By
White Wave Dancer
Chapter 1
The Rule of Destiny
Destiny is unalterable.
Chronos, god of time, stared down at
the squirming infant in the cradle, studying her with a critical eye. Sucking
dolefully on her little thumb, Setsuna stared back at him with wide garnet
eyes, looking pained. The Princess of Pluto was fussy. She felt too clean,
and her elaborate christening garments made it difficult to move. As if
expecting Chronos to assist her, the child let out a derisive bleat, prompting
a humorless smile from the Time God.
What an utterly pitiful situation the babe was in. Here she was,
only a few weeks old, already on her way to becoming the woman fate and
lineage meant her to be, and she was cranky and uncomfortable in her ceremonial
attire. Her destiny loomed before her, set in stone, but she was too young
to understand what that meant. Suddenly empathetic, Chronos made a disgusted
face at the baby girl, a gesture that looked so silly on him that Setsuna
squealed with amused delight. Startled by her reaction, Chronos jumped
backward. Setsuna giggled sweetly.
"She's beautiful, isn't she, Father?" The familiar
voice prompted Chronos to turn. Behind him, dressed to the nines in their
ritual garments of dark green and cranberry streaked with white, stood
the king and queen of the planet Pluto, Lady Moira, and Chronos's own son,
Lord Hades. Chronos snorted at his son's question.
"Beautiful, indeed!" he scoffed. "I suppose, for
a tiny, toothless female with a patch of moss growing on her head! Beautiful!
Ha!" At this, Hades laughed, for he knew his father's heart was soft as
the downy green "moss" capping his infant daughter's head. Indeed, it could
not have taken much effort on Setsuna's part to worm her way into her grandfather's
affections. Chronos knew as well as anyone that he could never feel anything
less than absolute adoration for his garnet-eyed granddaughter. He may
have been the god of time, but he was a sentimental old coot, and made
no attempt to deny it.
Her gowns whispering elegantly as she walked, Lady Moira glided over
to the cradle, and swept the girl up in her arms, kissing her plump cheek.
"She most certainly is a beauty," the queen cooed,
wrapping Setsuna loosely in a dark green blanket. "And what do you think
of your grandfather, my little Sailor Soldier." Setsuna gurgled happily,
and Chronos smiled, for Moira was the proudest mother he'd ever seen.
The Plutonian queen had hoped and prayed for a daughter since she and Hades
were wed, and finally, her wish had come true.
Moira knew what having a daughter would mean—what
the destiny of a girl from her womb would be. That was what she wanted.
A girl to follow in her footsteps, as fate would dictate. That was
what Setsuna would be. A Sailor Soldier. Just as destiny—her destiny—said
she would be. It was all mapped out for her, leaving no room for error.
The warrior of the future was in plain sight as the infant princess drifted
off to sleep in her mother's arms.
Setsuna would be a Sailor Soldier. What Chronos saw in her innocent
crimson eyes, what he felt from his little granddaughter, could never change
her fate.
Destiny is forever.
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Whaddya think so far? Now, I could never name all the things I was
watching or reading or listening to when I was hit with this idea, so I
won't even try. But if you like it, tell me. If you don't like it, tell
me. You can expect this story to progress pretty quickly. I've already
got up to chapter 3, and most of chapter 4 written out by hand-- now I
just have to type it.