I think make it seem like a happy ending while the readers know of the tragedy. It'll make it bitter sweet but at the same time, a feeling that at least she reached some period of happiness. Perhaps maybe some foreshadowing of the events? Maybe if you do the thing with Nehelenia cursing her, it would foreshadow what is to come, but still leave us with a fairly happy ending?

^^ I like that idea. Who knows? I could just leave it with her introducing the mini inners to the baby and being all super happy... and then spying a shadow in the mirror out of the corner of her eye. THEN THE END.

Don't worry. I think it's going great. I'm loving every single second of Phobos and Deimos. I'm wondering how theyre gonna ended up being Rei's guardians, that is if you'll make them Rei's guardian.

You scared me half to death when it suddenly stopped at Luna's scream. I was like ' noooo, not a cliffhanger' but luckily you updated the next day. I hate cliffhangers.

I don't know how you came up with the idea of them manipulating and creating but I love it. I think it's going on a resonable pace. You doing beautifully, keep it up.

Just as the twins had predicted, their stay on Coronis was the last wherein the Mauans retained their humanoid shape without needing to concentrate. Their next planetary stop was made easier by Phobos and Deimos working together to create a small dwelling for them; all they had to do was collect firewood and gather food, and for the rest of the trip they relaxed. They discussed governmental setup, recruitment of citizens, and citizen rights. Phobos and Deimos contributed, all the while doodling building plans on scraps of paper. It turned out that Artemis’s bag had been filled with sweets that could last them the remainder of their journey, and they shared these while making plans together. The next morning, when Serenity woke up, Luna and Artemis were both cats. They didn’t remain so for the remainder of their trip, but reverted every time they started relaxing.

The following planetary stop had them feeling weak in their humanoid forms, often popping in an out despite their wishes. Talk was quick and purposeful with the Mauans; it was breaking Serenity’s heart to see them like this – as if every moment spent as humans would be the last their voices would be heard.

The next stop… they were cats.

She felt terrible about their predicament, but every time she broached the subject, both Luna and Artemis had vehemently defended their will to be here with her. Even now, they were beside her, purring and pointing with kitty paws at different places on the map Phobos and Deimos drew. The plans for her kingdom were solidified, with changes made for Artemis’s and Luna’s lack of human form, but they were ready. And as two in their group now needed less energy, the crystal seemed to recover faster, despite her daughter’s continued growth within her.

“We might not need that last stop, after all,” she mused aloud, staring at the crystal in the palm of her hand moments from their departure. Phobos and Deimos, carrying two packs each and a cat in their hands, nodded. Her system was not far now, its star shining brightly in the night sky; and they agreed to try to make it in one final leap.



They flew through space, the pregnant senshi in white and gold leading with one raven-haired twin on each arm, a white cat on the left, a black on the right. In the distance around them they spied orbs of multi-colored light, fields of glittering dust colored like rainbows, and yet the beauty of the wonders around them barely compared to the beauty of the hope before them. Their path led directly to a small yellow star, nearly alone in its neighborhood, seemingly average and extremely ordinary, and yet the promise it held for the travelers made its shine brighter and more lovely than the finest of jewels, the most breathtaking of nebulae.

When they finally broke through the sphere of space debris surrounding the star’s system, it was like a dam of excitement had finally broken. With a burst of speed they rocketed through the Oort cloud, bouncing around planetesimals and planetoids, avoiding icy comets and frozen ice. From Oort cloud to Kuiper Belt their trek continued; then, finally, they broke through.

Before them lay a vast sphere of empty space but for one nearly-perfect plane of perfection; they had come out at an angle to this plane. Sailor Theia paused, her breath taken away at the sight. Far beyond where they floated weightlessly was the star, and at intervals throughout the open area were planets. Some she could see even now, their jem-like orbs suspended not too far away from where she stood, but she wanted – needed to know more. She felt outwards for her sailor crystal, then reached inwards so she may see this system for what it was. But as she called upon this power, the universe around her froze.

At first she noticed it in the orbits of the smaller debris, which had stopped completely. She turned her head to the left to see what Phobos made of it, but the red-clad twin and the white feline in her arms were unmoving, staring with intensity into the system, not even breathing. A quick turn to the left revealed the same in Deimos and Luna. Confusion and dread stole over her as she turned back to her perfect system, but the star was blocked now by an imposing figure draped in shadow.

Fear stole through her, turning her blood cold as she started at this empty-eyed being, this humanoid form of incredible heights. He raised a hand towards her, finger outstretched to point at none but herself.

“Child of Light,” his deep voice reverberated in the silence of space, as if this were his realm and he could change its properties as he wished, “What purpose do you have in coming here?”

At first she was too frightened to move. Was this it? Was this how her story ended? Could they find another system just as perfect for her needs, or was her kingdom never to come to pass? But no. She would not let that happen – they were too close. They had worked so hard to get here, and they had given up so much to accompany her, to see her dream come true and make a future for her child… Hyperion’s daughter. Steeling herself against this new threat, Sailor Theia stood tall, took her staff in hand, and found she could move forward. She flew towards him slowly, leaving her friends where they were, somehow knowing they would be safe, and stopped when she was a mere twenty feet away from the giant. Her answering tone was confident and clear, “I wish to make this our new home, and rule a dead planet as its peaceful Queen. I am Serenity, Sailor Theia, and I mean no harm to you or your system, if you show me the same.”

The figure nodded his bearded head, eerie glowing eyes still shining out of the shadow surrounding his face, “I am Chronos, God of Time and Space.” As his words echoed anew, she felt suddenly surrounded, claustrophobic in the engulfing presence that held her captive. She would have screamed, but the intensity of the smothering feeling made it impossible. Her mind was no longer her own, and she found herself staring into those blank eyes as memories played themselves out before her:

Her birth on Okeanos, the death of her parents afterwards; living as a well-loved orphan until she awakened at age ten as Sailor Theia, senshi of the sun lighting her world. She was adopted into the palace to live with Princess Eos, newly-awakened Sailor Okeanos, and the Queen. Meeting Hyperion, a knight of the court, and falling in love. Living peacefully, until Necromos reared his ugly head. Their first battle against him, finding the Whistle, the death of the Queen, the death of Eos; finding out she was pregnant, facing off against Necromos alone, Hyperion’s death, and her subsequent gain in power. The destruction of Necromos and Okeanos, awakening to a new purpose, her flight through space. The Galaxy Cauldron, and the blessing given to her; Mau. Luna, Artemis, their friendship, their intent to accompany her, and their discussions of this new system and the promise of a new Kingdom. Leaving Mau, travelling with Luna and Artemis, finding Coronis and the twins, discovering their unique powers and recruiting them. Luna and Artemis’s condition worsening; finding this system.

The stream of images and conversations played in fast forward ended with the scene she now beheld, the giant form of a God staring down at her. Immediately the tightness left her and she was free to move and breathe once more. She stood there staring at him, fighting to regain her breath with all the dignity she had left within her. He had seen everything, beheld all the good and witnessed the bad. He knew then of her plot to awaken sailor crystals to use as personal guardians to her child, condemning innocents to lives of solitude and unquestioning faith and love. If he truly was a God, how did this fare in his eyes? Would he expel her for such an idea, deeming her a threat on his people?

“You must protect Earth,” His command boomed through space, his eyebrows knitted in a force akin to anger – or was it determination. “The third planet from Sol, for it bears life.”

Though he was a god, the order he gave her was a request – she felt the power within her to refuse, but was this his way of giving her his blessing to rule this system? The condition with which he would allow her presence to remain? That she would protect the life-given planet from evil was a given already; the very nature of a senshi demanded that life be respected and protected, no matter where it came from. He must know that, having seen her life in its entirety; In answer, she nodded her head, “I promise to do so.”

“One further condition,” he boomed, “I have watched over the dimensions of time and space for far too long, and wish to have my eternal rest. With your powers, you will awaken a daughter of mine to replace me as Guardian of Time and Space. In return, your future kingdom will hold within it a Door to the Space-Time Corridor, and my daughter’s alliance will be to you.”

An entrance to the corridors of time would be dangerous to have within her kingdom – who know what sinister agents of Chaos would seek to take command of the door? Yet who better than they to protect it, she and her daughter, who would control the most powerful Sailor Crystal in the universe? It was her duty as a senshi to agree, despite the risks. She nodded, “It will be done.”

He nodded and a sound, like the crack of lightning, shattered in her ears. Immediately she was back beside Phobos and Deimos and time moved forward as if nothing had happened, yet in her heart she knew that the meeting with the god Chronos had been real. His daughter would be the first senshi she would awaken; somehow, she knew she would be able to find his future offspring easily.

Without further pause, she aimed for the inner part of the system and took off, intent to view the planet she had promised to protect. As they got closer and closer, planets took shape before them; one in particular caught the eye of Phobos, beside her, who nudged her to nudge Deimos as she pointed down to a red planet beneath them – red was her favorite color, after all. Serenity smiled, but continued down towards the bright blue planet, covered in soft white clouds. Earth. As they approached she noticed that it was not a solitary planet, but part of its own smaller system, locked together with a sizable satellite…

It was pure white with gray-black craters across its surface, tidally locked to the planet so that one side forever faced its living sphere. Instantly she knew that this was it, her planet. Her new home. One might argue that a satellite’s star seed would never be as powerful as a planet’s, but she felt an inner strength within this moon, as though it had collected spiritual and emotional feelings within itself that made it powerful and strong. … the living creatures of Earth must associate it with love, else some other emotion just as powerful, for their energy had added to the power inherent in the sailor crystal dormant within the white moon; in its own right, it was now just as powerful as a planet’s seed; and with the addition of Theia’s power… it would be unstoppable.

Without a word, she landed in a great plain of white, her high heels stepping deep into the soft dust on the surface. She stepped away from Phobos and Deimos, taking strides that separated her from them, not quite knowing what would happen. She held her staff high, staring at the crystal alighted at the top, then at her own symbol, the symbol of her guardian star, wishing it a final farewell as she called upon its power one final time. “Theia Star Power!” she beckoned, and immediately her sailor crystal glowed a brilliant and warm yellow.

Power surged all around her, the dust pushed away in every direction to reveal the gray rock beneath. Her crystal shone brighter, pillars of light circling like sunlight as something broke the surface before her. From the rock rose a crystalline obelisk that shot skyward as a powerful tower of benign feelings; as it rose, flowers erupted all around them, growing quickly and spreading far until the crystal structure reached its peak. Still her crystal glowed as the flowers bloomed, providing them with the energy and light necessary for life. Then, at the toes of her shoes, another flower rose from amongst the others – a Lotus bud – and as it opened its petals a silver crystal emerged, rising without heeding gravity, attracted to her Theia crystal. When the two gems touched, a light so bright and healing erupted forth that she heard the twins and the cats cry out behind her, yet she stared on, her silver eyes immune to the display as it was a part of her.

When the light died, her staff was gone, as was her senshi uniform. Sailor Theia had disappeared along with the Star Seed of Theia; there was only Serenity now, Queen of the Moon Kingdom.

^__^ thanks! And now there's SO MUCH TO DO!! XD

Building the palace, chexking out the system, finding Setsuna's Romani mother, recruiting citizens to move to the.moon, choosing future mothers for the other senshi, creating their palaces -- I'm just glad she can delegate ^^

How are you going to get luna and artemis to talk? *dying to know*

Lol, nothing too special. ^^ a deos ex machina with the silver crystal. XD

that's what i figured. Its really the only thing that makes sense. Some kind of magic via the crystal. XD

Serenity's Story quick tee-hee note
So, in Serenity’s Story, I posed that Queen Serenity herself used to be a sailor senshi from another system that was destroyed during her fight with chaos and she left that world to find a new home for her unborn child, etc.etc.. I named her homeworld “Okeanos” or Oceanos for the river that encircled the world, separating the living world from the world of the dead, and to her senshi partner, Sailor Okeanos, I gave the name “Eos”, the Titan of the dawn, whose home was that river. I gave her lover the name “Hyperion” for Hyperion was the Titan of ‘Watchfulness, Wisdom and Light’ and was the father of Selene, and I gave the star of their system the name “Theia”, and Serenity was Sailor Theia.

While I chose the name “Theia” simply because Theia was the Titan mother of Selene, the goddess of the moon, and the lover (and sister… O.o Don’t judge! they be titans!) of Hyperion in myths, a quick check into the Giant Impact Hypothesis about the creation of the moon made me giggle like no other, because the name of the planetoid that crashed into Earth that created the moon was called ‘Theia’ .

It makes total sense looking at the mythology that the name of the object that caused the moon to come into being be dubbed ‘Theia’, but seeing it just made me go “AHAHA, I DID THAT, TOO!” XD And I also like making the sailor moon comparison that the moon kingdom didn’t form until Sailor Theia arrived, just as how the actual moon didn’t form until Theia crashed into Earth XD.

bahaha thanks for reading xD And I’ll keep working on that next chapter of Serenity’s Story.

Oh wow! That's so cool sounding. Like really, now i understand your picking of names (I really don't know NEARLY as much about mythology as you do) so that puts a lot into perspective. I'm so glad I know where the names come from now, cause they sounded so random to me originally. xD

XD When I was thinking up names I was like "TIME FOR RESEARCH!"

SUMMON THE WIKIPEDIA.

Sailor Uranus wrote:

XD When I was thinking up names I was like "TIME FOR RESEARCH!"

SUMMON THE WIKIPEDIA.

omg, i <3 you.

Serenity held out her hand for the crystal and it obediently landed in her palm, glittering softly with a light different from Theia’s – cold and clear, almost silver, giving off a feeling of tranquility. She closed her fingers around it and turned to her companions, a thousand thoughts, ideas, and plans running rampant through her mind. Without needing to sustain a transformation and now doubled in power, most of its energy would be put towards its co-mistress, the growing child within her. How much time would she have to prepare for her coming? So much needed attending to, but first, it was time to test the theory of performing miracles.

Phobos and Deimos, eyes wide open, looked at her with awe, but as she stepped as delicately as she could through the freshly bloomed flowers, they unfroze and shimmied out of their backpacks, letting the bags hit the ground softly. She smiled reassuringly at them.

“Can you breathe easily?” she asked.

The twins looked to each other experimentally, then took exaggerated breaths; she could see Luna and Artemis’s noses sniffing, too. “I think so,” Phobos offered.

“We can speak, at any rate!” Deimos added.

“And I’m not feeling light-headed,”

“Neither am I,” Deimos said with a smile, and then, her eyes taking a now-familiar mischievous gleam, she asked, “Is it time to get to work?”

She smiled back, “Just a moment; I’d like to try something first.” She stopped a few paces off. “If you two would consent to seeing how far the flowers stretch, it could help to determine the extent of this life-supporting field the crystal created.” They nodded, then carefully placed Luna and Artemis on the ground before transforming into Crows. As they flew off in opposite directions, she turned her attention to the Mauans, their cat-faces looking up at her attentively, tails flicking with attention. If the crystal could perform miracles, if it had absorbed certain powers while at the Galaxy Cauldron, perhaps it could mimic the energy output by Mau. But how to activate its powers?

When she used her powers as a senshi, she had to activate her sailor crystal using the name of her guardian planet; but this crystal was no longer tied to Theia, and while it was now of this moon, she wondered if addressing it as ‘Moon’ would be specific enough. So instead she tried something different. “Silver Crystal,” she asked, giving it the name of its appearance, “Please grant my wish and return these Mauans to their true form!”

The crystal began to glow brightly, shimmering with white light, and soon a glittering silver aurora surrounded Luna and Artemis, lifting them into the air far above her head as they shone with multi-colored luminescence. The light faded as they lowered to the ground, but they were unchanged. Had she asked the wrong way, or was their feline state as much of a ‘true form’ to them as their humanoid appearance? Taking a deep breath, she tried again, “Silver Crystal, please give these two the energy of Mau, that they might retain their human forms!”

The pair glowed, were lifted skyward, but returned to the flowered surface again unchanged. She tried six different times, all with different phrasing, just in case the crystal didn’t know what she really wanted. Finally, as the cats started to look defeated, she tried one more time. What she really wanted was to be able to speak with them again – could it not grant her that?! “Silver Crystal!” she cried, her words passionate as she tried this one, last time, “This is my wish! Grant them the ability to speak again!”

Her words were ineloquent, her voice more a plea than a command, and yet the crystal reacted just the same. Yet as they rose this time, something was different – amidst the usual glow that surrounded them was a bright disturbance around their heads, and when finally they touched back down again their foreheads were marked with symbols – yellow upward-facing crescents. What --

“My forehead’s hot!” Artemis’s voice exclaimed, his white cat mouth moving in time to the words as his paws brushed up against his head as if to rub the heat away.

“Artemis! You spoke!” Luna cried out in alarm and surprise – the sound of her own voice startling her so much that, for an instant, she transformed into a human, sitting with her legs splayed on the ground, her chiffon dress spread out around her, her pale hands to her mouth in surprise and the crescent mark on her forehead gone. For a second, Serenity thought that the crystal might have granted her first wish, but that idea faded as Luna returned to her black-cat form, the golden crescent back in place. She shook her head and her fur ruffled, as if mildly disturbed by the transformation.

“You did too!” Artemis returned.

It had worked. Somehow, the glyphs the crystal created allowed them use of human speech. Serenity laughed, the chuckle tired and relieved, “You can talk.”

“We can talk?” Artemis repeated, as if not sure he had heard her, his head looking to Luna as if for confirmation.

“We can talk!!” Luna repeated happily, dashing over to rub against Serenity’s legs, “You did it!” she cried, placing her front paws on Serenity’s knees and looking up with an expression of pure delight.

Serenity smiled, but her mouth fell, “But I couldn’t make you human,” Serenity apologized.

“Serenity, this is better than I could have dreamed!” Luna disagreed.

“Than we could have ever dreamed!” Artemis chimed in, “We can speak! We can now serve you in secret and still be your voice!”

“But your human forms…” she objected.

“Serenity, really… it’s alright.” Luna affirmed again, her eyes honest and truly grateful. But soon she popped back onto the ground and looked over to the crystalline tower curiously, her gaze drawing the new Queen’s attention as well. “So… What do we do first?”

“Well,” Serenity considered. Her list wasn’t entirely too long, now that she thought about it. She needed to awaken the star seeds of the dead planets around them and cultivate those seeds as sailor crystals. For that, she needed castles on each of the dead planets, and hosts to live on those planets to make the extraction of the crystal easier. So she would need volunteers – she would not kidnap – and… and she would need to find the child Chronos spoke of. She turned her gaze to the planet before them. It was beautiful, mostly blue with areas of green and brown, with white clouds lazily wafting across the globe. It was medium-sized, as far as life-bearing planets went, but that still gave her a large area to search. And perhaps she should find and meet the senshi of Earth… “First, we need to –“

“Get your castle up and running?” Phobos broke in, landing before her and springing back to herself with a grin. “I agree.”

“Me, too!” Deimos landed beside them, but the cats caught her eye and she stooped to kneel, lifting Luna from under her arms to examine her forehead. “Phobos!” she called, “Look! This must be the planetary symbol!”

“What?” Phobos dropped, too, and softly prodded the golden glyph, “How interesting! That the crystal should be silver while the mark is golden – that’s just...”

“The perfect inspiration for a palace?” one twin looked to the other, excitement mirrored on their identical faces. They stood as one, Luna landing with a look of mild indignation as she trotted back over to Artemis, and both twins posed thoughtfully. “Perhaps silver, to match the crystal?”

“Hmm, I don’t know,” the red twin mused, “I was thinking classic white, to match the moon itself…”

“You might have something there… the lack of color would make the gardens even more appealing, and that way we could accent spires with other hues to make them pop…”

Serenity watched for a moment as the two thought aloud, then interrupted, “So, did you find out how far the dome stretches?”

“Oh!” they turned to her, “Yes, sorry. It was about two miles in that direction,” Phobos pointed.

“And about two that way,” Deimos stated, “So my guess is it’s a circle about the spire.” The twins nodded. “We’ll build the palace centered on the spire, I think.”

“Well, maybe not centered, but definitely close.”

“Yes, definitely close.”

She smiled as the two were lost in their own world again. “Well, I trust you two to make something that fits,” she stated. The two glanced up, nodded and waved off her concern, and walked together back to their backpacks. As they pulled out blueprints and writing utensils, Serenity walked towards the crystalline spire, Luna and Artemis at her heels.

“You were saying?” Artemis prompted with humor, Luna glancing back at the pair of Coronids with her tail flicking.

“I think, first, I need to find the senshi of Earth,” she stated.

“The living planet?” Artemis guessed correctly, and Serenity nodded. “Is there an easy way to do that?”

“An energy sweep,” she stated. “But it might take a while…”



Time passed. Queen Serenity’s energy lines were picking up no signals, but still she tried, casting her them about lightly in hopes that something caught on. Once a full sweep of the planet had been completed, Luna and Artemis now dozing off in the flowers, she tried again, this time with a little more force, and still nothing came up. It was odd, but it could make sense. Their senshi might have passed away recently, leaving the planet without a senshi. No wonder Chronos requested her stewardship. She stood, fluttering her wings, and jumped skyward. She flew farther and farther, past the bubble of habitability, past the gravitational pull of the moon, then the planet, and farther still. Soon she was so high that the system seemed like a toy display to her, the star the size of her thumbnail below her.

She took a deep breath and slowly let it out, honing in her concentration, and reached outwards, letting her considerable energy blanket the space around and below her. She stretched it far, almost to the beginning of the spherical shell surrounding the system, and then probed deep. First, into Earth. If there were a senshi in residence, their crystal would respond to the calls of this Silver Crystal, and yet nothing happened. It was as though she probed an empty entity. There was no star seed nor sailor crystal on Earth, not even that of the guardian star.

That could mean that she would have a stellar guardian for her daughter. It was a selfish wish, perhaps, but the system-wide influence of a stellar senshi would be useful. So she turned her attention then to the star Sol, and reached in deep, seeking out the crystal locked away within.

… and she came up with nothing.

Puzzled, she looked back to Earth, wondering if the pair of senshi for the planet had perished recently. But… it was strange. While she could sense residual powers for both stellar bodies, it was as though Sol’s signature disappeared completely, while Earth’s just faded, as if journeying to the Cauldron to be reborn. … so, it seemed, she would be without a stellar senshi. She wasn’t entirely disappointed, but was a little weary of the husk of a shell the star had become. Without a star seed to call its own, to protect it from chaos… It was similar to Theia now, she realized sadly, and open to infestation. She would need to keep an eye on Sol, as well.

But, now, it was back to sailor crystal hunting. With no Earth senshi, there was no bargaining to be made, but for that one deal with a… she swallowed slowly and continued about her business. Reaching out, then around, then down, then within…

She found two planets between Earth and Sol. One between Earth and an asteroid field, and four beyond the field. All were strong, all were ripe and ready to be born, should the need arise. She smiled. But then she picked up on another signal, another star seed ready to become a sailor crystal, out near the outermost planet. Curiously, she sent out feelers to determine what she could about the stray, and from her sweep she found out that it wasn’t a true planet, but a smaller version whose orbit was eccentric, weaving into the system at one point before veering far away, almost near the spherical boundary. The senshi from that planet would not be as strong as her fellows. … unless her powers were augmented. Say… by the bloodline and powers of the god of time. With those powers she could easily match any of the other senshi, no matter what elemental control the small planet was affiliated with.

Her decision was made. That small planet would be the guardian planet of the senshi she would awaken to be heir to the Door of Time and Space. That would still leave her with eight senshi, eight guardians and protectors for her daughter. She smiled and descended back to her Moon, where she gathered Luna and Artemis and told them of what she had found, all but that final small planet. The less who knew of her deal with Chronos and the existence of the door to the fourth dimension, the better, even if that meant keeping it a secret from Luna and Artemis. She would make it her own duty to find the growing daughter of Chronos and convince the mother to move with the child to that far-away place.

While they discussed strategies for finding and securing volunteers, Phobos and Deimos approached with a master plan for a gorgeous palace, with budding ideas for the surrounding gardens, pools, and fountains, branching off to talk of a city once they finished discussing the grounds, but Serenity stopped them gently. “It’s beautiful,” she said, “Thank you. But before you two start thinking up a city, I need you to construct the first of the castles…”



An hour later, their plans were set. Phobos and Deimos, at their insistence, would first build the Moon Palace to give them all a base of operations and to house any volunteers Luna and Artemis might drum up on Earth. As they were building, Serenity would take the cats down to a location not too far from civilization that they might find out more about the cultures on the planet, that they all might strategize the best way to go about recruiting settlers for the new Kingdom and the solitary castles beyond. As they investigated, she would wait for Phobos and Deimos to finish then bring them to the farthest planet and they would begin construction on the Castle there, and possibly begin building the castle on the nearest planet after that, as the distance between the two was surprisingly small at the time.

Then she would find Luna and Artemis, discuss their findings, and send them off again to new areas… while in secret she would find the Heir of Chronos. Decided, they ate quickly and set off to their appointed tasks, Queen Serenity taking Luna and Artemis into her arms as they began the descent to Earth.

Coming up next:

SERENITY'S ADVENTURES WITH ROMANI!

I'm wiki'ing the Romani/Gypsy culture to get things in order, but it'll probably just be a few days camping and suspicion and drinking and dancing and talking and stuff. ^^

Ending in a deal.

who's excited? I'm excited.

I'm excited!!

I'm super exited!

Have I told you how amazing your writing is?...no? AMAZING! I love all the dedication you put into it. You seem to love doing all that research too

Ok, I was actually late for work one day last week on account of this story. And I'm hardly ever late if I can help it. I just had to say that. I was so completely riveted I just couldn't look away. It's amazing! ^^

=DDD Thank you! \(^o^)/ ^^ That makes me so happy! Thanks everyone!! ^_^

((o_o super long chapter (4k words), but I don'tknow where to split it up, so... here's everything the end.))


As soon as they caught sight of the orange-and-gray tiny planetoid with its partner-moon, both Phobos and Deimos started speaking at once, making observations about the planet that might help them decide which design would fit the appearance best. Serenity paused, content to let them discuss their plans without her, and concentrated, using the new crystal to create a bubble of air around the twins. She moved away, the barrier stayed, and she smiled – this might work after all. The young pair continued to deliberate, and Serenity turned her attention to the planet itself, thinking about the growing child of Chronos and her star-seed status; depending on how old the fetus was, a star seed might already be assigned to it, and their plan would fall to ruin. Could she afford to wait, to leave the crystal now, seek out the child, and eventually return to claim it, hopefully before the Cauldron sent in a seed for the child? Or could she simply…

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and directed the power of the silver crystal out away from her, and then in, deep into the small planet. Farther she reached until… there it was. The star seed of the planet – a Sailor Crystal. How could she obtain it? Tentatively she thought to the crystal, asking for it to pull at the seed, and thought herself for the seed, asking it to come with her, to be born into a senshi that would protect life in this System…

And, slowly, it came.

Euphoric, she continued to ask with her mind, her heart, and pull with the power of the silver crystal, but as soon as the seed reached the surface of the planet, it dissolved again, its power returning to the planetary center as though magnetically attracted. Serenity opened her eyes and sighed, wiping a fine layer of sweat from her brow, observing the twins floating somewhat nearer the surface of the planet, already working on pulling the materials they would need out of its makeup. Holding her crystal in hand, she turned and flew back towards Earth. Perhaps the crystal needed a host immediately as it left the planet itself… she would need to find the daughter of Chronos immediately and find out.



“Serenity!” Luna rushed forward at a run, her paws pumping furiously to meet her. Artemis was less than a step behind, the white cat looking just as determinedly happy as his partner. Serenity touched down in the scraggly field and took a few steps towards them, then, deciding that running would not be a good idea right now and that their expressions were not hinting that they were in danger, she fell as softly as she could to her knees and waited for them to reach her. Luna ran right up to her, placing her paws on her thighs, and with tears of joy in her eyes she exclaimed, “Serenity you won’t believe this! There are whole groups of people here who believe that the planets are embodiments of their gods!”

Serenity was speechless – this could make things so much easier… if they were to find a group of devout followers and explained the situation… that the girls would be the embodiment of the planet, and so, too, maybe, an embodiment of their gods… it was almost perfect, like a gift, but Luna wasn’t finished yet. “Serenity! Their stories name the Goddess of the Moon ‘Selene’!”

“Selene?” she repeated, her heart beating even faster, “but that’s so close to…”

“Your name!” Luna exclaimed, her front legs hopping in excitement.

“It’s almost like fate…” she breathed, her eyes losing focus at their good luck. Was this the Universe’s way of telling her that she was indeed meant to find this planetary system around Sol? She felt like feinting, she was so grateful for all of the good fortune she had come across. … but there was one part of her that wondered why. What was behind this? Was she expected to do something great? … or was this just karma for defeating Necroma?

“And on top of that,” Artemis broke in, “the name of the moon itself is “Luna”.” She turned her head quickly to him, as if to gauge whether it was just a joke, but his cheeky smile told her he was telling the truth. The miraculous, too-good-to-be-true truth.

“Well, then…” she smiled, and laughed, tucking her worries away for the time being, “Go! Go find out more about them! See if the potential is real! Find a leader of a sect for a specific planet and quietly introduce yourself as my voice!” She reached up and pet their heads fondly. Both pushed back into her hand with love before they ran off.

She used her wings to help her stand and watched until the pair of them disappeared, then turned around to look off in the other direction, wondering where she should go. As she stood there, Phobos and Deimos were creating a castle on the farthest planet, readying for the child of Chronos. She took a deep breath – where should she start? She took to the sky, high enough that she wouldn’t be noticed by sunset cloud-watchers below, and just flew. She took a random direction and started off, looking below and ahead of her, enjoying the wind. Every now and again she changed direction for no reason, just looking at the towns and occasional cities that she passed, following rivers and fields. As the sun was finally disappearing completely behind the horizon, she got the sudden urge to land.

It was then that she started to question why. She paused, hovering, and looked down to see a caravan pulled into a loose circle below. Dozens of horses stood tethered off to the side, and a giant fire blazed in the center of the band. She had been led here by the god. At the same time she felt violated, yet thankful – violated because the control was so light that she hadn’t noticed; thankful that she wouldn’t have to go around asking random women if they had been together with any gods lately.

So she landed, with as much dignity and will power as possible, wondering if he would control her actions in the events following, and walked towards the circle of covered wagons and the fire beyond with as much grace as her long dress, heels, and extremely round belly would allow. Immediately she felt eyes on her, cautious and wondering; long before she reached the nearest wagon she was approached by two men, spotting a child running off towards the center of activity. Lively music played in the background, voices raised in song, hands clapping merrily, and shadows dancing wherever the campfire light reached. However, the general festivity in the air seemed lost on the two fellows who stood together, blocking her path. Their clothing was bright and colorful, with scarves and vests and delicate yet bold jewelry in silver, gold, and a myriad of gems. Their eyes fought to appear strong, but she sensed the cautionary wonder behind their gaze.

She twitched her wings once, the light from the fire thrown around by their iridescence, hoping to draw more attention to them and her place as a person of importance, and inclined her face in a regal nod. She chose to address them first – Eos’s mother always started the conversation; watching her, Serenity felt speaking first conveyed a certain amount of control over an exchange, and being a stranger on a strange world, she needed any extra control she could muster. “Good evening,” she chimed, turning her eyes on both supposed guards.

They looked to each other in surprise, “Good evening,” one replied, hesitantly, his brown eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

“Who are you, and what do you want?” the other suspiciously inquired.

She took in a deep breath through her nose and framed her answer, her eyes silent and compelling, trying for all the world to appear as a goddess. “I am Selene of the Moon,” she replied, not exactly lying, “And I would enjoy the warmth of your hearth with you.” She did not ask – deities do not ask, but rather inform. She was nervous, of course; they had weapons by their side and large muscles bulging on their arms; she would rather not have to fight them. She said nothing more, watching their faces and waiting for their reaction to gauge how this interaction would continue.

Another man approached, this one taller than the other two, with longer, curly dark brown hair streaked with gray. He wore a bright red scarf around the top of his head, keeping his hair out of his face, and when he smiled a glint of gold glittered off of his canine teeth. The long sleeves of his shirt poofed out away from him, hanging stylishly from his arms and gathered at his wrists. He gave her a sidelong look, leaning in for the second guard to whisper something in his ear. Straining her ears, she deciphered “Selene” “Moon” and “Goddess”, and fought to keep the smile off of her face.

“We have heard of you,” the man said, straightening, his eyes avoiding hers . He bowed graciously, “I am Shayenra Merconair, leader of this family and Caravan. I would be honored to share a fire with you, Flower of the Night Sky. Please,” he offered her his elbow, which she took gracefully, and hoped she wouldn’t trip as they walked through the circle of wagons into the campfire area beyond.

Voices chanted merrily to an alien tune as figures danced by the fire and hands clapped to keep the beat of the drums, guitars and tambourines. When finally she passed through the outer circles of arranged carriages, the aura surrounding the campsite fully engulfed her, her blood seeming to sing with the music that so many danced to. Wine and food were passed from person to person as the song sung through their hearts, feet stomping the beat whether seated or standing. Her guide bellowed a call, a lead into the song, and started clapping merrily, arching his shoulder so signal her to follow. She fell into step behind him, walking lightly through the narrow pathway between seated revelers and weaving dancers, aware of the stares and finding none to be overly accusatory or fearful. They must have had unquestioning trust in their leader to not even pause in their song as a stranger walked amongst them.

He took his seat upon a throne of furs, surrounded by people that looked close enough like him to probably be his family, and offered her the seat on the felled log beside him. She nodded her head thankfully to him and sat down as gracefully as she could muster. She threw out her senses all around her, watching the dancers in colorful attire whirl and the occasional green eyes seek to stare at her; smelling the cooked meat and the more delicate aromas of fruit waft about the campsite, a welcoming distraction from the slight smell of horses and sweat; listening to the music and the faint, low voices behind her, the whispers of her nearest neighbors; and feeling the heat of the flames, the pounding of the Earth below her, and the inquisitive fingers stretching towards her wings. She fluttered them once again, more to ward off the curious than to draw attention to herself, and waited to see what Shayenra Merconair intended for her, if anything.

As the song ended, acts of acrobatics nearly taking her breath away as people jumped off of each other to gain higher altitudes, flipping and twisting and turning to miraculously land on their feet with a great smile on their faces, the leader of the caravan stood, spreading his arms wide to the applause. People quieted, looking at him with respect. Forks stopped their scraping, bells stopped jingling; all that could be heard through the relative silence were the horses whickering off somewhere behind them, the branches snapping in the fire, and the dancers panting to regain their composure.

“Tonight,” the great man spoke, his voice ringing off of the wagons, “We have been graced with a visitor who wishes to share in our nightly revelry! We have all heard of her but I will be the first to admit –“ he turned aside to smile towards her, “I do apologize,” he said, loud enough for people to hear but quiet enough to be counted as an aside; he continued in his booming voice, “I had not truly believed until this night. With us sits the Goddess of the Moon, Selene!” There followed a murmur throughout the crowd, of mingled disbelief and wonder, and, finally:

“It appears to me, the Moon tonight is full!” a man somewhere in the crowd cried out. Shayenra looked to the sky to see the waxing face of the moon staring back at him and looked confused, but then the leader’s eyes fell back on her and understanding flickered through his eyes. His laugh was like a bark when he realized what the man had meant; Serenity smiled and laid a hand delicately on her growing stomach, arching her brows to show that she understood, too, what the jokester had hinted.

She stood gracefully, thankful for the strength in her legs that she did not falter, and nodded to the crowd. “Thank you for having me, jubilant family of the Merconair. Please,” she urged, “continue to celebrate the night.”

“You heard her!” Shayenra bellowed jubilantly, and the music started all over again; but before bodies started to move hectically, Serenity caught the eye of a beautiful young woman sitting to their left, a small distance from the main throng, watching her and then pointedly looking away, and Serenity knew that it was this young woman that she had come for.

She turned back to the caravan leader and tilted her head toward the young woman, “Shayenra,” she addressed, “Who is that woman?”

The man stood for a second to get a good look, then sat back down, “She is the new wife of my third son; Trinna is her name.”

“I would speak with her,” she stated.

The man shrugged, his eyes smiling, “It is no concern of mine, Sky Flower.”

Taking that for his permission, she wove through the crowd over to the young woman. Her skin, like theirs, was tanned from the sun, her features dark and wonderful, her eyes black yet bright; Serenity smiled, ‘So she is whom a God seeks as a companion.’ She wore a long dark and full skirt with a shirt with sleeves that billowed, and a vest tied from her stomach to above her bosoms. A bandana kept her long hair from her guarded face. Serenity motioned to her, catching her dark eyes and holding them momentarily before she moved off between two wagons; this conversation was best left private. Obediently, if warily, the girl followed.

“Trinna,” Serenity addressed when she stopped, the girl standing a pace behind and averting her gaze, “Are you aware you are with child?”

The young woman’s head jerked up, finally meeting her gaze full-on, her emotions transparent on her face: wonder, fear, pride. “This news is wonderful,” she stated softly, “a baby is a blessing from the gods; that I have only been with my husband for a short time and find myself to already be with his child is wonderful news, thank you, Moon Flower.”

Serenity looked at her, wondering how to continue, resisting the urge to bite her lip as she thought. “Trinna… this child is not one you have with your husband,” she continued in hushed tones, the words a secret between them. “Can you remember any other man that has been with you?”

She froze, her face a mask of anger and denial, “No! Only him, only Sherro! Anything other would be impure, and I would be—“ she paused, a realization softening her features and her voice, as though a forgotten memory was just then dawning on her, causing her to question her own vindication. “Expelled…” she finished her sentence. In her eyes her heart was breaking, and she looked upon Serenity guiltily. Serenity stared back at her impassively, wishing to help the girl but knowing that this truth needed to surface. The dark-eyed girl broke eye-contact and continued, her voice nearly too soft to hear over the celebrations. “The dream. I had a dream wherein I was visited by a beautiful man and…” she paused, embarrassed, but gained the courage to look back at Serenity, her eyes pleading. “But it couldn’t possibly – it was just a dream!”

Serenity shook her head minutely, “Though it might have come to you as a dream, it was real. You were visited by the God of Time, Chronos, and now carry his daughter within you. I—“ she broke off as Trinna suddenly burst into tears, her hands reaching up to cover her eyes and stifle her sobs. Her heart falling, Serenity lurched forward to embrace her, bringing the crying young woman towards her to offer what comfort she could. “It’s okay,” she murmured into the bandana that held back the girl’s hair, her hand stroking Trinna’s head softly. “It’s okay,” she repeated, her voice cracking as tears escaped her own eyes.

“No,” Trinna mumbled wetly, “No, it’s not! They will expel me, Moon Goddess! I will have nowhere to go, nowhere to live! My own family would disown me for being impure, unfaithful!” Though her heart was in her sobs, she somehow managed to stay quiet; Serenity held her tighter, knowing that her strength even now was to protect herself from the family she had been brought in to. If any within the circle saw them or heard them, she would be brought before everyone and made to confess, and her fears would come to pass that quicker. “No one would love me ever again, and I would be contaminated and forced to live with – but—“ she pushed back, her hands gripping Serenity’s shoulders as she stared up into her face, “You are a Goddess – could you not put a stop to this pregnancy?”

Serenity shook her head, her distaste for the very idea watered with the pity she felt for the poor, frightened girl, “No, but—“

“Than what if –“ her eyes looked away, thinking, and came back to her quickly, “what if I raise her as Sherro’s daughter? None would know!”

Serenity offered a sad smile, “You would know, Trinna.”

The girl’s face crumpled as she rushed back into Serenity’s full embrace, and Serenity held her there, softly, comfortingly, letting the girl sob silently for a few long moments before she spoke again. “I have a plan for the child, Trinna.” The sobbing stopped, and the girl sniffed loudly, “and for you, too, if you would listen.” Trinna nodded once into her shoulder, listening. “Trinna, when your daughter is born she will have powers, not only the powers of her father, Chronos, but of a planetary guardian. I would like to take you both up to the Moon Kingdom with me; there you will be taken care of, and you will be given a castle of your own on one of the planets within this system. You would be a Queen as well, Trinna,” she paused, “how about that?”

She was quiet, considering the proposal. Certainly, Serenity mused, what she offered was amazing to a girl in her situation – she was giving the girl her own kingdom, a place of power and freedom for her and her daughter; a place of peace, without judgment for being ‘impure’. She would live at the Moon Palace for a while, Serenity mused, with those others Luna and Artemis can convince to join us… and when the palace on the farthest, smallest planet is finished in its construction, Trinna would move out there with her daughter and – “No.” Serenity blinked, confused, and pulled the girl back to look at her. Her dark face was flushed, her eyes red from crying, but she appeared resolute. “No,” she repeated.

“But, why?” Serenity asked, not caring how she sounded.

“I… You want me to be a Queen, be mother to the daughter of a God, live in a Kingdom on the Moon –“ Trinna started, but Serenity interrupted.

“You would have your own Kingdom on another planet—“

Trinna shook her head violently, “I don’t want my own Kingdom on a planet in space! I want none of those things!” she paused, quieting her voice, “I want to be Trinna, wife of Sherro of the Merconair Caravan, daughter of Lasher and Brianna of the Tacongar Caravan. I want to have Sherro’s children, raise to a place of importance within my own family! I want the freedom allowed in moving from place to place, not to be stuck in some Kingdom for the rest of my life!” Her words strengthened her, and while Serenity’s heart fell for what she knew must happen, she respected the girl for her strong conviction in what she wanted from her life. The tears like a distant memory, Trinna continued, “I do not want this child, Goddess Selene of the Moon.”

Serenity took a deep breath, closing her eyes to steel herself, “Well, Trinna, wife of Sherro of the Merconair Caravan, you will have her.” Trinna looked rebellious, but Serenity continued, “You will carry her to term, and live with me on the Moon until you give birth to her. If then, after you hold your daughter in your arms and see her with your own eyes, if then you still wish to return to this life, I will allow you to leave.”

Trinna’s eyes softened, thinking, and finally nodded. Without another word, Serenity took the child by the hand and stalked back into camp, taking a moment to wipe any tear streak from her own cheek before reentering the circle of celebrators. She brought the girl with her back towards Shayenra’s thrown of fur, putting a graceful smile on her face as they approached. The man looked confused and intrigued, a dark eyebrow piquing as she came to a stop before them. With a wave of his hand, the music died down and, with it, the movement and merriment of the camp.

She projected her voice for all to hear. “To thank you for allowing me into your camp this night, I wish to honor your family by taking this young woman into my service. She will accompany me to the Palace on the Moon and live with me and my people for three months, after which time she shall return to you.”

Shayenra stood, his eyes wide, “One of our own to serve a Goddess… the honor you bestow upon us is vast, Moon Flower, and for the span to be as great as three months makes my heart swell with pride for my third son’s new wife. Please, allow me to create for you a tiara of gold, simple yet striking and incredibly beautiful, as I see you right now. This tiara would be the crowning achievement of all of my years as a jewelry maker, as a thanks to you for generosity.”

She bowed her head, not knowing any other way to reply to such an offer, “Thank you, Shayenra Merconair, that would be wonderful.”



Less than an hour later, the man’s hands working swiftly and delicately, Serenity’s head was crowned by a delicate golden tiara that stretched across her forehead; in the center of her brow now rested a thin golden upward-facing crescent moon, supported and held in place by a string of tiny golden balls and beautiful pearls. As he promised, it was simple, yet striking and beautiful, and she adored the piece of jewelry as soon as she positioned it on her brow. She thanked him kindly, fighting the girlish urge to jump up and down at being given such a marvelous trinket, and looked around for Trinna. The Romani girl gave her husband one last kiss, then approached her, a small suitcase in one hand. Serenity took hold of her free hand and invoked a small touch of the magic left to her to raise them into the air gently. Her wings beating and the consort of the God of Time in hand, she took to the Moon.