Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Underground #18 – If we had only met earlier
By Chiara Fazzi and Silvia Ghelarducci
Official URL: https://members.tripod.com/SM_Endless/Underground/
Official E-mail: atros@tin.it
 

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Just a quick note.
This is another confused episode. We will frequently jump from a period in the time to another, so please, don’t read this if you are in a rush, you’ll need ALL your attention for following the action, there. We admit that this episode, together with episodes 12 and 20, are the most confused of the whole fanfic. We ask you for excuse, but we can’t avoid it. Gomen ne ^_^

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** Tokyo, Year 200X **
 

"Your Majesty" the image of Sailor Silver Moon bowed in front of Prince Actaeon. Her voice sounded cold and her eyes looked to be completely hollow, "We successfully accomplished our primary mission".
"I'm very satisfied of your operate, Moon Senshi" the beautiful prince murmured. Sailor Silver Moon nodded mechanically,
"Just few hours, and Your Majesty would meet Princess Serenity".
It was the moment, finally. Yes, it was the moment to enter Usagi's life and to change completely the story. In his favour, this time.
 

** Out of Time **

Chibi-Usa felt a shooting pain in her chest and she swayed, walking in the mist of that unreal place.
"Mom... Dad... What's happening?" she whispered to herself. The kid lifted her eyes and she saw the figure of a door taking shape, beyond the fog.
"Halt!" a feminine voice shouted, "No-one can travel trough the Time, without my permission! Whoever you are, be ready to die!".
That voice!
"Pu-san!" Chibi-Usa shouted, looking around. Her Pu! Her friend Sailor Pluto hadn't be killed! She was still there! "Pu-san! That's me!" the girl exclaimed again. Sailor Pluto appeared all of a sudden, pointing the Time Staff towards the girlie menaciously.
"Be ready to die!" Pluto coldly repeated, raising the Garnet Orb. Chibi-Usa smiled hopefully,
"That's me Pu. Small Lady Serenity! Why haven't you helped us? Nemesis had conquered Crystal Tokyo, the Sailor Senshi have disappeared and I..."
"DEATH..." the soldier in black began. Chibi-Usa quit immediately to talk and her expression turned into boundless terror,
"No, Pluto-san! NO" she tried, but nothing could keep the woman,
"... SCREAM!" the fuchsia ball of energy exploded few steps away from the pink-haired child,
"SAILOR PLUTO!"  Chibi-Usa yelled, trying to dodge the metal staff which was darting in the misty air, "Pu-san, we are friends!"
"I've NO friends" Pluto spoke sententiously, she whirled the Time Staff over her head and then smashed the girl in her shoulder. Chibi-Usa fell on her knees, filled with physical and moral pain, "I've always lived there, alone". The child trembled, her face was wet with tears, "And I have only my mission...".
"That's not true, Pu-san..." Chibi-Usa cried, "We are friends. Pu-san, please!". But Sailor Pluto's face remained cold and fathomless,
"Death Scream!" the senshi said once again. This time the ringed ball dragged the child away. Chibi-Usa's head stroke the Time Door, when the kid opened her eyes, she saw Sailor Pluto impending on her. The next strike would also have been the finishing one.
"Pu..." Chibi-Usa whined. The soldier stared at the scared eyes of the girl and she lost her on guard position: slowly, the hands which were holding the Time Staff relaxed, and the soldier's face too, became a little sweeter.
"Go back home, child" finally Pluto said, "Go back to your home".
Her mission was to kill whoever would pass the Door, but the one Pluto had before, was only a small frightened girl, not an enemy. To kill a child was a too much cruel action.
Chibi-Usa took a deep breath,
"I can't go back home..." she explained melancholically, "There it nothing more, for me, at home". Sailor Pluto gazed the girl. She understood her, she understood her perfectly.
"Each one of us belongs to its Era" Sailor Pluto whispered at her turn, " And
also if things go bad, to escape is useless. Otherwise, I had already escaped from there, a lot of time ago..."
Chibi-Usa locked her eyes on her great friend Sailor Pluto, now she recognised her sweet Pu. The child stood up and swooned,
"What..." she started under her breath, "what you do say it's true. But..." Chibi-Usa closed her hands in fists and shouted, "I MUST save my city and my family! I need for help!"
Such desperate determination, deeply touched Sailor Pluto,
"I'm sorry" the soldier quietly replied, "I wanted to give you a chance. But if you refuse to understand..." and she raised the Time Staff over her head, "I'm obliged to bring you back in you time by the force!"
Chibi-Usa turned towards the Time Door and pushed it with all her strengths. The door bursted open, emitting an aura of energy so powerful which blinded the same Sailor Pluto.
<Who is this girl?> gasped Pluto in her mind, <ONLY me and the members of the Royal Family can open the Door...>
 

** Tokyo, Year 199X **

Nadakai looked at Megimi. She didn't like her at all, the face of her friend was completely blank and her empty eyes, her faded voice... It was like the Megimi she knew, had left place to some sort of... Of doll. What it had happened to the Hikawa Jinjia (Shinto Shrine)?
"Today is the day" Megimi spoke again, "in which Prince Endymion and Princess Serenity will meet for the first time. They will meet after the lessons, at the Osaka Jewellery Store. We will have to pick up the princess BEFORE this encounter".
Yuki and Hayasi exchanged a silent glance, then nodded,
"It'll be simplest, now that we know the real identity of the Sailor Starlights" Nadakai added, crossing her arms,
"Three of them are men, while Fireball is a woman" added Yuki. Hayasi nodded again, resting her fist under her chin,
"Doesn't it..." she began, "Doesn't it sound familiar, to you?" she asked at the end, "I mean...",
"Anyway, It has NO importance" Megimi coldly interrupted her, "Our duty only consists of getting the Princess and defeating the Stalights". Nadakai, Hayasi and Yuki exchanged another perplexed look, "Something to discuss about?" the green-haired young woman asked,
"No" Yuki answered, "Of sure not..."

*

Seiya shot a punch in the wall, in the attempt of taking out all his rage,
"This time too!" he exclaimed before the desolated eyes of Kakyuu, "They made it, this time too!". The youth's arm, tensed against the wall, trembled perceptibly,
"There it is nothing to do" Taiki murmured. In difficult situations, Taiki was always the first one to go to pieces, "Everything is lost...". Seiya turned to the brown-haired boy with eyes flashing or rage, grabbed Taiki by his shirt's collar and shook him violently,
"SAY NO-MORE SUCH A THING!!" Seiya yelled with all his breath,
"Seiya!" Yaten tried to interpose between the two,
"SAY IT NO-MORE!!" Seiya growled, lifting his fist, ready to hit Taiki in his face, "I've told you to watch upon Ami to death! And you..." the fist lowered quickly,
"ENOUGH!" Kakyuu ordered. The three youths frozen on their places, "Be ashamed of yourselves! It won't be arguing between us, that we will save the future of the Sailor Senshi!". Yaten moved his eyes on the princess and nodded. Seiya too nodded, then turned again to Taiki,
"Because we WILL save them" he hissed letting Taiki to go, "Never forget it" he coldly added.
<This time we'll save you Usagi. I swear it> Seiya gave his back to his mates.

*

"I'm late!!" Usagi whimpered, storming into the school block. The bell had already ringed and she absolutely HAD to enter her class, without the Prof. Haruna Sakurada could realise!
The girl silently opened the door of the classroom,
<OH NOOO!! She has already began the roll-call!> Usagi whined, <Well, to drastic problems, drastic measures!> and she went on all fours and tried to reach her desk. <I can do it! I can do it!> the girl thought with a big grin.
"Good morning Usagi, what are you doing on the ground?" Umino's voice interrupted the professor's,
"AAH!" Usagi immobilised, waiting for the scream of the Sakurada, which didn't come late,
"TSUKINOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! Go OUT!!!"
 

** Tokyo, Year 200X **

Prince Endymion's attention was captured by a beautiful masculine visage, framed by golden hair. Endymion had seen that man frequently in the Golden Millennium, specially from when, him and the princess of the Moon, have began to meet. The beautiful Princess Serenity... Sometimes, Endymion had noticed that, that man always gave him sad glances. Of an hurting desperate sadness...
"Kunzite" Endymion addressed to one of his four Generals, "you do know who is that man?". The handsome man with tanned skin and long azure hair, gave to the blond one a rapid look,
"Of course, Your Majesty" Kunzite replied, after a short pondering, "He's the Prince of the Underground Kingdom, his name is Actaeon. It says that he is the murderer of the King of the Moon and that, for this reason, he has been exiled there".
Endymion turned around to the blond figure, but it had already gone,
"The King of the Moon?" the prince asked, "But I thought the Moon was ruled only by a Queen!",
"King Emeron of the Silver Millennium died many years ago, when you still were a child", Kunzite said.

Mamoru slowly sat up on the modest pallet which was his bed: he had remembered! The guy who was keeping him, Usagi and the Sailors captive was... Prince Actaeon, the assassin of Serenity's father!
"Cursed..." Mamoru gasped: he felt a lot stronger than the last time... But his mind was a real chaos... There it were slivers of images which were disappearing, other which twirled crazily and new images were birthing. The only still thought was Usagi, but for how long, yet?
 

*  *  *  *  *


** Tokyo, Year 199X **

Usagi dropped on the borders of the flower-bed with a deep sigh of dejection: not only she had come late, not only she had been yelled by the Prof. for eating her launch while she was on punishment, but she had scored 30/100 in her test!!
"I'm so UNLUCKY!" Usagi whimpered, hiding her face in her knees,
"Come, Usa-chan, don't be so depressed!" her friend Naru tried to cheer her up. Usagi raised her eyes to her best friend's face: Naru was intelligent, beauty and she came from a wealthy family! Naru was her friend since the kinder-garden's age... For a moment, Usagi thought back to a trip they made together a lot of time before, when they were only 6... However, it took only a moment, and the thought vanished, giving place to another one,
"When my mother will see this score, it'll brake up a pandemonium!" Usagi complained again loudly,
"Don't feel so blue, Usagi" Umino jumped out of nothing, Usagi dedicated him only a dismayed look, "I didn't try hard on the last test either, you see?" and he showed the blonde his test, "Instead of 100/100 I scored only 95!".
Usagi groaned loudly, hiding again her face in her knees. Naru shot Umino a dry look and then,
"Hey!" the girl changed subject all of a sudden, "Usa-chan, have you heard that Sailor V had caught another jewel thief, yesterday night?",
"Fantastic!" Usagi beamed, then her face turned puzzled, "And who or what is Sailor V?". Naru sweatdropped,
"You say 'fantastic' and then you neither know what I'm talking about??"

*  *  *  *  *

Seiya glanced inside the school's courtyard.
"When do you think they will attack?" Taiki asked,
"I've no idea" Yaten replied, "Maybe now... Maybe later. We mustn't leave Usagi alone".
Kakyuu said nothing: she could see Seiya's face and read in his eyes all the things he wouldn't reveal. Seiya knew that Usagi couldn't be at him, he knew it and despite this, he went on 'chasing' her. With a determination which reminded her their mysterious enemy's. Yes... For a moment, Kakyuu comprehended the power of love could be strong as the power of hatred. Trying to stop or to fight it was useless, it only prolonged the agony and the pain.
For love. Their enemy was making all this, only for love? Only for love?
"Here she is" Seiya murmured. Taiki, Yaten and Kakyuu gave their attention to Seiya, who was gazing at Usagi with widen pupils.
After all this time... And I can't say you hello, either... Because you don't know who I am, yet, and, if I don't do something, you won't ever know it. No! I don't want to be forgotten by you! If you do forget me, what it will be of my sentiments?

"I can't wait to arrive to your mother's store" squealed Usagi, "There it really is a bargain sale on?!". The two girls passed over the gate of the school and took the street for the Commercial Centre.

With a sideways look, Taiki caught a movement,
"Watch up!" he exclaimed, shielding Kakyuu Hime (princess) with his body, "They are THERE!"

Hearing a male scream, Usagi wrinkled her forehead, then saw a youth rushing over her and then, an explosion of silver light blinded her.
"Usa-chan!" Naru yelled, falling back and hitting her head on the ground. "Give us the Princess," Sailor Silver Moon announced herself, standing on the top of a wall, "NOW!" the other three Moon Senshi appeared behind her,
"NEVER!" Yaten shouted, jumping out, "This time you WON'T win!" and pulled out his henshin brooch, immediately imitated by Kakyuu and Taiki,
“Kinmoku Star Power...”
“Healer Star Power...”
“Maker Star Power...” and all together they added
“... MAKE-UP!”
Seiya lifted up his head and gave a benevolent look to Usagi, who had fainted. Maybe it was better...
"Better like this" Seiya admitted and, holding the girl tight to his chest, he took his brooch and called,
"Fighter Star Power, Make-Up!" and he soon was transformed. "I'm one of the holy Shooting Stars" Sailor Starfighter introduced herself fiercely, "and will protect the Princess of the Moon and his gliding light with my same life!",
"You don't impress us" Sailor Silver Moon coldly replied, "Today we will prevent the first encounter between Serenity and Endymion, and you won't stop us!".
The other Sailor Starlights sided Starfighter,
"I wouldn't count on it" said Sailor Starhealer. It had a brief pause, then,
"Starfighter, bring Usagi in safe" Sailor Fireball whispered and than, in a twirling of red butterflies she shot a "KINMOKU FUSION TEMPEST!" on the Moon Senshi. Seiya ran away with Usagi,
"You won't escape me!" Sailor Magic Moon spoke, ducking Kakyuu's attack and starting to chase Starfighter's back.

*

The light swallowed and then, spat her out. It only took a few and then, Chibi-Usa found herself levitating in a pink ray of light, hanged in the sky of a strange city... Where was she? In which age? She didn't know... She had lost in Time...

*

“Star Gentle UTERUS!!”
“Star SENSITIVE INFERNO!”
“Starlight Royal Straight FLUSH!!”
the three attacks melted in a sole mighty force, which stroke and swept away Sailor Gold Moon and Shiny Moon. Silver Moon jumped over the triple attack and
"Destructive Curse!" she shouted, blasting Sailor Fireball.
"Princess!" with a wild expression, Sailor Starhealer jumped of Silver Moon, trying to hit her, first with a flying kick, then with a punch.
Unexpectedly, a column of pink energy rained down from the sky, sharing the two group of Sailor and hurling in the middle of the fray, a pink haired child.
"Nani (What)...?" Yuki stammered,
"Ara (ah), that child!" Megimi bursted out. Chibi-Usa widened her eyes recognising Megimi as the soldier seen in the Temporal Breach,
"That's you!" Chibi-Usa said, "That's you who hurt my friend Sailor Pluto!"

*

Sailor Starfighter ran madly: for every step she made, she could feel Usagi's head gently bumping against her chest.
"Stop yourself!" Magic Moon's voice spurred Seiya to a craziest race, she had to hide herself! With a quick motion, Starfighter entered into an alley and kept completely quite and immobile, till she heard the sound of Magic Moon's steps to approach and then to depart. So, resting her back on the wall, Seiya slowly slid and, cocking her head back, she breathed,
"We made it, Usa-chan" and smiled.

*

Suddenly Chibi-Usa curled up on the ground, her body was vanishing...
"Dad... Mom..." the girlie mumbled, "Help..."
Sailor Fireball started: the resemblance of the child with Usagi, the fact that that girl was going to dissolve, the fact that she knew about the Sailor Senshi...
"She's Usagi's daughter" Kakyuu murmured amazed, "Usagi and Mamoru's". Hearing those names Megimi smirked,
"She's fading into nothing" she spoke lightly, "this means we... have won".
Starmaker shivered,
"So... everything is lost..." she saw,
"No" Kakyuu kneeled down, near Chibi-Usa, "Sailor Starfighter solemnly promised to make the impossible. And we too...". Taiki and Yaten exchanged a glance and then nodded,
"This time, to the end" the two soldiers said.
<Please Seiya> Kakyuu thought embracing the child, <please...>

*

Silence. The danger seamed to be passed.
Sailor Starfighter looked at Usagi, senseless in her arms. Starfighter had never met that version of the girl: a Usagi who had no conscience of the Silver Millennium, of the Silver Crystal or of what a Sailor soldier was.
“If I let her go... If she would meet Mamoru...” Seiya whispered, “Her life will be full of pain and battles. But... If I let her to sleep there, with me, nothing of bad would ever happen to her”.
Suddenly, it came to Seiya’s mind the words of his song “Todokanu Omoi” (My Friend's Love): ... if we had only met earlier...
Sailor Starfighter’s heart started to beat madly: the moment they were living was the ‘earlier’! “I could woke you up now, and you’ll meet Seiya instead of Mamoru” the soldier was gazing Usagi’s face desperately: she had the opportunity to change the whole story... “You could fall in love with Seiya and you’d be happy with him...” Starfighter murmured, half-closing her eyes. She could do it... She wanted to do it! Starfighter had dreamt for years that it could be like this, that there it had never been Mamoru.
The words of the song were echoing in her ears, and the blood was flowing crazily in her veins...

...“ In my dreams, how many times have we
Given each other tender kisses
When I look into your round eyes
I am drawn right into them

Dropping off to sleep held by you
Like that, I am wrapped in your warmth
Oh, if I could never wake up from this
I yell that out with pain”...

Seiya ended the transformation. He gently put Usagi on the ground.
His heart was going to boom.

... “Because my heart is beating so quickly
I know myself that this is for real
This heartache is too much, I've grown tired of it
I won't give up on this

If we had only met earlier
All I can find is that excuse"...

He was going to do it. He was going to wake her up.

... “ Shining as the sun rises
Your smiling face is too brilliant
Like this, I will get deep inside
I am scared of being alone

Suddenly ringing out, the PHS is
Coming across the distance between us
You say I'm a friend, you say I'm a nice guy
I just don't understand

Yesterday you were so sweet to me
But now you are being held in his arms” ...
 

Seiya’s hands grasped Usagi’s shoulder. It would be enough to shake her. Only once. Lightly. And the future as he knew it would never been.

... ”To the distances where the moonlight doesn't reach
Oh, I want to take you away there”...

Seiya closed his eyes shut and kept still in that jest.

*

Chibi-Usa yelled of pain,
“What’s the matter with you?” Sailor Fireball asked, holding the girl tightly. The child’s body flashed: her hair... were changing! They were no-more pink, they were turning deep blue! Chibi-Usa screamed desperately.

*

Seiya re-opened his eyes. His hand finally moved, going to caress Usagi’s cheek, but without awaking her.
“What I was going to do... I’m an egoist” the youth sadly breathed, “I’m not better than they enemy we’re fighting, isn’t it true, Odango Atama?”
Seiya’s eyes filled with tears and one of his tears dropped on Usagi’s lips. The young man scanned that perfect transparent pearl of sadness and, slowly, lowered his head for kissing, for the first and last time, the lips of the woman he had loved for so long.
“HERE YOU ARE!” Sailor Magic Moon yelled, storming into the alley. Seiya raised his head, a fierce expression on his face, he squeezed her henshin brooch and shouted,
“FIGHTER STAR POWER, MAKE-UP!”
Sailor Starfighter scooped Usagi in her arms and yelled back to Magic Moon,
“I’ll MAKE EVERYTHING for giving Usagi’s future back to her!!!” then she flew on the Moon Senshi and roughly pushed her by side.
<Don’t fear> Seiya thought running down the street, <Don’t fear, I’m bringing you to your Mamoru!>

*

Chibi-Usa re-opened her eyes: she felt destroyed, but she had regained her true look. Sailor Fireball was shocked for she had just saw, with her own eyes, the possible future daughter of Seiya and Usagi.
<Seiya> Kakyuu thought half-closing her beautiful eyes, <I don't know what have you done, but... I'm proud of you>.
Sailor Gold Moon and Shiny Moon slowly stood up,
"Come on!" Silver Moon ordered, "Let's attack them!"
But both Yuki and Hayasi didn't move,
"That girl is Serenity's future daughter"" Yuki shouted,
"Megimi, you don't understand? She's..."

Darkness.
"You KNOW can't rebel to me..."
 

In less than a second, Yuki and Hayasi's eyes became hollow like Megimi's.
"It's happening again" Sailor Fireball said,
"What?" Starmaker asked,
"They are like... possessed" the alien princess replied.
"BASHING REMORSE!" there it was an aqua green blast and Seiya was hurled towards her mates. She willingly fell on her back, in order to protect Usagi, and there she remained... Defenceless.
Chibi-Usa glanced at Usagi: that was her mother! Her future mother!
"Princess Serenity will be the wife of Prince Actaeon!" Sailor Shiny Moon spoke out loud, "That's why we've chased and sealed all the Sailor Senshi of this planet!".
To those words, Chibi-Usa's eyes filled with tears for the numberless awful images which were spinning into her brain: Usagi senseless before her, Sailor Pluto attacking her, King Diamond, the destruction of Crystal Tokyo, the disappearance of the Sailor Senshi, her fading body...
"It's your fault!" Chibi-Usa trembled of fear, rage and impotence, "IT'S YOUR FAULT IF MY HOUSE EXIST NO-MORE!!! DON'T HURT MY MOOOOOOOOOOOOMMYYYYYYYY!!!!". The symbol of the crescent Moon appeared on her forehead setting free a massive wave of energy that filled everything...

*

"Naru-chan?"
Naru's eyes flew open, she glanced around stunned, then raised her eyes on Usagi anxious face,
"Usa-chan... What happened?" Naru asked,
"Well..." Usagi scratched her head and grinned, "we were going to go to your mother's store, do you remember?",
"Yes, but what about the explosion?" Naru asked again,
"Explosion?" Usagi's grin grew wide.

Hidden on the top of a tree, Starmaker smiled to Starhealer,
"This child made a miracle" Fireball murmured, holding a senseless Chibi-Usa in her arms,
"Yeah..." Starfighter whispered back to her, "And now her future is safe... Usagi will meet Mamoru and...". Chibi-Usa's body glowed and, once more for few seconds, it became transparent.
"What...?" Starhealer gasped, the Sailor Starlights gave each other a worried look.
"This means that the future is not safe, yet" spoke Fireball,
"What it'll be the next move of the Moon Senshi?" Starfighter mumbled.

*  *  *  *


** Tokyo, Year 200X **

"Prince Actaeon, we failed miserably" the image of Sailor Silver Moon announced bitterly, "At cause of our failure...",
"Don't fear" Actaeon calmly replied, "We have another chance for avoiding the encounter between Endymion and Serenity..."
The blond girl glanced inside the Throne Hall: there it was a figure behind Actaeon's throne... A feminine figure...
As it had realised of being gazed, the figure turned around and its burning eyes met the child's naive and crystalline, in a silent counter...
 

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NOTES:

With this episode, we are entering the third and last part of the story. We guess that these two episodes have cleared many things, but we also guess that now you have some new doubts and questions, eh? Oh well! ^_^

Timeline: this episode take place during the very first episode of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon! Have you recognised it?!? Ah ah ah!

Okay, the text in the middle of the episode effectively is the translated version of the Three Lights' song “Todokanu Omoi” (My Friend's Love - Thoughts which can't be delivered). If you are interested, her you are the original text:

Yume no naka de nando mo
Sotto kuchidzuke kawashita
Sukitooru tsubura na hitomi ni
Suikomarete iku

Kimi no naka de madoromu
Nukumori ni tsutsumarete sou
Aa itsu made mo samenaide to
Tsuraku sakebu no sa

Mune no oku no takanari kara
Jibun de mo honki to shiru
Setsunasugite modokashikute
Akiramekirenai

*Motto deai ga hayakereba to
 Iiwake bakari mitsuketeru

 Tsuki no hikari ga todokanu kanata e
 Aa kimi wo tsuresaritai

Asayake ni terasareta
Kimi no egao mabushisugite
Kono mama fukairi shite iku
Jibun ga kowai yo

Fui ni naru PHS ga
Futari no kyori hiraku yo
Tomodachi da to ii hito da to
Warikirenakute

Kinou anna ni yasashikute mo
Ima goro aitsu no ude no naka...

Tsuki no hikari ga todokanu kanata e
Aa kimi wo tsuresaritai

*Repeat

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