"Enter Neo Sailor Moon"
a fan fic by Tuxedo J
A book of the "Times of Lunar Turmoil" Saga
After Serena forced Sailor Solara into a dimensional warp and was trapped with her, Rini was given he Imperium Silver Crystal and was to take the place of her mother as Queen of the Moon Kingdom. Her "sister", whom she fondly called Misako, was to take her place as Queen of the Earth. Upon placing the Crystal in the locket, both the locket and Crystal started shaking. Now the continuation of "Good Bye Neo-Queen Serenity Forever?".
"What the--," Rini starts, but is cut off as the Imperium Silver Crystal emits a tremendously bright flash that momentarily blinds everyone and causes Rini to drop the locket.
When their vision returns, the Senshi get ready to attack. Standing around the locket is four Sailor Senshi. Rini approaches them cautiously.
The four Senshi are about the same height, and they all have long hair that extends to their waist. One of them has on a uniform just like Sailor Mercury's, only hers is a deeper and richer blue that seems to shimmer in the light. Her hair is the same color of blue as her uniform. Her Sailor Locket is pure gold and shaped like a drop of water. She picks up the locket, approaches Rini, bows, and stands again.
"Greetings, your Royal Highness," she says. Her blue eyes that match the color of her hair mesmerize Rini. "I am the Sailor Senshi of water, Sailor Aquarius."
The next one to come forward is wearing a uniform that fades from red, on the bottom, to orange, then to yellow. Her locket is a golden flame. Her hair is a brilliant, almost neon, orange. Her eyes are deep rich orange that seem to have a flicker about them.
"I," she says as she introduces herself, "am the Sailor Senshi of fire, Sailor Blaze." She then gives a quick, stiff bow.
The next Senshi has a golden locket shaped like a whirlwind. Her uniform is a whitish gray with eyes to match. Her hair is almost a shimmering perfect white. She also gives a quick bow.
"I am Sailor Zephyrus, the Sailor Senshi of the wind."
The last Senshi steps forward and bows. Her uniform is a light tan color. Her hair, like her eyes, is a deep brown. She has a golden globe for a locket.
"This," introduces Sailor Zephyrus, "is Sailor Geous. She is the Senshi of terra firma. She is also a mute."
"As they say, the wind is the voice of the land," remarks Blaze.
"What…what do you want? Why hasn't Serena told me about you?"
"Yeah," the rest of the Senshi chime in.
"Not only are we the guardians of the Imperium Silver Crystal," Aquarius explains, "but we train those who are not read for the Silver Crystal. Your mother, thanks to Queen Serenity, was ready to receive the Crystal. You, however, are not. You have the heart for it, but you're not physically ready for the challenges of being the leader of the Senshi, and your body is not prepared for the burden of the Crystal itself, nor could it handle it."
"Right now," say Blaze, "let's take care of the latter challenge."
With that, the four formed a circle around Rini. Instantly, a bright flash of energy blinds the other Senshi while Rini's body undergoes a big change. No longer the cute 14-year-old body of Small Lady, but the young, attractive body of Wicked Lady, only instead of the sign of the nega-moon, a golden crescent.
When the Senshi she her, they gasp in amazement. This is the first time that they've seen Wicked Lady's form. They are also shocked by the resemblance to Serena. From the hair, except for the color and the yams, down to the way she carried herself.
"Now," says Aquarius, "your new body needs some rest. Take this and we will start the physical training tomorrow." She hands Rini the locket.
"Thank you," Rini says as she takes the locket. The sudden change on her body, plus the burden of the Crystal and her already weakened state from the battle just fought, Rini finds all of her energy totally tapped out. She faints and falls forward. Aquarius catches her. Sailor Venus then timidly steps forward.
"I'll take her to her room," she says as she puts Rini on her back. "Boy, she sure is heavy now," she grunts.
The dreams she had were terrifying. They were all nightmares of the battle they just fought. She was glad to be woken up by the sound of people arguing.
After looking at her new body in the mirror, she makes her way to the kitchen, where the voices were coming from. She was surprised to find Blaze and Zephyrus arguing at the table while Geous and Aquarius leaned against the counter drinking orange juice. The clock indicated that it was 5:45 in the morning. Geous is the first to notice Rini and taps Aquarius, who then turns around. They both give Rini a quick bow.
"Good morning, you Highness," says Aquarius as the both straighten out.
"Good morning," she replies. "Please, call me Rini. What's going on?"
"They," answers Aquarius, "are trying to decide who is going to train you second. Geous is going to train you first and I shall train you last. They do this every time, but the strange thing is that sometimes one wins, and sometimes it's the other. From the looks of it, though, I think that Zephyrus is going to win this time."
Almost instantly, Zephyrus shoots up, slams her hands on the table, lets out a big "ha", and gives Blaze a deep look of contempt.
Blaze just sits there with her mouth open, looking for something to say. She then gives Rini a quick look over and then turns back to Zephyrus.
"Very well," says Blaze. "You may train her second." She then stands up, gives a quick bow to Rini, and sort of storms out of the room.
"Good morning, Rini," says Zephyrus happily as she hops onto the counter. "Did you sleep well?"
"Relatively," she replies.
"You had better eat and get dressed quickly," she says. "Your training starts in twenty minutes. With that, the four Senshi leave.
Rini takes a seat and helps herself to the eggs, bacon, oranges, melon, OJ, milk, and cereal at the table. She is surprised by how much she ate, but then considers what kind of stresses her body has gone through in the past several days. While she finishes eating, she looks at the clock and realizes that she only has 5 minutes to get dressed. She runs to her room. She brushes her teeth in thirty seconds and rushes to find her favorite leotard. When she tries to put it on, she realizes that it is way too small for her new body. She then runs to her desk and jots down a note reminding her to pick up new clothes. She then runs and puts one her favorite pair of warm-ups, which were very baggy in the past, but they just barely fitted her before. With her five minutes almost up, she grabs the new locket and teleports to the Sailor Senshi Training Arena with moments to spare. Zephyrus is standing there.
"Geous and I were beginning to think that you might be late," she says.
"Sorry," she replies. "My usually work out clothes didn't fit."
"Ah, of course. That is understandable. Come." Zephyrus heads to the open air training arena with Rini following close behind. There, Rini finds on of the most unusual sights she has ever seen. She sees Geous standing in what appears to be an immense field of flowers.
"What in the world happened here?" asks Rini.
"Its all part of the first day of training," answers Zephyrus. "Geous," continues Zephyrus, "is going to train you in the art of energy control. Watch."
Geous stretches her one hand toward one of two flowers which stick out from all the rest. A moment later, and with the other hand, shot out a small ball of white energy into the air, which flies for a moment then disperses with an explosion. Geous then repeats this procedure with the second flower, only it is a pinkish energy ball that disperses without the explosion.
"Now, go look at the two flowers, then touch them."
With a nod, Rini walks up and inspects the two. They look total identical, both green, colorful, and healthy. Then she touches the first on. It instantly turns to dust. She is somewhat taken back by this. She then touches the second one, expecting the same results. Instead, it just looses all its petals and wilts, as if it hadn't been watered for days.
"As you can see, Geous drained all the life energy of the first flower and all the physical energy of the second. By the end of the day, you will be able to do both. First, physical energy"
"Physical energy is the energy that surrounds an object. The best way to gather it is to imagine this energy as a bar. Focus and visualize your soul draining this bar, not too quickly though for that could be harmful or even fatal. Since you are new to this, you have a few moments before it disperses. The dispersion of physical energy will not hurt you. You will, however, notice a sudden rise in the surrounding temperature. To get rid of it before it disperses, imagine and visualize your soul catapulting the energy out of your hand or hands. Now give it a shot."
Her first attempt was a complete success, only her energy ball was totally pink.
"Very good," says Zephyrus. "Now, life energy is the energy is the energy inside objects, the very essence of something. You can gather it just like physical energy, but just imagine your soul draining the bar from inside the object. Now, if you hold it too long, it will give you a slight jolt. Now, try."
Once again, she succeeded on her first try.
"Great!" exclaims Zephyrus. "this is remarkable!"
"Why?" Rini inquires.
"Why! Because no one has ever been able to succeed on their first attempt. Even our great Queen Serenity of old took 3 attempts to get the life energy. Its clear to Geous and I that you're destined to be one of the great Omega Senshi!"
"What or who are the Omega Senshi?"
"They are the few great warriors in the final battle against the Negaverse and are key in the victory for the side of goodness and justice. They are prophesied to be the most powerful Senshi of all the numerous Senshi. It is our honor to train you."
"Um…thanks. What do you mean, numerous?"
"I mean there are more than just the Senshi of the Solar System. There are Senshi of the Zodiac, of the elements, besides us four, of the sciences, and other things. Numerous others. Since we are higher than Sailor Pluto in the Senshi hierarchy, we can tell you this. The final battle against the Negaverse will be huge, and that's just the battle field. The actual powers and forces is unbelievable. Anyways, back to energy. Energy build up. Your old body could have held a energy build up of around 6,000. Judging from your performance, I would say that currently, you could have a energy build up of around 18,000. This level will increase with time and practice, but not as much as your future guardian's level."
"Future guardian? You've already trained me a guardian?"
"Oh no, we don't have to. Darien has already educated him to the Senshi ways. As for the training you're going through, he is a natural in those fields. He, and I am not ashamed to say, he surpasses all of use in those areas. The Negaverse will defiantly have a challenge in him. Anyways, to give you some sort of scale, your mother and Queen Solara can hold a energy build up of over 1,000,000. Now, we want you to practice until lunch, and then until dinner. Experiment and focus your energy into a beam when you fire so it won't explode on you. Defiantly try to build up or at least recognize your energy level."
With that, Geous and Zephyrus, after giving Rini a stiff bow, teleport out of the arena, leaving Rini alone. Before she breaks for lunch, she is able to form beams and manipulate them into shapes and formations.
At lunch time, feeling quite famished, she goes to her favorite restaurant and quickly eats a five course meal and goes to the local sports store and purchases a new leotard, several pairs of shoes for different sports, and any other sport clothing that she might need. Happy that she could be among the people without being recognized, she rushes to the palace, saying "hello" to the people she sees on the street, changes into her new leotard, takes her locket and teleports back to the Training Arena and continues training, all within a hour.
She stops training around five o'clock, feeling quite tired again, she sits down and starts to meditate. Not long after, Sailor Mercury brings in Chibi-Chibi, in a hospital gown and a wheel chair.
"Thanks, Alyssia," Chibi-Chibi says, breaking Rini's meditation.
"You're welcome," she replies as she leaves.
Rini stands up, flicks her two long pony tails behind her, and meekly approaches her younger "sister".
Chibi-Chibi is in a dreadful looking state. Although she was immortal, she inherited it and, therefore, her wounds, especially the non-fatal ones, took longer to heal thank Rini's wounds. She has a blacken right eye, cuts and bruises all over her arms and legs, and her left foot is in a cast.
"Misako, I assume that the Senshi told you about Serena?" Rini asks.
"Yes," she replies solemnly looking down.
"Well, in her absence, she wants me to rule in her place here at the Moon Palace, and she wants you to rule Earth in my place at the Crystal Palace."
"Really?"
Rini nods her answer. There the is a few moments of silence as Misako looks Rini over several times.
"Boy," she finally says, "they told me that you were different, but I had no idea that you were this different."
"Now you know what Wicked Lady looked like, only with a black dress. You like?"
"Yeah. You look so much like your mother, except for the hair."
"Thanks," she says with a smile. "Here," she says as she places her old locket into her hand. "You've been promoted Senshi-wise, when you get all healed up."
"Wow, thanks!" she says as her hand clasps onto the locket.
"No problem. Perhaps when you feel better, I'll teach you some of my training, that is, if you want to."
"That'd be awesome! Thanks!"
"Excellent. Its a deal then. Come on, lets go to the Palace, I'm hungry."
"Alright, but you've got to push me."
"Of course," Rini replies. With that, they leave.
That night, Rini and Misako eat dinner with the four Senshi.
"You're a quick learner," says Zephyrus. "I must say, I'm very impressed. I can hardly wait until tomorrow."
"Why?" asks Misako. "What's tomorrow?"
"Tomorrow," Zephyrus answers looking at Rini with a grin on her face, "tomorrow I'm at bat, so you'd better eat well, young Queen, and be sure to wear a good pair of running shoes."
This drew a raised eyebrow from Rini. "What does that mean?"
"You'll find out soon enough," she replies with a coy grin and a wink.
Early the next morning, quite a bit before dawn, Zephyrus, with a tray of food, kicked open Rini's bedroom door, causing Rini to stand straight up in her bed in alarm. Finally when, in her semi-conscious state, she recognized that it was only Zephyrus, she plopped down, Indian style, on the mattress and held her head in her hands.
"What on Earth do you think you're doing?" Rini groggily demands.
"It's day two of training, young Queen," she replies as she sets the tray down on the chest at the foot of the bed. She then picks up a robe that is on the chest and tosses it to Rini. "Here," she says as Rini barely manages to catch it, "get at least something on."
"Thanks," Rini snidely says as she puts it on, her grogginess wearing off. "You still haven't answered what you're doing."
"I brought you your breakfast. You'd better eat now so you don't get cramps," she replied as she headed out the door.
"Huh?" Rini said as she was walking out. "What are we going to do? Go swimming or something?"
Zephyrus stopped and turned around with a rather large grin on her face. "We're going to be playing a game of tag," she said. She waited a moment to savor Rini's look of consternation before continuing. "And you're it. The only rules are that there are no time outs, no teleporting, and its not over until you stop me by standing in front of me." With that she walked out and closed the door, leaving Rini alone.
In about an hour, dawn cracked and Rini, dressed in a new leotard and a new pair of cross trainers, met Zephyrus outside the front of the Palace gates.
"Excellent," Zephyrus said when she saw Rini. "I won't need the resistance of this thing," she said as she took off the skirt part of her Sailor uniform and laid it aside. "Which reminds me." She turned around to face Rini, and with a snap of her fingers, a fifty pound anklet appeared around both of Rini's ankles and a fifty pound bracelet appeared around both of Rini's wrists, causing Rini's eyes to widen with shock. "Now," Zephyrus instructed, "take about forty-five minutes to stretch and get used to the weights, which will increase you're strength and agility. That's one of the many good things of being immortal. No matter how strong you become, your figure never changes. And after today, you'll never have to stretch again."
After stretching, they lined up at the boundary of the Palace. "On your mark," said Zephyrus, "get set, and go!"
Instantly Rini jumped in front of where Zephyrus had started to tag her, but she was already several feet ahead of Rini. Rini then knew that she had quite a task ahead of her. Around noon, after Zephyrus was quite a few miles ahead of Rini, Rini finally began to close the gap. Nine hours later, and very far from the Royal City of the Moon, Rini finally was able to jump in front of Zephyrus and tag her, at which point all the weights disappeared, much to Rini relief. After taking about half an hour to catch their breath, they were about to teleport back to the Moon Palace when Rini sensed something nearby, something familiar.
"Wait," instructed Rini right before they were about to teleport. "You go on ahead. I'll be there in a few minutes, you may wait for me in my room," she said. When Zephyrus was gone, she found a dirt path leading into a forest. At the end of it stood some sort of health clinic. She walked inside, amazed that there was such a structure in the middle of nowhere, and followed the sense to a room. When she opened the door and stepped inside, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Hotaru," she gasped.
Laying there was Hotaru, her best friend in the world, the dreaded Sailor Saturn, the only Senshi known to be capable of ending the lives entire planets. She had always had the respect of Rini, and Rini always had the respect of her. She was the Queen of Saturn now, but for some reason, she had never aged for as long they had known each other. She, unlike all the other Senshi, except for Sailor Moon, Sailor Chibi Moon, and Sailor Chibi Chibi Moon, was not immortal, but part Goddess, like the three Moons. Her head had a bandage around it and she was bound to the bed by heavy cords.
"Nurse!" Rini shouted.
"Yes?" asked a lady as she walked into the room.
"Why is this woman bound to her bed?" she demanded.
The nurse just raised an eyebrow at her. "And who are you? Queen of the Moon?" she said sarcastically.
Instantly, Rini's workout clothes transformed into the white royal gown as the lunate insignia appeared on her forehead and the Royal crown appeared. "Yes, I am." The nurse just stood there gawking at the fact that she was standing before the queen, so Rini restated the question. "Now why is this woman bound to her bed?"
"Um...she's delusional. She kept on saying that she is the Queen of Saturn and kept on fighting to get out of here," she explained as Hotaru started to wake up. "That is why we have her sedated. But since you're here, I assume she's telling the truth?" she asked with an obvious edge of nervousness. Her worries increase when Rini nodded. "Oh dear, I am so sorry. Its just that, well, we thought what was the Queen of anything doing out here," explained the nurse as she untied the cords. "I am so sorry, Majes--"
"Rini Tsukino," Rini said, cutting her off, her anger abating quickly. "Or just call me Rini, please."
"Rini, we really didn't know."
"It's alright," Rini said when the cords were untied. "No action will be taken against you. Just, please, leave us. She'll be leaving in a few minutes."
"Of course," the nurse said before she left and closed the door.
Hotaru, still groggy from being sedated, stared at Rini for a moment before making a connection and giving a start.
"Wicked Lady?!" she gasped.
"Relax, Hotaru," she said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's me, Rini. See, no nega moon symbol. No black dress."
"What happened?" Hotaru asked after breathing a sigh of relief.
"Well, your kingdom was--"
"No, I mean to you," Hotaru elaborated.
"Oh that. Well, I'm the new Queen of the Moon," she said with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders.
"Oh."
"Are you up to going home now?"
"Yes, please!"
"Great!"
Without another word, the two of them teleported to Rini's bedroom at the Lunar Palace, where Zephyrus was waiting. Rini walked over to her and whispered something to her. Zephyrus nodded in return and left the room.
"Who was that?" Hotaru asked.
"You'll find out soon enough. Make yourself comfortable," Rini said as she headed towards her bathroom. "I'm going to take a quick shower and then we need a quick talk," she said before closing the door. Hotaru sat down on the bed and looked out the window as she heard Rini turn on the water. She immediately noticed the flag poles outside the palace.
"Hey, Rini," Hotaru shouted over the noise of the shower. "How come mine, Haruka's, and Michiru's flags are at half mast?" she asked, referring to the corresponding planet's flag.
"Because," Rini shouted over the water, "they, except for you, are dead."
"What?" Hotaru shouted in shock and disbelief.
"Relax," Rini called back. "They'll reincarnate soon. After all, since they are Senshi through and through, they have me to protect."
"Oh yeah," Hotaru muttered to herself.
Ten minutes later, Rini emerged, dressed in her royal attire.
"Oh my," gasped Hotaru. "You...you look beautiful."
"Thanks," she replied with a quick blush, and then she remembered that Hotaru was wearing nothing but a hospital gown. "Feel free to take anything from my closet."
While Hotaru was looking through the closet, Rini explained what happened to Serena and Solara. When Hotaru emerged, they both left the room and headed towards the main hall. On the way, as everything Rini said sunk in, Hotaru stopped, took Rini gently by the shoulders and looked at her face to face.
"How do you feel?" she asked Rini. "I mean, how are you holding up upstairs?"
"I'm fine," she said, continuing on to the main hall. "I'm certainly doing better than your daughter."
"Huh? What's wrong with her?"
"Well, I believe that she is on the verge of a mental break down. She thinks that you are lost somewhere never to return."
"Well where is she? I have to see her."
"That's exactly where we're going."
When the got to the main hall, they waited in silence. A few minutes later, Sailor Saturn entered, eyes to the ground as usual.
"You know, nothing much happens down there," Rini said, causing Saturn to look up.
At first she was expressionless, but then tears welled up in her eyes and started to stream down her face. Rini looked to Hotaru and found the same sight. She turned back to Sailor Saturn just in time to see her mouth "mother" and run and embrace her mother, who tenderly returned the embrace. Rini felt tears starting prick at her own eyes.
"You two should go home," she said after a moment. "Your kingdom needs order restored. I've already ordered the palace to be rebuilt. Now, get outta here. I'll check in on you in a few weeks." With that, mother and daughter teleported out of the room.
A few hours later, Rini was eating dinner with the four trainers. During the course of the meal, Sailor Blaze told Rini the point of the next part of training.
"Now that you are the hold the Silver Crystal, the Negaverse will do anything to get you to hand the crystal over. They cannot merely take it. They can only get it from someone handing to them. They'll try anything to burn you out and weaken you to break you."
The rest of dinner passed in silence since that information killed any conversation in her. Much later that night, after everyone was in bed, Sailor Blaze knocked softly on Rini's bedroom door. After being invited in, she entered with a drink for Rini. When She saw Rini, her jaw dropped. She had let her hair out of her odangos and was wearing a shimmering white night gown.
"You look wonderful," she said.
"Thank you," she softly replied as she continued to brush her hair.
It was then that Blaze felt even worse about what she had to do next. She then gave Rini the cup that she was holding.
"Here," she said bluntly. Rini took the cup and looked at the cloudy liquid in it. "Drink it," Blaze instructed.
"What is it?"
"Please, just drink it," Blaze insisted. Rini looked at her, then to the cup. She sighed and downed the substance. Blaze looked down in shame. "That will start your next training session. The endurance session.
"What?" gasped Rini.
"The way to pass this session is by not screaming in pain," she said as if she didn't even hear Rini's question.
Rini was so floored by anger that all she could do was sit down on the bed as she felt her face and ears grow hot. Then it started.
It began with an uncomfortable feeling in her gut. She tried to lay down, which helped for a little while, but within a half hour, her intestines began to feel like they were tying themselves into knots. She had curled up into a ball with pain within the next hour and a half.
After three hours of intense, unbearable pain, Rini was just lucid enough to want to shrivel up and die. She was drenched by perspiration and had run out of tears before the end of the second hour. She had been squirming around so much in her pain that she had knocked her bedding to the ground. She was so wrapped up in her pain that she didn't even notice that Blaze, who had turned the lights low so not to cause anymore pain from bright lights, was watching over her with almost the same agony.
By the seventh hour, she had squirmed completely out of the night gown, not that she had enough focus to care that she was nude. In fact, she was glad to get out of the drenched, damp, hot night gown. She found the cool air of the night soothed her a little bit. She had lost all track of time, and didn't care whether it was midnight or midmorning. Her pain was so overwhelming that she didn't have the energy to curse Blaze and she didn't even notice that she was driving her fingernails into her palms.
In the ninth hour, dawn cracked. With it, the pain immediately subsided. Letting out a sigh of relief, she uncurled from her ball and rolled onto her back. By the mirrored ceiling, she saw that she was ashen white from being pale. She then fell silently asleep thoroughly exhausted.
Somewhat relieved, but still feeling very guilt, Sailor Blaze covered the sleeping Princess with a sheet and quietly left, closing the door behind her. When she turned to go to her room, she found Sailor Aquarius standing there.
"She passed," whispered Blaze, finding it hard to speak. Aquarius gave her a nod and put an arm around Blaze's shoulders.
"You did what you had to," she said comfortingly. Blaze just tilted her head to rest it on Aquarius' should as she was guided to bed.
Rini slept the entire day and the following night, with Geous and Zephyrus standing guard. When she awoke the next morning, they were the first faces she saw.
"Good morning, Rini," Zephyrus greeted as Geous gave a firm nod.
"Morning," she coolly replied with a dark, yet fiery, look in her eyes. "How long have I been asleep"
"For a day and a night," she responded, but then her gaze fell to the ground. "I...I hope that you're not angry with our sister, majesty," she said as she slowly lifted her gaze to meet Rini's. Rini saw true and sincere remorse in her eyes. It instantly melted away the bitterness she was feeling. Zephyrus, even though near tears, continued. "She...she was only do--"
"I know," Rini said compassionately, cutting her off. "She was only doing her duty."
"Then you forgive her?" Zephyrus innocently asked. With a look of surprise, she immediately covered her mouth with her hand, as if she had committed a serious crime.
Rini couldn't help but to giggle at her expression. "It's alright," she comforted. "I forgive her."
Zephyrus dropped her hand as she let out a sigh of relief.
"Is breakfast ready?" Rini asked.
"Yup. Aquarius and Blaze are waiting for you. At the table that is."
"Thanks."
As soon as she entered the dining hall, she was assaulted by the groveling of Blaze. It took Rini a good five minutes to finally convince her shat she was forgiven. Finally relieved, Blaze left Aquarius and Rini alone.
Over breakfast, Rini discovered that her final bit of training was going to be the most boring and dullest of the four. All it involved was an entire day of meditation. That is how the rest of her day went. Not only was it boring, but she had so much energy that she didn't fall asleep until 2:00 a.m. Five hours later, she was awaken by the four Senshi to say goodbye.
After saying their good-byes, and after none of them didn't have a tear streaked face, the four Senshi, with a bow and a wave, vanished into the Silver Crystal. However, had she know that wasn't the last goodbye that she was going to be forced to say, she would have never gotten up.
She spent the rest of the day alone in her family's vast Royal Gardens, until around six in the evening, when her father found her sitting on the edge of the main fountain of the gardens, reflecting about what had happened almost a week before.
When she saw him, he wasn't alone. Walking next to him was a 6'3", brownish black hair with matching eyes, that were fixed on the ground, stranger wearing the typical double moon breast plate, one moon for her and the other for her mother, of a member of the Royal Lunar Guard.
She thought it odd because the only guard allowed to be in the garden with any member of the Royal family was the head general of the Guard, and this stranger was defiantly not the general. In fact, there was something different about this stranger that told Rini that he wasn't even a member of the Royal Guard.
Then it hit her. Instead of only one sword hanging at his left hip, as is standard of a Royal Guard member, he had one hanging at his right hip and another strapped behind him with the hilt above his left shoulder. Also, his swords were fancier than those of the Royal Guard, with very ornate designs on the hilts.
However, it was her father's grim look that brought her to her feet. When they finally reached her, she and her father just stared at each other for a few moments before the locked in an embrace while the stranger continued to look at the ground.
"I...I'm afraid I have to leave, my precious," Darien said, breaking off the embrace.
"I know," she whispered back, her eyes filling with anger and malice for the stranger as she pieced together who he was. "You're going after mother, aren't you?"
"Yes," he stated, not noticing the emotions in her eyes. "This," he said when her gaze shifted to the stranger, "is Jordan, my protégé."
"Protégé," she thought as Jordan went down on one knee, "fancy word for substitute."
"I am at your service, majesty," he said before he finally looked up. When he did, she saw something flash in his eyes that she'd seen before, but couldn't pinpoint it. She quickly brushed it and him aside as she let her eyes magnify her feelings of hate and malice, causing him to almost shrink in fear, but he saw something inside her that made her question the justification of her feelings, but ignored it as she stepped pass him to her father.
"I love you honey," Darien said.
"I love you, too, but when are you leaving?" she asked, almost pleading for him to never leave. Little did she know what his answer would do to her, let alone where it would put her.
"Now."
That answer was a total shock to her system. The lost of her mother, the arduous training of Sailor Zephyrus and the even more arduous training of Sailor Blaze, the farewell of her four new friends, coupled with this announcement was just too much for her, for although she had the looks of Wicked Lady, she was still only 16 years old, both mentally and emotionally. She gasped and fell backwards in a faint. She was instantly caught by Jordan.
Darien sighed and shook his head. "I hate good-byes and never was good at planning them or saying them," he muttered. Then he gave some final advice to Jordan. "Now, remember, you are to protect my daughter at ALL times and at ANY cost and Tuxedo J is to protect all the Senshi, but especially Sailor Moon." With that, he vanished.
The End
The preceding was a Sailor Moon fan fic by Tuxedo J. Sailor Moon and all original characters there of are owned by Naoko Takeuchi.
Tuxedo J, and other characters, are creations of, and owned by Tuxedo J.
Next book in the sage "Times of Lunar Turmoil": Love At Last