Storyline Name: Kinmoku Lullaby
Creator(s): Eternal Knight and Sailor Mercury
Forum: Freeform
Advanced or Relaxed: Advanced
Plot Summary: After the end of Stars, the Starlights and their Princess return to Kinmoku to face the destruction of the planet they had left behind and attempt to rebuild it, now that they've found each other again. But too many things have happened since their separation. Kakyuu had fled Kinmoku, leaving her guardians behind, and they were left to search for her for a very long time. And even after she did hear their song, she was too afraid to reveal herself, afraid that Galaxia would find her, and did not trust her guardians to be able to protect her just like they had not been able to protect her back in their own planet.

Making things even more difficult is how Kakyuu has always felt that despite being their Princess, she and the Starlights do not share the same bond as the one they share with one another. There will always be a distance between them, and she is envious of their close relationship, their sisterhood, the one she could never be a part of. With guilt added into the mix on everyone's part for each of their own failures that led to the destruction of the planet they were supposed to protect, their journey to return Kinmoku to its glory days will not be easy. After spending so much time on Earth, they have forgotten just how bad their planet looks in comparison.

Will they be able to overcome their exhaustion and trauma to rebuild Kinmoku to its former glory and peacefulness? Because it used to be a peaceful place full of pacifist and yet the Starlights were forced to kill many phages they encountered due to their inability to purify them - yet another thing that happened during their separation that Kakyuu was not aware of. And how would she react to knowing that one of her guardians had fallen in love with another Princess?

Details on any necessary information: This storyline takes place after the Stars arc in Kinmoku. Basically this will be some sort of character study for the Starlights, Kakyuu, and their relationships with each other. There won't be a lot of action, but they do have to rebuild their planet and figure out a way to, if not go back to how things were, then how to make this new situation work for the better.

Restrictions: Only for Princess Kakyuu and the Starlights
OOC Thread: http://www.thegalaxycauldronforums.com/t11378-advanced-kinmoku-lullaby-ooc
Member to Character List:
- Seiya Kou/Sailor Star Fighter: Eternal Knight
- Taiki Kou/Sailor Star Maker: Sailor Pluto
- Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer: Addelyn
- Princess Kakyuu: Sailor Mercury

Fighter was flying through the universe at a faster pace than the others. She needed space, she needed not to be crowded. She also was prepared. Whatever surprise that could be waiting for them, she was ready for a fight. She could feel a constricted beating against her rib cage. Anticipation. Uncertainty. Sorrow. A very thin spark of hope. Her heart leapt uncomfortably when she saw the planet below. They were home. After everything, they were finally home.

She didn't wait for them. The leader in her was still awake enough to think of Kakyuu's protection even though the lump in her throat made her nauseous. She landed brutally, but with some sort of remaining grace, dust whirling around her. Feeling no immediate danger, she lowered her guard, finally taking in her surroundings.

The sight wasn't pretty. Her legs buckled but did not give out. So that was how a planet abandoned by its princess and guardians looked like. Utter desolation. Ruins...
It reeked of death - or was it that she couldn't get the memory of that dreadful smell out of her organism? How could she forget? They weren't in one of Usagi's utopia. This was the painful reality.

She felt tears but did not cry.

Sorrow morphed into rage, but both were not enough to chase the exhaustion weighting her down and so she simply stared, frozen there, numb, closing her hands into fists. They had fought to the edge of their lives, they had lost their princess, had sacrificed so much and this was the reward good soldiers received for their well-done duty?

The flight back to their planet was relatively silent.

Kakyuu was glad for that, actually—she needed the time to collect her thoughts. On what this—going home—meant. Because it hardly meant going back to how things were. Their home had been destroyed, their people decimated. And her own team…

She glanced at each of them. Fighter, all the way in front. As always, their leader, their fighter, suited to her senshi name. But Kakyuu had also noticed a change in her. Kakyuu did not see terribly much from her hiding place, but there was something there between Fighter and the Earth’s princess.

She didn’t know what to feel about it yet.

And the other two… well, Kakyuu felt like she knew even less about them than before. They were always more withdrawn and reserved, and she could not tell what they were thinking even on her best days.

That was the problem, was it? There always seemed to exist a barrier between her and them that she could never break through.

As their planet came into view ahead of them, Kakyuu’s heart felt cold. She knew it was to be expected, but still… It looked much worse than when she’d left it. No, abandoned it. She had to start facing what she had done if she wanted to have any hope of rebuilding this planet. If she wanted to still be accepted as its senshi and princess.

But there was no life anywhere, and it was desolation and destruction as far as the eye could see. Where before life flourished and flowers thrived, now there was only a barren rock in the sky with hardly anything left living on it.

She landed on weakened feet and managed to not fall to her knees as she took in her surroundings. After being so used to Earth and its beauty… she had almost forgotten this. She had almost dared to believe she’d always belonged on Earth, one of their own inhabitants, a planet so beautiful and bright with life.

But now the truth hit her hard, and she felt tears clouding her vision.

This was her failure staring her in the face.

Returning home felt almost like a dream, the flight, and the quietness of their group giving the trip a very surreal quality for Healer. Her love for her Princess had kept her going all of this time, but a small part of her had stopped believing that they would ever find her, or return home…not that there was much home to return to, the planet being as destroyed as they left it. 

It felt different somehow; there was a sadness about the planet, an empty feeling that hadn’t been there when they left – perhaps it had, and she just hadn’t noticed, too busy fleeing. Looking around, she could still see how it was before; before Galaxia happened upon them, before the destruction, before.  

Looking around at the destruction and despair they had left; she couldn’t help the sob that swelled in her chest, trapped in her throat before it could make a sound. She wouldn’t cry. 

She felt hopeless. How were they going to rebuild their planet? Where would they even start?

Kakyuu forced herself out of her defeated state of mind, trying to view their planet with a new look. She tried to figure out what could be fixed and how to go about fixing it. Buildings could be rebuilt. The lives that were lost could not be returned, but some of the star seeds that Galaxia stole had been released and they should be back with their rightful owners. At least this wouldn’t be a desolate planet with only the four of them as its inhabitants.

Kakyuu walked toward the Kinmoku Palace, only half standing while parts of it were destroyed. She wondered what was left of her and the Starlights’ private chambers. She looked toward the three of them, wishing so hard to become the leader they needed her to be. She felt like a fraud, but apparently there was a saying on Earth, something about faking it until she could make it true.

She took a deep breath and managed a smile to her guardians. “Come, let us reconvene in the palace. We can figure out how to start rebuilding from there. I’m sure that together we can do it. Our planet has taken a big hit, but it’s not lost yet. I believe that if we have faith, we can restore it to its former glory.”

“Yes Princess,” Healer said, dutifully following her Princess. She wasn’t sure how they would rebuild their planet, she still felt as if they had no hope, but if her Princess believed that they could do it, than Healer would make sure that she did everything in her power to make it happen, no matter the cost to herself.
 
Glancing at Maker and Fighter, she couldn’t help but wonder what was going through their minds. Suddenly, she felt exhausted, wanting nothing more than to lay in her bed and sleep. Could they do this? Or were they setting themselves up for an impossible task.

She wasn't sure she could meet her princess' eyes. Not right now, not when her mind was so far from Kinmoku. It felt like betrayal at a certain point, but glancing at the devastation around them seemed worst than having peaceful, happier thoughts. Her memories of Earth would be cherished for as long as she lived, she was aware of this. As much as they had complained, the blue planet was a beautiful one, where she felt safe.

She shook herself and her steps fell in line with Kakyuu's own automatically, as always it did when she was around. Fighter was a faithful leader, a good soldier, a fierce protector. Despite the images in her head, despite her heart longing for something that wasn't there, everything else belonged to Kakyuu, everything and more. She would lay her life at her princess' feet as many times as needed to make up for the fact she had failed all of them.

"I still have faith in you, Princess."

And the words were true. If Fighter had lost faith in someone, it wasn't Kakyuu, it was herself. She wasn't a simple senshi, she was the leader, supposed to bring Maker and Healer with her to keep Kakyuu safe from everything, including herself. It was to expect that Kakyuu would take the destruction of their planet on her own shoulders, which made sense as she had fleed, but Fighter's allegiance was to the princess and not the planet.

"If we could survive this war, we can overcome what's waiting for us here."

She said, more to Maker and Healer than Kakyuu. She didn't give them a smile, but there was a tiny but fierce spark in her eyes. She needed them to believe in her, to believe in her authority still or she feared she'd crumble before they even started rebuilding their planet.