Part One: Mysterious Crystal Palace

Chapter Four

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"Okay, so let me get this straight," Shingo said. "My sister's not only Sailor Moon, she's also the reincarnation of a princess who lived on the moon thousands of years ago."

Saturn nodded. "That's right."

"And some evil army went up to the moon and killed everyone, and her mother killed herself to send the princess and the Sailor Senshi into the future?"

"Basically."

"Well, that makes about as much sense as anything else," Shingo sighed. He rubbed his forehead. "I'm getting a headache from all this."

Saturn patted him gently on the shoulder. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it," She banished the Glaive and sat down beside Shingo, who blinked.

"Hotaru-chan?"

"Hai?"

"Where the hell does that thing go anyway?"

Saturn blinked. "The Silence Glaive? I'm not really sure. I just summon it when I need it and send it away when I don't."

"It goes into a subspace pocket," a new voice intruded. The teens looked up to see Sailor Mercury walking towards them, lights flashing inside her visor as she furiously punched away on her computer, scanning the walls of the palace.

Shingo blinked. "Ami-san? Is that you?"

Mercury glanced at him and smiled. "Hai, Shingo-kun. I believe you know all of the Senshi, except..." she gestured at Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto, who were gathered around a pair of thrones which had appeared in the center of the room. Seated upon the thrones were a dazed-looking Serenity and a calm but wary Endymion. Pluto was telling him something.

Shingo looked around the room. Sailor Mars...Rei?...was talking to the elder Hino, and trying to wake up Yuuichirou, who was still out of it. Venus...Minako, he realized...was helping Naru and Umino to revive his and Usagi's parents. He felt guilty that he wasn't over there with them, but he decided there was no help for it. Motoki and the white-haired man who had been standing with Pluto were seeing to the other guests who hadn't fled the temple when the transformation began. He couldn't get a clear look at them, but one of the women seemed familiar. Finally, he watched as Jupiter...Makoto, it had to be Makoto...tapped the walls of the sealed chamber. As she did so, a crevice suddenly appeared in the smooth surface. The crevice widened, letting light shine through. Shingo realized this must be a doorway.

The multiple surprises of the past weeks had left Shingo feeling as though he could probably handle just about anything, especially after what happened during the wedding. Therefore, he shouldn't have even blinked at what happened next.

Which is why it was extremely funny to Saturn when he completely freaked out.

One irate black cat and one apprehensive white cat stalked through the newly-opened doorway. "Alright, what's going on up here?" Luna growled.

"LUNA TALKS!?" Shingo shouted from where he and Saturn were sitting. The other Senshi blinked at him, and Saturn collapsed in a fit of giggles.

Luna glanced over at Shingo, who was pale with horror, and realized that the room was full of civilians, and a few of them were awake. She smacked herself with a paw. "Would someone mind explaining this?" she said, deciding that trying to cover for her slip would be pointless. Her patience was wearing thin as it was.

"Calm down, Luna," Artemis said. Luna swiped at him with her claws, and he ducked.

Shingo started shaking badly, his eyes wider than dinner plates, all the blood drained from his face. "Oh hell, two talking cats...I can't deal with this," he said. Saturn put a reassuring arm around him.

"There, there...it's alright, Shingo-kun...they're very friendly, they won't hurt you..." Saturn whispered into his ear.

"So much for the decorum of the throne room," Uranus quipped aside to Neptune, who snickered.

Luna stalked right up to the thrones, and her eyes widened as it finally registered who was sitting there. "S-serenity," she gasped. "Endymion..."

Artemis seated himself near where Pluto stood. "I can't wait to hear this," he mused.

Serenity had been silent ever since her parents fainted. Her eyes had glazed over somewhat after that, and she had remained that way ever since. Now, she seemed lucid again, if somewhat in shock. She looked around, then down at herself, and gasped. "I'm...I'm really...Serenity..."

Endymion took her hand, and smiled at her. "Yes, you are, my love."

She stared at him. "Ma...mamo-chan..."

He shook his head. "Endymion," he corrected her. "Mamoru and Usagi are gone now."

"But...no! That's not...I mean, I know who I am...I'm still...oh, I'm so confused..." Serenity seemed on the verge of tears.

Pluto stepped forward, and bowed. "Your Majesty, I believe I can explain," she said.

Serenity looked up. "Pluto? What's going on here?"

"There was a certain tradition in the Silver Millenium," Pluto began. "When the Crown Princess is wed on her eighteenth birthday, she ascends the throne, becoming Queen, and gaining full control over the power of the Ginzuishou." She paused, letting that sink in, then continued, "You have wed on your eighteenth birthday, and therefore have now ascended the throne."

Serenity blinked. "But...the Silver Millenium ended thousands of years ago!" she protested.

Pluto shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The daughter of the last reigning Queen has upheld the tradition, and holds the crystal. I know it's hard for you to understand, but your reign has begun...Neo-Queen Serenity."

"But, but...I don't even feel like Serenity! I still feel like, well, like me!" the confused young ruler declared. "I mean, there's something different, I can feel that, like when I became Sailor Moon for the first time, but..." She clutched her head. "This is all so weird...!"

Endymion embraced her. "Usako," he said softly. "You remember the times you turned into your past self, right?" She nodded. "It felt like you were experiencing things through someone else's soul, didn't it?"

"I...I suppose that's a way of putting it," Serenity said.

"But it doesn't feel that way now, does it?"

She shook her head. "No...I mean, it just feels like I know new stuff I didn't know before. But I'm still me, I mean, I'm still Usagi..."

Endymion smiled. "And I'm still Mamoru, yet we aren't the same people now." He paused. "You feel the soul of your past life, don't you?"

The confused young queen nodded. "Yes..." Her brow furrowed. "It's like...it's like the times I turned into Serenity, but I'm still me and not her..." Her eyes widened. "Wait...you mean I'm both, right now? At the same time?"

Endymion nodded, grinning. "You understand now. The soul of Princess Serenity has merged completely with your own soul...as has mine with Endymion. We're them now, and they're us."

"Oh...I see," Serenity said, nodding thoughtfully. She then looked around the room, noticing that many of those present were gathered in small knots, either reviving the people who had fainted, or talking quietly, or examining the building. "This is..."

"The Crystal Palace," Pluto said. "Your palace, Serenity-sama."

Serenity looked around slowly, wonderously. "It's so beautiful...how big is it?" she wondered.

Pluto shrugged. "We don't know," she admitted. "Nobody's gone outside the throne room yet."

"But there's a lot of people outside who'd like to get in," Artemis said. "You should see the crowd on the street..."

Serenity's eyes widened. "Oh god...! The temple! Poor Rei-chan, poor Ojiisan..."

"It's quite alright, Your Majesty," a gentle voice said from behind her. Serenity turned to see Sailor Mars smiling at her, with her grandfather standing beside her. "We're both honored to have this beautiful palace on our temple grounds."

"Besides," Hino-san said, "the old place needed fixing up anyway." He winked. Mars and Serenity giggled.

"But...I don't understand why this happened," Serenity said.

"I explained—" Pluto began, but Serenity cut her off.

"Not that, I get that now. I mean this. The palace. Why here, why now? I thought this wasn't supposed to happen for almost a thousand years..."

Pluto shrugged. "To be honest, Your Majesty, I don't understand either," she said. "Unless the tale our future selves told about the world falling into a cold sleep and how Crystal Tokyo came to be was a fabrication..." She frowned thoughtfully. "Come to think of it...the future version of myself might have told you that tale so that you wouldn't know this was going to happen," she mused.

"Is it something you'd do?" Uranus asked. Neptune elbowed her in the ribs.

"Yes, it is," Pluto said with a wry smile. "And it's something I probably will do a thousand years from now."

"In any case," Luna interrupted, "the fact remains that the palace exists...but I expected it to be a lot bigger," she added.

"It probably will be, someday," Pluto said. "Rome wasn't built in a day. I should know, I was there."

Neptune groaned. "Pluto, no offense, but your sense of humor is beginning to get on my nerves." The others snickered.

Saturn walked over to the throne, with Shingo. Both bowed. Serenity grimaced. "Don't do that," she said. "Shingo-kun, are you alright?"

Shingo nodded. "Yeah...I'm fine. Just a little startled." He glanced nervously at Luna, who did her best to look like an innocent kitten.

"You looked pretty petrified there for a minute," Uranus said.

"Uranus, please don't tease him about it," Serenity said. "Shingo-kun...has Saturn filled you in on things?"

"Hai, Your Majesty," Shingo grinned. Serenity glared at him, and he broke into a fit of laughter. The young queen put her hand to her forehead. "I thought people were supposed to respect their queen," she moaned, causing everyone in earshot to collapse in hysterical laughter. After a moment, she joined in as well.

Three more police vehicles arrived on the scene as the Tokyo police officers already there worked hard to push back the swarms of people who had flocked to get a closer look at the enormous crystal tower jutting from the former location of Hikawa Shrine. "Please stand at the requested distance away from the object," a lieutenant shouted through a megaphone. "There may be unknown danger present. It is unsafe for the civilian populace to approach the object."

"Lieutenant," a young officer said, approaching him. "We've finished examining the object."

The lieutenant nodded. "What did you find?"

"Not much," the officer said, shrugging. "The temple that was there before has been completely transformed. A lot of the structure of the temple itself is still visible." He pointed to the tall crystalline arch which stood over the steps. "See what I mean? Wherever this came from, it...absorbed, I guess, the temple."

"Hmm...yes, I see," the older officer nodded thoughtfully. "Anything else?"

"There's no sign of the ground being damaged around the object," the officer commented. "We already knew it didn't come from...up there," he mused, earning a sharp look from the lieutenant. "Now we know it didn't come up out of the ground either."

"Odd. Where could it have come from? Something that big just doesn't appear out of nowhere."

"We went over it thoroughly," the officer added. "There is no doorway or opening of any sort."

"There must be one," the lieutenant said. "How could our witnesses have gotten out otherwise?"

"We don't know," the officer said. "Although Officer Kawamura claims to have seen two cats disappear into the structure..."

"Two what!?" the lieutant exclaimed.

"Cats. One black, one white, both with crescent moon bald patches on their foreheads," the officer repeated. "According to Kawamura, they walked up to the front of the structure, there was a bright light, and they walked right through it."

"That's odd," the older policeman commented. "Alright, I want you and the others to keep probing that thing, looking for a way in." He paused. "Was there anything up there that appeared to pose a threat?"

The cop shook his head. "No, nothing. Actually, the whole thing is really beautiful...peaceful as well."

The lieutenant raised an eyebrow. "Peaceful?"

"It's like...you know the sense of peace you get when you visit a shrine? It feels like that up there, only concentrated."

The lieutant rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You know," he said slowly, "the calmest witness we had was a priest who came from inside there. A Catholic priest," he added. "It's funny, he seemed ashamed of himself for getting out of there." He chuckled.

"Really? What did he see?" the younger officer asked.

"Claims to have seen an angel. A real, honest-to-God angel."

"Strange. I wonder what a Catholic priest was doing in a Shinto temple?"

"Oh, he and the old priest who runs...ran Hikawa Shrine were performing a wedding ceremony," the lieutenant said. "Said something about a mixed Shinto and Western wedding." He frowned. "Funny thing...nobody's seen a bride or a groom around here, or the old priest...the guy says the bridesmaids and the bride's family are all missing too."

"Maybe they're still in there," the younger cop supplied helpfully.

"Possible." A pause. "Let's just hope they're alright up there, if they are..."

An hour later, everyone had been awakened and filled in on what was going on. To say it shocked them would be an understatement, especially when they were told the part about Neo-Queen Serenity. Except, that is, for four of the guests who hadn't batted an eye...in fact, Shingo began to suspect there was something strange about these women, but he couldn't figure out what. Even the white-haired man, whose name he still didn't know, thought there was something odd about them, and he in fact thought they had never actually been unconscious.

Once everyone had been filled in, Pluto wrangled the Senshi all into a more or less formal arrangement, and grouped all the civilians, including Serenity's family, together in two rows of seven at a respectful distance from the thrones, upon which sat Serenity and Endymion. Luna and Artemis sat beside the Queen and King, respectively.

"I know there's supposed to be some kind of formality in here," Serenity began, "but right now I'd be too uncomfortable with it, so we're not going to stand on ceremony." She paused, thinking about what to say next. "To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do now." She blushed lightly. "Gomen...this is still very new to me."

"Your Majesty," Mercury said, "I have some data on the palace which my computer has just finished analyzing."

Serenity nodded. "Let's hear it."

"It seems that the Ginzuishou did not actually create the Palace. It simply summoned it."

"Summoned it?" Endymion asked.

"According to my data," Mercury elaborated, "during the...ascension, there was a great deal of spatial and subspatial fluctuation." At the blank stares she received, she simplified, "The palace itself was already constructed, but pieces of it were hidden somewhere on Earth, as well as deep within the moon, and some parts were even hidden in a pocket dimension." She continued to manipulate her computer. "The temple was transformed by the palace, not by the Ginzuishou."

"By the palace?" Mars asked.

"Hai. The palace itself is generating power readings which are off the scale. It's as though the entire palace is a magical power plant." She was silent for a moment longer. "The power of the palace is on a different wavelength than that of the Ginzuishou, and probably not as great, because I can't even get a reading on the crystal," she continued, "but this palace is easily generating enough energy to power itself and any defenses it might have."

"So what you're saying," said the man Shingo didn't recognize, "is that the Crystal Palace is completely self-sufficient?"

Mercury nodded. "Right. As far as I can tell, it's even creating its own air. This palace could support itself and anyone inside it even in space."

"Then that's one less thing we have to worry about," Endymion concluded.

Luna cleared her throat softly. "The next order of business should be a decision about who's going to stay here and who's going to leave," she said.

Serenity nodded. "Right." She looked out over the small group of people before her. "I'm not going to impose anything on any of you," she said. "I know this is as unusual to you as it is to me." She paused. "Does everyone understand the situation right now?"

The group murmured softly for a moment, and finally Umino spoke up. "You're the queen of this palace, and right now that's the only thing in your domain." He paused. "But if what I've been told is true," he continued, "you eventually intend to extend your reign over at least Japan, probably further."

Pluto nodded from where she stood. "An excellent summary," she commented.

"Right," Serenity agreed. "If anybody is uncomfortable with that, feel free to leave at any time. All I ask is that you not reveal anything you've seen or heard in here to the people outside."

"Keep in mind," Pluto added, "that if you choose to remain within the Palace, you must swear your absolute loyalty to Serenity-sama."

"I tell you what," Serenity said, smiling gently. "I'll give you all some time to talk it over. This is an important choice you have to make, I don't expect you to make it in haste." She glanced around. "Pluto..."

"Hai, Serenity-sama?" the eldest Senshi replied, bowing in acknowledgement.

"I think it'd probably be a good idea if we took a look around the palace," the young queen said. "We don't even know how many rooms there are, or what kind of rooms, or anything except that it's got a lot of power."

Pluto nodded. "An excellent idea, Your Majesty," she agreed.

Serenity smiled. "Alright...minna, please remain in the throne room and consider your decision while my Senshi explore the Palace."

Pluto turned to address the other Sailor Senshi. "Go in pairs. Report back here when you're finished," she instructed.

The Senshi all bowed to Their Majesties, and paired off, headed for numerous hidden exits Mercury had located earlier.

"What about you, Usa...I mean, Serenity-sama?" Shingo asked.

"The Queen must remain in the throne room for now," Luna said before Serenity could reply. "It's for her own safety."

Endymion nodded. "After all, we don't know the layout of the palace, and there are a lot of panicked people loitering on the street," he agreed. "If Serenity wandered outside by accident and were to be mobbed..."

"Which reminds me," Artemis said, "we're going to need to establish a palace guard besides the Sailor Senshi, in case any rubberneckers manage to get in by accident. It's not likely to happen, but you never know..."

Luna looked over the fourteen potential subjects of the Crystal Millenium. "Hmmm..."

The dark entity was frustrated beyond words.

An incredible source of power had just appeared near the center of the city. So much raw, pure, beautiful energy...

But as soon as it got within a half kilometer of the power, the entity felt the wispy threads holding its consciousness together weakening. It had to pull away quickly, lest it be destroyed.

Whatever that source of power was, it was extremely well-guarded. To be able to defend against an intangible shade...whoever had constructed the power source was a force to be reckoned with.

The entity would need more energy. A lot more energy. Possibly more than it could find. It reasoned that it would also probably need to obtain a corporeal form.

The shade drifted away from the incredible power, seeking more life energy...and a body.

Mars and Saturn emerged from their chosen doorway into a hallway with two doors and a circular platform at one end with a railing. One of the doors was yellow-tinted and had the sigil of Uranus painted on it. The second door was aqua, and labeled with the Neptune sigil. Mars approached the Uranus door and placed her hand against it. Nothing happened. She frowned. "It won't open."

"Maybe only Uranus can open it," Saturn offered.

"Hmmm...probably." Just to be sure, she also checked the Neptune door. It didn't respond to her touch either.

Saturn walked to the platform at the end of the hall, and examined the railing. "Mars...come see this," she said.

Mars walked over. "Find something?" she asked, looking at the railing. The top surface was flat, and had a series of colored lights glowing beneath its surface. At the far left of the railing, a crescent moon glowed. To the right of that, a pair of sigils appeared together: Venus and Pluto. Beside those glowed the sigils of Saturn and Mars. The next two sigils were Mercury and Jupiter, followed by the sigils of Uranus and Neptune, which were dimmed. After the sigils were a series of Kanji labels: 'Sub-level 1' through 'Sub-level 3'. "This must be a lift," Mars decided.

"Well if it is, then we both seem to be going to the same floor," Saturn commented.

Mars nodded. "So it would seem," she agreed, touching their paired signs. The sigils began blinking, and the platform lit up. The word "Ready" glowed on the railing.

The two Senshi glanced at each other, shrugged, and stepped onto the platform.

The next thing either of them knew, they were in a different hallway, and the sigils Mars had touched were dimmed out. The previously dim Uranus and Neptune sigils were now glowing steadily. Saturn stepped off the platform, and looked around. This hallway also held two doors: a red one with the sign of Mars, and a violet one with her own symbol. She walked over to that door, and touched it. "Welcome home, Sailor Saturn," a soft, melodic voice spoke out of seemingly thin air. "Your assistant module is not configured. Please configure your assistant module."

Saturn blinked, and glanced over at Mars. Mars shrugged. "Sounds like a computer," she commented.

"You've been watching too much Star Trek," Saturn said, giggling. Mars flushed. "Well, here goes nothing," Saturn said, stepping through the door. It closed behind her.

"Hey, wait up!" Mars said, approaching the door. It refused to open at her touch, but she heard a muffled voice from inside. The door opened, and she walked in. "We shouldn't split up, Saturn," she said.

The younger Senshi blushed. "Gomen, I wasn't expecting it to close like that," she said. The two Senshi looked around. "Wow...this is nice," Saturn observed.

The room they had entered appeared to be a small sitting room, with a comfortable-looking sofa and two matching chairs, a round crystal table, and various shelves and assorted other furniture fixtures emerging from the walls. A bar-style counter sectioned off a part of the room, which was occupied by a sink, cupboards, a countertop, and spaces which seemed meant for small appliances. Said appliances were, however, absent. The opposite end of the room had two doors. Saturn walked over to one, and opened it. "Found the toilet," she remarked, stepping inside. "And a small furo..."

Mars walked over to the other door, half-expecting it not to open. However, it did, and she walked in. "This one's the bedroom," she said as Saturn walked over. The room contained a queen-sized bed, a desk and chair, and two more doors, one of which they discovered was another entrance to the bathroom. The other was a medium-sized closet. Aside from the furnishings, the suite was rather Spartan.

As they walked back out into the main room, Mars commented, "I certainly wasn't expecting to find anything like this in the Palace."

Saturn nodded. "I'm surprised as well. Whoever built this place did a pretty thorough job."

"Except for appliances," Mars remarked as she looked at the kitchenette. "Why the hell are there places for appliances anyway? Or a bathroom for that matter? I mean, we couldn't possibly use normal appliances or city water here, could we?"

"Palace utilities are currently available at maximum efficiency," a mysterious voice interjected. "Energy conversion systems are configured to produce alternating current electricty."

The two Senshi looked around. "What is that?" Mars wondered.

Suddenly, a portion of the ceiling glowed a soft orchid, and an object floated down into the center of the room. It appeared to be a crystalline representation of Saturn's sigil, with violet rings of light orbiting it. "Greetings," it said, in the voice they'd heard earlier. "I am the designated personal assistant module for the Senshi of Saturn."

Saturn's eyes widened. "My assistant?"

"That is correct," the assistant intoned.

"What are you called?" she asked.

"I have not been assigned a name or personality designation at present," the object said. "All of my configuration options are blank until you set them to your preferences."

"What does that mean?" Saturn asked.

"I think it means you get to name it," Mars said.

"Correct, Sailor Mars," the unit affirmed.

"Okay...what were you saying earlier about utilities?"

"The palace provides all neccessary functions for life support," the assistant replied. "These functions include synthesis of air and water, purification of synthesized air and water, convertible energy generation, and synthesis of non-organic simple materiel."

Saturn walked over to the sink and turned the blue knob labeled "cold". A stream of clear, cool water poured from the faucet. "There's definitely running water," she said. Cupping her hands under the faucet, she took a drink of it. "It's a lot cleaner than Tokyo water, too," she added in a surprised tone.

"Well, that answers one question. Still, what about the electricity?"

"Please specify desired location, type, and voltage of outlet," the assistant supplied helpfully. The two Senshi blinked. Mars mouthed, 'Is that thing for real?'

"Ummm," Saturn said, walking over to the wall of the small kitchen. "Right here," she said, tapping a spot above the counter. "The normal kind for Tokyo, I guess," she added.

"Compliance." The assistant floated over to where Saturn stood, and projected a thin beam against the spot she had indicated. The wall glowed brightly for a moment, and a dual AC outlet formed in the crystal surface. She blinked, and looked over at Mars, who was gaping. "Well, I think we have power," she said.

"Still no appliances though," Mars said after she recovered. "Ummm, can you make a refrigerator or something?" she asked the floating crystal.

"I'm sorry," the assistant module replied. "I can only create simple non-organic materials, furniture and utility outlets. Complex devices are not within my capabilities."

Saturn shrugged. "Looks like we'll have to get that kind of stuff ourselves," she said.

Mars sighed. "This is too weird. Ah well, we might as well check out my room," she decided.

As the two Senshi left, the assistant reminded them, "Sailor Saturn, you have not configured your assistant module. Do you wish to do so before you leave?"

"Ummm...can I do it later?" she asked.

"Yes."

"Okay, I'll do it the next time I come up," she said as she walked out the door.

The crowd gathered outside the crystal structure began to panic slightly as a convoy of JSDF transports and two tanks rumbled down the street. When the convoy came to a stop, the police lieutant stalked over to the jeep in the lead. "What are you doing here?" he asked the uniformed driver.

"Major Takada, Defense Force," the uniform said by way of introduction. "The civil police force is excused from investigation of the situation," he continued. "You've been routed to crowd control."

The lieutenant spluttered. "You can't be serious!"

"I have orders from the Prime Minister's office," the major said, producing a document.

"So something you don't understand pops up in the middle of town and you just come in and start trying to blow it up without asking any questions?"

The major scowled. "Lieutenant, we haven't opened fire on it yet, and we're not going to unless it gives us cause. The government simply wants to exercise caution." He leaned closer, and spoke in a softer tone, "Hell, for all we know, this thing's friendly, or it might just be a freak occurrence...nobody knows. That's why we're here. We're going to wait until that thing does something. If it does something benevolent, we'll put down our guns and have a party. If it does something hostile, we'll blow the shit out of it."

"And what if it doesn't do anything at all?" the lieutenant asked.

"Then neither do we," the major grinned.

Shingo was talking with his parents when the white-haired man walked over to them and sat down. "Hope I'm not intruding," he said.

"Not at all," Ikuko said. She paused. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we've been introduced..."

"Tomoe Souichi." The scientist bowed.

Shingo's eyes widened. "Tomoe? Then you're—?"

Tomoe-sensei nodded. "Hai. I'm Sailor Saturn's father." He smiled at Shingo. "I've noticed that you spend a lot of time hanging around her."

Shingo blushed. "We've, uh, been dating," he said.

Tomoe nodded. "Well, I can't think of anyone better for Hotaru to be involved with than our queen's brother." He winked.

Kenji raised an eyebrow. "You say that so easily...I take it you've already made up your mind to stay here then?"

"My mind's been made up ever since Serenity's ascension," he said. "I...owe it to Her Majesty." He shifted slightly.

"What do you mean by that?" Ikuko asked.

"It's a long story," he replied. "I'll tell you sometime...that is, if you decide to stay."

"Well I'm staying," Shingo said. The adults looked at him in surprise.

"You realize what you're saying, don't you?" Kenji said. "Life in this palace isn't going to be easy once the rest of the world finds out what's going on. And you'll have to swear allegiance to your older sister and do whatever she tells you to. Besides, we're still your parents...we do have the final say in the matter."

Shingo nodded. "I understand all that," he said. "I also understand some other things."

"Which are?" Ikuko asked.

Shingo looked in the direction of the door Saturn had gone through earlier. "I love Hotaru," he said softly. "There's no way I'm going to leave her." He paused. "She's been real depressed about that war going on. It's been bothering her for weeks."

"Nobody likes to think about it," Kenji said. "But—"

"She has more reason to worry than anyone else," Tomoe cut in. "If you understood what it means for her to be what she is..."

"She has an extra responsibility, a destiny that the other Senshi don't share in," Shingo said. "It's a terrible destiny."

"Then you know," the scientist realized. "She's told you..."

Shingo nodded. "About the power of Saturn. I worry about her...I care about her too much to let her face that destiny alone."

Tomoe clapped a hand on Shingo's shoulder. The boy looked up, and noticed a single tear streaking down the man's right cheek. "You're a wonderful young man, Shingo," he said. "You've done more for her than I've been able to."

Ikuko and Kenji were visibly impressed. The solemn moment didn't last long, however, as Serenity approached their small group. "Am I interrupting something?" she asked softly.

"No, Your Majesty," Shingo said, inclining his head respectfully.

Serenity blinked. "Am I imagining things, or are you being sincere when you call me that?"

Shingo looked up, straight into his sister's eyes. "Ask me again when the Senshi return, Serenity-sama," he said, smiling.

Serenity smiled also, and knelt down to hug her little brother. She then looked at her parents. "Mother, Father...I have something important to tell you."

"What is it, Usa...Serenity?" Ikuko asked.

Serenity blushed slightly. "I was going to wait to tell you, but then all this happened and changed my mind." She paused. "I'm going to have a baby."

The three members of her family gasped. "A baby?" Kenji said.

Serenity nodded. "Hai. My first heir is already on the way." She smiled.

Ikuko leaned forward. "How long—?"

"According to Mercury, I'm due between mid-January and mid-February."

"I...I'm going to be a grandmother," Ikuko said.

"Well, that settles that," Kenji said. "It wouldn't do for us not to be around when our first grandchild is born." He grinned.

Ikuko smiled, eyes brimming with tears. "Of course not," she said. "Someone has to teach Serenity how to be a good mother, after all..."

"I couldn't think of anyone better to do that," Serenity said softly, her eyes as watery as her mother's.

Tomoe watched wistfully as the family shared a lengthy hugging session.

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