AU at the end of Sailor Moon Stars. I draw from both manga and anime because I have incomplete knowledge of both, though it's mostly regarding details.

Special thanks to Peppermint Storm (defunct link) and The Sailor Senshi Page (eternalsailormoon dot org) for all the spiffy information concerning our beloved characters. And more thanks to the folks over at the Shitennou forums (forums dot shitennou dot com) for posting my story and introducing me to this world.

5/12/14: Revisions and edits.

prologue: a post apocalyptic nightmare

Ami didn't remember ever being so cold. It penetrated all the way to her bones, prickled along like thousands of little shards of ice digging into her. She heard so clearly the collision of millions of raindrops on asphalt, but she felt nothing but cold.

Why couldn't she feel anything?

Why was it so cold?

Ami didn't like not knowing. Her mind raced along several logical paths, but the conclusion ended up frayed, lost in the haze that surrounded her consciousness.

Finally, one simple logical conclusion leapt out at her.

Open your eyes, she told herself. But how did you open your eyes if you could not feel them? Open your eyes! She told herself again, desperately, and this time, she envisioned herself doing so.

A small window opened in the darkness, growing wider and wider.

She wanted to smile, but she still couldn't feel her face. Her vision was blurred by the onslaught of raindrops. She refused to shut them—refused to return to the dark. Instead she blinked rapidly, trying to discern her surroundings.

But Ami was distracted and so she still couldn't see, because Ami remembered everything.

They're like bolts of lightning, Makoto determined, dancing along her skin, just beneath her skin.

But lightning never hurt her like that.

She was just relieved that she could finally move. It was hard at first and she almost lost herself to panic, to the overwhelming despair just hovering at the edge, waiting to consume her. Physicality had always been her strong suit. What was she without it?

She couldn't give in.

She ground her teeth and pulled herself upright. Her fingers gouged the stone, so hard the nails cracked and bled, as they struggled to keep her body standing. Her eyes watered, stung with the dust that her ascent has stirred up from the jagged rubble around her.

She dared not let go.

Her first steps sent her tumbling to her knees again and they shredded on bits of glass and shards of stone. The particles of dust invaded her mouth and she coughed hoarsely. The impact brought tears to her eyes. She ignored the pain and tried again.

She had to get out of here.

She had to find her princess.

She couldn't fail again.

She stared resolutely ahead, moved resolutely ahead, until she cleared the rubble and stood beneath the rain. She smiled fiercely, painfully.

No, she couldn't fail again.

Minako was moving slowly, but easily. But now that she could focus on things other than her own damaged body, she realized that she was in danger. Her world had somehow become a post-apocalyptic nightmare.

The buildings were vacant, their cement walls crumbling in some places. The streets were filled with abandoned cars, forever stuck in a traffic jam. The copper smell of blood was still in the air even though the rain had washed its presence all away.

Youma lurked everywhere.

Her few attempts to access her power were failures. She had no powers. She was a mere human again. And Minako had never felt so helpless.

But there was nothing she could do for now. Her only hope was to find the girls. Find Serenity. Try and figure out what exactly happened after she—she shied away from that thought. She couldn't afford to think about her failure now.

But everything was easier said than done. Already she'd encountered more than one monster. And even running away was too much for her body.

Too close, she thought, too close to death before she could find her princess. So she slunk in the shadows. The proud leader of the Sailor Senshi.

She had to.

She was needed.

Rei couldn't feel them.

She could feel the darkness permeating the earth. She could feel the multitudes of youma feeding on fading life forces nearby.

The sky itself looked drenched in the blood of innocents. The rain even felt tainted somehow.

But she couldn't feel the girls.

She couldn't feel her princess.

The Senshi in her wanted to leave and find them, celestial powers be damned.

But the priestess won't leave the people here to die.

Her shrine was one of the last defenses in a 15-mile radius. Her meager spiritual powers kept this place protected. Her grandfather had already given his life to hold it this long, to keep these people alive this long. She would not make his sacrifice worthless.

And so Rei did the only thing available to her. She waited. She pushed the grief and worry to the back of her mind.

They had to be alive.

She couldn't lose them again.