Married Life Chapter 6: Adjustments Note: This chapter takes place two weeks after Chapter 5. Imbrium, one-time Princess of the Moon Kingdom, looked at the inside of her new apartment. "Well, Serena, you and Darien do pick good units. The Moon Palace it isn't, but it's pretty good." "Hey, we oughta know - we lived in this one for a year and a couple of months, and Darien lived here for about five years before that. Thicker walls than normal, so you don't have to hear everything that goes on next door is a real plus." Serena's pregnancy was really starting to show now, and she had pretty much given up on wearing her normal clothes (although she had one oversized `Sailor V' T-shirt (a gift from Mina, of course) for the duration. She was in `pregnancy chic,' as Darien referred to it: a pair of heather-gray leggings and a very oversized light-blue T-shirt that she normally used as a nightgown. "Or," added Darien with a slight grin, "so that everybody next door, above, and below doesn't have to hear what's going on in here." Serena gave Darien a `Zen slap,' putting her left index and middle fingers to her temple while slapping the air. He responded by jerking his head sideways as though he had been slapped for real. "I think I'll second that motion," said Imbrium. "Anyway, I can't thank you guys enough for all this furniture." "No problem - we had a lot of it just sitting in storage anyway, especially Darien's old twin bed." This comment elicited a return Zen slap from Darien. Lita walked in the door carrying one end of a rather heavy cooler, the other end of which was being supported by Alex, her favorite martial-arts sparring partner. "Hey, the food's here," she called. Free time these days was getting much harder for Lita to come by, since her restaurant was consuming a good eight hours a day, at least four days a week and usually five or six. Sailor Jupiter was one Senshi who was becoming rather rare at fights. Fortunately, Sailors Uranus and Neptune had stepped up their activities. Mina walked in next, carrying a tray of potted bonsai. "One of these trees," she said proudly, "is a natural bonsai. It was found by a friend of my granddad's just before World War II. He was a fighter pilot and died at the Battle of Midway, and his widow gave the tree to grandpa, who gave it to my parents a couple of years ago. They didn't know how to take care of it, so they gave it to me. . ." "And it's still alive!?" interjected Rei, entering with a suitcase under each arm. Mina's lack of skills in the domestic area was legend to the Senshi. "And I'm giving it to you, Imbrium, before the law of averages kicks in," she finished, giving Rei a dirty look. Amy and Greg entered carrying a large chair between them. Amy said, "Whoa, deja-vu." Luna uncoiled from the corner and said, "Serena, I'm going to go for a walk, if you don't mind. You need to get Imbrium moved in here and I'd just be underfoot." "All right, Luna." The cat left through the open door. In the middle of the party, Alex and Michelle called Serena aside. "Hmm?" Alex was the first to speak, "Serena, we'd just like to thank you for all you've done for us." "Huh?" "These past few months, really working with the Inner Senshi, they've given me a real understanding of the five of you. I don't know how I could have ever thought you were weak - you're the strongest people I know of," Alex's voice choked off. Michelle picked up, "I wish we'd figured out earlier that you don't and shouldn't have to make the kind of sacrifices that we made to fight for good. But now we really understand." She hugged the smaller woman, "We understand that to fight for love, you can't sacrifice it. Last night, I got my first real night's sleep in almost five years. Can you understand what it's like to be afraid to fall asleep for fear that the ghosts of actions you had to take `for the greater good' might come back to haunt you?" Serena laughed gently, "I'm afraid not. I think that the worst thing on my conscience is destroying Beryl. It's not easy, to fight and yet hold fast to the rules that the Inners have. We won't kill human beings, unless it's completely unavoidable. I'm glad you decided to join us." After several hours of food and good times, Imbrium finally shooed her sister and friends out the door, turned to walk to the living room, and sagged gratefully onto the sofa. "Gods, Mother - were they always that exhausting?" she asked the air. Imbrium was profoundly glad she didn't have a lover right now. With all the adjustments she'd had to make in her life, adding a man into the mix would be just entirely too much. Over the past two weeks, a liking for Reenie had turned into love, and she was just as protective of the child of the future as Serena and Darien. She'd even adopted her twin sister's verbal patterns, calling Reenie "Small Lady" most of the time. Serena's modern parents had `adopted' the Silver Millennium princess into their family as a second daughter, and Imbrium, an even quicker study at things she wanted to learn than her sister, took to twentieth century life like a duck to water. Speaking of the Spore. . . Reenie came out of the bathroom and walked over to sit down next to Imbrium. She had wanted to stay overnight, and Serena had relented after quite a bit of cajoling. Imbrium gave her niece a quick hug and the two settled in to watch Dave Letterman. After the show, Imbrium rolled out Reenie's sleeping bag and the Neo-Princess slipped into it, pulled her pillows off of the couch, and laid down. Then Imbrium went into the master bedroom, closed the door, changed and slipped into bed. In her dreams, Imbrium was wandering a blank white area. *Where am I?* she called in her mind. An image of Beryl appeared. *Return to the Negaverse, General Quartzite. Return to your power and you will be richly rewarded.* Imbrium felt her will begin to drain away. She started to follow the Queen. A small, insistent hand stayed her. She tracked it back up a slim arm, to the white-clad body of her twin - the ancient Princess Serenity, not the modern incarnation Serena. *Princess Imbrium,* she said, *You must conquer your darkest urges in order to remain with those you truly love. I, however, cannot help you. This most important quest of yours may only be completed by you. I have faith in you, my sister. Do not fail.* Imbrium asked, *But I want to protect Reenie, and you, and your family!* *That, Imbrium, is what is preventing you from returning to the dark thrall of Beryl and her evil son. In and of itself, it cannot redress the balance. In order to prevent the darkness from returning, you must defeat it.* In Serena and Darien's house, Darien entered the bedroom to see his wife sitting up in bed, eyes focused out to eternity, lips slightly parted, breathing shallowly. Her crescent moon was glowing and - what the heck!? That wasn't just the nightgown that resembled her princess dress - it *WAS* her princess dress! *I must leave you now, Imbrium, for my love calls to me. Just remember that you are stronger than you believe.* Her mental signature and the clothes that she appeared to be wearing changed from the precisely ordered thoughts of Princess Serenity to the more chaotic signature of Serena. *I love you, Sis!* she called as she faded from sight. "Serena. . . Earth to Serena. . ." Darien's voice was concerned. Suddenly, Serena snapped back from the Princess, then her eyes refocused on Darien. There was worry in them, and it worried Darien as well. "Darien," she said, "This will be a very long night for Imbrium. She's going to have to fight hard." "Can't we help her?" "Darien," said Serena, her face clearly distraught, "This battle is with the darkness that is remaining in her soul. Nobody can help her except for her. But I know I'm not going to get much sleep tonight." Imbrium found herself alone in her mind again. *It would be more convenient if I just had something to be in, instead of feeling like a lone spirit on the Astral Plane.* She concentrated and the Moon Palace came into existence, bustling with the people that had been there in the Silver Millennium. In the apartment, Reenie snapped awake. Something in the master bedroom had awoken her, and it scared her greatly. She whispered her transformation and as soon as it faded, she crept into the room, dressed as Sailor Moon. Imbrium was lying on her bed flat on her back, arms spread out from either side of her, eyes wide open and fixed on a single point on the ceiling, save when they blinked twice a minute. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically, indicating that she was still breathing, but other than that, she looked dead. Younger Moon grabbed her hand, only to recoil with the tremendous amount of heat her aunt's body was putting off. *She's burning up!* thought the young Senshi. *Reenie!* thought Imbrium. *If I lose and Quartzite takes over again, she'll be hurt!* A woman identical to Imbrium but dressed in the gray uniform of a Negaverse General stepped up to meet her. "So glad you figured me out, `sister.' Take a look." Quartzite waved a hand to show herself attacking the Moon Kingdom, and later attacking Tokyo with youma. "You no longer belong with those pitiful humans. Rejoin the Negaverse, and taste true power again." "Fool, love is a wonderful power." "Then why don't you have any?" "You lie! My sister loves me, her husband and friends love me and my niece loves me, and I love them in return!" Imbrium shifted to Sailor Selene and cried, "Selene Crystal Shards, Slice!" The bits of crystal slashed into Quartzite and injured her. Sailor Selene hissed and lifted a bloody palm from her own hip: the blast would injure herself as well. "Remember: we're in your mind. Any shot that doesn't hit me, injures *you.* Good luck, you pathetic, hopeless bitch." Quartzite vanished, leaving the wounded Senshi to heal herself. *This is bad,* thought Selene, *If I fight her, I hurt myself. If I don't fight her, she annihilates me.* "My daughter," came the welcome voice of Queen Serenity, "There are other alternatives." Serenity was carrying the Crescent Moon Wand. "The Wand was lost by your twin sister, several years ago, after her battle with Queen Beryl. I am going to give it to you now, because it can help you to defeat Quartzite. You know that it is capable of focusing all of your energy into one blast, but it is also capable of healing an opponent. . . or yourself. Use it wisely." "Mother, what *is* Quartzite?" "Quartzite is a creation from every negative thought you have had about yourself. Beryl knew how to channel the self-hatred of a being like that into a hatred for any other living thing. Many people in the history of this world have known that also, but not nearly as much as the evil queen or her mentor, Metallia. You must counter this hate with love, for one who knows love cannot hate, herself." "I love you, Mother, and I love Serena and Small Lady and Darien and everyone else." "But do you love yourself?" "I. . . don't know. I think that I do, but I *have* done some very horrible things, things I can't entirely blame on Quartzite, because she is the creation of every self-doubt I've ever had, but I originally felt those thoughts. . ." "STOP!!!" cried Queen Serenity, in pain. Sailor Selene changed into Princess Imbrium, as tears ran down her cheeks. Queen Serenity took her weeping daughter into her arms. "My daughter, regret what you did when Quartzite ruled you, but do not hate yourself for it. The more self-doubt you carry, the more you strengthen your evil twin." Imbrium continued to weep into her mother's lap, cleansing tears carrying the hurts that had been inflicted upon her over ten millennia away from her soul. Prince Endymion, in full armor, appeared before the Princess and the Queen. He knelt in front of them, then laid his hand on Imbrium's shoulder. "Imbrium, I'm here because Serena thought I could let you in on a little secret. I was once brainwashed by the Negaverse, much as you were. You know how I. . ." Serena's voice came in with a stern "Ahem. . ." "*WE* beat them? Love. The Negaverse's energy thrives where there's hate and doubt and fear. It withers like a dead plant in the sunlight if love is around to chase it away." He handed her a yellow rose. "This is my gift to help you. The yellow rose is a symbol of remembrance. When the time comes, you will remember what to use it for, but I will warn you, do not attempt to throw it as I do. My roses can only work as thrown weapons when it is my arm behind them. However, if you use it properly, it will be as deadly as any rose-dart or rose-bomb. Farewell, Princess, I will see you in the morning." Princess Rei appeared before Imbrium. She was wearing a white and red dress that hinted at being her priestess's clothing, but was much more elegant. Her shoulders were bare, and the neckline was far more open than her robes. The sleeves, like those of Princesses Minako and Makoto, were made of cloth-of-gold, but of red gold, from the Black Hills, rather than the bright gold of Minako's dress or the green-gold of Makoto's. The dress had been a gift from Prince Endymion on Rei's fourteenth birthday, barely a month before his ice-borne rendezvous with his Princess and his destiny. Serenity had been on Saturn, stopping a war before it started. It had hurt Princess Rei very, very deeply that her best friend wasn't able to be there to wish her a happy birthday. "Princess Imbrium," said Rei, "I can give you a small bit of advice. The love of a friend can be just as powerful a weapon against your demons as any other kind of love." She faded away. Queen Serenity began to fade. "Mother! Don't go!" "I am sorry, my dear, but I have given you all the help I can. Take the advice that I, your sister, Prince Endymion, and Princess Rei have given you to heart. We have faith in you, my daughter, and remember that you are in my heart." Imbrium swallowed a lump in her throat at the traditional parting statement of the Silver Millennium, and responded, "And you will always be in mine, Mother." As soon as she was alone in her mind, Imbrium turned slowly to see Quartzite standing behind her. Imbrium held out the rose. A symbol of remembrance. She stared though it, to see Quartzite. The evil General felt compelled to touch the flower. Her hand reached out, trembling, for it. *Yes. Touch it. Touch it and remember *everything.* Quartzite's trembling fingers touched the rose. . . and she and Imbrium screamed in pain as they were re-merged into one whole person. Imbrium felt her emotions warring with the darker shades that had been Quartzite. Her eyes refocused and she was in her physical body again, drenched in sweat. As soon as she re-entered the physical world, Reenie cried out, "Imbri, is it really you!?" She turned to the little girl and gave a tired little smile. "Yeah, it's me. It's really me, and all of me, too. Every last memory, every last less-than-admirable thought I've ever had, but it's me." She hugged the girl tighter and felt the warmth of Reenie's concern pervade her soul, "I love you, squirt." Reenie fell asleep in Imbrium's arms as she often had with Serena, and as soon as she was asleep, Imbrium gently picked her up and returned her to her sleeping bag. Returning to her bedroom, Imbrium flopped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling as the renewed memories assaulted her. They taunted her. You're pathetic. You'll never be as good as Serenity. You can't even do that right!? How will you ever be Sailor Moon? Waitaminute, she thought, ME!? Sailor Moon!? I'm Sailor Selene, not Sailor Moon - Serena's Sailor Moon! You were supposed to be Sailor Moon. But instead your sister is, and she's a screw-up! SHUT UP!! Serena's a much better Sailor Moon than I ever could have been! Exhausted, Imbrium slid into a deep, dreamless sleep, submerging both her doubts and defenses against them for the rest of the night. Imbrium woke to the smell of coffee percolating. Wait a sec! Coffee? She bolted out of bed, bleary-eyed and hair a mess, threw on her bathrobe and carefully walked into the kitchen, to see Reenie sitting on one of the high stools that had come with the apartment and waiting for the coffeepot to finish filling. "You too, Fungus? My, but Serenity's starting you on coffee young." Reenie responded, "Well, like Mom, I need a bit of an extra jumpstart to get going in the morning. Lita taught me to make a really good mocha with just a scoopful of coffee grounds and a canister of Hershey's powder." "So, what's my twin like in the future?" "Classified information, Aunt Imbri. I will say that I only recently became Younger Moon - like as in, over the last year. Before that, I was Sailor Chibi-Moon, Sailor Senshi-in-training. I came back in time a few times to train with Mom. Or was that to train her, I forget." Imbrium laughed, "Perhaps a little bit of both." Reenie told her about the jesting little note that Neo-Queen Serenity had sent with her, written entirely in hiragana and katakana, with messed up Kanji for the signature. The subject of the note had been serious enough, but Rei and Lita had suggested to Neo-Queen Serenity that they play a joke on their past-selves. Serenity agreed, because she remembered how hard she had found it to pick up the proper motivation to refine her calligraphy to the artistic beauty that it had become. "Mom's occasionally wished that people would remember that more important than the fact that she's Neo-Queen Serenity, the Guardian of the Empire, Neo-Queen of the Moon, Royal Consort of the King of Earth and Empress of the Crystal Throne," Reenie rattled off her mother's titles in a bored tone of voice, "is the fact that she's also Serena Chiba. No titles, no royalty, just a woman who was once a girl who dreamed of being a superhero and a bride, but didn't want to do any work. "Lita, in the future, once told me that everything she is, she owes to Mom. She said, `Everybody else feared me because it never occurred to them to love me. Serena loved me from the very beginning because it never occurred to her to fear me. I owe her a debt that I can never repay.' Jeez, does anybody not love Mom? Besides Roxix, I mean?" "Well, there is Coprolite, Agate, and Obsidian, the other three Generals, unless Cueballite's now taking up Jadeite's old shelf-space. Yuck, frozen in Eternal Crystal - there's a fate worse than death." Imbrium shivered with remembered fear. Gods, she remembered *laughing* mockingly as Jadeite had been encased in crystal, begging for Queen Beryl's forgiveness. How could one beg for something that didn't exist? Her skin crawled. "Mom told you about Rubeus and Wiseman and all of the troubles they caused us, right? Well, you only heard half the story. They had Earth blockaded with about three hundred starships and ten thousand mecha. It took the whole Earth Defense Force and half the First Fleet to beat their fleet." "You're kidding." "I wish. It took Rei a good six months to flush the last of them out of Sol system." "Sad." "Exactly. They all self-destructed rather than return to the good side. But why?" Imbrium found herself in the uncomfortable position of knowing the exact answer. "Reenie, for somebody like Quartzite was, and like anybody dominated by the Negaverse is, love is a frightening thing, because they don't understand it. Lust, they understand. Greed, they understand. But true, self-sacrificing love, like you and I know, is a power that they don't and can't understand. It's a real shame, because it's the greatest power in the universe, and your mother has more of it than anybody does. Enough to fill up the universe and even to drive away all the hate and fear in the Negaverse." "God, we sound sick," said Reenie, "I hope this little conversation never gets back to Mom - I'd never be able to tease her effectively again if that happened!" "My lips are sealed, Fungus." Reenie looked extremely put-upon at the nickname for the twenty seconds it took her to scan the room for a pillow. Her lips quirked into a mischievous grin. She scampered over to the pillow, made a ridiculous kiai borrowed from some Jackie Chan movie, and hurled it at Imbrium. Imbrium caught the pillow just as Reenie was picking up her second weapon and ran back. Serena was walking up the hall when she heard gales of laughter coming from the apartment that used to belong to her. She knocked on the door, and it opened. She stepped inside only to be hit in the face by a pair of bed pillows. Reenie and Imbrium took one look at Serena, standing there with two pillows in her arms, a feather stuck to her upper lip and wearing an *extremely* perturbed expression on her face, then looked at one another, back to Serena and burst out laughing again. After a second, Serena joined in. The laugh felt good, and soon the three women were lying on the floor with tears in their eyes, trying to control themselves. -- Next time, Chapter 7: Romance, Real Life, and Youma!