Ilene, Ken, Sammy and Mika Tsukino silently followed Eternal Sailor Moon and Darien to a small groove of trees. Eternal Sailor Moon motioned them to sit down and as one, they complied.
“Oh, I don’t know where to begin!” Eternal Sailor Moon said, pacing back and forth. Darien, who was standing off to the side, grabbed her wrist during one of her revolutions.
“Why doing you start by calming down?” He said soothingly. Eternal Sailor Moon gave a sheepish smile and nodded. Then she turned to her family.
“Would you feel more comfortable if I de-transformed?” Her mother nodded vigorously, so Serena let go of her transformation. Her family stared up at her. “So… I guess this is a bit of a shock, isn’t it?”
“In a sense, yes!” Sammy said, the first to break the silence.
“Do you want to ask questions first or hear the story first?”
“The story first. I don’t know where I would begin with questions,” her mother answered for her family.
“All right.”
Serena stood in front of her family, trying to figure out where to begin. It was obvious by the way she kept on shifting from one foot to the other that she was nervous. Darien had to smile a little, for it was the first time in the short while he had been with her again that she was at all uncertain of herself. Finally she took a deep breath to begin.
“Beep…beep…beep!”
Serena’s family visibly jumped in surprise. They watched as she brought her wrist to eye level and pushed a button on the pink watch.
Mina’s apologetic face appeared on the screen.
“Sorry to interrupt, but Ami, Hotaru and I were wondering,” Mina began in a whisper. She seemed unsure of what she was about to say.
“Wondering what?” Serena urged gently.
“If we should tell our parents how many times we’ve died for you?” she blurted out. Although she was still whispering, it was loud enough for Serena’s family to hear, and shock registered on their faces.
“You guys can tell them how ever much or little you like.” A sudden thought struck her. “Tell them about our past up until the present.” Serena gave Mina a meaningful look.
Realization dawned on Mina. “All right. I’ll let Ami and Hotaru know. Thanks. Good luck.”
“Good luck to you too.” Serena pushed another button and lowered her arm. She gave her family a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that.”
This time Serena sat on the ground opposite her family so that she would not be too overbearing. She motioned to Darien to come join her, and he did, taking her hand to try to give her some extra support.
“Well, I guess I’ve got to begin somewhere, so I’ll just start where it all began for me.
“When I was fourteen I saved a little black cat from being picked on by some boys. This little cat had a crescent moon shaped scar on her forehead.”
“Luna?” Ilene jumped in.
“Yeah, Luna. Well, the next thing I know this cat is telling me that I am a Sailor Scout, Sailor Moon to be exact.” She saw the look on her family’s faces. “Yeah, Luna talks. It’s a moon cat thing. Anyways, Luna gave me this brooch and told me to say ‘Moon Prism Power’. For kicks, I did as the talking cat said. Before I knew it, I was Sailor Moon.
“My first fight was a joke. I eventually beat the youma, but I had to have the help of a mysterious masked man.” Serena squeezed Darien’s hand and he gently squeezed back. “Luna told me that my job was to fight any evil that threatened Japan, find the princess of the moon and find the other Sailor Scouts. At fourteen years old that was a tall task. I was immature and weak, no where near the leader Luna wanted me to be.
“I first found Sailor Mercury, who is Ami, then not long after Sailor Mars came into the picture. Otherwise known as Rei. It was the three of us for awhile until we discovered that Lita was Sailor Jupiter. By this time we were trying to find the rainbow crystals. We knew that the rainbow crystals were the key to the ultimate prize, the Imperium Silver Crystal, of which only the Moon Princess could control. We had a crystal or two at one point, as did our ally, Tuxedo Mask. But one by one they were stolen from us. There was one battle where we were about done for. Jupiter, Mercury, Mars and I were trapped and Tuxedo Mask was injured. That’s when Mina, as Sailor Venus, made her timely entry. She managed to save us all, and also completed the group of Inner Scouts.
“One day not long after that I saw Darien walking down the street and discovered that he was hurt. I followed him to see what he was up to, and ended up being caught up in a magical bubble. I fainted, and while I was out we were brought to a room where Darien gave up his crystals as prize for the winner of a duel between him and one of the people we were fighting against. Her name was Zoicyte. Zoicyte tried to kill the two of us then, but we managed to escape to an elevator. Before we reached the top floor, where the duel was to take place, Zoicyte sent fire down to once again try to kill us. I had no choice, I had to transform. I may not have liked Darien much, but he was an innocent, and it was my duty to protect him.
“Well, after I got us out of the elevator mess, it was my turn to be surprised. When all along I thought Zoicyte was after me, she was actually after Darien, because Darien was Tuxedo Mask. Imagine my surprise, the guy I hated was my hero. Despite our shocks, he still stood by me, he still saved my life. Zoicyte tried to impale me with a crystal shard, and Darien took it for me. I was devastated. Darien was dying because of me! I knew at that moment that despite our differences and our tendency to fight, I loved him both as Tuxedo Mask and as Darien and always had. That’s when I began to cry. Not my normal wailing that I’m sure you all remember, but a tear of pure pain at being separated from my love just as I had discovered him. I don’t remember it happening, but the rainbow crystals flew from their hiding place and mingled with my tears. What I do remember is seeming to be transported in an instance to a ruined kingdom on the moon. A woman stood before me. She was beautiful and had a sparkling aura around her. Her clothes were fancy and expensive but very old fashioned. Her hair was silver and done up in a style identical to mine. She spoke three words to me. ‘Remember, my daughter’
“And there it was. An entire other life flashing before my eyes. Growing up as a princess, being protected by my guardians and best friends; the princesses of the planets that made up the Moon Kingdom. The fateful day when the King and Queen of Earth came to visit my mother to talk about an alliance against the growing threat of Queen Beryl from the next galaxy. Their son had come with them, and I was made to keep him company. I fell in love with Prince Endymion the second I saw him, and I believe the same was true with him. At first our parents were happy with the match, and allowed us to visit each other often. Then it all fell apart. Endymion’s guards disappeared, and we soon discovered that Queen Beryl had captured them and turned them against us. My mother decided that without the guards, the Prince was weak and open for capture and would not allow me to see Endymion.
“On the day of my sixteenth birthday a masquerade ball was thrown in my honor. There were literally hundreds of people there, so no one noticed the masked man in a tuxedo who snuck in. Endymion and I danced through the night, and I was happy once again. But that was the night of the final attack. Against our knowledge Beryl’s forces had already attacked all the planets, leaving no one alive but those on the moon. We all put up a good fight, but it was useless, and Beryl won the war. She had always loved Endymion, and so she tried to get him to leave me and go with her, but when he refused, she killed him. It was my turn to die not long after that. I was also shown how, in the end, my mother sacrificed her life to send my love, guardians and I to the future, to this time. She had to put her whole life-force into sending us here, but it was her hope that we would find each other again and be able to live normal lives.
“All of this happened in a flash, and before I knew it I was Sailor Moon again, Zoicyte was dead, and Beryl had taken Darien from me in order to turn him against me and the scouts. Sailor Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Venus had seen me as the Moon Princess, so they knew what was going on. Knew that Darien was Tuxedo Mask and Prince Endymion, and had cruelly been taken from me. He was forced to fight against us for a long time, but soon it was time to make a final stand against Beryl. We had to go to the North Pole, for that was where Beryl’s forces were hiding. One by one my scouts fought off youmas so that I could continue on. They died for me that day and I will never forget that. I think I was meant to face Beryl alone though. When I was brought before her she tried to have Darien kill me, but I was able to break his mind control, although he too died as a result. So it truly was solely up to me. But when it came time to attack Beryl, I felt the girls’ power helping me, and we defeated her. I made a dying wish to live a normal life, and my crystal granted the wish for me and my friends.
“Obviously that did not last long. We had to have our memories returned, and have been the Sailor Scouts since. We’ve gone through many battles together, as our group expanded to included the Outers; Pluto, Uranus, Neptune and Saturn. I won’t go into too much detail about anything else, because we would be here for a long time. We’ve been through a lot of fights but we have always won because we stick by each other and protect each other and always will. That’s why it was hard for us to split up twenty-two years ago. We needed to live normal lives for awhile, and life is never normal while we are around each other. Now we’ve come back together because there is a new evil. We don’t know what it wants or where it came from, but I’m sure we’ll find out pretty soon.
“And that’s about it. Your daughter and sister is Sailor Moon and the Moon Princess. But I want you to know that despite my past and Queen Serenity, you two are my parents, and you are my brother and none of you could ever be anything less.”
Serena finally finished her tale. She hung her head and squeezed Darien’s hand tight, expecting her family to turn against her at any moment. Instead she felt arms encircling her. When she opened her eyes her mother was hugging her.
“Mom!” Serena let go of Darien’s hand to hug her mother back. Darien moved away so that Serena’s father, Sammy and Mika could join the huddle. “I love you guys so much.”
“We love you too, Sweety,” Serena’s father said. “but we do have some questions for you.”
“Of course,” Serena nodded. “I figured you would.”
“First of all”
“Beep…beep…beep!”
“Sorry Dad, hold on just a moment,” Serena apologized before opening her communicator. Haruka appeared on the screen. “Yes?”
“Sorry to bother you but we’re all done here. Hotaru is back, Mina contacted me and she’s on her way back. I contacted Ami and she’ll be back in about five minute.”
“I’ll be about five minutes too,” Serena assured. “Maybe a little longer.”
“That’s good to know. The kids are getting restless and asking me a lot of questions that I’m not sure I can answer.” Haruka said with a pointed look.
“And don’t answer them. I need to be there to explain a few things. I will tell them about what I told you to leave out. Maybe it’ll be more believable coming from me.”
“All right. We’ll hold them off for longer than.”
“Thank you. Bye.” Serena cut off the communication. “Now, your first question?” she said to her father.
“Uh, well, first of all, what is the whole story with you two?” her father asked, pointing to Darien.
“The whole story is that we love each other and are fated by destiny to be together. We will marry one day.”
“I love you daughter, sir. For a millennia I have loved her, and I will love her until the end of time,” Darien said.
Ken nodded, but did not look altogether happy. Even with Serena being forty years old, he was a protective father and always would be.
It was Ilene’s turn for a question. “Obviously you are a strong fighter and have always won your wars, but how do you know that will always be so? How do you know that during your next battle you won’t - you won’t…” she could not finish her sentence.
“I won’t, Mom, I won’t.”
“But how do you know?” Ilene pressed.
Darien and Serena looked at each other, silent communication evidently going between them. Serena imperceptivity shook her head. They could not reveal the future to anyone outside of the royal families right then.
“Because I and the scouts won’t allow. We value her life before our own and will gladly die in her place,” Darien said.
“You love me sister that much?” Sammy said, incredulous.
“Yes, I do. We all do. It goes far beyond duty to protect our princess. It is protecting our friend. Serena has been there for all of us for as long as we have known her. She befriended us, loved us, encouraged us to live our lives. She is the light in this dark world. We choose to protect that light.”
“I believe you,” Ilene said. “I will worry from now on, but I believe you.” Ken nodded in agreement. “One more question though. When you and your friends parted ways, why did you not remain in contact? How did you know that a new evil would come?”
“I’m sorry, there are a lot of things that cannot be told of right now. You will just have to trust that all things will be answered later on, when it’s pertinent to reveal.” Serena got up off the ground. “We have to get going now.”
Her family too stood up. Ilene pulled her daughter into her arms.
“I am proud of you, Serena. I am proud to call you my daughter.”
“So am I,” Ken said, joining the hug.
“And I’m proud that you’re my sister,” Sammy said.
“Me too!” Mika added.
Serena was once again in the arms of her family. This time glistening tears spilled over onto her cheeks.
“You don’t know how happy this makes me. I thought you would hate me for keeping this from you. I only wanted to protect you, but I’m glad that you finally know. I love you all.”
“And we love you,” her father said.
Serena pulled away from the hug after a few minutes. “We really do have to get back. They will be wondering where we are.” She took Darien’s offered hand and started back, her family following after her.
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