From the beginning, there was more than one ending.

The king stood on a beach, wearing a crown of silver and robes of dark water. A magistrate stood next to him, looking entirely like a human in a long black coat, and apparently serving only to make indisputable the gigantic stature of the ruler, who was several times taller and proportioned to match.

The queen he faced was possessed of the same immense scale, and likewise dwarfed the magistrate who accompanied her. Her golden crown sat atop a veil of morning mist, and she wore a gown of churning river foam.

The two monarchs stood, watching each other warily, as the magistrates read the contents of the treaty. When the reading was complete, each nodded agreement then stepped forward and shook hands. Even for a giant, her grip was firm and strong. Had he the inclination, he could have accepted her as an equal.

That was not the ending he chose.

The king pulled his free hand from his robes, and with it the dagger that he plunged into her breast. Blood like a sunlit waterfall spilled from the wound and trickled from the corner of her mouth, and the king smiled... a cold, predatory expression.

He coughed up blood, the darkness of a night with no moon. Her smile resembled his own, as did the blade now embedded in his own chest.

That was the ending they chose, but it was never the only ending.

Even as two kingdoms crumbled, the myriad worlds continued to turn.

Clouds gathered in the sky, as they always had. Rain fell from those clouds onto the ground, as it always had. Water on the ground gathered into streams, rivers, and lakes, as it always had. Those rivers flowed into the ocean, as they always had. And the ocean returned the water to the sky.

There had always been more things in the sky than just clouds, of course. Birds and planes. The Sun, the Moon, and the stars. Sometimes stars would fall. Sometimes things that were not stars would also fall. On this particular day, not long from now, a certain person looking up might have seen something that was not a star falling from the sky.

The thing that was not a falling star could be considered fortunate. Falling stars are made of stone, and they shine because they're on fire. Stars that do not fall can burn for billions of years, but falling stars burn up in seconds. To be a falling star must be a very sad thing.

The thing that was not a falling star was glowing brightly enough to be one, warmly and brilliantly pink. Though he came from the sea, he was not thinking that he was following in the path of water, which as we know moves from the sea to the sky and back to the sea again. He was not thinking of how sad it would be to be a falling star, or how fortunate he was to not be one. No, he was thinking about the same thing that he was screaming, which was:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-"

X-Heart PreCure!

Episode 1: A Wish That Wasn't On A Falling Star! We Are Pretty Cure?

It was a day like any other. The sun shone in the blue sky over a bustling seaside town. A dearth of clouds promised a day free from rain, and the trees were already thick with green leaves where there had been only buds a week or two before. Adults worked. Children attended school-

This moment is interrupted by the ringing of a bell.

Children now departed school, for the most part. There were some few that remained behind, involved in club activities or other things, and for the present those are of greater importance, so we do not observe the hazel-eyed brunette who is already passing through the gates of the Seaside Girls Jr. Academy at an energetic dash. The school's halls at this very moment are filled with motion, so we may only very briefly take note of the girl with her half-moon glasses and her violet braids tied together in an asymmetrical knot, and the girl with the thick glasses and bobbed blue hair who waves to her in passing before we are drawn away through the sea of faces.

At the end of a hallway and down a flight of stairs is the entrance to a gymnasium. Within, we encounter the striking gaze of a pair of pink eyes, which are set into a starkly beautiful face framed by straight, black hair that should run over her shoulders and down her back, and would give her the impression of a perfect yamato nadesico, if she were not wearing a basketball jersey instead of a kimono, and if her hair was not at this moment drawn back in a ponytail.

She looks straight ahead with the focus of a warrior, and then she moves, swiftly darting towards the girl with the ball, feinting to the left, then stealing right along with the ball. There is nothing extraordinary about the height of her jump or the speed of her shot, and when the ball goes through the hoop exactly in accordance with her wishes, that is something anyone could do with sufficient practice.

Her opponent laughs. "I can never win against you, Suou-sempai!"

A stray hair jumped up from the dark-haired girl's scalp as if in reaction to her kohai's comment.

"Hina, how many points did you score just now?"

"Not enough."

"But it wasn't zero, right?"

"No, but-" Hina fell silent as the other girl's arm slid around her shoulder in a friendly embrace.

"No buts. No nevers. Work hard, and you can beat me. I'll work hard too. And then we'll work together and totally defeat Skyline! We'll take Koshien by storm! That's a Suou Tamaki guarantee!"

"Sempai..."

"How's that, Hina? Do you feel charged full of basketball power?"

"Sempai, Koshien is baseball."

"It is? Ahahahahaha, it is!"

The other members of the basketball club just shook their heads.

A while later, in the planetarium that took up much of the Academy's top floor, a bespectacled blue-haired girl sat by herself in the dark. The lights projected inside the dome showed the exact positions of the stars, not as they were right now or would be this night, but as they would be in the near future.

Deneb. Altair. Vega. She named them to herself as she looked from one to the next. In the summer, they would be visible straight overhead, but this projection displayed them more to the West. She sighed. This night sky was still several months away, as was the meeting that would come with it.

A door opened, allowing light from the hallway to flood the room. The girl turned to look at the silhouette of a girl with asymmetric knotted braids in the doorway.

"Shima? I hope I'm not disturbing you."

Shima shook her head, even though the other girl probably couldn't make it out in the dark.

"Not particularly. I've got this sky memorized already."

"This one again? Sometimes I suspect you just come up here to have an excuse to brood in the dark."

A soft giggle floated towards the doorway. "Maybe I do. Is it time to go home already?"

"It's not that late yet, but there's a problem with the budget and I can already tell that I'm going to be late. There's no reason that you should wait for me."

"You just don't want me to sit in the dark by myself."

"That too. If you'd find just one or two other girls to be in your Astronomy Club, I'm sure I could pull some strings for you."

"I'll find someone sometime, Koishi. And I promise to go home at a reasonable time."

"Thanks, Shima."

The door closed again, leaving Yagami Shima alone with her stars.

Following a couple hours of basketball practice, Suou Tamaki joined the slow trickle of students leaving the school as the various clubs ended their daily activities each at their own pace. Once again wearing the academy's white and violet striped sailor uniform, with her hair let down as it usually was when she wasn't doing sports, she parted with her teammates at the gate and began the long walk down the hill towards her home.

Smiling and humming to herself as she walked the tree-lined path, a single stray hair twitched in the air as if it knew something she didn't. Craned upward, as if it heard something she didn't. Had it the capacity for sight, it would have seen something that was not a falling star.

"-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

Presently, she heard it too, and if she'd looked upward instead of around and behind her, she would have seen it for herself. Perhaps even in time to dodge.

"-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-OOF!"

Struck full in the face by something that was far too plush and soft to be a falling star, she fell backwards onto her rear as the projectile ricocheted off of her and rolled to a stop nearby.

"Ow... what just hit me?"

She sat up and rubbed her bottom. A bright red stuffed animal lay upside against the roots of the closest tree. Its stubby white limbs were shaking in the slightest way, and for some reason its eyes were closed. In the middle of its forehead, it had a white heart with an X-mark crossed through it.

"There's no way it was this, right?"

"Ah... I thought I was gonna die-ton! My whole life flashed before my eyes-ton!"

"It talked! The stuffed animal talked!"

"I'm not a stuffed animal-ton! I'm a fairy from the Field of Currents-ton!"

"A fairy, huh?" The girl moved closer to get a better look at the little creature, who rolled over and stood up on his stubby legs. "I guess you are kind of cute-"

"I am not cute-ton! I'm a manly lanternfish warrior- HOLD IT-ton! I haven't got time for this-ton! I need to find Tun and search for the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure-ton!"

"The legendary warriors, Pretty Cure? I've never heard of anyone like that." Her stray hair twitched inquisitively, but the little fairy fell to his knees. Or what might have been his knees, if his legs weren't so short. "What's wrong?"

"How am I ever going to find the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure, if a human from the Field of Rains has never heard of them-ton? It's hopeless-ton!"

"It's not hopeless!" Struck by the force of her sudden declaration, the fairy rolled backwards a couple of times into a sitting position. "You've already come this far, so your progress isn't zero! As long as your progress isn't zero, you can definitely succeed! That's a Suou Tamaki guarantee!"

"So you know how to find the legendary warriors-ton?"

"Not a clue!"

"Then what good is your guarantee-ton?!"

"It's full of positive energy! Ahahahaha!" She paused and scratched head for a moment. "I guess I should help you look, though. I did guarantee it, and I've never met a legendary warrior before."

"It might be dangerous-ton. Monsters from the Field of Rivers are probably already looking for me-ton!"

"Then I'll hide you in my bookbag!" She lifted up the bag's flap. The fairy looked at her skeptically, but jumped in anyway. "Where do you wanna look first?"

"That way-ton!" The fairy had to lean out of her bag to point with his stubby arm. "Tun was falling in that direction when we got separated-ton!"

"Okay! Off to find Tun-san, then! Come to think of it, what's your name?"

"Oops-ton! With all this excitement, I forgot to introduce myself-ton! My name is Ton!"

"I'm Suou Tamaki! Pleased to meetcha, Ton!"

Then the girl took off at a dash, leaving her new friend to fare how he might within her wildly bouncing bookbag.

On a quiet residential street further down the hill, Shima walked quietly on her way home. The regularly spaced trees that lined the road nearer the school had given way to an irregular smattering of trees, hedges, and gardens, as best suited the tastes of the various owners. A cobblestone retaining wall ran along the sidewalk on one side of the road, and not far from here she would be going uphill again.

Walking alone left her mind free to wander, and she wished for a moment that she could see the stars above... then took it back because that would mean walking home after dark. It wasn't as if the clear blue sky wasn't pleasant in its own way. In fact, just now a falling star was whistling across the sky towards her.

"But falling stars don't whistle," she thought out loud. "Not unless they're large enough to hit the ground, and then it should be quite a bit louder. It must be close if I can hear it though, and it looks like it's getting closer. The chances that it could be heading right at me probably aren't entirely astronomical-"

She dove out of the way just in time to avoid being hit by something that was certainly not a falling star, at the same time somehow clipping the cobblestone wall hard enough that her glasses were knocked off of her face.

Shima fell to her knees and began to grope about, essentially blind.

"My glasses... where are my glasses?"

"Here they are-tun."

Taking her glasses from the unknown voice, Shima put them on and found herself looking at a pudgy white stuffed animal with a blue mark on its forehead shaped like a wheel. It had less distinctive blue markings on its arms and its legs... and also on what looked to be its fins.

She blinked a couple of times, then took her glasses off and wiped them. The strange creature remained.

"You're definitely not a falling star, right?"

The creature shook its head. "I'm not anything so sad as that-tun! I'm Tun, a fairy from the Field of Currents-tun!"

"Field of Currents? Fairy? I can't even think of where to start dealing with- Wait, falling stars are beautiful! Why did you call them sad?"

"Just because they're beautiful doesn't mean they're happy-tun. Stars that do not fall can burn for billions of years, but falling stars burn up in seconds-tun. Doesn't that sound so very sad-tun?"

"It does... I never thought about it like that before."

"I think I'm very fortunate to not be a falling star-tun. Well now... What's your name-tun?"

"Me? Yagami Shima."

"Shima-chan, even though we've known each other a very short time, I have to go now-tun."

"I see..." Shima nodded and adjusted her glasses. "It's to be expected that a fairy from another world would want to return home as quickly as possible."

"That's a reasonable expectation, but I can't go home yet-tun. I need to find the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure-tun! If the legendary warriors don't have the Cure Lodestones, they won't be able to stop the monsters from the Field of Rivers from destroying this world like they did my home-tun!"

"Legendary warriors? Cure Lodestones? Monsters? Maybe I should call the police? No, this is too crazy! Who would believe such a thing?"

As if in answer to Shima's question, a beautiful black-haired girl wearing the uniform of her school turned around the corner at a sprint and suddenly was running directly towards Shima. Caught completely off guard, and already kneeling on the ground to speak to the little fairy, Shima could only cry out and grab Tun in a protective hug and brace for impact.

"Look out!"

If not for Tamaki's meteoric encounter with Ton earlier, breaking around a street corner at top speed and suddenly being in danger of trampling somebody would have easily been the biggest surprise of the day, but in the short moment before the imminent collision she still managed to leap and do a handspring that carried her over the top of the other girl with not a hair on her head harmed. Skidding to a stop over a few more paces, Tamaki spread her arms victoriously.

"Safe!"

"OUT! What were you thinking throwing me up in the air like that-ton? That was the second time today I thought I was gonna die-ton!"

Tamaki looked back to see her bookbag hanging from a tree branch with an irate fairy hanging out of it.

"Oh, it's Ton-sama-tun!"

"Tun, you're okay-ton!"

"Suou Tamaki with another fairy... What the heck is going on?!"

A couple of minutes later, the girls and the fairies conferred while sitting down in a nearby bus shelter.

"So the two of you are both from the Field of Currents, which was destroyed by monsters, and if you don't find the legendary warriors, Pretty Cure, the same thing is going to happen to Earth?"

"That's right-ton." "Yes, that's it-tun."

"And I promised to help Ton, so now I'm involved with it too."

"Shut up, Suou-san. I still haven't forgiven you for running me over."

"I said I'm sorry about that... Come to think of it, I don't know your name. Have we met?"

"Yagami Shima! We're in the same class!"

"We are? I guess we are! Ahahahaha! Sorry about that, Shima-chan!"

"Whatever." Shima turned back to the fairies. "Anyhow, if I leave the two of you to her, there's no telling what kind of trouble you'll get into. Do you have any plan for how you'll find the legendary warriors? Like an address or a photo or something?"

"Address-tun? Photo-tun?"

"There isn't anything like those in the Field of Currents-ton. But when we bring them close to the legendary warriors, the Cure Lodestones will react-ton!"

"Cure Lodestones?"

Ton and Tun nodded, each putting their hands forward with what looked to be a matched pair of compasses with pink heart-shaped needles, housed within an ornate clasped case like an old pocketwatch, except that the casing was pink for one and blue for the other, giving an impression more like a toy than an antique artifact. The needles were spinning slowly in opposite directions.

As Tamaki watched the needles spin, her stray hair started to drift in circles as well. "So the legendary warriors are moving in circles around us now?"

"No! They just aren't close to us-ton! When the legendary warriors are near the Cure Lodestones, something miraculous will happen-ton!"

"That will never happen!"

The four of them were interrupted by the deep voice of a creature floating in midair. It was a monster with the body of a muscular man, but the hooves and head of a horse. Its mane seemed to be made of flowing water, and its eyes were black where the whites should be.

"It's the enemy-ton! Run away while I hold him off-ton!"

Ton sprang at the man-horse with a high-pitched kiai, apparently unfazed by his enemy's imposing appearance. The monster responded with a backhand slap that sent him flying like a jet-powered home run baseball, high into the air and far away, then turned his gaze back to the two girls.

"I am Taeyn, centurion of the Field of Rivers and seneschal of the Island Palace! You humans! Hand over the Cure Lodestones and those denizens of the Field of Currents, and I promise that you may leave unharmed! Otherwise, you will bear the full force of my hatred!"

"No way!" "Not happening!"

The two girls responded as one.

"If I hand them over to you, I'd be going back on a Tamaki-chan guarantee!"

"I didn't make any guarantees, but you look like the kind of guy who thinks nothing of breaking promises!"

On the bench in front of them, the Cure Lodestones opened up and started to glow. Ringing in a soft harmony like a pair of tiny bells, they began to float in the air as the spinning of the needles slowed and came to a stop, pointing directly at Tamaki and Shima.

"Tamaki-chan! Shima-chan! You are the legendary warriors-tun!"

"We are? Shima-chan, what do we do now?"

"Why are you asking me? I've never been in a fight in my life!"

"Use the Cure Lodestones-tun! If you hold them in your hands and say the magic words, a miracle will occur-tun!"

"There will be no miracles!" Taeyn shouted, gathering a ball of dark energy in his hands and flinging it at the three. "Each and every one of you, DIE!"

The two girls grabbed the Cure Lodestones out of the air and held them in front of their chests. The words that needed to be said slipped into their minds as if they'd been there all along.

"PreCure Cross My Heart!" "PreCure Cross My Heart!"

The world around them vanished. Their bodies now floated in the air between a softly glowing sea and a beautiful starlit sky. Two large banners, pink for Tamaki and blue for Shima, each emblazoned with a golden heart crossed underneath by a golden X-mark, formed out of the wind and the sea spray, and wound around their bodies, hiding their clothing and everything below their necks from view.

The banners rippled and reformed, becoming fanciful knee-length dresses in pink and blue, replete with ribbons and frills. Elbow length gloves and tall boots formed around their hands and feet, and leathery black belts and bandoleers, with golden buckles all shaped in the same crossed-heart emblem, wrapped around their waists and crossed their chests.

Tamaki's black hair washed pink and shortened back to the nape of her neck, except for a small handful of strands that wound themselves into thin pink braids and tied together in a bow at the top of her head, secured in place by the tiara that appeared.

At the same time, Shima's glasses vanished and her hair grew longer, washing blonde as it reached down to her back and gathered into a ponytail, cinched by a heart-shaped ornament that sprang into being for that purpose.

The real world reappeared exactly as they had left it, with the transformed girls posed back to back.

"Flying the flag of the whistling wind, Cure Breeze!"

"Flying the flag of the crashing waves, Cure Surf!"

"Joined together under the jolly roger of love, we will calm your hatred and steal your heart! Setting sail, Cross Heart Pretty Cure!"

Within the first moment after they transformed, Cure Surf reached out her hand and caught the ball of energy that Taeyn had thrown at them. She tightened her grip and it shattered into dust.

"I feel strange..." She blinked. "And I can see with my peripheral vision! What's going on?"

"Your glasses are gone!" Cure Breeze gaped and pointed. "It's like you're a completely different person!"

Cure Surf's hands flew to her face, where her glasses very much were not. "I don't have my glasses and I can see..." She turned her gaze to Breeze. "Your hair! It's short!"

Cure Breeze touched the back of her head, discovering by touch the ends of her hair that was now much shorter than it should be. She wobbled on her feet and fell kneeling on the ground.

"My life is over!"

"Next time!"

"Next time? Shima, shouldn't our theme song be playing right now?"

"Tamaki, you do realize we're not on TV?"

"We're not? Ahahahaha, of course we're not! Wink!"

"Wink? Why would you say that out loud?"

"No worries! Nobody's listening to this part anyway! They're too busy gaping at the amazing footage from next week's episode!"

"Didn't I just tell you we're not on TV?!"

"Next time, X-Heart PreCure: I just can't do this! Pretty Cure disbands?!"

"How can you announce that so cheerfully?! Are you even listening to yourself?"

"Ahahahaha! Nobody listens to this part! Why, what'd I say?"

"I'm sorry... I just can't do this."