This story is part of the Circles of Time Sailor Moon fan
fiction shared universe. Other stories in this series can be
found at:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/9897/ct.htm



The story takes place in the year 4001. I don't think it
contains any serious spoilers for stories in the Cicrle of Time
continuity that take place before that.



Sailor Moon and all the characters therein are the property of
Naoko Takeuchi. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply.



Ken Wolfe

Ken_Wolfe@mbnet.mb.ca



Last Act



"Now, at the end of the Millennium that humanity had so long
dreamed of in the dark days before the Silence, now when we look
forward to another Millennium of peace and plenty, we should
take the time to reflect upon how our paradise on Earth came to
be. Those days before the Millennium may seem to us little more
than a barely remembered nightmare, a grim tale of horror and
suffering that has no place and no power in the paradise we have
made. But that unimaginable age of barbarism was real, and we
should recall that only an unswerving commitment to uphold
justice and order has allowed us to rid the world of pain and
death and has freed us from the ever-present shadow... no, the
ever-present... /damn/." Chibi-usa tapped the little blue spot
on the window she was facing. A hologram of her speech
materialized in front of her, the dark rectangle dimming and
superimposing the view of the city afforded by her venue high in
the Crystal Palace. "The ever-present /specter/ of the Four
Horsemen that loomed over our ancestors for so long."

Chibi-usa put her hands to her hips and sighed. "This is just
too much."

She turned around, walked across her private garden, and sat
down heavily on one of the big cushy chairs that surrounded the
little round coffee table in the middle of her garden. The chair
sank down under her weight and slowly lifted back up, cradling
her as if it could absorb her irritation as well as her
momentum. If she hadn't sent the droid away, it would probably
be asking her if she wanted something to settle her nerves. But
this had nothing to do with nerves. Sure, tomorrow was her big
day... it was the biggest day  since the end of Black Moon War.
Yet she had stopped being nervous about it long ago. Heaven knew
she had been preparing for this day long enough. She had even
memorized the thrice-damned speech ages ago. She could recite it
in her sleep. So why was she having such trouble today?

>From the time she had woken up this morning, everything about
tomorrow's coronation seemed to suddenly be bothering her. She
was certainly not afraid anything would go wrong, all their
advisors and courtiers were making absolutely sure that could
not happen. It was almost as if that was the problem. Everything
would go according to schedule, and when it was over she would
be Queen Lady Serenity. Then when the show was over, everyone
would go home.

So what was wrong with that? Nothing, of course. Nothing at all.
Chibi-usa frowned and shook her head. "What's wrong with me
today?"

She crossed her arms and looked down at the simple white dress
she had put on this morning. /Should have worn something else.
After today, about the only place I won't be wearing white is to
bed. I'll probably end up tossing all my white nightgowns into
the recycle bin just on general principle/.

"Good Morning, Chibi-usa."

Chibi-usa smiled and turned to the familiar voice. "Good
morning, Ami." Mercury was in uniform, no doubt on her way to
help supervise preparations for tomorrow. Chibi-usa had insisted
on at least one day of rest before her coronation, it was
probably the last one she would get for a very long time. Which
was why today her doors would admit none but her family and the
Senshi.

Ami glanced at the little translucent hologram still embedded in
the wide window that covered an entire wall of the garden, all
the way up to the tall ceiling that glowed the same color as the
morning sunlight. "I thought you'd be resting today."

"I was just going over it one more time."

"Having trouble?"

Ami had seen her quietly fuming at herself, there was no point
hiding it. "Not exactly trouble. I still don't like it much, it
just seems wrong somehow."

Ami smiled. "I know what you mean. I've never heard so many
run-on sentences in one speech."

Chibi-usa laughed. "Yes, there was that too. It's still hard to
believe it took a committee of scholars to come up with this. I
just wish I could have convinced them to trim it down a little,
I'll be droning on for nearly an hour tomorrow."

"Why not use the prompter? Your mother always does."

"Ami, mother has trouble memorizing the months of the year."

Ami laughed nervously. "Oh, I'm sure you're exaggerating."

Chibi-usa grinned. "Well then why don't I reprogram her prompter
to display Kanji only tomorrow? I have clearance now, you know."

Ami looked /very/ nervous now. "Chibi-usa..."

Chibi-usa giggled. "Joke, joke."

She could literally see the tension evaporate from Ami's neck
muscles as she sighed. "I agree the speeches are too long, but
this is literally a once in a millennium event. An hour of
people's time doesn't seem much to ask."

"Oh, it's not even that," Chibi-usa said. "It's just the way it
goes on and on about how horrible things were in the bad old
days before Crystal Tokyo."

Ami looked a bit puzzled, but concerned enough to walk over and
sit down. "Does it bother you, thinking about the past?"

"No!" Ami just raised an eyebrow at Chibi-usa's testiness. With
an effort she reined it in, suddenly realizing how wound up she
had gotten herself. "I'm sorry, I don't know why it's suddenly
bothering me so much. But it just seems so wrong. Ami, I was
/there/. Maybe not for very long, but I saw the world as it used
to be. It was no hell on earth. People laughed and played and
loved just like they do now."

"They also died. By the thousands, every single day."

She knew Ami would say that. It was the doctor speaking, the
Tamer of Pestilence. "Most people alive today grew up in that
century. Am I the only one who remembers anything good about it?"

Ami smiled. "No, not if last night is any indication."

Chibi-usa very deliberately did not roll her eyes. Last night
the Senshi had been wrapping up their last pre-coronation
meeting when mother had pulled an old photo album out of
nowhere. A /really/ old photo album that nobody had seen in
centuries. The photos were practically all of Chibi-usa... half
baby pictures and half pictures from her sojourns to the
twentieth century. Just too kawaii for words, or at least
everyone else seemed to think so. Just the sort of thing she
wanted everybody to see right before she was crowned queen and
master of all she surveyed. "We seem to be the exception,"
Chibi-usa said, the Senshi and the royal family being the
unspoken we. "That century is where all of us became what we are
today. But it's like everyone else would just as soon forget."

Ami cocked her head, looking at Chibi-usa more intently now.
"Are you suddenly becoming nostalgic? That's not unusual, you
know, when you're about to go through such a major change."

Chibi-usa put up her hands defensively, but smiled with genuine
affection. "Please, Ami, no analysis. The council of shrinks
gave me a clean bill of health, you can read the eighty-page
report yourself."

They both grinned at the shared joke. Of course every branch of
the scholars had been consulted on the timing of the coronation,
including the school of psychologists. Chibi-usa had to admit
that at least some of the tests had been kind of fun.

"I didn't mean to say there's anything wrong with being
nostalgic," Ami was quick to say. "I've been thinking more of
those days lately, especially after last night. It's hard to
imagine now, but for a little while it was just your mother and
I. No Crystal Palace, no global defense grid, just two little
schoolgirls running around Tokyo."

Chibi-usa felt a twinge of something in her stomach, a barely
perceived feeling that somehow held answers to today's feeling
of unease, but was gone before she could put a name to it. "You
never talked about that time nearly as much as mother did," she
said softly. "You must have been just as scared as she was."

"I suppose I was. Even with Luna there, we really had no idea
what we were doing." She suddenly laughed. "It still amazes me
that your mother only had to resurrect us twice."

Chibi-usa happily joined the glib laughter, but with a feeling
of regret. She felt as if Ami had been helping her zero in on
something important, but now it was gone. The two of them
reminisced a bit longer, mostly about all the cute things
Chibi-usa had done as a child. Yes, mother had planted the seed
last night, with all the skill of a veteran gardener. For weeks
now Chibi-usa would be getting little reminders that she @ used
to be a pint-sized pink terror trying to play with the big
girls. Not exactly a lesson, just a gentle reminder.

/Maybe I will reprogram her prompter tomorrow/.

Soon Ami had to excuse herself to attend her meeting. Chibi-usa
had her droid bring some tea and tried to relax like she was
supposed to be doing. Ami's visit had taken the edge off her
uneasiness, but she still felt restless. She didn't feel like
practicing the speech just now, so she decided to work out for a
while. She got up and walked briskly down the paths that curved
their way through her big tropical garden. The door dilated as
she approached, admitting her into an even bigger space with a
ceiling twice as high. The lights came on as she entered. She
put her hands to her hips and surveyed what the overnight
reconfiguration had done to the room. She smiled in approval.
/Interesting/.

With nothing more than a shimmer of light and a barely audible
tinkling like microscopic bells, she made the transformation. It
was more of a formality than anything, now. All of them were
Sailor Senshi morning, noon and night, she could call upon her
power buck naked if needs be. But this ability to do a
quick-change was rather convenient. She was now dressed in the
most readily recognized outfit of this age, the same white, blue
and red sailor fuku her mother had worn two thousand years ago.

/And it does come with one perk/, she thought as the first of
the practice droids sprang out from behind their cover. She
leaped up to one of the many abstract sculptures that sort of
resembled craggy, leafless trees, pulling the tiara off her brow
and whipping it out at her first target. /Built-in Frisbee/. The
first droid went down, coming apart cleanly at the shoulder
joint she had hit, just like it was designed. These droids had
no biological components and were especially designed for this
game, so she usually did them no real damage. Nevertheless, her
recreation accounted for a decent fraction of the Palace repair
shop's work. The tiara reached the tree just half a second after
she did. She caught it and leaped for her next perch, losing
herself in the game, becoming Sailor Moon once again.

She danced around the leaping and running droids, new ones
popping out to replace the ones she disabled. Her eyes were
everywhere, looking for threats, and looking for the McGuffin.
As well as their hands and feet - only moderately padded - they
threw little ceramic balls that would really hurt if they
connected... and more to the point, would end the game. She had
to be in motion at all times, had to jump in among them, make
the fight up close and personal, not give anyone a clear shot.
These ones worked silently, efficiently, mechanically. Other
times the computer would send her berserker droids that would
scream like banshees and fight like rabid dogs.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the McGuffin. This time
it was a little Tuxedo Kamen plush doll, sitting elegantly on a
branch. Very funny. The nearest droid exploited her momentary
distraction by aiming a hammerblow to her head. Drop, leg sweep,
hit just hard enough to separate the hip joint, jump for the big
rock in between her and the McGuffin, jump again. /Whizz.
Whizz./ That had been close. They'll aim for the McGuffin now,
so I'll land on the branch on the other side and...

The branch broke. "Waaaah!"

A vaguely female droid caught her in its arms. Its grim poker
face suddenly split in a wide, silly grin and it winked. "Game
over..." it crooned. A very loud buzzer sounded in time with big
flashing red signs covering all four enormous walls. GAME OVER.

"End Program!" Sailor Moon shouted over the noise. "And you can
let me down now."

"Yes ma'am," the droid said, setting her down. It still had that
silly grin on its face as it went to help the remaining
functional droids gather up the pieces of their fallen comrades.
Sailor Moon glared at it. This program had input from many
people, but she was sure Michiru had added that little touch...
among others that served to add insult to injury.

"I thought that trick branch would catch someone eventually."

Sailor Moon turned to see Sailor Jupiter standing on top of one
of the big rocks, arms crossed, grinning down at her. "That one
was yours?"

"Happened to me once when I was tracking arms smugglers in the
Gobi Forest. I was going to jump down out of nowhere onto this
branch right over their heads, completely demoralize them and
take them in without firing a shot. Of course I forgot they let
their trees decay naturally out there, its core was rotted. I
managed to land on my feet, but they weren't very impressed with
my show."

Chibi-usa transformed back to her white dress. Her pride was
still smarting, and Jupiter was not doing much to help. She
resisted the urge to ask whether Jupiter had a meeting she was
supposed to be at. Not because she was not glad to see her
friend here, quite the contrary. "And was the banana peel in the
Tokyo alleyway one of yours too?"

"Can't say that I remember that one. Sounds more like something
Minako would come up with."

Chibi-usa smirked. "Is there some story behind that?"

"Oh, there probably is." Jupiter jumped down to the floor beside
Chibi-usa. "But you'd have to ask her."

Probably wouldn't do much good, Minako had a very selective
memory when she wanted to. "Did you want to do a team game?"

Jupiter glanced over at the last of the droids filing out of the
room with their fallen counterparts in a grim-comic funeral
procession. "You managed to trash most of them, not enough left
for a decent game."

Chibi-usa didn't bother suggesting they supplement the remaining
droids with holograms, she knew Jupiter found that boring. "Is
something up?"

"No, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm really not doing much, as you can see. I got tired of
practicing my speech."

"Having trouble with it?"

"Not particularly. But I still don't like it much."

Jupiter made a little sound of irritation. "If you can manage to
put enough life into it to keep everyone awake I'll be very
impressed."

Chibi-usa laughed. "I think everyone will just be thinking 'I
can hardly wait for the fireworks display.'" The display was
going to go on almost as long as her speech, with colorful high
explosives going off from just over the Crystal Palace spire all
the way up to low earth orbit.

"Too bad it'll be too noisy to grab a nap, it may be the only
chance you'll have tomorrow."

Or for the next three months, which were already booked solid.
Contemplating that, Chibi-usa suddenly had an irrational desire
to coax Jupiter into a game, it would probably be the last one
for a very long time. "Say, want to do something fun?"

Jupiter cocked her head, surprised by the sudden question. "Like
what?"

"Like if you get the McGuffin from me, I'll tell you what
happened at your birthday party on Deimos." With that she
crouched, leaped, and grabbed the little plushie Tuxedo Mask as
she flew by his perch. She did not even have to hear the impact
on the branch a mere second after she had launched herself from
it to know that Jupiter was already right on her tail. She could
always rely on Makoto to act first and think later. This was
stupid of course, she was at a disadvantage in this long dress
and could not even afford the momentary distraction a
transformation would take. She could only use her one free hand
to swing around trees and bounce off rocks. But that was exactly
why she wanted to do it, because it was stupid. She laughed and
cried out loud whenever she could spare half a breath, throwing
caution to the wind, bouncing between obstacles like a billiards
ball. At the speed she was going, even with her enhanced Senshi
muscles, it hurt. If she came across another of Jupiter's trick
branches, she would be taking a very nasty fall, which just made
it even more fun.

Eventually Jupiter managed to push her advantage. She tackled
Chibi-usa in midair. Chibi-usa lost her orientation altogether,
braced for the impact she knew was coming. Jupiter absorbed it
with her long legs and they both went tumbling, Jupiter
releasing her just on time for them both to go sprawling out
side by side, arms around each others' shoulders. They lay there
panting for a few moments. Then Jupiter leaned over to pluck her
prize from Chibi-usa's hand. She propped herself on one arm and
glared down at her princess. She was trying very hard to look
angry but was not doing a very good job. "Stupid girl. If we'd
bruised your pretty face just before your coronation ceremony
your mother would skin me alive."

"No, she would just cry for a very long time."

Jupiter poked her hard in the ribs and lay back down on the
ground. They were right beside a big rock, Jupiter had stopped
them just on time. Yes, it had been very stupid. Probably the
last stupid thing she would be allowed to do in a very long,
long time. That was a depressing thought.

"So what did happen?"

Chibi-usa had almost forgotten her challenge. "I assume you
remember arriving at Dejah's. After your twelfth Supernova you
passed out. We tied you in a fetal position and played zero-G
dodge ball with you."

"That explains the bruises. But not the smell."

"Somebody threw up, I can't remember who. The droids were going
around with vacuum cleaners for an hour."

"Ick."

"Be grateful I cleaned you up before you were conscious again."

Jupiter sighed heavily. "We're going to miss you."

"I'm not advancing to a higher plane of existence you know."

"I mean in the colonies."

"I know. I'll miss everyone." Most of the people she counted as
friends were either in the Moon colonies or working on the Mars
terraforming project. Both her best and her worst memories of
recent centuries lay there as well. It would be a very long time
before she saw those places again. She had no intention of being
like her mother who had never once been beyond the Moon's orbit
in all this time, and had not been off the Earth in years. But
there was no getting away from the fact that after tomorrow
there would be a big chain between her and Crystal Tokyo, always
quick to snatch her back whenever she ventured out.

"Maybe we can sneak you out every now and then. At least to go
toss back a few at Dejah's."

"I'm not even crowned yet and already you're leading me astray."
They were both more or less joking, but Chibi-usa knew that for
the sake of her sanity she would have to make her way there
someday. It was one thing she and Jupiter had in common, after a
long while in Crystal Tokyo's warm fuzzy embrace the frontier
would beckon. "Did you see Steve's vidmail?"

"Yes. Thank heaven he encrypted it. If that every got into your
mother's hands..." they both laughed. Like most of their
offworld friends, Steve was earthside for the coronation. Mostly
because they were loathe to miss the party of the millennium.
But like most of their friends he didn't have much time to spare
from his work, so he had not arrived until after Chibi-usa was
far too busy to see him. He had to content himself with sending
lewd vidmail. Chibi-usa wished she could have gone out to see
the old gang today, but the coronation committee would have
given birth to a herd of buffalo had she left the palace today.

"I hope he doesn't plan on showing up dressed like that. He'd be
escorted to the police lounge. And after I got him such a good
seat." No small feat, the coliseum only had a half million seats
and for tomorrow each one of those seats was a very hot
commodity.

Jupiter chuckled. "You think that's bad, you should see what
Juno's wearing tomorrow."

Chibi-usa smiled. Jupiter's second eldest, the dancer. She was
sure the girl had never worn the same outfit twice in the past
hundred years. It was so easy to spoil kids here. Sometimes she
envied the Senshi...

Jupiter sat up and winced. Chibi-usa frowned. "Are you hurt?"

"Nothing that'll last the day."

Chibi-usa also sat up. "Sorry," she said, meaning it.

Jupiter smiled and waved off her apology. "We've taken a lot
worse falls for each other, lots of times."

Yes, they had, both for fun and for defending the peace. Again,
there was that little flash of an idea just on the edge of her
consciousness, like she was on the verge of a realization. But
in a heartbeat it was gone.

Jupiter stood and offered Chibi-usa a hand up, which she
accepted. "I should get back to the meeting, they must be past
the really boring part by now."

So she had skipped a meeting just to come here. "Want me to tap
into the security cameras and find out?"

Jupiter shook her head. "Sometimes I fear for you."

"Remember, Big Sister is watching you."

Jupiter tossed the plushie doll back to her. "You should add
that to your speech tomorrow."

She could almost get away with it. Other than a few obscure
scholars, only the colonies had a lot of people who were into
pre-Millennium literature. "You'd better go before you lead me
further into temptation."

Chibi-usa walked her to the door. They took their time. Jupiter
gave her a hug and went out to once again brave the slings and
arrows of the coronation committee. Chibi-usa finally noticed
that she had really worked up a sweat running from Jupiter. And
she had a few sore spots of her own. Maybe a bath would feel
nice. At the doorway to the bath, she gave Tuxedo Kamen-sama a
peck on the cheek and set him on the windowsill. "No peeking,"
she intoned.

A soak in the tub, a massage and a leisurely lunch left
Chibi-usa feeling more relaxed. She sipped her coffee and looked
out over the city. The view had changed little over the
centuries, and tomorrow it would still look the same. Was that
what was bothering her? Was it that it would never really
change, that it would always be her mother's city, never hers?
No, she had already gotten around that. Even she had to admit
that her mother had always been an instrument of change where
she saw the need, and in Chibi-usa's estimation it had usually
been change for the better. And there was plenty more to be
done, not just in the colonies but right here as well. She would
have many chances to leave her mark as Queen Lady Serenity.

Chibi-usa was just starting to lose herself in one of her
favorite books of Martian poetry when she sensed something at
the wide archway leading into the garden, probably a sound soft
enough to be subliminal. She looked up and smiled when she saw
who it was. "Hi Rei."

Rei returned her friendly smile. "Hi Chibi-usa. I hope I'm not
disturbing you."

"Not at all." Chibi-usa put her book down on the coffee table.
Rei was dressed in her professor's robes. Well almost, it was
her unique variation on the traditional scholar's robe of
office. Red and white instead of black and white, and cut to
look something like the Shinto miko outfit Chibi-usa remembered
from so long ago. "Did you just come from service?"

"Yes, it spilled over into lunch time so we broke bread."

She meant that literally, bread and fruit juice was all you ever
got for lunch in Rei's faculty. Nobody came for the food,
obviously. "So what were you talking about today?"

"What gives life value."

Chibi-usa smirked. "You mean to say you couldn't even figure
that one out before lunch?"

Rei raised an eyebrow, and her smile became more playful. "Oh,
you already have the answer? It sounds like I should have come
to you first."

"The answer is simple. It's an axiom. Life is its own value, and
end in itself. There's no way to prove it has value, we just
assume it does."

"Oh?" Rei sat in one of the white couches. "So there is no such
thing as a valueless life?"

"No. A wasted life maybe, but not a valueless one."

"So do you think there are a lot of people wasting their lives?"

Chibi-usa was taken aback by the question. She had not really
been taking the discussion seriously, they could go on for hours
if she were... and had done so, on many occasions. By now
Chibi-usa well knew what times Rei would be content to get a
glib answer. Suddenly this was no longer one of those times. "Of
course, there are plenty of people wasting their lives."

"Well, nobody at today's service seemed to think their lives are
a waste. In fact I can't remember the last time I met anybody
who did."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Rei, nobody I know is better than you at
getting people to admit things to themselves they had never
admitted before. But I think even you would find it hard to get
anyone to admit their life is being wasted."

Rei shook her head. "I never try and tell people how to conduct
their lives, I only get them to ask questions they never asked
before. You know that."

Yes, Chibi-usa did now that. She had attended many of Rei's
services. Hers was the faculty of theosophy, and her 'services'
were intended to encourage people to consider their
spirituality, but in practice they were more like Socratic
dialogues. "For all your efforts I'm sure a lot of people aren't
really asking those questions of themselves. Even if they say
otherwise, a lot of the people at the universities are just
looking for something to stave off boredom. I know there are
exceptions. But most of them will eventually move onto something
else without ever having gained anything, without changing or
growing. They may convince themselves that they are doing
something significant, but if it's just an intellectual game
then it's a waste."

"Even if they don't think it's a waste?"

"I've met sim addicts who have been in the same sim for three
hundred years. You don't think that's a waste?"

"I've met some of them too. They seem to be happy enough."

That caught Chibi-usa's attention. Rei hated sims, as far as
anyone knew she had never been in one for centuries now. "I'm
surprised to hear you say that," Chibi-usa said evenly. They
would both understand why.

"I was visiting a friend doing a long-term anthropological
study." Chibi-usa knew what she meant. The big sims were
practically whole societies in and of themselves... which meant
the anthropology departments had a field-day with them. "Most of
the people I met were actively engaged in their world and seemed
to be quite happy about it."

"But it's not real. It's just particles floating around in a
quantum computer."

Rei smiled. "That sounds a lot like the way Ami describes
reality."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. But everyone I met in the sim still knew what it
was, even if they had been there for centuries. They were
content knowing that. As you said, they felt their lives had
their own value, and what people outside thought about it
doesn't matter."

"But that's just my point! It doesn't /matter/, nothing in the
sim matters because it doesn't change anything. If they don't
eventually come out and try and do something with whatever
they're supposed to be learning in the sim then what's the
point?"

"Maybe the sim is an end in itself, for them."

Chibi-usa shook her head. "I know you don't believe that, Rei."

"It doesn't matter what I believe."

Chibi-usa sighed. "And it doesn't matter what I believe either.
That's your point, isn't it?"

"My point is, what matters is what /they/ believe."

"That's my mother talking."

"You think she's wrong?"

"Of course not." It was not that simple, and the look they
exchanged said they both knew that. Her mother had always
opposed placing any controls on addictions or habits that were
not clearly harmful. Chibi-usa and Rei had long been among the
many dissenters. They felt there were more subtle forms of harm
people were doing to themselves. For better or worse, Neo-Queen
Serenity's view had prevailed, and everybody had accepted that.
"I'm not chomping at the bit to start a self-righteous crusade
against the idle and lazy, if that's what you're afraid of."

Rei shook her head. "No, I know you aren't."

Chibi-usa regretted the tone of her words. "I'm sorry, I should
have known better."

But Rei just smiled. "Pushing people's buttons is all part of my
job, girl."

Chibi-usa laughed. "Yes, I've noticed."

"Besides, I read your psych tests. If you had dreams of forging
a new order on the backs of the people we would know it. Not
even Minako, the mistress of self-deception, could get past
those tests."

"Which may be why she's never taken one."

"I would never let her. There are some things we are just better
off not knowing."

Chibi-usa smirked. "So you don't think they might have missed
something?"

"Well, I noticed they didn't ask you anything about your father."

"Give me a break. I worked through that centuries ago. I've got
a signed statement from Dr. Freud himself." Her eyes narrowed.
"The plushie-doll was your idea, wasn't it?"

"What's a plushie-doll?"

"Rei, you can't lie to me anymore. I have access to /all/ the
security cameras in the grid now."

"Oh my," Rei said in mock surprise. "Now you'll find out about
all the shonen-ai manga I digitized during the reconstruction."

Chibi-usa raised a slim pink eyebrow. "Really? You never told
me. Which titles?"

"Go ahead and access my files if you like. But you'll have to
break the encryption. Consider it a challenge."

Actually her mother was more likely to do that. Reading Rei's
manga had been one of the senior Usagi's favorite hobbies. "Like
you said, maybe there are some things we are better off not
knowing."

Rei returned her smile, and there was a brief, comfortable
silence. "I hope you're enjoying your day off."

"I'd better be, it's probably the last one I'll have for a long
time."

"Feeling nervous about tomorrow?"

"Not really. It will be the most thoroughly planned event in
human history."

Rei laughed. "Don't we know it."

"And I'll be so tied up with officialdom and ceremony that it'll
be weeks before I get to decide anything more important than
which earrings I'll be wearing today."

"Are you afraid it will always be like that?"

"No," Chibi-usa said flatly. "There's plenty of important work
to be done. Don't worry, I have no fear of ever being left bored
and idle."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

Like no other person Chibi-usa knew - with the possible
exception of her mother - Rei had the ability to catch people
like a deer in speeder headlights with a simple question. Which
was exactly how she felt now. She sighed, and looked away. There
was no point trying to be evasive. "It's nothing complicated,
Rei, honestly. In fact it's the simplest thing imaginable. I'm
afraid everyone will expect me to be my mother. But I'm not my
mother, I can't be."

Rei got up, walked over to where Chibi-usa was sitting, and
crouched down beside her. She took Chibi-usa's hand. "Chibi-usa,
for what it's worth, I don't expect you to be Tsukino Usagi. And
I wouldn't want you to be."

"Rei..." Chibi-usa involuntarily squeezed Rei's hand, thoroughly
astonished. She could not remember the last time she had heard
Rei speak of Serenity by her birth name.

"Serenity is a wonderful queen and a wonderful friend to us all
because she never forgot that she is Usagi," Rei said softly.
"Queen Lady Serenity will be a wonderful queen," she squeezed
Chibi-usa's hand tighter, "and a wonderful friend. All she has
to do is never forget that she's Chibi-usa. I love Chibi-usa, I
couldn't bear to lose her any more than I could bear losing
Usagi."

Chibi-usa almost had to look away from Rei's warm smile, as if
it were too much to bear. Rei was one of Serenity's most vocal
critics, but nobody - not even Endymion - worshipped her more
thoroughly than Rei did. "I... Rei, thank you."

"Chibi-usa, your mother earned our love and our trust, and so
have you. Don't ever doubt that for a moment."

"Hearing you say that means the world to me."

Rei smiled and stood up, still holding Chibi-usa's hand in both
of hers. "We'll be pledging our loyalty to you tomorrow,
Chibi-usa. It will be a thoroughly staged event. But you'll know
what is in our hearts, won't you?"

"Yes." It was all she trusted herself to say with a steady voice.

"It's a heavy burden you'll be carrying. We can't carry it for
you. But if ever the full efforts of our bodies and souls can
ease your burden even the slightest, you have only to ask."

"I never doubted that." In truth she never had doubted that. It
was the reason she had so readily agreed to take on her mother's
guardians as her own, instead of selecting new ones as was her
right. But she was not lying, hearing Rei say this meant the
world to her. "Actually, there's something I'd like you to tell
me, if you can."

"What is it?"

She felt bad asking this, but felt compelled to nonetheless.
"It's something you can probably tell me more than anyone,
because you're so close to my mother. How does she really feel
about... tomorrow?"

Rei smiled. "She's so proud of you she could cry. And she
probably will. In buckets."

They both laughed. But the look and the touch they shared left
no doubt how much Serenity's tears of joy would mean to both of
them. "I'll bring a handkerchief, since she'll probably forget."

They talked for a little while longer, mostly about tomorrow's
events. Chibi-usa could tell that Rei was really making sure she
felt okay about the coronation. But she did not mind, in fact
she was grateful. Rei had always been ready with help and
advice, but in the end she had always trusted Chibi-usa to do
what she felt was right. Rei let people make their own mistakes,
but knew just how to point out those mistakes to people without
lording over them, without making them feel poorly. Which was
certainly a big change from her early years as Sailor Mars.
Chibi-usa had always taken her as an example of how somebody
could change for the better and still be essentially themselves.
Chibi-usa knew that all her mother's guardians loved her and was
honored by their love, but it was Rei's devotion that gave her
the greatest feeling of pride.

At length Rei excused herself. Like everyone else, she was
tremendously busy today. Which made Chibi-usa wonder why she had
made the special trip here today. Of course she was grateful and
always happy to see her, but she could recall Rei in particular
agreeing that today should be a quiet day for Chibi-usa where
she could be alone to rest and meditate upon the great change in
her life that was looming. Rei probably would not have come here
at all, unless...

Unless somebody had told her Chibi-usa was feeling uneasy about
the coronation. Chibi-usa suddenly smiled to herself. /Ami/. Of
course, she had always been the worrywart, bless her heart. She
probably interpreted Chibi-usa's complaining about her speech as
misdirected fear of the coming change in her life, or some such
thing. She would never voice such concerns to Serenity, but
Chibi-usa could certainly picture her dropping hints to the
other guardians that she might be feeling nervous and would
probably appreciate a visit from each of them... if they could
spare a moment, that is. Which probably meant that any moment
now-

"Yoo-hooo!"

Minako was peeking around the edge of the entranceway, waving
her arm over her head. "How's our favorite queen-t'be?" She
giggled "Queen Bee... that's a good one."

"Hi Minako. I'm doing just fine, thanks."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, are you busy memorizing
your speech?"

"Nope, I finished that a long time ago. I can recite it in my
sleep."

"Great!" Minako took that as an invitation to come in. She was
in her orange and white Senshi uniform, signifying that she was
on duty. "I was just at a security council meeting. We're
already past their estimate of visitors but people are still
pouring in. Some of the parties are already starting!"

Chibi-usa smiled. Of course Minako could smell a party a mile
away. "Going to any of them?"

"I wish." She plopped down on one of the other armchairs. "It's
early to bed for all of us, I guess." She made that sound like
an ordeal in itself.  "But that's okay, tomorrow is the biggie!
This is going to be /way/ bigger than the year 4000 bash!"

"Well, as Ami keeps reminding us, we all have to be up early the
next day too."

Minako sighed. "Yeah, that's right. You know, it would make a
lot more sense for you to have your day of rest /after/ the
coronation. I mean for the rest of us too."

"I suspect a lot of people will be sleeping in the day after."
The parties all over the city were expected to go on until dawn,
at least. Whatever else you could say about the people of
Crystal Tokyo, nobody could deny they knew how to have a good
time.

"No kidding. But no rest for the wicked, right?"

"Not after today."

"Oh, you shouldn't worry about it," Minako said, waving her hand
in a dismissive way. "Serenity's been queen for a thousand years
but she's had plenty of fun along the way. They can't keep you
locked in your office all the time. Believe me, I'll make sure
of that."

Chibi-usa smiled. That seemed to have been one of Minako's
primary functions over the years, arranging quick getaways for
all of them when duty and bureaucracy threatened to smother
them. That, and making sure none of them took themselves so
seriously they felt it was beneath their dignity to go out and
have some fun once in a while. "I've been meaning to ask you,
just how did you sneak mother out to all those parties we had?"

Minako winked "You'll find out, soon enough."

"You know, when the security directorate was giving me one of my
briefings, I asked them about conditions under which they go to
a higher level alert. The first thing anyone said was: any time
they don't know your whereabouts and don't know the queen's
whereabouts."

Minako did a raspberry. "Bunch of snot-nosed control freaks. We
can take care of ourselves without their help."

Chibi-usa just smiled. She had some sympathy for Minako's view.
The Queen's safety was ultimately the guardians' responsibility,
the security directorate mostly supported them by doing
surveillance and filling in when the Senshi were otherwise
engaged. But this particular guardian liked taking her queen out
to invitation-only parties in obscure places nobody in the
security directorate had even heard of.

Minako's face suddenly brightened. "Hey, did I tell you I went
down to Dark Sodom last night?"

"Must have been packed today." That was one bar not even Minako
would take her Queen to. "Who did you go as?" It was a given she
did not go as herself. Minako grinned, and clicked her disguise
pen. Chibi-usa smiled. "I don't think I've ever seen Monique in
that outfit." The 'outfit' - using the term loosely - Minako's
red-headed alter ego was wearing consisted of a series of fine
silvery threads draping down from her neck, very loosely bound
together by a complex network of cross threads. They sort of
concealed her only because they dazzled the eye with a sparkling
light show.

"Just taking the pulse of the city. All part of my job."

"Of course."

"Everyone is really excited about tomorrow."

Chibi-usa raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" That bar was part of a
subculture that prided itself on their disdain for the Crystal
Tokyo establishment. It was the closest thing they had to a
dissident movement.

Minako-cum-Monique grinned slyly and nodded. "Mmm Hmm. And it's
not just the end-of-an-era thing. Sure a lot of people say they
don't care just so people will think they're sophisticated. But
a lot /more/ people think this is the best thing that could
happen to Crystal Tokyo."

Chibi-usa frowned. "I know my mother doesn't have may fans in
that crowd."

Minako shook her head briskly. "Those are the people who just
complain for the sake of complaining. Nobody cares about them.
Anyone with half a brain knows how much Serenity has done for
all of us. The thing a lot of people are saying is that she made
Crystal Tokyo a safe place where anyone can live and be happy.
But they think you're going to make it a more exciting place to
live."

Chibi-usa smiled. That seemed to mirror what a lot of the
professional pundits had been saying. It was a compliment to her
that was not at her mother's expense, so she could live with it.
"Well, maybe a more interesting place, if I have my way."

"I know. I really like a lot of the ideas you've been talking to
us about. Like 'everybody go naked day', that sounds great."

"Minako..."

"Oh right, that was one of mine, wasn't it?"

"The answer is still no."

Minako sighed. "Oh well, it was worth a try. But seriously, I'm
really excited about the Tranquillity Colony rotation program.
It'll really shake things up."

"Assuming I can implement it without starting a rebellion.
Mother warned me there will be serious opposition." A lot of
administrators would not like the idea of service in the lunar
colony being a prerequisite for promotion. "I won't force it
through, I don't like working that way any more than mother
does."

"I know," Minako said. "But all of us think it's a great idea,
and I know a lot of other people in the Palace who will like it
too. I'm pretty sure we can shame everyone else into line."

That was an odd way of putting it, but was more or less correct.
Serenity had a knack for forcing consensus by making dissenters
appear wrong in the eyes of their peers. This form of mental
jujitsu was one of the most important lessons she had learned
from her mother. And Chibi-usa was not above exploiting moral
cowardice when the need arose. "I'll certainly try."

"Just remember, we're all behind you two hundred percent.
Anything we can do to help you, just ask."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Just keep doing what you've been doing,
Minako. Don't change a thing. I couldn't ask for more."

Minako winked and saluted. "Yes Ma'am. Carrying on as usual."

"Okay, so tell me all about it."

That took a while. Of course Minako would know what she meant.
It was bad enough a Sailor Senshi was secretly infiltrating the
counterculture. Nobody had ever caught her, not exactly, but
everyone knew about Minako's disguise pen and so the urban
legends surrounding her clandestine activities were legion.
Which was fine, since they were taken about as seriously as UFO
sightings. But Chibi-usa had always resisted the temptation to
borrow Minako's pen and do likewise. A Senshi might justify the
practice, barely, but for a member of the Royal Family it would
be a clear abuse of authority, at least in Chibi-usa's mind. So
she contented herself with hearing Minako's accounts of the
parts of Crystal Tokyo she would probably never see for herself.

Her eyes went wide when Minako started describing the talent
contest at Dark Sodom. "They did that on the stage?"

"Yep. Twice in fact, everyone was screaming for an encore."

"I'm surprised they were able." Within private establishments,
Crystal Tokyo's strict obscenity laws did not apply. Dark Sodom
was one of the few places that really took full advantage of
this loophole.

"I got pictures too. You want to-"

"Thanks, I'll pass."

Minako actually gave her some useful intelligence as well. She
confirmed that most of the groups that made the Security
Directorate nervous were planning on being outside the city
limits tomorrow, so that they could watch the fireworks and
still party without worrying about the stricter public conduct
statutes within the city. Which was probably best for all
concerned.

Minako squealed when Chibi-usa politely inquired whether she was
busy today. "Omigod, I'm late! Rei is going to kill me!
Chibi-usa, I'm sorry but-"

"I understand," Chibi-usa said lightly. "Sorry I kept you so
long. You'd better get going."

"Thanks." She shot up out of her chair and turned to sprint for
the exit.

"Minako?"

She turned around. "Yes?"

"Don't you think you should get back into uniform?"

Minako looked down at her body draped in little but flashing
light. "Oh. Right." She clicked her pen and she was Sailor Venus
again. She laughed nervously. "Thanks Chibi-usa. See you
tomorrow."

"See you." Chibi-usa was smiling for a long time after Minako
left. After a thousand years, the Senshi of Love and Beauty
still had the power to do that for people. In fact she was
feeling good enough to work up the motivation for another dry
run at her speech. All her previous anxiety was gone, she
breezed through it without a hitch.

In a little while the sun was going down and it was time for the
only appointment she had agreed to make today. Chibi-usa changed
into a formal evening dress and left her apartment. She entered
the transit tube and a spoken command sent her floating to one
of the other private apartments in the inner Palace. The
security droid at the entrance recognized her and admitted her.

Haruka and Michiru were both standing in their living room,
waiting for her. Presumably the security system had announced
her arrival. "Hi Chibi-usa," Haruka said.

"Hi Haruka. Michiru."

Michiru stepped over to her and gave her a hug. "Thanks for
coming, Chibi-usa."

"This is my day off, remember?"

Haruka came over and hugged her as well. "You're looking very
relaxed. Nobody would suspect you're about to become the new
master of all humanity."

"Oh please." They all laughed. Everyone knew how much Chibi-usa
disliked the hyperbole that was inevitably surrounding her
coronation.

"You're right on time," Michiru said. "We just finished getting
dinner ready." She took Chibi-usa's arm and led her to the
dining room. Chibi-usa did not comment, but she took note of the
dresses they were both wearing. They were definitely not in
accordance with Crystal Tokyo's conservative style, they both
looked... well there was just no other way of putting it, they
both looked remarkably sexy. Chibi-usa had been treated to
dinner here literally thousands of times, yet she had never seen
these outfits even once. It occurred to her suddenly that this
was probably what the two of them usually wore whenever they
shared a romantic, private dinner together. She felt honored.

Haruka and Michiru always pulled out all the stops whenever they
invited friends for dinner, regardless of whether there was a
special occasion to warrant it. That was just the way they were,
never satisfied with anything but the best, be it from
themselves or others. Even so, Chibi-usa was astonished. They
had really outdone themselves tonight. Some of the courses
served were little more than mouthfuls, but even those were
delicacies, exquisitely prepared.

After dinner, Haruka excused herself and Michiru led Chibi-usa
back to the living room. Like the rest of the vast apartment, it
was furnished with nothing but priceless pre-Millennium
antiques. They spanned centuries, and were all carefully and
lovingly preserved. Any museum in the world would probably trade
their entire collection for what was in these rooms. But this
was no museum, it was a home, there was no place in the world
where Chibi-usa felt more comfortable, more welcome. Haruka and
Michiru's home had come to mean many things for her. In the days
when she came up to their knees and called them Sensei, it was a
magical place where her revered teachers would explain the
mysteries of the world to her. In the days when she was
blossoming into adulthood and called them Onesan, it was a place
where she found both comfort and challenge, where she could find
both friendship and instruction. In the many years since then it
had become her second home, a place where she could stay up
until dawn talking about matters both profound and mundane. In
recent days it had often become a refuge for when the
responsibility she was about to take wore heavily, and for just
a little while she wanted to forget there was a place called
Crystal Tokyo.

Shortly Haruka walked in carrying a silver tray that bore a
bottle and three snifters. She set it on the oak table and
Chibi-usa leaned forward to have a closer look at the bottle. "I
don't think I've ever seen that one before. Just how old is that
anyway?"

Haruka grinned. "A /lot/ older than you, young one."

Chibi-usa took a moment to let that settle in. "This is
pre-Millennium?" she asked softly.

"Very pre-Millennium."

She shook her head in wonder. "I didn't think there was any
pre-Millennium brandy left in the whole world."

"There won't be, after tonight."

Haruka very carefully opened the bottle, and poured out three
very generous portions. They all took up their snifters and
Haruka raised hers. "To Queen Lady Serenity."

"Queen Lady Serenity," Michiru repeated. They all drank.

As Chibi-usa expected, it was heavenly. "Drinking this has got
to be a mortal sin."

"Living is a mortal sin," Haruka said.

"No," Michiru said. "Not living is a mortal sin."

"I'll drink to that," Haruka said, and did so.

They took their time emptying the bottle, it took hours.
Chibi-usa lost track of time, as she usually did when she came
here. She forgot about tomorrow altogether, it was never
mentioned by anyone even once. About the only thing that
distinguished this night from the many others they had spent
together was that they did an unusual amount of reminiscing,
recalling things she had not even thought of in ages. By the
time Michiru suggested they called it a night, it was far later
than Chibi-usa really should have been up the night before her
coronation.

When they were at the door, Michiru suddenly took both of
Chibi-usa's hands in her own, and locked those soulful
blue-green eyes on hers in a way that left her paralyzed.
"Chibi-usa, because we were given the task of preparing you for
the day you would rule Crystal Tokyo, we have been harder on you
than we would have been were we just your friends. We always had
to keep just that little bit of distance that would allow us to
remain your guides and teachers. To do our job we had to always
apportion our praise carefully, so we could never really tell
you how we feel. Let me tell you now. We both have always loved
you as if you were our own child. Watching you grow, helping you
grow, has been the greatest joy we will ever know. We wanted to
be sure you know that."

It was a few moments before Chibi-usa could speak. "Michiru...
of course I know that... you never had to tell me."

"Yes, we do need to tell you, Chibi-usa." Michiru suddenly
crushed her in a fierce embrace that was almost painful. "Before
we said good-bye today, we did need to tell you."

Chibi-usa was silent until Michiru finally relaxed her grip.
They held each other at arm's length. "I don't understand what
you mean," Chibi-usa said in a soft, bewildered voice.

Michiru just smiled, her eyes grown misty. "You will."

Chibi-usa somehow knew she was not going to get any more answer
than that from Michiru. She turned to Haruka, wondering if some
answer lay there. As if on cue, Michiru released her hands and
stepped away from Chibi-usa. Haruka approached and took her
place, holding Chibi-usa's hands gently. "What Michiru said is
true," she said softly. "We love you, both with the
unconditional love of a mother and the earned love of a teacher.
You are our life's work. You've made us happy, and you've also
made us proud. Every single day."

"Haruka..." Chibi-usa was about to gather her into the expected
embrace, but Haruka's face suddenly brightened with a wicked,
lopsided grin that stopped her cold. A second later Haruka did
reach for her. Taken utterly by surprise, Chibi-usa had to just
go with it. It was a close, deep, passionate, exhilarating kiss
that went on for three days give or take a bit. When their lips
parted, Chibi-usa just stood trembling in Haruka's embrace,
looking up into eyes she could lose herself in.

Then Haruka's saucy grin was back again. "If I tried that after
today I might get charged with high treason."

Chibi-usa heard Michiru laugh lightly. "You might still be.
Seducing the heir to the throne, no less."

Slowly, very slowly, a smile came to Chibi-usa's lips. She
stepped away from Haruka. "So how long were you planning that?"

"For centuries. It was worth the wait."

"I'm flattered."

"Will you be able to find your way home?" Michiru quipped.
"You're looking a little disoriented."

Haruka took Chibi-usa's hand and kissed it. "I'd be happy to
escort you to your bedchamber, my queen," she said in a voice
that somehow set Chibi-usa's heart racing again.

"Keep it up and I just might slap a treason charge on you,
Guardian."

Later, when getting ready for bed, Chibi-usa's thoughts were not
of the coming day but of that single moment that had been so
unexpected. Ever since she was old enough to know what it meant,
Chibi-usa had known that Haruka and Michiru were lovers. It was
such an utterly natural thing, she never gave it a second
thought. Haruka always enjoyed good-natured flirting, but
somehow it had always been understood that never extended to
Chibi-usa. Until today. She was not at all offended, just
surprised. Well, if nothing else, Haruka's little surprise had
given Chibi-usa some insight into how her two mentors expressed
their love for one another. Chibi-usa smiled to herself.
"Michiru's a lucky girl."

The other thing it had done, without her being aware, was that
it had completely distracted her from wondering why she had been
so profoundly disturbed by their parting words to her.



*****



Queen Serenity's worried blue eyes started back at her from the
mirror as she fixed her hair into her trademark odango. Endymion
often joked that she had worn the same hairstyle so long she
could set it in her sleep. She had certainly never woken up to
find her hair having been mysteriously set, but it was true
there was probably nothing in the world she had become quite so
adept at. Which was saying something, this was a lot more work
than most people realized. And this morning for the first time
in centuries it was giving her problems.

She did get it right the second time. She stood to inspect the
results and nodded in approval. She took a deep breath and
sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment. /For her sake, don't
lose it on your last day in office/. She looked over to the
other end of their enormous bedroom, to see Endymion already
walking towards her. It suddenly occurred to her this would be
the last day she saw him in his lavender uniform. They had long
since agreed that once they had stepped down they would never
again don any of the trappings of their former offices. So
likewise this was the last day she would ever wear this
elaborate long white dress with the stylized butterfly wings on
the back. And after all this time she had just been starting to
get used to the silly thing too.

Endymion grinned. "Last chance to back out, love."

"Oh stop teasing me," she scolded.

"I know something's wrong when you can't even do an odango."

It was one of their oldest running jokes. She ran a hand down
one of her long ponytails. "Maybe I should stop wearing them
after today."

"Those are Usako's trademark, not Serenity's."

"I know. I would just really like to do something to show
everyone that I really won't be their queen any more. I could
show up somewhere with my hair in braids."

Endymion chuckled. "You cast a long shadow, there's not much you
can do about that. Except maybe turn out all the lights."

"Smart aleck."

Endymion took her lightly by the shoulders and smiled fondly at
her. "She'll make her own mark. You'll see."

Serenity sighed. "I know she will. I just want to make it as
easy as I can for her."

"I think we've done everything we can already."

It would be hard for Serenity to argue with that. After today
the two of them were going straight to their favorite retreat in
the Japanese Alps. They had promised themselves to not even
emerge from the place for at least a month, and to stay out of
Crystal Tokyo altogether for at least a year. Queen Lady
Serenity would have to live with her mother's shadow, as
Endymion had said there was little they could do about that. But
at least they could give her enough breathing room to let her
deal with that on her own. Serenity had no doubt in her mind
that her daughter would deal with it splendidly. But that did
not stop her wanting to help Chibi-usa in every way she could,
even if the best thing she could do was to just stay out of her
successor's way.

Endymion extended his arm. "Shall we go?"

Serenity took his arm. She paused to take one long look at their
bedchamber. She looked up at her husband and smiled. "It is
/this/ place I will miss most of all," she said softly.

"I know." He placed his hand over hers. "We'll make a new
private place for ourselves, somewhere."

She just smiled and nodded. In contented silence, they walked
arm in arm to the greenhouse garden where they normally shared
breakfast. The servant droid bowed as they entered. The three
places were set at the little round table. "We'll wait for
Chibi-usa," Serenity told the droid.

"Very good madam," it said.

"It still doesn't feel like this is our last time here,"
Serenity observed.

"I'm sure Queen Lady Serenity will invite us over now and then."

She made a face. "I'm just wondering when it's going to sink in
that Crystal Tokyo has really become hers."

"I think that will take a while for all of us. A thousand year
reign can't truly end in a day, you know. I'm sure she
understands that."

"Yes, I'm sure she does." Chibi-usa had long since said that she
understands - must surely understand - that any changes she
planned on introducing to Crystal Tokyo would have to be done
slowly and carefully. A society of immortals was inevitably very
conservative. Serenity knew about the changes Chibi-usa wanted
to see and shared her desire to see them happen, but she still
felt that as Queen Lady Serenity her daughter was going to face
more resistance than she realized. Of course Chibi-usa had
always been happy to take up a challenge, both from her own
nature and from the influence of her two principal tutors. Even
if the new queen might face frustration in the coming years,
Serenity had no fear that she would be unhappy. But she still
had been hoping that Chibi-usa would have been married by now...

"I wonder if she's having trouble doing up her yams."

Endymion's quip broke her reverie, and she glanced at the golden
clock-sculpture nestled among the tropical plants. "It's not
like her to be late." Just a hint of worry trickled into her
voice. It was just a few minutes, but Chibi-usa was almost as
fastidious about punctuality as Ami was.

A few minutes later when their Chamberlain walked briskly into
the room, Serenity knew instantly that something was terribly
wrong.

Horace had held the position of Chamberlain for over a century
now. He was a tall, gaunt man with a long face that rarely
smiled. Serenity knew his severe, uncompromising public demeanor
to be a necessity of his position, in truth he was a very kind,
thoughtful man who Serenity counted as one of her closest
friends. Though Crystal Tokyo offered them little in the way of
serious crises to deal with, she had always found Horace to be
both calm and resourceful when dealing with unexpected problems.

Which was why it was so shocking to see a look of poorly
concealed panic marring his normally placid expression. "Your
majesty," he said, addressing Serenity with a badly quavering
voice. "Something terrible has happened."

Horace's speech was normally a study in understatement, for him
to say such a thing... Serenity was suddenly paralyzed with
mortal dread. /Please God no, don't let anything happen to
her.../

"What is it Horace?" Endymion asked. His tone was firm and cool,
and he stood up casually. But to his wife of a thousand years
the subtle signs fairly screamed out, his hackles were up.

Horace took a deep breath. "Your daughter found Lady Uranus and
Lady Neptune in their bed this morning, just minutes ago. They
are dead, they have poisoned themselves."

Serenity's vision swam, she nearly fainted. "Wh-What?" she
breathed in a harsh whisper.

"Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune are dead, your majesty. I just
came from their room myself, Lady Mercury has already declared
them dead."

Serenity had a death grip on the arms of her chair, which was
barely enough to keep her steady. "That can't be," Serenity
said, shaking her head. "It must be a mistake. There must be a
mistake."

Endymion walked around the table to stand by his wife. "Horace,
please take us there." He extended a hand to Serenity. "Let's go
see for ourselves," he said in a more gentle voice.

Serenity found his stern gaze calming, as she always did. She
nodded, took his hand and stood. In silence, they followed the
Chamberlain out of the room and towards the transit tubes. Yes,
Endymion was right, they had to see for themselves what was
happening, there must be some mistake. As they floated through
the gently glowing glassy transit tubes, Serenity found the rush
of adrenaline accompanying her panic was bringing back long
forgotten instincts. She could see the change in Endymion's body
language as well. They were holding hands as fellow warriors,
running to where they thought innocent lives may be threatened.

An officer of the guard stood at the door to Haruka and
Michiru's apartment. He saluted smartly, but his stoic face
showed obvious signs of anxiety.

"Who is within?" Endymion asked the guard.

"The Lady Usagi, the Lady Mercury, the Lady Jupiter and two
medical technicians, sir."

"What were Jupiter's orders to you?" Endymion asked. Jupiter was
the head of the Palace Guard, even if her lieutenant normally
took over most of the duties.

"To admit none but the royal family, the Chamberlain and the
Guardians, sir."

"Thank you, carry on." The three of them entered the apartment.
Everything looked so perfectly normal. It was eerily quiet,
there was only their soft footfalls on the carpeted floor and
sound of Serenity's own hammering heart.

When they approached the bedroom, Serenity heard voices from
within. She recognized Ami's voice, speaking in a low voice, as
if she were in a museum or a church. They entered the room and
Serenity's heart felt like it was breaking. It was exactly what
she had expected to see, exactly what she had been praying she
would not see. Chibi-usa looked to be still in shock, and Makoto
had a comforting hand held gently on the shorter woman's
shoulder. Ami was in conversation with a man in the white
uniform of a medical tech. The other technician was already
putting away their equipment.

Haruka and Michiru lay in gentle embrace on their bed. On the
bedside was a pitcher of water, a little bottle with the
universal red warning sign for poison, and two empty glasses.
Serenity's eyes were drawn inexorably back to the two still
forms, she could not stop staring at them. In the moment she had
taken in the little tableau, she knew there could be no
mistaking what had happened here. Yet she found herself staring,
as if looking for some sign of life, a movement, a breath,
anything.

Endymion released her hand and put his to the small of her back,
getting her attention. Of course everyone had noted their
entrance, and were now looking to them. Following her husband's
encouragement, Serenity strode over to her daughter, took her
hands. "Chibi-usa, what happened?" she asked gently.

"I came to see them on my way to meet you." Her voice was as
lifeless as her expression. It was like she was simply reciting
a story somebody else had told her. "There was no answer, so I
came in looking for them. I found them like this. I... I called
Ami, and the med-techs."

Serenity turned to look at Ami, who had walked over from the
other side of the big room to join them. Serenity could see the
answer in her sad eyes, but had to ask anyway. "Ami?"

"They died hours ago, Serenity. There's nothing we can do. I'm
sorry." Her voice was gentle but firm, in the professional
manner of a doctor. Of all the people in the room she was doing
the best job of hiding her distress. She was probably fooling
everybody except Serenity.

"Hours ago?" No, that should not be possible. Her whole universe
had changed in the past ten minutes, but she forced herself to
think. They took so many precautions here in Crystal Tokyo, did
so many things to ensure that nobody could lose the gift of
life...

"They switched off their monitor implants," Ami went on. There
was just a hint of something in her cool demeanor, maybe anger
or bitterness. "They used their highest clearance codes to hide
the fact, otherwise we would have been alerted."

"Could somebody have done this to them?" Endymion asked. "Could
somebody have killed them and staged this?"

Ami shook her head. "No. It was the poison that killed them,
nothing more. This poison brings gradual numbness and
drowsiness, they must have known what was happening to them.
They just let it... let it run its course."

"The room sensors were still working," Makoto said. She was
trying so hard to be strong, but Serenity could see how
bewildered and helpless she felt, it was so obvious. "There was
nobody else here since last night."

"Last night?" Endymion asked.

"I was here," Chibi-usa said in her wooden voice. "I had dinner
with them."

Serenity squeezed her daughter's hands. /I am not going to cry.
Period/. She was very careful about what she asked next.
"Chibi-usa... did they say anything that might tell us why
they've done this?"

Chibi-usa shook her head. "No, nothing. We just talked, that's
all."

Endymion put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Chibi-usa, you
were the last one to see them alive. Can you think of any
possible reason why they've done this?"

The despair in her eyes cut Serenity like a knife. "I've been
thinking of nothing else since I found them."

"Oh, my dear one..." Serenity could not bear it any longer, she
gathered her daughter in a close embrace, which Chibi-usa
returned. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." The feeling of guilt
weighed down on her heart like an anvil. She should have seen
that something was amiss with her two Outer Guardians. How could
this have come to pass and her have no inkling at all?

Chibi-usa loosened her embrace and they stepped apart to look
into each other's eyes again. "Mother... I had no idea either.
It's not your fault."

Serenity shook her head. "I... just don't understand. Why? I
should have seen /something/."

"None of us saw it coming," Makoto said, her voice both
insistent and imploring, insisting there was no answer but
desperate to find one. "It makes no sense, nobody loved life
more than they did."

"Loved life?" Serenity turned, shocked at the bitterness she
heard in Ami's voice. Absently she noticed the technicians were
gone, no doubt dismissed by Ami. "Didn't they love Chibi-usa?
Why /today/? How could they do this to her?"

"You're wrong." Chibi-usa's voice sounded a little less wooden
now. There was some color in her face again. "They didn't do
this to me, they did this /for/ me."

"What do you mean?" Endymion asked.

"I'm not exactly sure yet."

"Did they leave a note?" Horace asked hesitantly. He seemed very
reluctant to interrupt what was in every sense but blood a
grieving family.

"We looked," Makoto said curtly. "They left nothing. They've
left us nothing at all."

"No, I can't believe that," Chibi-usa said. She spoke softly, to
nobody in particular, as if lost in thought. "There's something
they're trying to tell us, and this was the only way they could
do it. We just have to figure out what it is."

"What could they possibly tell us by taking their own lives?"
Ami asked, her anguish and her anger now more obvious. "That our
lives are not worth living?"

Chibi-usa just shook her head. "No, not that. Definitely not
that."

Serenity heard somebody running towards the room, long light
footfalls that could only mean another of her Guardians had
come. She turned in time to see Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus
enter the room. They were not even winded from their run, of
course. They both took in the scene before them, and had two
entirely different reactions. Serenity could see in Mars' stern
face just hints of the despair that had gripped her own heart
upon entering and seeing the truth for herself... like her, Mars
had not truly believed until the moment she had seen it for
herself. So it was in Venus' case, but her shock nearly caused
her to fall. Her sky-blue eyes went wide and her gloved hands
flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh no..." she whimpered.

Mars strode over to the group of people clustered around
Chibi-usa. It was Serenity's daughter to whom she directed her
question. "So it's true?" she asked gently. "They've taken their
own lives?"

"Yes."

Rei's gaze swept quickly across her friends' faces. Serenity
could almost hear her mind at work, gauging their reactions. In
just a moment it must have been obvious to her, they were all
just as bewildered as she was. Nobody else understood this
either. Mars reached and gently squeezed Chibi-usa's shoulder.
"Chibi-usa, I need to perform last rites for them. Will you be
okay?"

Chibi-usa hesitated for just a moment. Serenity knew what was
happening, that Mars was asking her permission to declare their
lives in this world over, and guide them to the next.

Chibi-usa nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Rei."

They all stood in silence as Rei walked over to the foot of the
bed, bowed, and in a low, solemn voice performed a rite Serenity
had not seen her do in a very long time. The words were still
familiar though, and Serenity found herself comforted by them,
at least a little. She stole a glance at Minako, who was now
standing beside her. This seemed to be hitting her the worst,
she was in a greater state of shock than Chibi-usa had been when
Serenity first entered. When Rei was done, Serenity discreetly
put her free arm, the one that wasn't holding Chibi-usa's hand,
around Minako's shoulders. As if without thinking the blonde
Guardian stepped closer and slipped her own arm across
Serenity's back.

Rei rejoined the group. "Serenity, we don't have much time, we
need to decide what we intend to do."

Serenity frowned. "Intend to do?"

"What we mean to do about today's coronation," Horace clarified
on Mars' behalf.

Serenity had not been thinking that far ahead. But she knew
immediately what her answer was. "We will go ahead exactly as
planned. I am not authorizing any announcement about what has
happened here today." She looked at her daughter. "Queen Lady
Serenity will tell you when and in what way she wishes to break
the news."

Serenity was infinitely relieved to see a smile, however small
and forced, come across her daughter's face. "Thank you,
mother," she said softly, squeezing Serenity's hand tighter.

"Chibi-usa," Endymion said, putting his hand on their daughter's
shoulder. "Will you really be okay, going ahead with this today?"

"Yes father, I'll be fine."

"We... we're just going to go on as if nothing happened?" There
was disbelief and barely contained hysteria in Minako's shrill
voice.

Serenity squeezed her tighter. "Minako, we have to," she said
softly, looking into her soul-sister's despairing eyes. "I..."
/I will not cry/. "I still don't understand this, but I do know
that no matter what, that is what they would have wanted us to
do. They did not mean for this to ruin Queen Lady Serenity's
coronation, that is the one thing I am absolutely sure of."

"Whatever the case," Mars said, sounding very much as if she
were reserving judgment on that point, "I agree we should
proceed as planned."

"Then we are agreed?" Serenity said, looking in turn at each
face. She got a nod from each, and finally a reluctant one from
Minako. There were a hundred things she needed to say to each of
them, enough to occupy days. But they had minutes, so however
much it hurt it would have to wait. "Horace, none of us can be
late for the ceremony preparations."

Her Chamberlain nodded in understanding. "I can make all
necessary arrangements for Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune from
here. It will take but a few minutes, I will be able to join you
at the docking port at the appointed time. The rest of you can
take the time to finish your interrupted breakfast... if you
wish."

"I doubt any of us will be doing that," Makoto said softly, no
doubt correctly speaking for everyone.

"Chamberlain," Chibi-usa said. "Please... I don't want them left
alone."

"They will not be," Horace assured her, giving a little bow. "I
will remain here until I arrange for a guard detail."

Serenity felt no need to caution Horace to be discreet, he could
be depended on. It felt so wrong, just leaving like this. But
her instinctive choice had been right, this was the only thing
they could do. Everyone looked like they were prepared to go
through with this, even Minako. "Then we should go."

In silence, they made their way to the flyer that would take
them to the coliseum. If any of the guards and courtiers there
noticed anything odd in the demeanor of the Guardians and the
royal family, they passed it off as understandable nervousness
over what was certainly the most momentous event of the
millennium.



*****



Half a million eyes - and many millions more beyond the colossal
bowl-shaped coliseum - watched in breathless silence as Queen
Serenity laid the light silver crown on her successor's brow.
Serenity the Elder stepped aside, and Queen Lady Serenity rose
from her kneeling position to turn and face the ocean of
humanity that surrounded them. Venus was the first to come to
her. Chibi-usa extended a gloved hand, and the Senshi of Love
and Beauty knelt, took the hand and kissed it. She looked up
into her new queen's eyes, still holding her hand. "My life for
you," she said simply. She rose and took her place by her
sovereign's side. Mars came next, and pledged herself to the
queen in the same way. Then Mercury came. Finally, Jupiter.

When the four Guardians stood flanking the queen, the
Chamberlain stepped forward and raised his staff of office.
"Long Live Queen Lady Serenity," he called out in his rich
baritone voice. The silence was shattered suddenly by the sound
of half a million voices, the deafening roar rolling over them
like waves of a wild ocean.

/I should be feeling something/, Queen Lady Serenity thought.

All through the long ceremony, she had been going through the
motions. It had felt like just another rehearsal... no, less
than that. Even when she had been sick to death of all the dry
runs, she had still felt some twinge of anticipation for the
coming event. All through the day, she thought that finally, at
this moment, her frozen heart would finally melt and she would
feel some sense of what this day was supposed to mean for her.
But even now, there was nothing. Not even pain or regret, just
numbness.

On her way to the podium, Lady Serenity paused just long enough
to turn and nod to her Chamberlain. Horace did not react in any
way, hiding what was undoubtedly great surprise at this trivial
change to the ceremony that simply should not have happened. No
doubt he was wondering at the look of apology on her face. This
was the only indication he would get of what she was intending
to do.

Queen Lady Serenity put her hands upon the white crystal podium
and looked out across the sea of faces. Silence descended upon
the coliseum once again. It was a beautiful day... naturally, it
always was. The only movement now was the little fluffy clouds
lazily crawling across the blue afternoon sky.

"Citizens of Crystal Tokyo," she said in a clear voice that was
amplified and thrown across the assembly, into millions of homes
across the world and sent streaming through space to be spoken
seconds or minutes later in the colonies. "Today, I am the
bearer of sad news." Right about now all the people who had
helped write her speech would be panicking, wondering what was
going wrong. They would find out soon enough. "Last night, as I
have so many times in the past, I had the pleasure of dining
with my two dear friends and mentors, the Guardians Uranus and
Neptune. For the last time, as it turns out. Early this morning,
I found them both dead in their chambers. They had taken their
own lives. Sometime late last night, they had both poisoned
themselves. They left no indication of why they had done this.
All we know is, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune have taken
their own lives, of their own free will."

A gentle murmur, more a sense of unease than an actual noise,
rose from the assembly. She could imagine the thoughts of her
subjects. This simply could not be, it was beyond belief. But
she would make them believe. "You all knew Haruka and Michiru in
one way or another, even if most of you had never met them. Few
people have done more than they have to make our world what it
is today. There can hardly be a single one of us who does not
have a strong impression of these two very remarkable people. An
hour hardly seems adequate time to pay tribute to their lives.
But I will try."

She spared them nothing. The words flowed of their own accord.
What came was little more than stream of consciousness, with
little rhyme or reason. The only rule she imposed upon herself
was a rough chronological order. She talked long about her
second trip into the past, where she first met Haruka and
Michiru as friends, and met Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune as
enigmatic forces, neither friend nor foe. She spoke of what she
saw through her child's eyes, of two people who were the very
picture of beauty and elegance, and of the shock she felt when
she discovered just who they were, and what they had planned for
her dear friend Hotaru. She also spoke of how her growth into
adulthood had enriched her childhood memories of the two women,
had given her a clearer impression of her friends as they were
then. They had been truly like the lovebirds of legend then, two
creatures with one wing each who could only fly together, who
would truly collapse without each other. They had never stopped
being two parts of a greater whole, but in time they had each
developed the strength to stand alone. When their queen asked
them, they had made it their lives' work to pass that strength
on to Chibi-usa. Of course everyone knew that, but there was so
much they did not know. She told them. In her early years
Chibi-usa had often bitterly resented the two harsh taskmasters
who would cut her no slack. Only much later did Chibi-usa begin
to really understand just what they were trying to pass onto
her: the peerless joy to be found in forging oneself into the
finest blade one could possibly be. What it took Chibi-usa
decades to understand, both Haruka and Michiru had somehow
understood instinctively, even whey they were just emerging into
adulthood and probably earlier: the state of effortless
perfection that would come at the end of the hardest road was in
fact the greatest contentment they would ever know. Like them,
through harsh discipline Chibi-usa had found the greatest
freedom. Only then did she understand what a gift of love they
had blessed her with. Everything Haruka and Michiru did
together, from making music to joining battle, brought them
closer to being yet more perfectly what they truly were. No such
opportunity, however trivial or grand, was ever wasted. Right up
to the joint concert that had been their last public appearance,
right up to the meal that they knew would be their last, with
both fierce tenacity and shared joy, they had striven for that
perfection.

Lady Serenity paused. Not a sound came from the assembled crowd.
She felt that by now it must have sunk in to most everyone that
nothing short of the two Senshi's death would prompt their new
sovereign to devote her entire coronation speech to them. By
now, everyone listening must have realized that Uranus and
Neptune were dead and gone. "Considering the sort of lives
Haruka and Michiru led, their final act seems all the more
inexplicable," she continued. "But they never wasted a moment of
their lives when they were with us, so I cannot believe that
their last act was a waste either. I can only believe that by
this they meant to tell us something, something that could not
be expressed in any other way but this. It may be a very long
time before I can truly understand what they were trying to
express... perhaps I never will. But I do know this. They never
truly embraced the Millennium in the way that most of us have.
They lived as if they were still in the world of their youth,
when life was a precious gift that the world granted reluctantly
and snuffed out all too readily. To use a phrase that was
commonplace in those days but is rarely heard today, they lived
every day as if it could be their last. Yesterday, they..." For
the first time Lady Serenity's voice nearly broke. "They proved
that. Even when they knew it was their last day, they conducted
themselves just as they always had. If we are to take any
meaning from their final act, one part of it must surely be that
even if we have an eternity of days before us, this day - this
moment - is a precious thing that will never return and should
be treated accordingly. However long our lives are, the meaning
of those lives is derived one day at a time. An endless
succession of days, with nothing to distinguish one from the
other, would be just as meaningless as a single day with nothing
to show for it.

"In this past millennium we have done everything we can to
extend life, to make ourselves immortal, to make death a thing
of the past. Our victory over death is now as complete as it
ever could be. That task is done. So what then should be our new
task for the days and years ahead? I think the answer lies in
the final message that Haruka and Michiru left for me... for all
of us. The answer is that we must discover how we can live with
the burden of immortality. For make no mistake, immortality
imposes a burden that is far different from the imminent shadow
of death that our ancestors lived under, but it is no less real.
Without the constant battle with the Fates that were always
poised to snuff us out, without the need to protect our lives
and those of our loved ones, we find ourselves faced with one
simple question: what is it we were so desperately preserving
our existence for in the first place?

"I think what Haruka and Michiru were trying to tell us is that
we have not answered that question for ourselves yet. More
importantly, they were trying to instill in us a sense of
urgency. If we do not find that answer soon, it may be too late
for us. We might be swallowed up by the eternity that looms
before us, doomed to an endless cycle of days that never bring
us any closer to that answer. I think what they were telling us
is that even if we never die, if we stop growing then we also
stop living. One of our tasks in the coming millennium must
surely be to discover how each of us individually and all of us
together can continue to grow beyond our current limitations.
For if we do not, we may be condemning ourselves to something
that is the spiritual equivalent of death. Haruka and Michiru
found their answer, and lived it every single day. They taught
me that I can do likewise, if I choose."

This last part was going to be the hardest. "Citizens of Crystal
Tokyo, as you can imagine this is very far from the message I
had originally intended to give you today. Thinking now upon
what I was to say today, it sounds remarkably naive and
self-congratulatory. I was to tell you that all is well in our
world and I intend to keep it this way. Well, I no longer
believe that all is well with our world. We have won the fight
with death, but," /Mother, forgive me/, "We are losing the fight
to stay alive. Today, I pledge to you that I will dedicate
myself body and soul to protecting all the people in this domain
from the malaise my two departed Guardians were trying to warn
us against."

Finally, Lady Serenity came to the only part of her original
speech that she had preserved. "Thank you, one and all, for
helping me to celebrate my coronation today. I hope for nothing
more than to serve you well."

The applause came after a long silence, and then only slowly,
taking a while to build as the collective need to join in spread
through the crowd. There were no cheers, or none that Lady
Serenity could hear. Of course that was to be expected, nobody
could be expected to cheer when the whole basis of their lives
had just been thrown into question. She managed a warm - though
undoubtedly sad - smile as she acknowledged the obligatory
approval of the crowd.

The rest of the ceremony went exactly according to schedule. The
fireworks went on for nearly as long as her speech had,
accompanied by an orchestra of a thousand musicians. It was a
symphony written just for the occasion, one that would never be
played live again. Lady Serenity approved of that. Unwittingly
it would serve as a needed reminder that even for immortals some
things could happen only once.

While parties went into full swing all over the world and
beyond, Queen Lady Serenity made her entrance at the most
exclusive party of all. She smiled and bowed in acknowledgment
of the spontaneous wave of applause that came up from the
elegantly dressed guests spread out over the grand ballroom.
Despite appearances, the events of this party were as well
rehearsed as the rest of the day had been. People who had been
granted the privilege greeted her in their turn. Some stuck to
their stock words of congratulation, showing only subtle signs
of awkwardness. Others were brave enough to at least try to give
words of condolence, but those words were even more awkward. It
had been so long since death had stalked the world, everyone had
forgotten the rules by which they used to deal with it. For Lady
Serenity, it was yet another sign of just how much had been lost.

It was not until all the arranged greetings had been made that
her mother and father approached. They were both dressed quite
plainly, with just the minimum level of formality required for
the occasion. But one thing had not changed. It took only a
polite but firm look from her mother to prompt the nearby
courtiers to excuse themselves and go mingle. A moment later
Horace started to excuse himself, but Lady Serenity held up her
hand, stopping him. She wanted her new Chamberlain to hear what
she had to say as well.

Her mother took her hand. "It was a beautiful speech you made,
Usagi. I'm sure they would have approved."

Lady Serenity smiled. "Thank you, mother."

"I think you made the right decision," Endymion said. "That was
both the proper time, and the proper way."

Lady Serenity was happy to receive her parents' approval. But
her face fell. "Mother, father, I'm sorry, I should have at
least tried to tell you what I intended to do. And you, Horace.
There was time."

Her mother sighed. "Chibi-usa, I know what you're really trying
to say," she said gently. "There's nothing to feel sorry for."

Obviously they both understood. "I didn't know how to say it
without implying the fault was yours."

Her mother surprised her with a sad smile. "In the beginning I
blamed myself for each person in my kingdom who was not happy.
Jupiter tells me that my capacity for self-blame seems to be
infinite, but not even I could go on like that forever. Neither
can you."

"I think what you said is right, Usagi," Endymion said. "Haruka
and Michiru were trying to warn us against something, by doing
this. Maybe you can see what that thing is more clearly than we
can. If we've failed to fight it, maybe you'll succeed."

"You have not failed, father," Lady Serenity said flatly.
"You've fought so many enemies, now it's my turn to fight one."

Her mother turned to her former Chamberlain. "Horace, your job
may also become more challenging now. My daughter is even more
stubborn than I am, and she's on a mission now. Please help her
in any way you can."

"Of course, My Lady," Horace said, bowing. "There is nothing I
would not do for either of you."

"I know," she said, smiling.

"Horace, what arrangements are you making?" Lady Serenity asked
hesitantly. She had been given no time to think of it, had
really not wanted to think of it at all.

"The Lady Mercury is satisfied that no..." he hesitated for just
a moment, frowning as if the next word were an unfamiliar one.
"No autopsy is required. Therefore we have called for an...
embalmer, I believe he's called. He will prepare Lady Uranus and
Lady Neptune for their funeral. I have called a meeting for
tomorrow morning. With your approval, I would like to recommend
a state funeral for three days hence."

Lady Serenity nodded. "We've never had a state funeral in
Crystal Tokyo."

"A long time ago, with the Lady Mars' cooperation we drew up
contingency plans for a ceremony should the need arise. She will
be joining me at tomorrow's meeting to review them."

Leave it to Rei to think of everything, Lady Serenity thought.
"Thank you, Horace. I'll leave it in your hands."

Her mother and father left the party early, as had been planned.
The very next morning they would be leaving for their chateau in
the Alps. They had not offered to stay on longer, which must
have been very hard for both of them, especially her mother. But
Serenity was grateful, it was an emphatic gesture of trust that
she could deal with the task ahead of her. Lady Serenity herself
stayed only as long as was required by propriety. Her departure
was met by another spontaneous round of applause, which she
acknowledged gracefully.

As she walked down the vaulted crystalline hallway, its lights
now dimmed for the night, Serenity was escorted by the leader of
her Guardians, Sailor Venus. "How are you holding up, Minako?"

Venus managed a weak smile. "I didn't cry. Neither did your mom."

"It would have been okay, you know."

Minako's expression became troubled, and she looked away. "I
wonder if we've forgotten how," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what I mean."

Lady Serenity rested a hand on her Guardian's shoulder as they
walked down the vast, silent corridor. "It's been a very long
time since any of us has really had reason to cry."

Minako fixed her with a look she could only describe as
desperate. "Serenity, is it wrong for us to be happy all the
time? Is that what they were trying to tell us?"

"No, I don't think so. They were the two happiest people I have
ever met. Even in battle they found something more satisfying
than just an adrenaline rush, you could always tell."

"Then I just don't understand."

"Neither do I, Minako. At least not yet. But they staked their
lives on the belief that we would understand, so one way or
another I'm going to uncover the meaning behind this. You can
count on it."

"I'm not sure I'll like the answer you'll find."

Lady Serenity sighed. "I have the feeling the answer is not
going to be something any of us wants. But it will be something
we need."

Minako shook her head. "But there must have been some other way."

"Maybe there was. But for whatever reason they thought this was
the /best/ way. And they would never settle for anything less."

"I know," Minako said sadly. "They were funny that way, weren't
they?"

Serenity halted at a transit tube entrance. "I'd like to go see
them for a moment, before I turn in."

Minako nodded, obviously understanding she meant alone. "Good
night Serenity."

They embraced. "Good night Minako. See you tomorrow." It was the
first time she had thought of it today, but they really would be
seeing each other bright and early, at a very public breakfast
where all the Guardians would be in attendance. And so it would
begin, the process of  bringing the new Queen into the workings
of the Crystal Tokyo machine. Serenity stepped into the
weightless entry chamber and spoke her destination. Silently,
the transit tube whisked her to the place it had taken her to
this morning, what now seemed to be ages ago when the world was
simpler. A new guard stood at the door now. His role was largely
symbolic since the door itself would admit none but those who
were allowed, but Serenity was glad for his presence. Having
just machines watching over her departed friends was somehow
distasteful.

When she entered the bedroom, Serenity stopped dead, surprised
at who she found there. In place of the guard she had been
expecting, there was an unusual man. He was unusual both in his
dress and his manner. The black suit he wore was a variation on
a pre-Millennium style that had been in vogue centuries ago. It
almost reminded her of her father's outfit from his Tuxedo Kamen
days, right down to the white gloves, though this man's suit was
far less ostentatious and more sedate. He bore himself like a
priest in the middle of a ceremony, though at the moment he was
bent over a bulky piece of machinery that had been wheeled into
the room. His only reaction to her entry was to rise from where
he was working and then bow to her. "Good evening, your
majesty," he said in a manner that was at once warm and solemn.

Serenity was rather taken aback. "I'm sorry, you are...?"

"Henry Jastrow, your majesty. The undertaker, here by your
Chamberlain's summons."

"Oh..." Serenity vaguely remembered hearing about this man. He
really was /the/ undertaker, the only one left. The number of
suicides and freak accidents in all of Crystal Tokyo were
probably not enough to keep even just him fully occupied. "I'm
sorry to interrupt your work."

"Not at all, Lady Serenity," he said pleasantly. "I am done here
for the day."

"Done? Oh, I see." Upon entering the room, Serenity had
immediately registered the fact that Haruka and Michiru had been
moved. They were now on their backs, side by side on a new bed
sheet, dressed in white robes, their hands crossed over their
chest. The pain in her own chest that she had been trying to
ignore all day suddenly settled heavily down upon her.

The undertaker's look of sympathy seemed to indicate he
understood the state she was in. "I'm sorry for your loss, Lady
Serenity. There is never a good time for this, but it can't be
easy to have it happen on a day like today."

Serenity frowned in puzzlement. "Perhaps you missed my
announcement, did nobody inform you of the circumstances?"

Jastrow nodded. "Yes, they did, and I was listening as I worked.
I believe you're right, this was a supreme act of love, and a
warning to us all."

Serenity was surprised at his comment. "An act of love? I don't
recall saying that."

He smiled warmly. "No, but I could hear it in your voice, your
majesty. And there could be no other reason that would prompt
people like the Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune to take their
lives."

"You must be the only living person who has to deal with this on
a regular basis." Serenity was surprised at her own frank
comment, wondering why she had said that.

"Thankfully not on a regular basis, Lady Serenity. And suicides
are even rarer than accidents."

Serenity felt odd asking this, but something was telling her
that she should. "Were you an undertaker before the millennium,
Mister Jastrow?"

"Yes your majesty, in London."

"It must have been easier on people then. Everybody died, it was
just a matter of when."

He shook his head. "No my Lady, I'm afraid it was no easier
then. However common death is, it always comes as a shock. Even
soldiers in the thick of battle never think it's going to be
them or their friends. Our loved ones become a part of us, so
when they leave us they take part of us with them and leave us
with a feeling of emptiness. That has never changed."

Lady Serenity had an image of this man speaking these same words
to people over the centuries, a lone figure trying to explain
this thing that the current age tried to pretend had been left
behind in the past. She put a hand to her heart, the source of
her pain. "The last time I felt this was as a child, when my
mother lay between life and death. But she came back to me, and
the pain went away."

"So you're afraid this pain will never go away." Lady Serenity
just nodded. "It will, my Lady. When the empty space heals over,
you will see just how much they left behind for you. Of course
you will miss them, we all will. But eventually it won't hurt
any more."

Lady Serenity smiled. "I am happy to know you are doing this
service in my kingdom, Mister Jastrow."

He bowed, taking the compliment gracefully. "I will bid you good
night, my Lady." He walked over to the plain black cart,
presumably holding his embalming equipment. She was surprised to
see him wheel it out of the room by hand, something that bulky
would normally be placed on a transport droid. She found herself
smiling. Like most everyone else in Crystal Tokyo he looked
twenty-three years old, but right now he seemed to be ancient, a
man from an era long gone.

Lady Serenity walked over to the bed and gazed down at Haruka
and Michiru. After a while, she sighed. /Maybe Minako's right,
we've forgotten how to cry/. In the end there were only two
things she wanted to say. "I know you did this for me, I won't
let it go to waste. Thank you for sharing your last meal with
me." She turned to go, but halfway to the door she stopped.
Standing in the corner with her hands folded in front of her was
Haruka and Michiru's servant droid. As always, she was dressed
in her black and white maid's outfit. An identifying character
was tattooed on her forehead, as was required by law for humanic
types. Lady Serenity knew her well, she had been with her
masters for almost a century. What was she doing standing there?
Then Lady Serenity remembered. The droid had come upon her here
this morning, attracted by the sound of Chibi-usa shouting
desperate pleas for help into the com-unit. She had asked what
was wrong, and without even thinking Chibi-usa had ordered her
to stand aside and wait. /God, everyone's been ignoring her all
day/. "Alice, please come here."

Alice walked over to her and bowed. "Good evening, Queen Lady
Serenity. Congratulations on your coronation." Normally there
was good inflection in her voice, but now she spoke in a polite
but wooden fashion, which matched the slightly distressed look
on her face. She was the most intelligent sort of droid allowed
by law. Despite their ability to speak, Sailor Mercury - who had
been instrumental in adapting the Black Moon technology - always
insisted they had at best an animal level of consciousness. As
such they were granted no freedom pre se but were protected by
law from cruel treatment, just as animals were. People generally
treated them kindly, as was their right.

"Thank you, Alice." Serenity hesitated for a moment. "Alice, do
you understand what's happened here today?"

"Yes Ma'am. The Lady Uranus and the Lady Neptune have taken
their lives."

"Yes, that's right. I'm sorry."

Alice was fidgeting a little. "Ma'am, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Did my masters every say that they were dissatisfied with my
service?"

/Oh God/. "No Alice, I'm sure they weren't."

"Then... I didn't do anything wrong?"

Serenity sighed. "No, you didn't. They had other reasons for
ending their lives. They're complicated reasons, but they have
nothing to do with you. Haruka and Michiru liked you very much."

"I see. Thank you, ma'am."

Serenity presumed Horace would be making some arrangement to
have the droid reassigned. But somehow she just couldn't leave
Alice here. She'd never had a humanic droid, but... "Alice, I'm
going to reassign you to new duties. I'd like you to come serve
at my apartment."

Alice smiled, most of her agitation gone now. "Thank you, ma'am."

Serenity found herself wondering just how much the droid
understood the situation. She seemed to be feeling some sense of
loss, in her own way. "Please accompany me."

They had left the transit tube and were walking to Serenity's
apartment when she was surprised to hear the droid's voice
again. "My Lady?"

"Yes Alice?"

"I think I'll need to go to maintenance."

"Why, what's wrong?" She turned to look at the droid.

Alice pointed to her face. "My eyes are leaking. I can't make it
stop."

Serenity just stood and stared for a moment. Tears were
streaming down the droid's ivory cheeks. The pleasant smile that
usually graced her doll face had not returned. "Alice... you've
realized that you'll never see Haruka and Michiru again, haven't
you?"

"Yes ma'am."

Serenity reached up and wiped her tears away. "Don't worry
Alice, it will stop soon. There's nothing wrong with you at all."

It's us there's something wrong with, she thought to herself.



*****



Entering the great common room that served as the entranceway to
each of the four Guardians' apartments, Ami finally allowed
herself to relax a little. She willed her Senshi uniform into
its pocket dimension, to be replaced by a simple blue dress. The
state funeral had not gone on nearly as long as the coronation
three days ago had, but it had seemed much longer to her. Mainly
because she had spent the whole time wondering why she could
feel nothing other than anger.

Lady Serenity and Lady Mars had both given lovely eulogies. They
had repeated the themes of Serenity's coronation speech: Uranus
and Neptune had given their lives to warn us that eternity was
going to swallow us whole and leave us as things no more alive
than the machines that served us, unless we took heed and
started demanding of ourselves that we continue to grow.

But somehow it just did not ring true for Ami. She had been
growing her entire life, and so had all her friends and loved
ones, each in their own way. Of course there were those who
demanded little of themselves and got themselves stuck in a rut.
But that had always been so, immortality had nothing to do with
it. And if there were people who found contentment in the
familiar, who wished for nothing beyond what they already had,
who was she to judge? Who the hell were Haruka and Michiru to
judge?

Ami shook her head. There it was, the anger again. Anger over
what to her was nothing but a useless, tragic waste.

She spotted Minako sitting on the big U-shaped couch that
dominated the center of the room. The blonde smiled and waved.
"Hi Ami."

"Hi Minako." She had noticed Minako leaving the reception early,
was not surprised to find her here. Ami went over to join her.

"Stop!" Ami froze at Minako's exclamation, startled. The blonde
stood abruptly and pointed. "You have to do the salt thing."

"What? Oh..." She remembered now, it was a funeral custom from
pre-Millennium days. She looked to where Minako was pointing and
picked up the salt shaker from the shelf on the post of the
trellice that formed an entryway to the sunken conversation pit
and the apartments beyond. "Minako, is this really what we're
supposed to use?"

"It's salt, isn't it?"

Ami sighed. As Rei was fond of pointing out, symbolism was
usually lost on her, so she was hardly one to be arguing the
finer points of a symbolic death ritual. She tossed a bit of
salt on the ground, replaced the shaker and went to sit down.
"Been here long?"

"No, just got back from the Intelligence meeting."

"Any problems?"

"Nothing to speak of. I authorized covert suicide watches on
some of the cults, but they've been pretty quiet."

Ami was relieved to hear that. It had been their greatest fear,
that people would interpret Uranus' and Neptune's gesture as a
call to follow them in death. The Guard were now authorized to
take into custody anyone openly encouraging people to do just
that, but so far there had been no incidents. People just seemed
to be shocked and confused over the whole thing. "Are you doing
okay?"

"I wish people would stop asking me that. We should save our
sympathy for Serenity, she's the one most hurt by this."

Ami put a hand on her arm. "Sorry, I don't mean to be
patronizing."

"I know that, Ami."

"It's just that you really seemed to be hit the hardest by this,
that's all."

Minako shook her head sadly. "Lady Serenity and Rei are two of
the wisest people I know. So I listened really carefully to
everything they said to all of us today. But I still don't get
it. I'm sorry, I just don't get it."

"You want me to tell you something, Minako? I don't get it
either."

"I know. I was watching you today," Minako said hesitantly. "You
looked almost like you were mad at them."

"I am, Minako," Ami said, feeling no shame now that she had
finally said it to someone. "I think they've done a terrible
thing, not just to themselves but to all of us. They've told us
that the world we've built isn't worth living in. How are we
supposed to feel about that, what are we supposed to do with
that? If they thought something was wrong, why didn't they just
come out and say it? We would have listened."

Minako nodded. "That's the worst part. I agree they must have
had something to tell us. But they thought that all of us, even
our Queen, are so dense that the only way they could get through
to us was to break our hearts." She looked away and was silent
for a while, as if she were trying to calm down. "I still can't
believe they're gone," she said in a much softer voice.

"I know."

They sat silently right up to when Rei and Makoto walked in.
Ever observant, Rei spotted the salt shaker on her own. She gave
Minako a warm smile that held just a touch of irony. She
performed the ritual, and Makoto followed suit. "Anyone game for
some okinomiyaki?" Makoto asked. Ami wasn't really hungry, but
she made it unanimous anyway. They moved over to the bar and
talked while Makoto got things ready for making her special
grilled cakes. When business talk petered out, Ami ventured to
ask whether Lady Serenity would be joining them.

"I asked her," Makoto said. "She said she'd have to pass. More
meetings on the Colony rotation program."

"I think she wants to push that through while people are still
in shock," Rei added. "It might even work, too."

"She needs to be careful," Ami said. "If she tries to push
through too many changes too soon, people may call it an
hysterical reaction to her Guardians' suicides."

"She knows that," Rei said. "She's just using this as an
opportunity to get an early start on setting her agenda. I'm
sure she understands these things take time."

"There are a lot of people who agree with her that Haruka and
Michiru were trying to tell us we need to change a lot of
things," Minako said. "But nobody really seems to know what that
is. There's a lot of argument, and there's going to be a lot
more. I wish they'd left us with /something/."

"Maybe the argument is the point," Rei said. "They've got people
thinking about things they probably haven't thought about in a
very long time."

"I heard somebody ask a question I hadn't really thought about,"
Minako said. "What happens to their talismans?"

Rei gave that infuriating, enigmatic smile that usually said
you've asked something far simpler or far deeper than you know.
"You might as well ask what happens to their souls. If a new
Sailor Uranus or Sailor Neptune is born, will they receive the
talismans or were they born with new ones?"

"So what do you think?" Makoto asked. Her hands were
automatically mixing ingredients, not requiring her attention at
all.

"About their Talismans, or their souls?"

"Both."

Rei sighed. "We know that we were all reincarnated at least
once. Pluto recognized us easily enough when she met us all that
time ago... maybe we'll recognize Haruka and Michiru if they
come back to us."

"I wonder if they'll still be soul-mates?" Minako asked.

"I couldn't imagine them not being," Makoto said.

"Is that why they were able to do this?" Minako asked. "Because
they knew they'd come back one day?"

"They were never forthcoming about what exactly they believed,"
Rei said. "But even if they did believe that, they must have
known full well that they might come back as utterly different
people who had no memory of each other. Look at us... only
Serenity and Endymion really remember being together in the Moon
Kingdom. The rest of us may very well have had lovers or
husbands. But if their reincarnations appeared before us we
wouldn't know them from Adam."

"Whatever way you slice it, they were still sacrificing their
lives for something," Makoto said. She winced slightly at the
unintended pun... she was in the middle of slicing onions.
"Certainly they were sacrificing their love for one another,
which for them was more than life."

"Or at least they thought they were," Ami said, trying to keep
the bitterness from her voice.

"Poor Lady Serenity," Minako said quietly. "She really thinks
she's the one who has to make sense of this. If she can't..."

"She will," Makoto said. "In fact, I think she has."

That got Ami's attention. "She's been rather vague about it, has
she said something to you?"

"No, nothing in particular. I've just noticed little changes in
the past couple of days. She doesn't look as... desperate. At
the very least she knows that she /can/ figure out what they
were trying to say, and what she needs to do. She'll talk to us
about it when she's ready."

Ami didn't say anything further on the subject. She had known
her new queen for almost as long as she had known Lady
Serenity's predecessor, and had come to love and trust her just
as much. But she couldn't help feeling trepidation for what was
to come.



*****



"Honey, will you please relax?" Endymion said.

"I am relaxed," Serenity said, not looking at him.

"Then why are you pacing?"

"I just feel restless. I haven't been getting enough exercise
lately."

"Really? I think we've been getting plenty," Endymion said in a
suggestive voice.

He avoided the swat but not the backhand. "I don't want to hear
any talk like that when our daughter gets here."

"Boy, you'd think the Queen was coming to dinner or something."

Serenity showed her tongue. "She is, smart-aleck." And out of
the blue, too. Of course it had been over four months since the
coronation, so it was high time for a visit. But she'd hardly
called at all before now. Of course the new queen would be
outrageously busy, nobody knew that more than the old queen, but
still...

Endymion stepped closer to the enormous picture window that
covered an entire wall of the vaulted living room, and peered
out into the blue sky. "That would be her flyer now."

Serenity joined him. Sure enough, a skiff with the markings of
the royal family was making its way towards them, cruising far
over the white-capped mountain tops. It needed to, for the main
complex of Serenity's chateau straddled the tallest peak in this
part of the Japanese Alps. A moment later, the majordomo droid
announced their imminent arrival. They walked over to the window
that pierced the wall between the house and hangar, and waited.
"Honestly, It's been a long time since I've seen you this
agitated," Endymion said, more seriously now.

"This is more than a visit," Serenity said. "I could hear it in
her voice. She's planning something, dear, something she doesn't
think we're going to like. She's come here to tell us first."
Serenity had stopped herself before saying "/ask/ us first"...
Endymion would have been all over her for that, just as he
should be.

The clamshell roof of the hangar opened, and the skiff settled
silently into place. Almost immediately, the side door swung
down. The door had not even settled down onto the hangar floor
when Chibi-usa - in this house she would never be called
anything but Chibi-usa - was running down the stairway on the
door's inner face, waving happily.

"Oh, she is such a showoff," Serenity complained. The thin air
was just barely breathable at this altitude, which was why the
hangar had to be pressurized. "And what is she /wearing/?"

"You should recognize it," Endymion said with an amused tone.

"I should think so." Either Chibi-usa had lied about having it
recycled, or she had made a new one for herself. Chibi-usa ran
over to the window, waved again and blew kisses to both of them.
A moment later the hangar roof closed. Chibi-usa alternated
between putting her palms against the glass over theirs, or
briskly rubbing her arms and shivering theatrically while the
airlock cycled. She looked like she was giggling between trying
to get enough of the rarefied air into her lungs, but the
hurricane blast of the airlock blowers that was whipping her
dress and hair all around her was also drowning out any sound.
Serenity found herself laughing as well, but a small part of her
was wondering about this... she was sure her instincts were
right about the importance of this meeting, this was not how she
expected it to begin.

They had to wait for the air in the hanger to match that in the
chateau, which was kept at the same pressure as the lower
chateau in the valley five thousand meters below. When the
doorway finally opened, Serenity stepped over to it just on time
to have Chibi-usa crash into her arms. "Eeeyaaa, it's /cold/ up
here!" she squealed.

"Silly girl, you're freezing. And look at you, you're a mess."
Almost without thinking she started running her hands through
her daughter's long pigtails, easily working out the tangles the
airlock blowers had left in them.

"Sorry, I can't hear you, my ears are popping." Chibi-usa gave
her a kiss then went over to give her father a hug.

"I hope you didn't wear that at the palace," Serenity said.

"Of course not," Chibi-usa said, spreading out the dress and
curtsying, displaying it for both her parents to see. "I changed
on the skiff. I don't know why, I just felt like wearing it
today."

It was, as far as anyone could remember, a very faithful
recreation of the black and purple dress she had worn when the
Wiseman had transformed her into Black Lady. Serenity had
thought it to be in questionable taste when Chibi-usa had
surprised everyone with it at a private party with the Senshi
many years ago. She wasn't sure whether she appreciated it much
more now. But there was no denying it looked good on her.

The three of them shared a very pleasant dinner. It wasn't long
before it felt something like the many times they had met
Chibi-usa for dinner after one of her long tours of the
colonies. They caught up on what business and pleasure had been
keeping them occupied, mainly the former for Chibi-usa and
mainly the latter for her parents. And now it was Chibi-usa who
was the bearer of palace gossip... not that Serenity was without
other contacts, of course.

Later, they all took brandy and sat by the great picture window
to chat further. The lights were dimmed now, affording them a
spectacular view of the white mountain peaks around them bathed
in silvery moonlight. Eventually, Chibi-usa broke a comfortable
silence with a voice that had suddenly become more serious.
"Mother, father, there's something I need to show you." She
pulled a small case like a compact from a fold of her dress that
concealed a pocket. She removed a small piece of paper, unfolded
it, and held it out to Endymion. He took it and looked down at
it. He frowned, and looked back at their daughter. "Chibi-usa,
where did you find this?"

"In Haruka and Michiru's room, that morning I found them."

Serenity's heart skipped a beat. The subject had not even come
up all night... she and Endymion had agreed they would not speak
of it unless Chibi-usa did. "They left a note?" She asked,
utterly shocked. "Chibi-usa, why did you not tell anyone?"

"Serenity, I think you should have a look," Endymion said,
holding the paper out. His tone and his look implied the rest:
look before you say anything else. Serenity took the paper and
held it before her. Even in the dim light she recognized
Haruka's handwriting, and could read it easily. She shook her
head in confusion and looked back up at her daughter. "Just
this, nothing more?"

She nodded. "Just that. They knew I was coming to see them in
the morning, knew I'd be the one to find them. Those five words
are a message to me."

Serenity hesitated... she had to ask the question, but it was so
unfair, so impossible to ask of anyone. "Chibi-usa... do you
have any idea what it means?"

"I may never be sure what they meant. But Michiru always told me
that everyone needed to find their own meaning in her music.
I've been hung up on what they meant, but I think what they
wanted was for me to find my own meaning."

"And you have?" Endymion asked.

"Yes. It's simple, really. I'm going to ask the question they
asked. I'm going to ask everyone the same question that Haruka
and Michiru asked me," she said, pointing to the paper.

Serenity put the paper down on the little table at her side.
"Chibi-usa, what is it you intend to do?" she asked solemnly.

Chibi-usa did not react at all to her mother's change in tone.
She answered immediately, almost casually. "When we built
Crystal Tokyo, one of the first things we did was transfer some
of the healing power of the Ginzuishou into the structure of the
city itself. Anyone living in the city has eternal life, and is
virtually free from disease, just by being there. When we first
started establishing offworld colonies, Mercury and her staff
did a very careful study of the people who were now living
outside the city's energy field. They showed some signs of the
healing energy fading. It was barely detectable, and they
estimated it would be at least a thousand years before it would
fade enough for people to start aging or succumbing to disease
again. As long as they spent a single day within Crystal Tokyo
once every thousand years, they would show no ill effects."

"Yes, I recall Mercury explaining this," Endymion said.

Serenity also remembered. She was hardly able to speak.
"Chibi-usa... do you mean to change the healing field?"

"Yes, I do. I'm going to wait at least a year before I make an
announcement, but I intend to turn off the healing field.
Crystal Tokyo will no longer be a city of immortals. It will be
a city of people who live for a thousand years."

It was a long while before Serenity could calm herself
sufficiently to ask her question in a coherent way.
"Chibi-usa..." she asked in a strained voice. "A thousand years
from now, when people who are facing death come to you... and
beg for their lives... what do you intend to do?"

"They won't need to beg anyone, mother. I intend to give them
another thousand years of life, if that's what they want."

"What?" Serenity breathed, not understanding this at all.

Chibi-usa answered calmly. "There will be a place in Crystal
Tokyo where the healing field will remain. Anybody who has not
been there for a thousand years will be allowed to enter, if
they choose. They only need to spend a day there. The healing
energy they receive will last for another thousand years."

"Oh God..." Serenity nearly collapsed from relief.

Chibi-usa was suddenly on her lap, hugging her tightly. "You
weren't wrong, mother," she said softly into her ear. "People
should be able to live free from the shadow of death, if they
choose. You were right about that. I'm just giving them the
choice again. I'm just asking the question that Haruka and
Michiru asked. Everyone will be free to answer in their own way.
That will never change."

Serenity returned her embrace. "Ever since the Black Moon
rebellion, I've often thought about why they hated us so. I
wondered if they may be right, if I really had committed a
horrible crime when I banished death from the world."

Chibi-usa leaned back and looked into her eyes, smiling. "I'm
sorry, mother, I didn't mean to make you think of that again.
Maybe I shouldn't have worn this after all."

Serenity surprised herself by laughing. "I was so scared of what
you intended to do. If you ever wear this again I think I will
be in mortal dread."

"Did you really think I would let death rule over us again?"

Serenity kissed her. "I know that you could never do that. I was
just afraid that you had forgotten yourself, that's all."

"If I had, /they/ would put me straight soon enough."

Yes, they certainly would. Just as they had set her straight so
many times when they were her guardians.

When Chibi-usa returned to her seat, Endymion was the first to
speak. "Chibi-usa, do you think anyone will choose not to take
the Ginzuishou's healing power? Do you really think anyone will
choose to die?"

"I don't know, father," Chibi-usa said. "It will be another
thousand years before we really find out. I'm more interested in
how this will change people's thinking. It will mean that
everyone has to do /something/, even if it's as trivial as
showing up at the palace once every thousand years, in order to
stay alive. It's not just a matter of giving people the choice.
I think it's important for people to see that they have some
responsibility in maintaining their lives, even if it's only by
making a simple gesture that says they think their lives are
still worthwhile. How we face this question is going to tell us
things about ourselves, things we need to know."

"You're going to have to do this very carefully," Endymion said.
"Free access to the healing energies of Crystal Tokyo is the
very basis of our society. You can't be perceived as imposing
conditions for access to it."

"I'll make that clear right from the start," Chibi-usa said.
"The only condition I'll impose is that everyone show up here
for a day, once every thousand years."

Endymion smiled. "I doubt anyone can complain about that. It's
certainly a bargain."

"Of course, when we start colonizing other stars, I'll probably
have to establish places in each star system where people can go
for the healing. Traveling many light-years could be perceived
as unreasonable."

"I can see you've been thinking about this," Endymion quipped.
"It's important that nobody think you're making them jump
through hoops for this."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Well, I might make them fill out a form."

"That's it," Endymion said sharply. "This is an utterly evil and
depraved idea you've hatched. Why, I ought to give you a
spanking right here and now."

Usagi put a hand to her chin and scratched it meditatively.
"Hmmmm...."

"And what exactly are you thinking of, young lady?"

"About whether I want to take you up on your offer."

Serenity sighed and shook her head, looking very world-weary.
"Honestly, you two..." That was one running joke she wished
would go the way of the dinosaurs.



*****



Queen Lady Serenity had been asleep for just a few minutes when
Ethereal Pluto materialized over her bed.

The translucent form of the Senshi of Time floated over the
sleeping queen, seeming to be standing on the air itself,
holding her long Time Staff in both hands. She just watched
silently for a while, her expression neutral. "I'm sorry, my
dear sister," she said in a sad voice that none but her would
here. "Everyone's life is about to become much more complicated.
Yours, especially. I'm afraid you have not tamed the fates, not
yet."

After another moment, she turned and floated over to the other
end of the queen's bedroom. There was a sort of shrine there,
with candles, a place for incense, and two elaborately framed
photographs. They really were photographs, no doubt taken before
the Millennium. They were discolored slightly with age, but the
two smiling faces each had a charm that made it difficult to
notice the shortcomings of the medium they were displayed in.
The center of this shrine to the Senshi Uranus and the Senshi
Pluto was a single piece of paper, vacuum-sealed in glass that
would preserve it for all time. Only if you looked closely could
you see that the page had been folded. It bore a single line,
written with the finest penmanship. /Who wants to live forever?/

The stoic mask that had been held for who knows how long
suddenly melted, and Pluto's lip curled into an approving smile.

"You tell 'em, sister. You tell 'em."



The End



Author's Postscript.



The circumstances of Haruka and Michiru's suicide, and the
message they left, were ideas Greenbeans came up with. I would
like to thank her for sharing this story idea with me and
letting me run with it.

And I'd like to thank John Hitchens for granting me the title of
runner-up BLECH. If you don't know what that means, don't worry
about it.

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