
"Serenity turned to Mai. "You are worried we'll make you stay here."
"I... Yeah." So Serenity's rumored 'people reading' skills weren't just rumors.
"You'll need to train, but with magic, it takes a split second to go from here to Kyoto. However, your parents need to know about your powers."
Mako appeared right then. "So, what's the emergency?"
"Sorry for calling you this late at night, but... Mai, meet Makoto Kino. Sailor Jupiter, or should I say Elder Jupiter."
"Elder-" Mako said, then saw Mai summon a ball of lightning. "Oh."
Serenity smiled. "Mako, meet Mai Raikou, Younger Sailor Jupiter."
Mako nodded at her. "Nice too meet you."
"Likewise," Mai said. In her mind, however, she was going full fangirl about it. Being a Senshi, meeting so many Senshi, if this was a dream, she hoped her mom would let her sleep for a while longer.
"So, long story short, there is apparently a 'Cycle' that makes it so there is always enough Senshi in each generation."
Mako looked at Mai, then at Serenity. "Oh, I see. So it doesn't just wait for us to have kids."
"Yes," Serenity said. "Now, Mako, you may already be guessing why I called you here, but I'll tell you anyways. Since it's technically your fault this young lady is a Senshi, I want you to be the one to tell her parents about it."
"Wow, thanks for the honor, my Queen."
Serenity almost laughed at that. Mako, of all people, was the one who had the most trouble with calling her a Queen. Not out of disrespect, but because she still saw Serenity as Usagi, gown or no gown.
Mai sighed. "Sorry, Jupiter..."
"It's okay," Mako said, "and call me Mako."
"Right."
"So, where do you live?"
"Kyoto. I'll give you directions once we get there."
"Good. Why aren't you transformed?"
"Uh, I don't know how."
Mako looked at the others in disbelief. "Seriously?"
"We were too busy to tell her," Usagi said. "By the way, Mako, the girl now staring at you in fear? She's Alma, formerly known as 'Soul Harvester.'"
Mako looked at the girl. Thin, white-haired, and not much older than Kyouko. She could not sense magic in her, and knew her friends enough to know they weren't there to punish her. "So, I bet she had a tough life. I'll hear about it later. Gotta go tell a parent their kid's a Senshi, oh joy."
Alma saw Mako and Mai leave, and smiled. "She looked like she didn't want to do it."
"Mako? Well, most of our parents weren't too weirded out by the idea of us being Senshi," Usagi admitted, "but there were a few cases where it got awkward. Chie... Sailor Lilith's parents basically treated her powers as 'a phase she was going through' for years."
"Oh... I wonder what my dad would think..."
Usagi wasn't one to sugar-coat her thoughts. "About your powers? He might have freaked out. About your 'hunt'? I'm sure I don't need to guess. He would have been disappointed."
"Thanks, that makes me feel better."
"Honestly, wasn't trying to. Our past, our mistakes, our victories... It makes us who we are now. I learnt this a long time ago, it's better to think about the 'what next' than the 'what if.'
Alma let out a long sigh. "I guess you are not... I gotta be honest too, I can feel magic and you scared me."
"We guessed as much. It's why we were letting so much of our power through."
"Letting..."
"We know you can cloak your own power. So can we, and our version is much better at doing it," Usagi said.
"You mean that wasn't your full magic aura?"
Serenity sighed. "Kyouko, show her."
Kyouko gave Alma an apologetic smile. "Sorry."
Alma took a step back as she sensed the girl's power rise. That much power? But she was the same age as her, how...?
Kyouko let her power drop. "While Senshi powers can come from out of nowhere, like with Mai, in the case two Senshi of different elements have a child, both powers can transfer. In my case, it's because of my parents that I have three powers overlapping. That's why I'm this strong. Mom's stronger, and grandma is way too powerful for me to beat her in a mock battle."
Alma looked at her, then at Usagi and Hotaru. "So the rumors were true. These two..."
"I am their biological daughter."
Alma blinked at that. "Magic, I bet?"
"Yeah."
"Question, where am I going to live-"
Serenity nodded. "We'll decide that tomorrow. Tonight, you'll sleep in a guest room."
"You mean here. In the palace."
"Yes."
Alma smiled, much despite herself. "If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up."
"It's no dream, Alma," Serenity said.
"Huh, weird," the girl said. "You knew Mai's full name, but what about mine?"
"Your last name reminds you of your father, who you regret losing, and your mother, who you still hate. I won't judge, I know parents can be evil, our first 'final boss' was a woman who saw all her children as tools, and used them to fight us. People can change, too, Rei's father was able to. But I respect your choice, if you want us to know you just as Alma, then that's how it will be."
"Thanks."
Mako looked at Mai. Younger Jupiter..The girl was skinny, blonde, and short, she barely filled the suit. This 'Cycle' really messed up there. Or perhaps she shouldn't have expected a lookalike, since this wasn't her child.
"Something wrong?"
"It's nothing. Transform back to normal."
Mai looked at the house in front of them. "Why?"
"Because the 'disguise' spell is one that never goes away. Your parents expect Mai to walk through that door, not Sailor Jupiter."
"Uh, right." After transforming back to normal, Mai walked in, followed by Mako. "Mom, dad? I'm back."
Her parents were there, their faces a mixture of worry and relief. "Mai! Where were you this late at night?"
Mako smiled at them. "I apologize on behalf of my allies. It's technically our fault she's still up and about."
The man looked at her. He knew enough about the Senshi to realize who this was. "Sailor Jupiter?"
Mako nodded as she mentally triggered her transformation. "Yes. How much do you know about Senshi?"
The woman smiled. "It's not just Mai that's a fan of your group, Miss Kino."
"Call me Mako."
"Okay. My name's Atsuko."
"Shun," the man said. "It's weird, you are probably older than me, but-"
"I look young. It's a consequence of my magic. We Senshi have very long lifespans."
Atsuko saw Jupiter look at her daughter as she said that. Did that mean - no, that wasn't possible. "So, what happened? Why are you here?"
"Well-"
Mai sighed. "Mako, no offense, but I'm tired. I want to go jump on my bed and sleep for a day. So let's just show them."
Shun saw his daughter transform and gasped. That was a Senshi suit. Matching Jupiter's suit. A part of his mind was shouting about it being impossible, but he ignored it. "You are... A Senshi?"
"I found out one hour ago. I went to the mall, and the Harvester was there, being chased by some Senshi, and I kind of saved one of them by shooting lightning at her."
"Her?"
Younger Jupiter smiled. "The Harvester? Not a monster at all. A girl my age who had very bad luck, and no family left."
"Oh my..."
Elder Jupiter smiled. "My friends will make sure her luck changes."
"So Mai is a Senshi? Jupiter? Can there be two?"
"We already have a Younger Mars, Younger Venus, Younger Saturn... But in cases like mine, magic makes up for lack of a 'Younger' by choosing someone suitable." At least that's what she was guessing, she would need to ask the older Usagi about it later.
"So you can't have-"
"Oh, no, I chose to wait, and my husband was fine with that. We could have kids if we wanted to. Probably will, in the future."
Atsuko chuckled. "Sorry, it's just that I may have figured our why you're here, and why you don't seem too happy to be the one doing this."
"Yeah, Usagi, that is, Queen Serenity, kind of told me it was my fault your daughter was Jupiter, and told me I had to come help Mai tell you she's a Senshi."
"Does Serenity order her friends around?"
Elder Jupiter smiled. "No. She asked me to do this. I could have said no, and she wouldn't have minded. But I know she's kind of right. I'm annoyed at the task, not the task giver."
"Well, thanks for telling us... Wait, does Mai need to go live there?"
"Not unless you all agree to it. She can keep going to school, and she can tell all her friends she's a Senshi. We'll train her to use her powers, but that will only be a couple hours a day, for a while, and coming and going takes a second. Heck, with enough practice she could learn to teleport."
"Yay, I can finally get to school in time!"
Jupiter saw the girl and her parents looking at her, expecting a reaction from her. "What? As long as she doesn't use her powers for evil things, it's okay. Being late for school and teleporting to make it in time? Been there, done that."
Shun sighed. "Mai, I don't think we have a problem with you being a Senshi. Go get some dinner from the fridge, and then go to sleep."
Mai turned back to normal, and gave her parents a hug. She then hugged Jupiter too. "Thanks for helping me."
"No problem, really."
As Mai left the room, Shun smiled. "You know, Jupiter..."
"Mako."
"... Right. Mako, to us your group always looked like... I dunno how to say it. You're human, I can see that now."
"Same here," Atsuko admitted. "But... The Harvester was a girl Mai's age?"
"I have seen her kind before. I wasn't there to hear her tell her story, but... I wouldn't be surprised if that girl had to deal with a lot of bad things, of bad people. Not a good life to live."
"From what we heard, people she targeted were not honest citizens. Can't always trust rumors, but-"
"In this case, they may be right. Some of my friends used to actively hunt scum like that, but they rarely, if ever, had to kill them. This girl was on a rampage, it's good we stopped her before she did something she would regret."
"So... Will you come pick her up soon?"
"I'm not- Moon and Saturn take care of training the Younger Senshi. They may ask me to give her some tips, since she's got the same element, but... Don't worry, she's in good hands. She may even get some actual muscle between her skin and bones."
Atsuko smiled. "Mai was never a fan of physical work."
"Oh, then she'll love training. I almost feel sorry for her."
"Uh..."
"Don't worry, I'll tell my friends about it so they can adjust her training. Anyhow, it was good to meet you, but I had things planned tonight, so... Goodbye."
"Bye." Atsuko sighed. "Our daughter, a Senshi."
Shun smiled. "Yeah... She'll be fine."
"I wasn't worried," his wife lied.
Alma woke up and looked around. No, it was no dream, she was still in the guest room. It was too big a room for one person, but she guessed they were designed for more than one person. She looked to the side and was surprised to see her dress there. A white summer dress which was the last thing her father bought her, although it was cleaner than it had been in months. She remembered leaving it there. Had someone sneaked into her room- 'Her' room? That was a silly thought.
She was just done dressing up, when she felt something. She rose her hand and gasped. She could feel the energy flow into it as a ball of mana formed. "This is-"
"Raw mana, basic magic energy, with no elements attached. You didn't think we were giving you your full power back, did you?"
She saw Usagi - the younger one - standing near her. "Uh... Why give me back magic at all? I still-"
"You need to prove to us you can have magic and not use it for evil. How could you do that without having magic?"
"... Fair enough."
"By the way, I'm not as good at 'reading people' as my mother, but I can tell something else bothering you."
"My dress. Who cleaned it?"
"Me. Magic is useful for things other than combat."
"Uh..."
Usagi saw the girl's cheeks turn a shade of red that reminded her of Mars' skirt. "Oh, yeah, I was not aware you slept completely naked. Sorry for not asking."
"I feel like hiding under a rock right now."
"You're actually shy about it? Good. You know, that's one thing you and Kyouko have in common. She also sleeps like that. But she doesn't care who sees her. You at least know it can be quite awkward."
"Uh... I could say it's because that dress is the only piece of clothing I own, but I actually like- I just never did it in a place I knew someone could walk in and see me."
"In any case, mom wanted to see you as soon as you woke up."
"Okay."
Usagi blinked. "... You're not going to complain about not getting breakfast?"
"I've lived in the streets for two years. Breakfast was whatever I could steal off any shop close to wherever I woke up. Most of the time, my conscience beat my stomach."
Usagi nodded. "I see... Well, mom is waiting for you, I know her enough to know there is breakfast. Mostly because she may have guessed, or seen, you haven't eaten properly in months, and also because she's quite the glutton."
Alma stared at her. "Queen Serenity of Crystal Tokyo. A glutton. Wow."
"We are as human as you. We're not perfect. I've got quirks too. "
Alma smiled. True, anything was better than the life she had been leading for the last two years, or even- But she liked this. She could get used to not running, not hiding. Not becoming a 'monster' out of spite.
As they walked through a long corridor, Usagi looked at her. "Uh, sorry to ask, but how old are you?"
"I'm going to be twenty in two months," Alma said. She saw Usagi's shock and couldn't help but laugh. "A woman who should be fifty but looks like she's in her twenties, surprised by this? I've always been short, and I know my face is a bit on the 'childish' side."
Usagi shrugged. "Well, I thought you were fifteen, at most, but even if you're nineteen... I still think you are too young to have gone through all that."
"Yeah. I still went on a rampage. Sleeping it off made me realize death was the easy way out for those I killed. It may be also finally hitting me that the way I ended those lives, I..."
Usagi hugged the girl as she started sobbing. "It'll be fine, you're no murderer."
"How can you be sure?"
"Murderers don't regret killing, they enjoy it. First time I killed a monster? I was kind of a wreck for two days."
"Does killing evil things get easier?"
"Not really, we just get used to it. Some faster than others."
Alma wiped the tears off her eyes. "Uh, sorry about... Let's go, I don't want to make Serenity wait."
"Don't be afraid of her."
"I'm not, not anymore. But she's the best thing that happened to me in a decade. I respect her."
Usagi smiled. "Heh. You'll be fine."
"... Thanks, I guess?"
Usagi stopped in front of a large door. "Okay, here you are. Good luck."
"Uh, you're not-"
"I've got things planned today, sorry. But as I said before, you'll be fine."
Alma closed her eyes for a moment. "Thanks." As she opened, she saw Usagi was gone. "Teleportation, huh. I would love to learn that trick." She sighed and opened the door. She couldn't forget all the things that made her who she was, but she could at least give the "what next" a try.
A/N: In the previous version of this story, by episode ten I was halfway through the Dark Moon arc. I guess I'm taking things 'a bit' slower this time. Don't worry, I'll be done with the boring age of Crystal Tokyo in a few dozen episodes. Yes, that was a joke. Or was it?
This episode's title? I regret nothing. If you missed it, go back to episode eight and see what its title is.
