[Rewrite][Sailor Moon] Dark Serenity - Prologue

[Ebiris]

Sailor Moon belongs to Naoko Takeuchi/Kodansha

Author Notes: I abandoned this fic for too long, and then when I came to
work on it again I was rather appalled by what I read in the earlier
chapters. I think I've improved a lot as a writer since I started Dark
Serenity, and the original version doesn't really do me justice (plus a
few plotholes were about to bite me in the ass if I continued...), so
I've decided to do a rewrite. The original version can still be found on
my page at the Lost Library of Florestica for now
(http://rakhal.com/florestica/ebiris/index.html), but there's a fair
chance that within a few chapters this will bear almost no resemblance
to the original version.

Thanks to ukie and Merc for pre-reading this. And thanks to Dunefar and
everyone else on the Soulriders Sailor Moon RPG for rekindling my
interest in Sailor Moon ^_^

Sailor Moon: Dark Serenity
Version 2.0
Prologue
by Ebiris

Sailor Moon looked at the large crystalline formation before her and
felt her breath catch in her throat. The person trapped within looked
familiar to her, though that should come as no surprise since the person
inside *was* her, a thousand years removed.

Neo Queen Serenity.

Sailor Moon still had a lot of trouble swallowing that concept. Being a
fighter for love and justice hadn't turned out to be the fun adventure
she had naively wished for that fateful day when Luna had found her. And
being the reincarnated Moon Princess had only seemed to drop more
troubles in her lap.

How could she, a girl who could barely scrape through classes at school,
be so presumptous as to rule the entire world? Yet the proof was all
around her, here in 30th century Tokyo, or rather Crystal Tokyo as it
was called now.

Not that the place looked too impressive right now, after the ravages of
the Black Moon war, but she could well imagine it in its full glory
perhaps even rivalling the dimly recalled memories she had of the Moon
Kingdom.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, she noticed that all eyes were
focused on her. She had come here for a reason, after all. Pausing to
give a reassuring smile to Chibi Usa, she willed the Ginzuishou to
appear in her hands with but an idle thought.

The Ginzuishou was not something she enjoyed using; its awesome power
threatened to overwhelm her every time she did, to burn out her life as
it had Queen Serenity's. But there were times when it was needed, and
this was one of them. If she could release Neo Queen Serenity from her
imprisonment, hopefully the older version of herself would be able to
deal with the Black Moon threat.

Slipping into a slightly trance-like state, Sailor Moon enmeshed her
will with the Ginzuishou, drawing on it to affect reality and remove the
crystal prison around the Neo Queen. For a second it seemed like she
might succeed, the light emanating from the Ginzuishou shone brighter
and brighter, but abruptly she felt the power being nullified as it
neared its peak, and like a switch had been thrown, the Ginzuishou
dimmed to its usual level.

Feeling utterly drained, Sailor Moon slumped to the floor. She had
failed.

There was a choked sob, and Sailor Moon turned to see Chibi Usa starting
to tear up. "Not even Sailor Moon can help Mama!" the young girl cried
out before turning and fleeing from the chamber, sobbing as she went.

The other Sailor Senshi looked like they might move to catch her, but
Tuxedo Mask intervened. "She needs to be alone," he said seriously,
before adding, "Besides, she'll be safe within the palace's shield," to
reassure them at their dubious looks.

With an effort, Sailor Moon picked herself up. Her heart ached at the
little girl's pain, and her own uselessness. "No," she said firmly,
"what she needs is her mother." Heading off in the direction Chibi Usa
left, she turned and gave a wan smile to her friends. "I guess she'll
have to settle for me."

***

Chibi Usa wandered the familiar passages of the palace, not knowing or
caring where she was going. Even if the layout of the building was
familiar, the emptiness of the usually bustling halls lent the place an
unwelcome feeling of eeriness. Before long, she had left the palace and
went beyond the shield being maintained by the Sailor Senshi of the 30th
century.

She had felt so sure that Sailor Moon would be able to rescue her mama
and make everything all right. Growing up, she had been raised on
stories of the mysterious soldier who fought for love and justice, and
never failed to protect the ones she loved. Not even the revelation that
Sailor Moon was really that klutzy Usagi Tsukino had disillusioned her.

But Sailor Moon had failed. And by extension, Chibi Usa had failed,
since it was she who went to Sailor Moon for help. "If only I hadn't
taken the crystal..." she whispered, remembering how the Ginzuishou had
disappeared mere seconds before the Black Moon family had attacked. "I'm
sorry, Mama... I just wanted to be like you..." she quietly sobbed,
sitting down on a swing-set in a mostly undamaged park near the palace.

Abruptly, the future Moon Princess shivered, and not from the cold. A
dark presence manifested before her, resolving into the floating, cowled
figure of Wiseman, laughing triumphantly at having found her. "Now is
the time for me to act!" the shadowy being said.

Not wanting to stick around and find out what he meant, Chibi Usa leapt
off the swing and started running back to the palace as fast as her legs
would move. Unfortunately she had barely gotten two steps before she was
frozen in place.

"You were safe inside the palace, little Rabbit," Wiseman taunted her,
his hands waving around the floating crystal ball he habitually carried
with him, "but out here there is nothing to protect you from my powers!"

Chibi Usa cringed as Wiseman floated towards her, but just as he had
halved the distance between them, a cry of, "Moon Princess Halation!"
was heard from across the barren park and waves of pink energy and
crescent moons washed over Wiseman, causing him to stagger and release
his mental hold over Chibi Usa.

"Sailor Moon!" she cried, running over to take shelter behind her
saviour before Wiseman recovered.

The sailor suited teenager levelled a furious look at Wiseman as she
spoke, "I'll protect her!"

Chibi Usa poked her head out from where she was hiding behind Sailor
Moon and stuck her tongue out at Wiseman before yelling, "Yeah, Sailor
Moon will beat you, you big meanie!"

Keeping her eyes focused on Wiseman, Sailor Moon whispered in a low
voice that hopefully only Chibi Usa would hear, "Run back to the palace,
Chibi Usa, get the others!"

"But I wanna-" she started to protest, before being cut off.

"Hurry!"

Sensing the seriousness of the situation, as well as the urgent tone
from the normally flighty Sailor Moon, Chibi Usa nodded reluctantly and
started running back to the palace.

"Where do you think you are going, Rabbit?" Wiseman asked, moving to
intercept the fleeing girl.

"Don't ignore me!" Sailor Moon yelled, taking off her tiara and hurling
it at him with a cry of "Moon Tiara Action!"

The energised, magical tiara flew true, and impacted onto Wiseman's
head. Abruptly he seemed to collapse as nothing more than a bundle of
cloth with nothing solid within, his crystal ball landing on the ground
with a tinkling noise.

Sailor Moon shifted on her feet uncertainly, not having expected such an
easy takedown. She wavered slightly, taking two steps towards the
bundled robes before pausing and turning to see Chibi Usa was already
out of sight. A momentary pang struck at her - what if another enemy
attacked her future daughter while she was being distracted here?

Deciding not to waste any more time, Sailor Moon started running back
towards the palace. She hadn't gotten very far when an overwhelming
blast of dark energy hit her. Spinning as she fell, the blonde girl saw
Wiseman floating towards her and looking totally unharmed.

From her prone position on the rubble-strewn ground, she saw a maelstrom
of dark energy forming around the cowled figure, before another person
who she recognised as Demando appeared with a flash of light. He was
yelling something at Wiseman, and the energy dissipated...

And then she gave in to the messages her pained body was giving and
lapsed into peaceful unconsciousness.

***

With a pained groan, Usagi returned to wakefulness, "Where am I?" she
asked. Sitting up and looking around she saw she currently occupied a
fairly large, well decorated room. A bedroom, she noted, disgustedly.
Demando stood by the door. "Not again..." she muttered, shaking her
head.

"I'm surprised you woke up so quickly," Demando commented, "but I really
shouldn't be. You recovered fast the last time we met," he walked over
to stand over the bed she sat on.

"Are you going to try the same trick you did last time?" Usagi asked
wearily.

Demando didn't bother to reply. Instead, his third eye appeared and he
tried to hypnotise Usagi.

Usagi could feel his attempts at forcing her to submit to his will, but
having already resisted before, she was not about to let him get close
to dominating her again. It was surprisingly easy to throw off his mind
control, which seemed to momentarily stun the Black Moon prince. Taking
advantage of his surprise, Usagi took the opportunity to deliver a hard
slap to his face.

Demando touched his cheek in shock. "How did you...?" he got out before
she angrily interrupted him.

"Love isn't something you force on someone!" she yelled, her expression
absolutely furious, "It is a gift between two people, trying to force
someone with magic is an insult to anyone who has ever felt true love!"

***

Wiseman appeared in Demando's private chambers and took in the scene
before him. The Prince had a stunned look and was touching his cheek,
which bore a red palm-print on it. The younger version of Neo Queen
Serenity was glaring at him and delivering a stern lecture on how it was
bad form to mind control people in order to get their love.

Wiseman privately agreed with her, but then he thought that any form of
love, forced or not, was a pointless triviality reserved only for those
of weak mind. The Prince was a fool to think his feeble mind control
abilities would have any real effect on one of Serenity's power. And an
even bigger fool to waste the time and effort on his foolish quest for
her love.

But he was a useful fool. And this younger version of the Neo Queen
could prove potentially even more useful...

"What are you doing here, Wiseman? I'm busy!" Demando snapped, having
finally noticed the intruder.

"My apologies, Prince Demando," Wiseman said smoothly, reigning in his
impulse to show Demando who the true master was. That could wait.
Continuing, he added, "However, I may have a better way of turning the
Queen to our way of thinking."

The teenage version of Neo Queen Serenity looked between the two and
shrank away fearfully.

***

Usagi floated in an empty void. She knew she was really unconscious, but
Wiseman's last words still echoed in her mind; "It will be a challenge
to warp someone with so much love in their heart... but I will make you
remember a past which will break that heart!"

Suddenly, her vision blurred, before Usagi found herself back in her
Sailor Moon form, feeling utterly drained. The crystalline prison of Neo
Queen Serenity lay before her, mocking her pitiful attempt at dispelling
it. Weakly craning her neck, she saw her friends and loved ones gathered
around. But instead of the disappointed, yet supportive expressions she
expected, they all looked on her with loathing and disgust.

"You couldn't even save your future self?" Mercury asked incredulously.
"I know you're an idiot, but that is just pathetic."

"A...Ami-chan..." Usagi whispered, shocked at hearing such a harsh
dismissal from the usually quiet and reserved girl.

"Feh," Mars snorted in dismissal. "Probably for the best. It must have
been the future Usagi's fault that the future is such a mess."

Usagi clenched her eyes shut, trying to force back the tears as Mars
confronted her with what she already suspected to be the truth. The
image of devastation wrought upon Crystal Tokyo burned into her mind.
How many people had died because of her?

"It's not as if we should be surprised," Jupiter said snidely. "You
always seem to screw up and expect others to work for you.

"That's not true!" Usagi cried, but her protest sounded weak even to her
own ears.

"Yes it is," Venus responded calmly. "You wouldn't even let us rest
after we died for you. You had to bring us back to life just so we could
clean up your messes."

"No..." Usagi gasped out, hurt beyond belief by that accusation. "You're
my friends, I wanted you to have normal lives! I thought you deserved
that!"

"And how long did that last? Not even a month later and we had to become
Sailor Senshi again to cover up for your ineptitude," Mars said,
squatting down to look Usagi in the eye.

Usagi looked away in shame. In her heart, she knew it was true. If she
was stronger, the others would be able to have the normal lives they
deserved, that they couldn't have because of her...

"You're pathetic, Usagi," a masculine voice rang out, loudly enough to
capture her attention. "How could I have ever had feelings for such a
horrible person as you?" Mamoru asked, sounding thoroughly disgusted.
After a moment, he spoke again, this time sounding thoughtful, "In fact,
I don't think I ever did love you. It was just the feelings my past self
had for Princess Serenity. But I don't see why that should affect the
life I have now, especially when you are nothing compared to her."

Tears were now flowing freely down Usagi's cheeks as she emitted choking
sobs, unable to even look at any of the others, though she could still
feel their hateful looks on her. She was dimly aware of an unfamiliar
presence near her, but paid it no heed even as her feelings started to
turn to anger. Hadn't she given up as much, if not more than any of
them? How dare they lecture her! A voice whispered in her ear, telling
of how she needed to make them understand who the true Master was...

***

As he worked his magic, Wiseman felt a sense of accomplishment. Even
with all her love, she had much pain. It wouldn't be as hard as he had
thought to warp that pain to fill her heart with hate.

Demando was also present, and he watched impassively. He had no way to
appreciate the subtleties of Wiseman's work here, but had wanted to
watch anyway. No doubt he was afraid Wiseman would do some harm to his
precious love.

Wiseman paused in his work as he noticed something odd. It seemed the
young Queen held a huge store of untapped information in her mind.
Perhaps these were memories of the past life she was rumoured to have
had in the Moon Kingdom he had heard stories of? With no small amount of
anticipation, Wiseman recklessly burst through the barriers, searching
for yet more ways to convert Serenity to his cause. There was no telling
what magical lore lay hidden within the recesses of her mind.

So focused on his task, Wiseman failed to notice as the levitating Usagi
began to glow, and her 20th century school uniform turned into an
elegant ballgown. A golden crescent moon flared into existence on her
forehead, and her hair turned to a luminous silver-blonde colour.

Demando's loud gasp, however, did gain his attention, causing Wiseman to
note the physical changes. Slightly startled, he stopped what he was
doing, only to note that the changes were still cascading through her
mind, but were now coming from an *internal* source, behind one of the
mental barriers he had torn down.

Then another change rippled through her, this one starting off more
subtly, but for a more drastic end result. Her billowing white gown
seemed to melt away in a flurry of shimmering motes, leaving a rather
different garment when it was gone. The general style was much sleeker,
with none of the bows or ruffles which ornamented the other dress, and
the colour had changed to purest black. The only concession to style
were the faintly ethereal wings emerging from her back. The wings
reminded Wiseman and Demando of the ones that sometimes appeared on Neo
Queen Serenity, but while those had the general effect of butterfly
wings, these looked more like folded bat wings, lending a much more
sinister effect.

She floated down to face the pair and opened her eyes. They were still a
crystal blue, though the crescent moon on her forehead had been changed
into an inverted black crescent. Her eyes lifted, and it was almost as
if she could see the mark on her forhead. An expression of extreme
distate flickered over her lovely features before the black moon symbol
flipped so it was once again pointed up, and the colour changed to a
faintly glowing violet. "I have no allegiance to your pathetic Black
Moon." she sneered, her haughty voice filled with contempt.

Wiseman remained outwardly impassive, though he was desperately trying
to understand how the transformation had happened without his control.

"What... who are you?" Demando asked, his voice quavering slightly.

The girl... no, woman, looked at him like he was something disgusting
she had scraped off her shoe. "What am I? I am the Messiah," she smiled
maliciously, "but as for who, you may address me as Serenity."

***

End Prologue

[Anastasia]

Heh, thanks for the props.

Anyhow, this is a bookmark to critique this when I'm not strung out on cold medicine. Read as - Tomorrow or this weekend.

[Dracos]

Interesting.  The parody of the crap genre of fanfiction is quite amusing to see.  It's well written, (didn't spot anything in my admittingly superspeed readthrough) though it relies on an odd premise: That Usagi could be so easily deceived by illusions.  It seems a bit awkward there, but of course, the follow through is nicely done, putting in a bit of human falliability in the too often inhuman Usagi (fanon).

Dracos

[Gryphon Aerie]

Heh.

Things aren't what they seemed to be. Serinity is evil, her powers an intentions unknown. The Dark Moon family has stirred up a hornet's nest the dimensions of which they have no idea.

Interesting.

Look forward to seeing more.


Gryphon Aerie
(of course)

^_^;

[Anastasia]

Well, finally got down to this.

The first thing I saw when reading this is that it was essentially an expansion of the summary like prolouge for Dark Serenity, mark 1. Of course, this meatier story is a good thing.

I _like_ Venus's insult of Sailor Moon in her dream. Now that one hits home rather hard on a few fronts.

"And how long did that last? Not even a month later and we had to become Sailor Senshi again to cover up for your ineptitude," Mars said,
squatting down to look Usagi in the eye.

Um...Maybe this is just another happy manga/anime difference or I'm mistaken, but I thought there was a fair bit of time between the Beryl and Ail/Ann arcs. More than a month, at least.

Admittely, even with what you did, it seems like you caused Usagi to crumble rather quickly. I can't really blame you, as taking the time to flush it out would be both troublesome and difficult. *shrugs*

And I like the violet moon, it fits better than her old cresent moon or the Dark Moon reverse crescent.

Overall, I like the improvements. It adds meat to the story and makes a few choice changes that aid the story nicely. I can't wait for chapter 1/2.

[Ebiris]

Something I want to point out about Usagi being 'corrupted' so easily...

Firstly, it's not really Usagi turning evil, so much as a set of memories from her past life being corrupted and supplanting her real personality, but secondly...

I was watching the first few eps of Sailor Moon S today, and in ep 91, Usagi is worried over the fact that she lost her transformation, and has a dream where the other senshi give her a few (fairly minor) insults and tell her to retire. Usagi's reaction (in the dream, which is entirely her own subconscious with no Evil Energy influencing her) is to say "Damn you... betrayers!" and physically attack her friends!

Anyway, as much as Usagi is a nice girl, she's certainly no Belldandy... a fact I am quite grateful for, as flaws are what make characters interesting!