Welcome again to yet another story in the unofficial Biography of Neo-Queen Serenity. This is a piece that floats the idea that eternal youth isn't to be lusted for after all. For all of you Gen-xer's out there who think I am totally nuts, just wait a few years, you'll see what I mean. Standard disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon or any of the characters therein. I am a simple storyteller who has more time then money; so don't sue me, it's not worth the trouble. If you would like to comment of this story, please feel free to contact me Meara RI@aol.com. Remember to be kind. The good you do comes back to you, but bad Karma is forever. "Mirror, Mirror" A Sailor Moon story By Meara Neo-Queen Serenity sat quietly at her dressing table. She stared at the reflection in the mirror. The face she looked into possessed a beauty that was the envy many women. The skin was smooth, the color of fresh cream with a hint of pink in just the right places. The eyes were bluer than a summer sky and accented her delicate features. Even her eyebrows arched in a way to suggest kindness and wisdom. In short, it was perfect. That was what worried her. It had been an innocent enough remark that had set off this journey of self- discovery. Her six year old son, Darien, had been jealous of the training his sister, Small Lady, now twelve, was getting. He felt that, as the only son, he should get equal treatment. In his mind this meant that Darien should have everything his sister had, plus a little bit more. When the princess had told him in no uncertain terms that he was too young to be included in the training ("Buzz off you little spore," being her exact words) Darien had set out to prove her wrong. This involved "borrowing" his father best top hat and cape, making a mask out of a hand towel, and going into the garden where Small Lady was being taught by Rei. He shouted "Tuxedo Kamen to the rescue"! And executed a dramatic leap off the stone wall intending to land on the bench nearest his sister. Unfortunately his "mask" obscured his vision and he missed both bench and his sister entirely. Landing on the ground with an unheroic thud, he broke his collarbone in two places. Much later, after Ami had seen to it that the bone was properly set and that her young patient was comfortable, she had laughed as Usagi had seen her off. "Don't worry Usagi, he'll be fine. He's just a normal little boy who lives to give his mother gray hair." That was the problem, Usagi thought as she looked into the mirror. She was thirty-seven now (if you didn't count the years spent in the stasis she tended to refer to as "cold storage") Yet her face was that of a twenty year old girl. She should have a few gray hairs or at least a wrinkle or two. Taking off her robe, she climbed into the large bed she and Mamoru shared. As she did so, her knees made a crunching sound like cheap breakfast cereal. Oddly enough, it made her feel better. Later, in the wee hours of the morning, long after Mamoru had gone to sleep, Usagi was still awake. She looked at her husband with love. There was silver in his black hair now and he had a couple of scars that has never healed properly. He was still, to her, the most handsome man in the entire world. He was her life, the other half of her soul, her one, true love for all time. And he was aging. He was aging and she was not. The thought of what that truly meant turned her soul to ice. Sleep did not come to her that night. It was then that Usagi began to notice the little things. Rei's hair was beginning to turn white in some places. She refused to dye it saying that it made the people who came to her temple for counseling more comfortable with her. Ami's face, always round, had a couple of lines on the forehead from where she had been scrunching her eyebrows together for years. Makoto rose more slowly after sitting for any length of time. It was arthritis, she claimed, from a misspent youth. Mina…well Mina out of all of them looked almost the same as she had 20 years ago. "But it takes me twice as long to look the same" she had laughed. Everyone was changing but her. Usagi spent the better part of two weeks mulling this over before she finally decided to talk to Ami about it. She asked Senshi of Mercury to see her and giver a complete physical. "Is something wrong?" Ami had asked, alarmed at this sudden request. "You're not pregnant again are you?" "No, no" Usagi assured her. "I just want to check a few things out." Usagi was a model patient ("For a change" remarked Ami) letting the good Doctor poke, prod, weigh and take samples of her from areas she normally didn't expose to the light of day. Finally, all tests done and all results in, the Senshi of Mercury proclaimed her to be in perfect condition. Usagi broke into tears. She covered her face with her hands and cried almost hysterically. "It can't be true" she sobbed, "Oh Lord, no." This was not the reaction Ami expected. Shocked, she took her friend's hands in her. "I don't understand Usagi-chan, what's wrong"? "Can't you see Ami?" she said "I'm not getting older! You are, the others are, Mamoru is, but I'm not getting older! I don't want to live forever if it means losing all of you!" "Who said you're going to live forever?" asked Ami, incredulous, "That's one of the silliest things I've heard you say in a long time!" This shocked Usagi into momentary silence. "But….but you said I was in perfect condition." She managed to whisper. "Yes," agreed Ami, "you are in wonderful condition. For a woman of thirty- eight." "Thirty-seven" replied Usagi automatically. "Fine, thirty-seven. How did you ever get the idea that you were immortal?" "Little things, I guess" Usagi admitted, "Mamoru has said that on our wedding day he thought about how everyone else would be gone, but Sailor Moon would be eternal. I couldn't bear to have to go on without Mamo-chan and all of you forever! Then there's my face…" Ami scrunched her eyebrows together "Your face is perfect." "That's just it! I look the same as I did at 20!" Ami smiled and sat next to her friend. "I'd be lying if I didn't say that I hadn't noticed that. About five or six years ago I was wondering myself. So much has been said over the years about the Sailor Senshi going on forever, I just had to know. It's true that Sailor Moon and of, course, Sailor Mercury" she added with a smile, "may very well go on forever, but we won't." "I don't understand Ami." "The Sailor Senshi are more or less super charged versions of who we are. That's why we'll be able to pass the Senshi powers to our chosen successors. In many ways, the power controls us as much as we try to control it. That's also why no one has ever noticed just how much you look like Sailor Moon or I look like Sailor Mercury. People really aren't that stupid!" Ami could see that Usagi wasn't following her line of reasoning. She decided to try another angle. "Part of being a Senshi is transforming, right?" Usagi wasn't sure she was following all of this but nodded her head. "Yes…" "That because there's a number of geas laid on the wands and your broach, probably by Queen Selene during the Silver Millennium. It protects us from a good deal of physical harm and makes it just about impossible for anyone to really remember what we look like." Ami could see that Usagi was trying her best to digest this information. "The bottom line is that we are not, I repeat not, immortal. As to why your face hasn't changed, my best hypothesis is that it's got to be the Silver Crystal. It responds to your heart, after all, and in your heart you really haven't changed all that much." Ami looked satisfied with herself. She always loved to be able to explain one of her pet research projects. "So I'm not immortal?" It was a statement more than a question. Ami looked her dearest friend in the eyes. "No, Usagi-chan, you are most certainly not immortal. You're going to get wrinkles and age spots just like the rest of us." She laughed, almost to herself. "I have to say, though, that you're the first patient I've ever had who's been happy with the news that they're getting older." Usagi hugged Ami tightly. "Thank you Ami." She sighed and then added with a wink, "My old friend." Two days later the alarm went off in the private bedroom of the King and Queen. Mamoru was, as always, the first to rise. He leaned over to kiss Usagi good morning. She was half buried in the covers, but he found her and kissed her head. "Rise and shine my Jewel of the Moon Kingdom." "Go away, it's too early." Came the muffled reply. Mamoru laughed and slapped his wife lightly on the bottom. "You haven't changed Usako! Come on now, time to get up." He pushed the covers off, smiling at Usagi's shriek of protest as her skin came into contact with the chill morning air. The King of Earth whistled was he made his way toward the bathroom. Usagi grumbled, but rose from the bed. A large yawn escaped her as she made her way to her dressing table. She picked up her brush and prepared to tend to her hair. Looking in the mirror, she thought about what Mamo-chan had said. "I guess I never will change" she sighed. As she pulled the brush up to start, Usagi suddenly paused. Putting the hairbrush down, she lifted a hand to her perfect face. There, just around her perfectly set eyes were two, perfect, little wrinkles. The sound of the shower coming to life brought her back into the real world. Usagi picked up the hairbrush with a light heart. "So I'll never change, huh?" she called out to her husband. "Just you wait, Mamo-chan, I may surprise you yet"!