By the way, what I meant by 'you haven't seen the
last of Dr. Cunningham' is that she's Queen Serenity's
reincarnate. But you knew that... you read Part 9.
If this makes no sense to you, go back and read it
again!

Should I keep you waiting? Are you even reading this?
Probably not. Oh well... you wanna read part 10?
Okay... here you are...
BTW! I think I'll make a last-ditch parody of O16...
I wonder what it'll be about (a'la Fushigi Akugi,
for any FY fans out there... ^^)
ONWARDS!

**Crystal Tokyo**

King Endymion shook his head. It was as if he'd
had a sudden headache, but it had vanished as quickly as
it had come.
'Impossible...' Endymion shuffled quickly through
the silent and dark palace to his love's side. Still
encased in crystal, still silent, still... sleeping.
His own body injured to the point of being dormant,
now forced to endure this silent darkness in a holographic
form.
Not even Rini was here, a disturbing thought. No doubt
she had gotten separated from the Scouts, then met up with
Pluto... she was now in the 20th century... where she
was supposed to be.
Right...?

*Why* did he have any doubts? He knew everything that
was supposed to happen. He knew he'd have to give his past
self horrid dreams of a future that wouldn't come, unless...
"Could the Negamoon have disrupted time so much...?"
Endymion stepped over a thin pile of debris. For the few minutes
Serenity had been out of the palace, looking for Rini, the
Negamoon had gotten some damage in. After Serenity had gotten
sealed in the crystal, to prevent any injury from the blast,
the Scouts had split up to the nearest Crystal Point, and channeled
their powers to erect a shield. So far, it had worked, but the girls
would slowly be draining themselves. Within a week, they'd
collapse from exhaustion.
But the Scouts from the past were to come by then. It was
his only comfort, knowing that soon, he'd see his beloved again.
But there was an emptiness beyond that. He felt as if there was
something he should know, something...

Endymion unconsciously ran his fingers over the main computer
once he reached it. It took some time, but that was to be expected,
what with the power being diverted to more necessary shields.
The screen flashed on, files flying by Endymion's critical
gaze. He hadn't known what he had touched, but soon a string of
numbers and characters blinked on the screen... then it went black.
"What...?"
In a moment, the screen flashed on once more, and Endymion
-had he been a breathing specimen and not a hologram- would have
gasped in surprise. On the screen was the face of his wife's mother-
the first Queen Serenity.

**20th Century**

"Hey, get back here you little spore!" Serena cried, dashing
after Rini. The small pink-haired brat was nothing but trouble.
She'd showed up only hours before, ruining her perfectly good date with
Darien. Then she went home and found her room trashed. Not by Sammy,
as she originally suspected, but RINI! Her... cousin?
She hadn't believed it at first either, but then... there were
so many pictures. How...

Serena shook her head and blinked.
"Oh man... she's gone!" Serena groaned.
"You better go after her, Serena," Luna's voice called from
behind the blonde. Serena turned to her feline advisor with a
disdainful frown on her face.
"Why should I, Luna? She's causing trouble, brainwashing
my family, and bugging me for the crystal. I don't want any
responsibility for the little spore at all." Serena huffed, crossing
her arms.
"That's exactly why you have to go after her, Serena! She
might know something about the crystal, in which case she could
be an enemy!"
"Luna, you thought *Amy* was an enemy the first time we
met her!" Serena groaned.
"So now you're defending 'the little spore' are you?"
Luna countered, raising a furry eyebrow.
Serena stared blankly at Luna, then frowned.
"Fine! I'll go after her!"

With a frown, Serena tore off down the street. For once,
her mind was occupied with the pink brat. Darien had said
she could be from the Silver Millenium, Luna thought she was
an enemy. She *did* know about the crystal, but why did she
want it?
Why did enemies have to get weirder and weird-

"Oof!" Serena rubbed her nose as she sat up,
staring at whoever she had the misfortune to bump into.
'Man, I'm such a clutz...'
"I'm sorry..." Serena stared at the woman in surprise.
The voice was oddly familiar, like...
'But it can't be...' Serena shook her head and took
the woman's proffered hand.
Standing up at her full height, Serena was a few inches
shorter than the foriegner before her. However, her voice was
perfectly accented, as if she was a native Japanese. Her voice
was so...
"I'm Laura. Laura Cunningham. I'm very sorry for bumping
into you like that, Miss..."
"Serena. Serena Tsukino. It's very nice to meet you."

Serena didn't know why she felt this strange... strangeness
about this woman, but she did. Remembering back to the various
humans that had gotten used as pawns for the Negaverse, Serena
decided to follow her gut and stick with this woman. She could
be an enemy.
After all, if Rini was here for the crystal, that meant that
either the spore was an enemy... or she needed help, and some *other*
enemy was after the crystal!

'Geez, Luna oughta commend me for all this deduction I'm doing,'
Serena thought to herself as she walked along with Laura.

"I'm sorry... you seem awfully familiar to me." Laura smiled, her
eyebrows furrowed as if trying to remember a past event.
Serena let out a breath she didn't know she'd been holding in the
form of a gasp. Laura's gaze suddenly became wide, as if she were
coming upon a realization.

They'd stopped walking by now, Serena's surprise that someone
whom *she'd* thought as familiar returned the feeling. But Laura
didn't speak.
"Ms. Cunningham?" Serena asked quizically, staring at the older
woman.

"I..." Laura trailed off, and her vacant eyes cleared. She shook
her head once and smiled.
"It couldn't be." The two started walking again in a strange sort
of silence; Laura not asking Serena why they were walking together and
Serena keeping her suspicions -and concern- silent.
*What* couldn't be? Her? Was there something about her that...

'Maybe my first idea was right,' Serena thought, her face grim.
Maybe the spore had partners in crime, or her mom... maybe that was it!
Maybe Laura was Rini's mom!
'But Darien and everyone else seems to think she looks like me.
I just don't get it. If Rini *isn't* an enemy, and Laura isn't related
to her at all, then... what is this *feeling* I'm getting from her?'

It was sort of like deja vu, only the kind you got after a dream.
You could remember bits and pieces, maybe a feeling or a vision here
and there... but everything was just too choppy and hard to make out.

'I know you from somewhere, Serena. But where? You couldn't be
the girl from my dream! That was so long ago...' Laura's mind was
whirling. She thought that, at first, Serena might have been one of the
girls from the clinic, a teen mother.
But Laura remembered each and every one of her patients, and
Serena just wasn't one of them. More over, she was far too young-
not that teen mothers her age were nonexistant; they were just rare.

The two soon struck up a conversation to make up for the silence,
and the topic of where Serena went to school came up.
"Crossroads? I went there for a year or so." Laura smiled.
"Really? That's cool. I like it because I have two friends there,
Amy and Lita, and even though they're in different classes, it's still
fun to hang out with them at lunch and all."

'Amy... and Lita...?'

Laura had once again, stopped walking, this time, leaving
Serena a good yard in front of the older woman.
It was just too coincidental for Laura to handle, and she
kept on seeing faces, hearing these names... wondering... if
it wasn't just a dream after all.

"Serena," Laura smiled brightly, regaining her composure,
"Would you like to go for a cup of coffee or something?"
Serena paused a moment and smiled back, the gears in her head
turning.
Was Laura an enemy or friend?
What was this weird feeling of deja vu?
What did Laura feel about her that "couldn't be"?
Too many questions, not enough answers.

'I'm not about to give up the chance to prove to everyone
that I can solve a mystery when it lands in my lap! If Laura
is an enemy...' Serena didn't want the woman to be. She seemed
nice, and the feeling she had wasn't dangerous or alarming in
any way.
'If she *is* an enemy, she's dust!'

Serena's thoughts remained her own as the twosome entered
the nearby Crown Parlor, and ordered up a milkshake and a
cinnamon espresso.
"Serena, what I'm about to tell you is very strange...
but I feel that we've met before, and not... not here."
"You mean before now?" Serena asked quizically.
"No, before here. Before this time."

That was the sentence that threw Serena off. Time!
Rini was supposedly from the future, right? Whether or not
Laura was related to Rini in any way, it seemed to be that
everything linked back to Time! Rini from the future, and
Laura... from... the past?
"It couldn't be..." Serena murmured, echoing Laura's
previous whisper.
"Then... then do you feel it too? A very odd deja-"

Laura's sentence was cut off as the glass window behind
them was shattered.
Hovering in the air above the debris was a woman with
alabaster-like skin, violet hair, and a strange looking
jumpsuit-tutu combination in shades of pink and violet.
"Where's the Silver Imperium Crystal!" She demanded,
staring straight at Serena and Laura.

Laura gasped audibly, and the high-heeled foe turned on
her immediately.
With an inhuman strength and odd magic, she hoisted
Laura in the air- without lifting a finger! Serena was trapped
between the booth and the enemy, whose forehead bore a strange
sigil- that of an downturned, black crescent moon.
She couldn't possibly transform... not only would it
give the whereabouts of the crystal away, but it was
dangerous to do so when Laura was captured.

"You let her go this minute!" Serena cried, standing.
This woman may be a stranger, maybe even crazy...
'Aren't we all a little crazy?' Serena thought, gritting
her teeth. Regardless, she was an innocent, and shouldn't be
the target, especially when she didn't have the crystal.

"Are you talking to me?" The pink-and-violet woman asked
with a sneer becoming her scarlet lips. Her violet eyes narrowed,
a strange fire seeming to reflect in them.
Serena felt another odd feeling in this woman, but one that
spoke volumes of pain and danger.
"Yeah I am, you fashion freak! LET HER GO!"
"How dare you! My name is Catsy of the Negamoon, and you-"
Catsy released Laura, who slumped to the floor, devoid of energy,
"Are dead!" Catsy hovered in the air, bright bolts of electric
blue energy hurling from her palms.

"DARK FIRE!"
'I have no choice...' Serena looked desperately at the people
attempting to flee, being trapped inside by a red and violet barrier.
She gripped her locket tightly, with the full intention of
transforming, but something stopped her, and it wasn't the barrage of
Dark Fire.
For the most part, she avoided the sharp pangs of fire using
what little gymnastics tricks she picked up over the years -and from
gym, of course.

"Hold it right there!" A chorus of voices sounded. Serena didn't
even need to turn to know that her friends had arrived.
Catsy frowned at the sight of the four Scouts, surrounding her
tactically on all four sides.
"Droid Papillion!" Catsy thrust a hand in the air, and suddenly
a dark and monstrous form appeared.

With a vicious gleam in her eyes, Catsy smirked, "Have fun,
Scouts." She vanished in a flash of black light, from wherever she had
come from.
"Pa-pi-ron!" The droid yelled, coalescing into a form that was
vaguely human.

Catsy's barrier had vanished from the door, and people were
attempting now to flee in masses. However, the moment they got the door
open, they were attacked by a barrage of butterflies that were...
flaming?
"What the heck?" Jupiter exclaimed, moving closer to Serena.
The other girls followed suit, providing a handy escape route for
the pigtailed girl to run and transform elsewhere.

"Uh-uh-uh..." The droid -a pale girl with violet hair and
butterfly wings, in addition to a skimpy outfit, hurled a fireball
at the escaping Serena.
It never hit.

"Laura!" Serena screamed, watching the older woman fall.
The blonde fell to her knees as the woman fell to the ground,
a strange fire-like energy smoking its way through her body.
"Let's get that witch!" Jupiter and Venus exclaimed together,
charging the surprised Papillion.

Meanwhile, Serena was crying. Laura was an innocent woman,
probably with a family, and...
"Serena... don't cry..." Laura whispered.
"Why...?" Serena sobbed, wishing they had a Scout who could
heal, who could prevent this hurt.
"My... Serenity... I've found... you... at last..." Laura
murmured, her fingertips brushing away Serena's bangs, where
the faint outline of a crescent moon could be seen, if one were
observant enough.

"Ma-Mama?" Serena stared in shock as Laura collapsed in her
arms, lifeless and pale. Her body was still warm from the flame
blasy meant for Serena, still charred on her sweater.
But dead.

Serena couldn't think anymore. She barely resgistered the scream
of Papillion as the droid was, amazingly destroyed in one blast from
Venus and Mars.
The people that had been trying to flee the Parlor and Arcade
suddenly fell through the doorway, the barrier of flaming insects
having been removed by the destruction of Papillion.

Suddenly, a bright white light filled the room, the area,
the entire city, bathing it in a blinding purity.
"Mom? Mama?" Serena murmured, her head in her hands. Tears
escaped down her fingertips, seeing images of a past she had
tried hard to forget.
"Serena... Serena..." The voice was a whisper and first,
and then, slowly, it registered higher on the decibel scale.
A whisper, a murmur... a word.

Serena managed to look up from her misery, her aching heart,
and her immense guilt. It all weighed on her like a boulder on
her back. She could have transformed, could have...
"Don't think like that Serena."
Before Serena was the same fairy-like projection of her mother
from so long ago.

"Q-Que..." Serena started, hiccoughing.
"Mother. I am your mother, Serena. I love you, that's why I..."
Queen Serenity trailed off, her image becoming the life-size Laura
Serena had been speaking to only moments before.
"I used to have dreams, dreams of a place that was peaceful and
happy. Of a daughter that was a Princess, and had fallen in love
with a Prince. But that all ended horribly, and I wanted more than
nothing to see what happened to everyone. To my daughter, to her Love,
to her friends, the other Princesses... Amy, Lita, Raye, and Mina."
"W..What...?" Serena sniffled and tried to catch her breath.

"That's what I had been trying to say, Serena. I didn't believe
that my dreams were real, that you... *Serenity* were real. But you
are. And you're everything... no, even *more* than I hoped for."
"Mama... you got... you were reborn... but how...?"
"I suppose we both wished, more than anything, to see that
peaceful time again. In order for Luna and Artemis to awaken, for
Mina to have recieved my assistance when she was Sailor V... I
had to lose those precious memories of you, just as you did for
the first fourteen years of your life. But I had dreams.
Precious dreams of you, of the girls... of Endymion. But I
think that, when I made that wish, I disrupted time as I knew it
was supposed to be... the way it was *destined* to be."

"But!" Serena protested, hoping in her heart of hearts that
somehow, she could bring her mother... bring LAURA back!
"I wasn't meant to be, Serena. Not in this body, not in this
time. Another soul, with a greater purpose, needs to occupy this
body, and live life to the fullest. I lived and died for you
Serena, because I love you, and want you to see the happy future
that I couldn't make."
"But I want *you* to see the future you sacrificed so much
for!"
"Serena... always thinking of others. Both of us have to make
sacrifices in our lives, sometimes very painful and difficult ones.
But overall, those hardest decisions to make, those bigger sacrifices
are what keep the peace for so long in the future. You are the one
who is meant to see a happy future, because the life you started to
live back then... in those happy times... was cut far too short.
You must be the one to live on, to learn, to love..."
Laura -Queen Serenity- began to snap and crackle, fading out
as if she were a mere mirage.

"MOM!"
"I'm so happy... I could see you... one last time..."
And then Laura vanished.
Serena stared into the whiteness, tears dampening her
cheeks and staining dark circles of water onto her skirt.
"It's not fair... why does destiny have to be so sad
and repetitive!"

"It doesn't." At this new, unfamiliar voice, Serena
stood, and readied herself.
From the whiteness, the mists, and the fog of dreams,
came a quartet of young women of varying ages and heights.

One, closer to Serena's age than any of the others,
wore a pinkish sailor suit, complementing her silver-white
hair. Another, with dark violet hair, wore a lavender
suit adorned with sideways 8s here and there- the Infinity
sigil, Serena recognized, subconsciously.
The last two were far older, both in appearance, and
their spirit. Their aura, the wise, timeless age in their
eyes was reflected back at Serena, and she felt riveted
to stay and listen- not to fight.

They were on either side of the pink and purple Soldiers,
one in black and maroon, with a cascade of dark green hair falling
over her Sailorsuit to her calves, and the other in a light blue
uniform similar to her companions, with silver accenting the blue.
Each held a weapon- one, a simple staff with a gem atop it,
another a discus with a needle sharp protrustion from its top, and
the last, a sharp, heavily curved scythe.

"W-Who are you?" Serena asked. Her suspicion of them was gone,
but she felt an odd sort of *fear*. They had power that she couldn't
possibly imagine; it radiated around them, swirling like black snakes.
"Eternity." The pink one murmured with a slight bow.
"Destiny." The lavender one spoke, bowing deeper.
"Fate." The blue one whispered, nodding slightly.
"Pluto."

Another reverberation... deja vu passed through Serena, as the
last name -as Pluto- seemed familiar to her. She *knew* her. Serena
knew this girl was a Soldier, but the others...
"You were not meant to have experienced this sad fate." Pluto
began, approaching Serena.
"But that is the way of this world, even if we do not wish it
to be so." Destiny shook her head as she spoke, looking regretful.
"Death comes hand in hand with Life; Darkness with Light. It
is the way of things." Eternity told Serena seriously.

Her tears gone, but her heart still aching, wishing that for
once, she could have prevented the heartache Beryl caused altogether.
Somehow... someway...
"Serena," The blue one spoke, a hand on the younger girl's
shoulder, "We are the guardians of Destiny, Fate, and Longevity.
We determine life and death. We did not mean for your mother to
be reborn, but her power surpasses ours. Only you can restore time
completely, if you wish it to be so."
"If I..." Serena murmured, her hand over her trembling lips.

"We have seen the sad fates, and the happy ones. Been forced
to choose the more difficult path, for it means you and yours
will be prosperous and happy in the future."
"The future... time... why does all of this go back to
the past! Something I can't change? Why do you people keep
coming back to haunt and hurt me!" Serena demanded, fresh tears
tracking their way down her face now.
The quartet looked taken aback; as they exchanged glances,
they wondered just how the timeline would change if *this* Serena
made a wish on it.

"We... have made sacrifices, just like your mother," Destiny
said softly.
"So have you." Fate added, the depth and tone of her words
conveying her sincerity.
"You will continue to make sacrifices, in the name of the
future. You and yours may never know perfect happiness, but the
peace you long for will be attained." Eternity said.
"...But only if you wish it to be so. You do not control
the forces of Darkness, but you can help restore them to their
proper place- in the hearts of everyone." Pluto spoke, her
maroon eyes giving Serena a brief glimpse of the future.

Heartache. Pain. Destruction.
But after all that, there was happiness. Peace. Family.

'Everything I've always wanted...'

"Alright." Serena agreed. Her hand clasped firmly on her
brooch, she thought of a time when she would be with Darien,
happy, and in peaceful times. No more fights.
She thought of the girls, who wanted to cherish their
other family members and friends as often as possible.
People like Andrew... Lizzy... Ken... Greg... Chad...
Grandpa Hino... Peggy... Rita... Molly... Melvin...

All these people had helped shape their lives, their
experiences. If not for their own chance at happiness, then
for that of those innocents, those people made to suffer when
they didn't deserve to.
'I wish that everyone, even for just a moment, could
experience the kind of perfect happiness we are all so greedy
for...'
'... That people who make sacrifices for others have the
chance to see those sacrifices better those who they died and
suffered for.'
'That those less fortunate... in any situation... can rise
up and become normal people, with a real chance for a normal
life too...'
'... and where one's fate, or destiny, isn't written down
on paper, or carved in stone... but ahead of them, hidden from
everyone's eyes, so that each person has a chance at that
happiness...'

The thoughts of the Scouts, still in the arcade's whiteness,
the quartet of Fates and Time, and the thought of Serena, Rini,
Darien, and everyone around the world- even if they didn't realize
it... they all came together as one brilliant thought, one hope,
and one united wish.

The Silver Imperium Crystal glowed, as did the weapons of
the Fates, and of Sailor Pluto.
"Eternal Measure... Palliation!"
"Destiny Veil... Decay!"

Atropos, the eldest, Sailor Fate, watched as her sisters'
destructive attacks changed the fabric of time around them.
From within the land of dreams, wishes, and hope, inside
the very Tapestry of Time, anything could happen at the slightest
touch.
"Guardians... of the planets, the sun, the moon, and the stars.
Please, guide my sisters, and the other guardians, that of the
Princess, the Prince, and all the lights and people of this universe,
regardless of their desires, to a time of happiness and true peace..."
Fate prayed with all her heart, and her scythe vanished into
time. Her Sailorsuit melted away into her normal dress, as did
Eternity's and Destiny's.

The two younger Fates collapsed in a heap as their final attacks
exited their lips.
"Infinite Tapestry... Ordination!"
"Fortune's Shroud... Originate!"
The destruction was healed before it could fully take effect, and as
the Fates were returned by the Silver Crystal's powerful light from
when and whence they had come, so did Serena.

A wave of magenta light, powerful and unconfined, tore through
the white space, clearing all the mistakes of destiny and fate.
Pluto stood in the middle of the maelstrom, watching everything
with a careful eye.
Maybe it was taboo to stop time, to rearrange destiny as one saw
fit. But there had to be a guardian, a god of everything. It gave
people something to believe in, when their own fate was not enough.
When hope eluded them, and times seemed bleak and endless, there
was the idea, the thought... the wish that peace and happiness, just
for them and those they loved... was out there.

Somewhere.

OWARI

Wow. This kinda hit me one night, and now... it's done. I still can't
believe it. I started this way back in 9th grade, because of stories
that I had heard from Teen Mothers. In the Sailor Moon world, a teen
pregnancy isn't one of those things that happens every day. So I warped
the idea a lot, and by the end, had a strange concept of who was who,
what was what, and what my message was.

I guess there's really more than one 'moral' to this story. The first
is that things that seem bad -death, accidents, mistakes- aren't really
all that bad. Good, great, and even wonderful things can come as an
indirect result of those events. You've no doubt heard the phrase
"What doesn't kill you makes you strong eventually." It's true.

I know I'm not alone when I say I've suffered some pretty heavy losses.
Maybe I'm being disrespectful to make a joke out of it nowadays, but
that's how I deal with pain. My 19 year old sister died in 1996,
when I was only 11. My grandmother and aunt died not too long ago,
one on a not-so-good New Year's Eve, and the other not long after.

I say, "My family drops like flies," and I try to smile. But the truth
is, sad events like that are no joke. People alleviate pain in
different ways, the same way that some people don't feel pain about
certain things. Losing love, like a person or a pet, can hurt. So can
looking back and thinking, "I could have done something."

What I really want to finish Only 16 with is that destiny isn't carved
anywhere, read by anyone, or written down in permanent marker. Things
can seem bad now, but they get better, even if you can't see how.
People change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.
But change is a good thing, no matter what, in the long run.

I hope that I've affected at least one person out there with this
story. Whether or not it's too OOC for Sailormoon, or you're a teen
parent, or just... something. A random person, who, like anyone else,
had had their heartstrings tugged. Maybe hard, maybe not.

I'm not a fantastic writer, I know, but I try. -_- Look at me, still
blabbering. That's it, minna. The end. I hope you liked it.
This fic has taken me the longest to write, and I am damn proud of it.
Heck, I think I could cry now that it's over. Maybe I'll go hunt
down Tux Boy just so I can get myself a rose for this. ^^

Thank you, thank you, thank you.
To my sister, my grandparents (all of them, alive and dead), my
mother, my father (even though he's a baka ^^;) and everyone
who has ever touched my heart... all my friends, online or not,
all my loves (both of 'em) and you. You rule! =)

sailor_andromida .:. Azurite .:. August 22nd, 2001, 10:42 PM