Author: Abigail aka Moonchild aka Drive Me Mercury
Email: abigail@makenai.org
Rating: PG-13 (subject to go up or down)
Chapter started: 2-10-03 Chapter ended:
Disclaimer: Sailor Moon and all characters and settings belong to
the one-and-only Naoko Takeuchi. All created characters and plots within this
story are my own.
Note on continuity: Call me crazy, but that whole
fall-asleep-for-thousand-years spiel in the anime never made sense to me. It
just seemed totally pointless, and was never fully explained. And as far as I
can tell, it never happened in the manga – Chibiusa was 902 and still a kid
because her powers hadn’t emerged yet, and everyone else just had unnatural
long life because of the Silver Crystal. Someone can correct me if I’m wrong,
but I still don’t have reason or desire to incorporate that plotline into this
fic (besides it makes things too complicated for me). So, at this point in the
story, Crystal Tokyo has been created on Usagi’s 22nd birthday in the year 2002,
there is no catastrophic world-freezes-over looming, and life goes merrily on.
(Birthdays and dates are just estimations by me. The timeline gets messed up
anyway when you try to compare ages between anime and manga. I’ll try to be
consistent, but in the end, they’re not really that important.)
~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~
*Chapter 1*
-’Neesan-
Crystal Tokyo, 2008:
There wasn’t a member of
the world community who wouldn’t recognize the palace in Crystal Tokyo – with
its tall crystal spires and shining, glass-like surface that sometimes blinded
onlookers in the afternoon sun with its glare, the construct was truly an
amazing piece of architecture. There were considerably fewer who could say they
had actually seen the interior of the great building. It was true, though, that
the innards of the palace did not disappoint. Long, crystalline halls stretched
like miniature cathedrals, decorated lavishly with engravings and furnishings
from the finest artisans in Japan, and demanded a revered awe from anyone who walked
them.
At the moment, however, a
loud clamor echoed up and down one such hall that was anything but reverent –
the sound of tennis shoes slapping the polished marble as short figure ran as
fast as she could, expertly weaving between and around (and occasionally
bumping into) startled passersby. Three black tails bounced wildly behind her
head, while her arms held some small package secure against her chest.
Setsuna heard the
commotion stop outside her office door, where she was typing up reports (twenty
secretaries in the queen’s service and -she- was loaded down with palace bureaucracy!). Within a few moments the
door swung silently open a foot or two, and a raven-haired head peeked in.
Seeing the dark-skinned woman was busy and facing away from her, she stepped
into the room. She peered around the room with a child’s curiosity, and finding
nothing interesting or different, focused again on the only other occupant of
the room. Step by step, she crept closer to the older woman, quiet as a mouse,
until she was just an arm’s length away…
“I wouldn’t do that if I
were you.”
Miya jumped back.
Sometimes she could swear the guardian of Pluto had eyes in the back of her
head. Setsuna swiveled her chair to face the young girl. “What are you doing
making so much noise before noon?”
The girl shifted her feet.
“I’m hiding. Well, actually George is hiding.”
Setsuna raised an eyebrow.
“Oh? What is George-kun hiding from?”
She pulled a fat white
rabbit out from under her zippered sweater and set it on the desk. “From
Tomozawa-san. She’s really angry with him.”
“Miya…” Setsuna gave the
girl a stern gaze that said ‘What did you do now?’
“It wasn’t his fault!” the
child protested. “He had to go to the bathroom, and… he kinda did it… on
Tomozawa-san’s big padded desk chair.”
Setsuna could just imagine
the palace’s stressed-out head secretary reacting to such a crisis. “Is that
all? I thought your mother didn’t like you playing in the main wing of the
palace.”
Miya rolled her eyes. “The
staff quarters are boring!”
Setsuna acknowledged this
with just a sigh. “Alright. But I have work to do you know…”
“Okay.” Setsuna was always
busy with one thing or another, when she didn’t disappear altogether for days
at a time, so Miya was used to this. She hopped onto the second chair in the
Time Keeper’s office and started to spin herself. Her mother, Makiko Kawabe,
was one of the several full-time staff members at the Crystal Palace who
resided in the small housing complex adjoining the back of the main building.
Her husband had died when Miya was too young to remember. She was always
occupied with work during the daytime, so it was up to Miya to amuse herself.
Like Setsuna had said, she didn’t approve of her daughter being in this area of
the palace without supervision, but the main wing provided a much bigger
playspace and a wider variety of people, which suited Miya’s tastes much better
than the drab staff residence. Among the in-house staff she was the only child near
her age, so most of the time she only had George for a playmate.
At nine and a half years
old, she was still short (three foot six) and hated it. Her midnight black hair
was done up in three braided pigtails, and she’d proudly attest to the fact
that she’d been doing her own hair since she was seven. Her bright blue eyes
could change from widely innocent to mischievous in a second and she hardly
ever passed up an opportunity for a little devilish fun (or any offer of
sweets, for that matter).
She’d known Setsuna,
otherwise known as Sailor Pluto, for as long as she could remember, and she
thought of the woman almost as an aunt or older sister. Setsuna didn’t mind if
Miya hung out in her office when she was bored, and then there were those rare
and fun occasions when just the two of them would take a shopping excursion to
the mall or go out for chocolate sundaes. Most of the time, however, she was
busy with palace work or important jobs, so Miya begged more than she actually
got to go. But in any case, Setsuna was cool. How many kids could say their
second-best friend controlled time and space?
“Neeeee, Setsuna-san, show
me the time gates?”
“Miya-chan, you’ve seen
them a hundred times.”
“But what if something’s
happening there right now? You should check!”
Setsuna smiled to herself,
knowing there had been no trouble in Time in twelve years. “If anything should
happen the monitors will alert me. You know that very well.”
“But that’s no fuuuuuuun…”
She swiveled in the chair more, then stopped to pick up her rabbit, who was happily
nibbling on a pile of important documents. “George, don’t eat those…” She
deposited the animal in her lap and paused for several moments in thought.
Setsuna-san, can I ask you something?”
“In a minute,” the
dark-haired woman answered distractedly. Miya frowned and continued to pet the rabbit
in her lap, being quieter than normal.
About five minutes later,
Setsuna exited her software program, and took the last pile of documents from
the printer and stacked them. Miya looked up expectantly. “Finished?”
“Nearly. I need to take
these to the Queen’s office.”
“I’ll take them!”
“I don’t think so. I
remember what happened the last time I gave you an errand.”
“Ehehe…” the younger girl
grinned guiltily. “But that was an accident.”
“It was –just- an accident that those papers ended up all the way
out in the dog’s pen?”
“Weeelllll…”
“Listen,” Setsuna begain,
standing. “I’m going to be taking a trip to the outskirts next week with Uranus
and Neptune. Your mother’s going to be busy with the Winter Festival, so I want
you to be super good.”
“You’re leaving?!” the
girl pouted.
“Just for a little while.
Now promise me that you’ll do what your mother says and –no- pranks.”
Her only response was a
frown.
“Miya…”
She started spinning the
chair again, explicitly ignoring Setsuna’s last words. “Why does everyone make
such a big deal out of the Winter Festival? I think it’s boring.”
“Promise me,” Setsuna
insisted.
Miya stopped the chair
suddenly and looked up. “Okay. I’ll promise, but only if you tell me
something.”
“Certainly. What is it?”
“You have to tell me who
my real mom and dad are.”