Moon Priestess

Epilogue: New Life! Chibi-Usa's Coronation.

Hikari pushed her dark hair back out of her eyes as she walked into the conference room at the back of the church, a simple affair with a long wooden table and surrounding chairs, each of which (apart from hers and Keiko's) was currently occupied with a priestess in deep discussion.

Staring at the other unoccupied chair at the head of the table as she sat down, Hikari smiled, not at all surprised by the topic being discussed - which just happened to be the surprise resurrection of NeoQueen Serenity.

The NeoChristian Churches which had once persecuted her as the Antichrist now held her to be the Messiah of her people. The streets were full of celebrating citizens world over. Not that they wouldn't have been here in Crystal Tokyo anyway - the coronation of Small Lady Serenity was due to occur today also.

Reminding the others that they were going to have to cover for Keiko as well as do their own duties, she left the room, picking up the lavender towels that were folded neatly by the archway of the room containing Serenity's Pool. They were still slightly damp. Grouping them between her arms, she glanced at the water. It no longer rippled of its own volition anymore, as it had been doing these last nine days. The room felt completely empty of any kind of presence except for the faint murmur of the Queen's influence that had always been there, for those who could feel it. If she had been there at all, NeoQueen Serenity's spirit had now vacated the place, for good or for ill. Closing her eyes in prayer, she wished the (to her) unknown yet somehow familiar girl who now inhabited Keiko's body good luck.

Inside the confines of the Crystal Palace, right down in the basement of the central spike of crystal that made up the building, Sailor Mercury sat at the controls of the computer's memory bank. The very device that she had effectively made her life's work.

Now, there was one particularly golden memory that she had almost at once added in with the rest, to be preserved in all its digital glory till perhaps long after she herself died. Perhaps her children would use it. Children...

She guessed it was only natural she wanted a child, no, not a child, someone to mentor and teach. After all there was no point attaining information if she couldn't share it all with more eager, learning minds - especially since she herself was no longer involved in the education system further than governing it officially. Smiling slightly, she leaned over the console and pressed "Play."

Ami, dressed in a light blue blouse topped with a darker blue sweater-vest and black trousers, listened contently to her black mary-janes clicking across the floor. Slipping through the chapel door, she looked at the tomb, at NeoQueen Serenity's... no, Usagi's beautiful but dead form encased in its crystal grave.

At last, she was ready to put aside her demons and accept her best friends death.

However, as she neared the grave, it seemed fate had decided not to let her come to terms with the death of the Queen. The crystal casing began to glow, and a half scared, half disbelieving scream escaped her as NeoQueen Serenity's eyes fluttered then snapped open. Her mouth opened, chest expanded and retracted as she took a breath of the precious little air inside the coffin. Stale air, at that. Then her hands moved slowly and stiffly and pushed against the lid.

Serenity was trying to get out of her coffin. All Ami's science and logic failed her at that moment. Serenity... Usagi, Usagi had come back from death. She was alive and banging against the heavy lid, suffocating in the now surely almost non-existent air inside her container. If Ami didn't act soon, she'd die again.

This thought stirred her into action, with a cry telling her to hold on that she could probably barely hear under all that crystal, Ami ran forwards and tried to pry the lid off. It wouldn't work. Frustrated, she whipped out her transformation wand and within seconds Sailor Mercury was aiming a "Mercury Aqua Rhapsody!" at the lid to try and blast it off, working at the seam between the bottom and the lid and slowly prying it up. She could keep it going up but couldn't tip it off balance, and she was running out of energy. Serenity was gasping in the clean air. If the lid fell back on she wouldn't survive.

At that rather desperate moment, Pluto appeared in a flash of red light and gave the balancing lid a hard shove, knocking it from the top and freeing NeoQueen Serenity at last.

Just in time for Endymion to run into the chapel, closely followed by his daughter and the other senshi. The sight that greeted them was waxing biblical, not to mention poetic. NeoQueen Serenity, lit through the crystal walls by the rising sun behind her, was smiling as she held out her arms to them. Her dress rustled in the shocked silence. Tears were shining in Mercury's eyes as she stood slightly to one side, and Pluto was smiling in that mysterious way of hers that let them know something major was going down on their timeline, and it was good.

There was a clatter as the Space Sword fell from Uranus' hands, the owner herself dropping to one knee before Serenity, bowing low. Seconds later Neptune joined her. Joyful tears were sweeping down both their faces as Serenity laid a hand on either of their shoulders and they both knew whatever she had held against them since the day she sent them away, real or imagined, (most likely the latter) was forgiven and forgotten.

Sailor Saturn inclined her head to the Queen as she looked over her. The golden haired ruler swept Pluto into a hug when the older senshi greeted her, commenting that she never doubted her Queen for a minute, to the mystification of the others.

Another shocked gasp sounded as the Queen went straight over to Endymion next, pulling him into a hug. "Endymion. I'm sorry for what I did, that I drove you to cheating through my selfishness over Fighter. But I feel new, I love you." she said. "Perhaps properly for the first time since we regained our past lives. I love you!" Without further comment, the pair kissed, looking every bit the picturesque loving couple they were meant to be to start with.

"Looks like you're out of luck, Setsuna-mama." Saturn commented dryly as she eyed the kissing couple. Pluto shook her head. "It was a fling, and we both know that." she replied, eyes shining with sadness even when she was so happy. "I have my duties and let's be honest, I was a rebound. Nothing more, nothing less." Nodding, Hotaru patted her on the back. Yet, as she touched her, she could feel a spark of something. Like the birth of a star. Pluto looked down at her, still smiling. "Something wrong, Hotaru-chan?"

Hotaru shook her head, putting it off as imagination. "No."

As their conversation ended, Venus nudged closer. "Pluto... It will take me and maybe the others a while to get our respect for you back. But I'm still glad to call you a friend." she admitted.

"That doesn't really matter." Pluto replied. "We're virtually immortal, and have all the time in the world to befriend each other again. I can wait."

Meanwhile, Serenity was busy hugging the others. When she got to Mars, the brunette senshi punched her in the arm, making her complain (in true Usagi fashion) about her meanness, before pulling her into a rib crushing hug, sobbing.

Just then Yaten and Taiki walked in, stating that they hadn't seen Seiya since she left after dinner to visit the church again alone, and they were worried she had done something stupid. They agreed to go and look for her (although, as ever, Uranus seemed to dislike this idea) when the door opened once again, revealing Seiya and a familiar figure dressed in silver priestess robes patterned with golden crescent moons.

Ami sighed and leant back from the console. She'd been pondering what to do about one person in particular since she arrived. A short while before Crystal Tokyo she had found out she wasn't exactly straight when she and Makoto had both got drunk that one time. It had ended slightly badly at the time but the ensuing relationship was something she would never regret.

What was holding her back was exactly what stopped her voicing her feelings last time - the distance, and their seperate duties. Sure, there were the portals, travel between their worlds wasn't as much of an issue.. but still. Could she? Should she? She knew what the others would say. Go for it, don't stop to think. Unfortunately she liked thinking things through before she did them. To Ami, there was no such thing as "over-thinking things".

Another sigh laced with finality hit the air as she leant forwards once more, flicking the switch, and decided that once she had watched the rest of the recording, she was heading straight upstairs to sort this mess of an internal thought pattern out once and for all. She needed closure before Taiki left again.

Rei, her intuitive power greatly increased through training and extra help from Michiru, picked up on the obvious discrepancy that was created by the new figures arriving in the room. It was as though Serenity was looking at a mirror wearing different clothes. They were virtually identical twins. Mars narrowed her eyes. Identical twins with identical auras - which was impossible, unless they weren't twins but the same person. Something fishy was going on here.

"Usagi?"

It didn't help when both figures replied at the same time with the same words of "Yes?". Further confusion was caused when Seiya seemed not to know there was anything wrong either. Surely someone that in tune with Usagi's "shine" would pick up on a fake?

"Which one of you is the real Usagi?" Mars asked, looking between them suspiciously. Was this miraculous resurrection fake? If it was, why would Usagi return here first before she ran off to Kinmoku after faking her death and risk getting caught, as she must have known would happen?

NeoQueen Serenity shot her double an anxious look, who merely smiled back and shrugged her shoulders before speaking again, alone, this time.

"We both are, in a sense." she said, holding up her necklace. The others gasped as they recognized the recently created third Ginzuishou, dangling off its gold chain. "I am the Usagi of the 20th Century, and that is Serenity, the Princess of the Silver Millennium and now NeoQueen Serenity."

"So.. you split into two?" Mercury questioned, effectively both clarifying and dumbing down the theory for the rest of them who were slightly off kilter with trying to grasp what was going on. Usagi nodded.

"We split, I'm not a host body anymore." her look sobered slightly as her eyes fell on Endymion. "Mamoru, however, chose to join with Endymion instead of splitting, and has been virtually lost." she paused and shrugged. "Not that there was much of a difference between them in the first place."

"So.. you always intended to split?" Venus asked, pondering over it all with her usual active curiosity. Again, Usagi nodded.

"Serenity, as much as I get on with her, is not me. Although I suppose I would have joined with her had I not met Seiya. She gave me something to stay seperate for." Seiya squeezed her hand as she recounted exactly what had happened. As she came to a stop, Pluto nodded and glanced over at the others.

"I knew she was going to do this for a few months before it happened. I have a hunch Yaten and Taiki found out last night after dinner." she commented, smiling as the two Starlights nodded, slightly weirded out at her knowledge of this, although not exactly surprised. "She had a higher purpose than Seiya, however."

Her smile growing slightly, Usagi launched into another description - this time how she had died with a view to becoming Sailor Cosmos. "I have to leave soon, and I'm afraid no-one can come with me. I have to make this trip alone." the smile faded entirely as the sentence left her lips. Seiya frowned. She knew Usagi hated being alone, but apparently she couldn't go with her. Not yet. It was just one of those things. "But when I get back, I'll be staying on Earth with you all until the long era of peace ahead of us now ends and Chaos pieces herself back together to wage war on us once again."

"It won't be the same without you, you know." Jupiter commented sadly. The others nodded.

Usagi laughed, pulling her into a hug. "Silly Mako-chan. I am here - Serenity is here, and Serenity is me." almost as soon as it had come the laughter was replaced by a teary look. "And.. can you all forgive me for doing this? My initial death grieved you all so badly. I understand if you just want me to go and not come back..."

"Usagi." Mars said bluntly. "Shut up. You're coming to the coronation and then you can stay as long as you want."

NeoQueen Serenity burst out laughing along with the others as Usagi began to cry and the two best friends hugged like nothing had ever happened.

"Yes, Usagi. You will stay here as a guest of honour as long and as often as you want, in return for what you've done for me, even if I didn't know it at the time." Serenity said happily, leading the rest of them away. "Now, let's go sort out your rooms."

Uranus sighed and shook her head, looking over at Pluto. "And you know the crazy thing? All this is just another day in the life of a Sailor Senshi."

Pluto laughed. "And I wouldn't have it any other way."

"Come on you two, move along." Neptune said, chuckling as she shooed the pair of them out of the chapel after the others and shut the door after herself as she left.

The End.

Well, there you go folks. That's the end of Moon Priestess. If you like the idea, I might write a sequel. I certainly have the ideas for it already. I hope this ties up all the loose ends satisfactorily. Ish =3

Till next time,

~Dreamweaver-chan.