SIMILITUDE
Chapter 12: "New Life For Old"
A neo-Sailor Moon fanfic

By Bill K.

Serenity, Sailor Moon and Sailor Saturn raced out of the lift and into the lobby of the great Palace of Crystal Tokyo. And suddenly, the clone was directly in front of them.

"You!" gasped Queen Serenity, uncertain of the clone's intent. Saturn started forward, seeking to protect the Queen. But Sailor Moon stuck her hand out.

"Your hand, Saturn!" she demanded, gesturing with her open hand as she materialized the Moon Tier in the other.

Taking her meaning, Saturn grasped Sailor Moon's hand. Instantly their energies merged. Sailor Moon pointed her Moon Tier.

"Silver Moon Crystal Power Kiss!" she called out.

Pink tendrils laced with violet shot out from the Moon Tier and leaped at the clone like hungry vipers. They coiled around the onyx figure, holding her tightly in their grip. The clone struggled initially out of fear, but as the restraints began to work their magic on her, she sank to her knees before Queen Serenity. Serenity's hand went to her mouth as Saturn and Sailor Moon looked on warily. The clone didn't escape, but it was unclear whether she couldn't or no longer wanted to.

"Please," the creature whimpered, her head bowed before Serenity. "Please don't destroy me. I-I don't want to hurt you. I just," and the clone shuddered, struggling against the hypnotic coercion of Sailor Moon's augmented tendrils, "I just want to understand! Why?"

"Why what?" Serenity asked tenderly.

"Why does everyone hate me?" the clone wailed. "Why does everyone fear me and want me dead? What am I?" She looked up at Serenity. "The Creator said I came from - - you."

"Yes," Serenity responded, kneeling before the clone so they were eye to eye. "You were grown from some of my cells - - if I understand it correctly. Parts of you have been changed, but most of you is a copy - - of me."

"But," the clone struggled, "you are loved and I am feared. Why? Am I not you?"

"It's because you've done wrong," Serenity told her.

"What is 'wrong'?" the clone asked.

"'Wrong' is hurting others by your actions," Serenity gently explained. "'Wrong' is taking what isn't yours. 'Wrong' is not respecting others."

"Taking what isn't mine. You speak of the Crystal within me," the clone responded. "Why is it wrong for me to have it? Am I not you?"

"No," Sailor Moon interjected. "You're a copy of her. If you were her, you'd know what you're doing is wrong. You'd know the Crystal belongs with her."

Sailor Moon glanced over her shoulder. By now Endymion had joined the scene. But he hung back, trusting his wife to be able to handle things her way. She knew as well that if anyone could get through to this misguided clone, it was her mother. But just the same, she wasn't going to let go of the Moon Tier.

"I know what having the Silver Crystal is like," Serenity smiled charitably at her clone. "So much power that you think you can do anything, and yet the realization that if you slip just once, people fear you." She tenderly stroked the side of the clone's face. "I forgive you for taking it. You were only doing what your creator told you to do. And I forgive you for wanting to keep it. You think if you just wish the right wish, everything will fall into place. But you don't know how to handle it. That's why you're feared now. That's why you're shunned and attacked. Because if you make the wrong wish, you can hurt a lot of people. And I don't think you want to do that. Please give it back to me - - for your sake as much as anyone's."

The lobby was lined with senshi now, as well as palace guards. There was an oppressive curtain of fear and anxiety in the room, everyone waiting for the clone to make the wrong move. Serenity seemed to sense it. She turned to her daughter.

"Usa, let her go," Serenity requested.

"Mom," Sailor Moon responded, warning in her tone.

"It'll be all right," Serenity assured her.

If it had been anyone else, she would have turned the request down. But Sailor Moon lowered the Moon Tier. The pink and violet tendrils faded away.

"I'm trusting you," Serenity smiled to the clone, "to do the right thing. To show everyone that you're not someone to be afraid of."

The clone sat there, staring at the floor. She didn't move. Serenity didn't move. No one in the room moved. Moments collected into a full minute. Then a warp opened in the clone's chest. The Imperium Silver Crystal calmly floated out and traversed the space between them. A similar warp opened in Serenity's chest and the Crystal returned to familiar space. Everyone relaxed.

"What becomes of me now?" the clone asked and to many it sounded like the plaintive question of a two year old child.

"Would you like to stay here?" Serenity asked.

"Your Majesty, I hardly think that advisable," Luna warned. "Need I remind you that this - - being - - is the only one aside from your daughter capable to manipulating the energies of the Silver Crystal? What is to keep her from one day taking it from you again?"

"Luna's right," Neptune warned. "So long as she lives, that clone is a threat to you, your family and to this country."

"Must I be destroyed?" the clone asked. She wouldn't look at anyone, instead fixing her stare at the floor. "I did as you asked. I-I wish to live - - though the thought of existing without the Crystal within me is not as appealing, now that I have experienced its power. Yet the thought of not existing at all - - it makes me afraid."

She slammed her flat palms against the marble floor in frustration.

"If only I could return to the beginning and change everything!" the clone wailed in anguish.

Serenity reached out and caressed the clone's head. The Queen was smiling, as if she had gained a sudden inspiration and knew the solution. Sailor Moon studied her mother, trying to figure out what the expression meant.

"Do you really wish that?" Serenity asked. The clone nodded, unwilling to face her. "Come. Look at me."

She gently brought the clone's eyes up to look at her. Then the Queen spread her arms, inviting the clone to hug her. The anxiety in the room ratcheted up. The clone was puzzled at first. Serenity leaned in and wrapped her arms around the woman. The clone was mystified at first, but responded in kind.

A brilliant flash of silver light engulfed the room, forcing everyone to look away. When the light dissipated, everyone turned back. There they found Queen Serenity cradling a weeks old infant in her arms. The child was soft and pink, with the bluest eyes anyone could remember a person having, save the Queen of course. The infant also had a single small tuft of blonde hair across the top of her head. As the assembled stared in amazement, Endymion knelt down next to his wife. She turned to him and smiled.

"Congratulations, Endymion," Serenity said. "You're a Daddy again."

"That's the clone?" Ceres gasped. "You turned her into a baby?"

"She was a baby in every sense except for her form," Serenity said, gently caressing the infant. "I just changed her physical form to be closer to her actual age. And I'm going to raise her as my new daughter."

"Are you sure about this, Serenity?" Venus asked her.

"It seemed like the only acceptable solution. She was a product of me, like Usa was - - like Kousagi was. And all she wanted was a second chance. Now she'll get that chance - - a chance to grow up properly and live her life right. And Endymion and I will raise her right." She glanced over at Sailor Moon and grinned. "After all, we must know what we're doing. Look how Usa turned out."

"'Bout time you admitted it," Sailor Moon smiled back.

"I bow to your wisdom, Your Majesty," Luna told her. "Truly an inspired choice."

As Endymion helped Serenity to her feet, her senshi crowded around her to look at the baby and to congratulate her. The Asteroids gravitated to Sailor Moon, who was admiring her parents from a few feet away.

"Wow, instant little sister!" Vesta remarked.

"Bet this is going to take some getting used to, huh?" Juno offered.

"I suppose. It still really hasn't hit me," Sailor Moon replied. Saturn looked at her friend and wondered about the girl's muted reaction. Was it wonder her friend felt? Was it shock? Saturn prayed it wasn't envy.

Cere found herself at the door to Hiroki Kuroda's studio. She didn't want to be there. She was still mad at him. And yet, there she was, hating herself for giving in to the longing she had to see him just one more time, even if it was just to tell him off. The door sensor scanned her. This was the first test. If the door didn't recognize her as an automatic entry, she'd know things were over between them. But the door hissed open. Part of Cere felt giddy from that implication, but she kept that part muted.

Inside, she found Hiroki sitting on a soft, his arms wrapped around his head in a visually uncomfortable manner, staring at a blank canvas. At the sound of the door hissing shut, he turned. Upon seeing her, he scrambled to his feet. However, the reed-thin artist stayed at the same distance from her. The pair stared at each other across the gulf between them.

"Where have you been?" he demanded, an edge of challenge in his voice.

"Senshi business," she responded disdainfully. "If you'd watch a news stream once in a while, you'd know that." Hiroki only waved dismissively. Cere knew of Hiroki's contempt for current events. She glanced around. "No naked women?"

"It would be a waste of money," Hiroki scowled and sat down again to stare at the blank canvas. "I haven't painted anything that wasn't utter garbage in days." He glanced back at her. "And it's YOUR fault!"

"MY FAULT?" gasped Cere angrily. "I come in here to find a naked woman in your studio . . .!"

"She was an object!" Hiroki waved dismissively again. "I had no interest in her! She was a subject to paint! If I'd been painting an apple, would you accuse me of lusting after the apple?" He glanced at her again. "Maybe you would have."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Cere fumed.

"Possessiveness can be an ugly thing," Hiroki responded with an air of superiority.

"You forget, I know how many women you've been with, Hiroki Kuroda!" Cere argued. "It's not paranoia to assume the worst when I see you in the same room with a naked woman! So in the future, I suggest you stick to painting apples!"

"I will paint what I choose to paint!" Hiroki exclaimed, standing up again and facing her. "If I decide I want to paint a naked woman, I will paint a naked woman!"

"Then I'm going to be the model!" Cere maintained.

"NO!" Hiroki responded vehemently.

"Why not?"

Hiroki just stood there, jaw clenched.

"Why not?" Cere repeated. "What's wrong with me?"

Suddenly Hiroki was across the room. He had Cere around the waist and was staring into her eyes with an intensity that made her heart skip. It was like he wanted to say something, but couldn't find the words. So he kissed her, hot and hard and long. Cere went from startled to resistant to overwhelmed in a matter of moments, and finally gave in, smothered on two fronts by his passion and her own. Finally their lips parted, but his mouth remained close to hers.

"Because you're mine," he whispered, an earnestness to his tone that Cere picked up amid the blood throbbing in her ears, "and I'm not going to share you, with the world or with anyone. They don't deserve to see you. Not like that."

"Now who's being possessive?" Cere whispered back, her hot breath mixing with his.

"It's different," Hiroki responded softly. Cere tried to argue, but couldn't muster the initiative through the racing of her pulse. "You don't have to be jealous. No other woman exists except you."

"So you tell me," Cere said and sought out Hiroki's mouth again. "I did miss you."

"I couldn't pain a stroke without you," he murmured when their lips parted again. "I said you were my muse. I didn't lie about that."

"I just," Cere began, stopped to kiss him, and resumed, "don't want to share you either."

"As if any woman could compare to you," Hiroki murmured into her mouth.

"I wish," Cere whispered in between kisses, "I had the strength to not believe you."

With that, the couple collapsed on the floor. The time for talk was past. They could talk later - - over breakfast.

PKE class found Hotaru once more trying to lift a two pound weight from the table and failing miserably. In frustration, the girl rested her chin on her right hand and just stared at the weight like she was trying to read its mind and unlock its secrets.

"Forgive me for inquiring," Valeri Brugarov said. Hotaru turned and found the youth leaning in toward her. "Still you are not succeeding at lifting the weight?" Hotaru didn't have to be a mind-reader to see that Valeri was still smitten with her, though to his credit he was trying to conceal it so as not to put her off.

"Sometimes I think I'm never going to do it," Hotaru sighed. "It seems like the only time I can do it is when I'm not trying to."

"That is good thing," Valeri offered. "It proves it can be done."

"It's not very useful if I can only do it when I don't want to."

"I wish I knew what to say. Premonitions and visions are something I have always been able to do. It has never required work or training." Valeri thought a moment. "Perhaps you try too hard. The harder you try, the more you block yourself."

"Sensei said that," Hotaru murmured. "And Palla-Palla." And Hotaru remembered something. "Brugarov-kun, what do you think of Palla-Palla?"

"She is very efficient at using her power," Valeri replied, perplexed. "And she is your teammate, so she must be a very skilled and accomplished warrior." He grinned to himself. "Such a thing is hard to imagine, though. She is so - - childlike."

Hotaru's hopes fell.

But Hotaru gave it another go. "She has some very nice qualities," Hotaru offered. "She's very innocent and cheerful. And she's very kind and, well, loyal. Trustworthy." Hotaru glanced away and frowned. She realized she was making Palla-Palla sound like a pet.

"Yes, well, believe me, I mean no disrespect," Valeri began. "She is your fighting comrade and you think very highly of her. That is good. But I find her - - intellectually inferior. That sounds terrible, I know. I know it probably isn't her fault. I just . . ."

"I'm sorry I brought it up," Hotaru said gently.

Valeri nodded and awkwardly backed away. Hotaru sighed and stared at the weight. Another failure.

"Thank you for trying, Miss Hotaru-Ma'am."

At first, Hotaru thought Palla-Palla had said it. But she looked around and didn't find the girl. Hotaru realized that the thought had been broadcast into her mind. And then she spotted Palla-Palla in the very corner of the room. Her senshi teammate turned and forlornly walked out the door.

"Maybe I should have just kept quiet," Hotaru sighed and went back to staring at the weight.

Usa peeked into the Royal Bedchambers, where her parents slept. She found her mother feeding her new - - sister - - while her father and Luna were engaged in a debate. As if sensing the presence of her other child, Serenity looked up and smiled to her daughter.

"Come in, Usa," Serenity said gently. "I was just feeding your new sister." The Queen grinned ruefully. "Guess that proves she's my clone."

"As if further proof were needed," Luna remarked. "She had the greatest power on the planet at her command. She could have destroyed everyone with just a thought, particularly under the duress of threat of imminent death. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do it." The cat began to mist up. "Perhaps there is such a thing as innate goodness."

"Or perhaps she was being influenced," Endymion suggested, "by the crystal."

"Pardon me for differing with you, Your Majesty," Luna countered, "but there is no history of the Imperium Silver Crystal influencing the behavior of its possessor. Quite the opposite, its responses are influenced by the possessor."

"I'll concede that," Endymion responded. "But Dr. Yoshida's process didn't copy memory patterns. She had to implant them. So the benevolent response came from somewhere. and I doubt it was from Dr. Yoshida. You can attribute it to 'innate goodness'. I'm wondering if the Silver Crystal has been surreptitiously altered by being in Serenity's possession all this time and now exerts a positive influence on anyone else it comes in contact with - - particularly a blank slate like the clone." He glanced at his wife and smiled. "She does have a talent for influencing toward the side of charity."

Serenity glanced up at him and gave Endymion a grin.

"A point to consider, Your Majesty," Luna conceded diplomatically, meaning she wasn't really conceding at all.

"Come up with a name for her yet, Mom?" Usa asked.

"Mamoko," Serenity responded proudly.

"'From the mother'," Luna nodded. "How very apt, Your Majesty. Quite poetic."

"Oh," Serenity frowned. "I guess it does mean that, doesn't it."

"That isn't why you picked the name?"

"I just feminized Endymion's old name," Serenity replied.

"I suppose that's reasonable as well," scowled the little black cat.

"It is a pretty name for her, Mom," Usa said.

"Sorry, Mamoko. All gone," Serenity cooed to the infant, pulling the bottle from her. Little Mamoko yawned and smacked her lips. "Would you like to hold her, Usa?"

"Uh," Usa responded with trepidation. But before the teen knew it, her mother was up and pushing the bundle into her arms. Usa cradled the baby as if she expected the bundle to explode in her face and looked down at her. The child looked back up at her, curiosity and wonder in those blue eyes that were so much like her mother's. Some of the teen's trepidation must have registered on her face.

"Usa?" Serenity asked. "You are OK with this, aren't you?"

"Well, it is kind of weird, Mom," the teen responded, still staring at the infant in her arms. "I mean, it's a great thing what you did. You didn't have to. I'm not sure I would have." She stared at the child for a moment. "But given how you've pretty much lived your life raising orphans and picking up strays and always having room in your heart for one more - - I guess it's the only alternative you could have thought of." She thought for a moment. "It's a little hard to digest. I mean, my Mom is also my little sister? But yeah, I'm OK with it. I'm just about out of the nest anyway. She can have my spot. It's cool."

"And she'll have an advantage you didn't have," Endymion added. "A big sister to model herself after."

"Hey," Usa said, snuggling the infant closer to her as she addressed her father with surprising animation, "don't put that kind of pressure on her! It's hard enough growing up without always being compared to someone!" She turned back to Mamoko and tenderly told her, "You just be your own person, Mamoko-Chan. I'll be there for you whenever you need me. But don't EVER feel the need to be anybody else but you."

Conclusion