I wrote this story as part of the Circles of Time Sailor Moon fan fiction shared universe some time ago, I finally got around to cleaning it up and posting it here. The story takes place in the year 4001. I don't think it contains any serious spoilers for stories in the Cicrle of Time continuity that take place before that.

Sailor Moon and all the characters therein are the property of Naoko Takeuchi. All the normal fanfic disclaimers apply.

Ken Wolfe

Last Act

"Now, at the end of the Millennium that humanity had so long dreamed of in the dark days before the Silence, now when we look forward to another Millennium of peace and plenty, we should take the time to reflect upon how our paradise on Earth came to be. Those days before the Millennium may seem to us little more than a barely remembered nightmare, a grim tale of horror and suffering that has no place and no power in the paradise we have made. But that unimaginable age of barbarism was real, and we should recall that only an unswerving commitment to uphold justice and order has allowed us to rid the world of pain and death and has freed us from the ever-present shadow... no, the ever-present... damn." Chibi-usa tapped the little blue spot on the window she was facing. A hologram of her speech materialized in front of her, the dark rectangle dimming and superimposing the view of the city afforded by her venue high in the Crystal Palace. "The ever-present specter of the Four Horsemen that loomed over our ancestors for so long."

Chibi-usa put her hands to her hips and sighed. "This is just too much."

She turned around, walked across her private garden, and sat down heavily on one of the big cushy chairs that surrounded the little round coffee table in the middle of her garden. The chair sank down under her weight and slowly lifted back up, cradling her as if it could absorb her irritation as well as her momentum. If she hadn't sent the droid away, it would probably be asking her if she wanted something to settle her nerves. But this had nothing to do with nerves. Sure, tomorrow was her big day... it was the biggest day since the end of Black Moon War. Yet she had stopped being nervous about it long ago. Heaven knew she had been preparing for this day long enough. She had even memorized the thrice-damned speech ages ago. She could recite it in her sleep. So why was she having such trouble today?

From the time she had woken up this morning, everything about tomorrow's coronation seemed to suddenly be bothering her. She was certainly not afraid anything would go wrong, all their advisers and courtiers were making absolutely sure that could not happen. It was almost as if that was the problem. Everything would go according to schedule, and when it was over she would be Queen Lady Serenity. Then when the show was over, everyone would go home.

So what was wrong with that? Nothing, of course. Nothing at all. Chibi-usa frowned and shook her head. "What's wrong with me today?"

She crossed her arms and looked down at the simple white dress she had put on this morning. Should have worn something else. After today, about the only place I won't be wearing white is to bed. I'll probably end up tossing all my white nightgowns into the recycle bin just on general principle.

"Good Morning, Chibi-usa."

Chibi-usa smiled and turned to the familiar voice. "Good morning, Ami." Mercury was in uniform, no doubt on her way to help supervise preparations for tomorrow. Chibi-usa had insisted on at least one day of rest before her coronation, it was probably the last one she would get for a very long time. Which was why today her doors would admit none but her family and the Senshi.

Ami glanced at the little translucent hologram still embedded in the wide window that covered an entire wall of the garden, all the way up to the tall ceiling that glowed the same color as the morning sunlight. "I thought you'd be resting today."

"I was just going over it one more time."

"Having trouble?"

Ami had seen her quietly fuming at herself, there was no point hiding it. "Not exactly trouble. I still don't like it much, it just seems wrong somehow."

Ami smiled. "I know what you mean. I've never heard so many run-on sentences in one speech."

Chibi-usa laughed. "Yes, there was that too. It's still hard to believe it took a committee of scholars to come up with this. I just wish I could have convinced them to trim it down a little, I'll be droning on for nearly an hour tomorrow."

"Why not use the prompter? Your mother always does."

"Ami, mother has trouble memorizing the months of the year."

Ami laughed nervously. "Oh, I'm sure you're exaggerating."

Chibi-usa grinned. "Well then why don't I reprogram her prompter to display Kanji only tomorrow? I have clearance now, you know."

Ami looked very nervous now. "Chibi-usa-"

Chibi-usa giggled. "Joke, joke."

She could practically see the tension evaporate from Ami's neck muscles as she sighed. "I agree the speeches are too long, but this is truly a once in a millennium event. An hour of people's time doesn't seem much to ask."

"Oh, it's not even that," Chibi-usa said. "It's just the way it goes on and on about how horrible things were in the bad old days before Crystal Tokyo."

Ami looked a bit puzzled, but concerned enough to walk over and sit down. "Does it bother you, thinking about the past?"

"No!" Ami just raised an eyebrow at Chibi-usa's testiness. With an effort she reined it in, suddenly realizing how wound up she had gotten herself. "I'm sorry, I don't know why it's suddenly bothering me so much. But it just seems so wrong. Ami, I was there. Maybe not for very long, but I saw the world as it used to be. It was no hell on earth. People laughed and played and loved just like they do now."

"They also died. By the thousands, every single day."

She knew Ami would say that. It was the doctor speaking, the Tamer of Pestilence. "Most people alive today grew up in that century. Am I the only one who remembers anything good about it?"

Ami smiled. "No, not if last night is any indication."

Chibi-usa very deliberately did not roll her eyes. Last night the Senshi had been wrapping up their last coronation planning meeting when mother had pulled an old photo album out of nowhere. A really old photo album that nobody had seen in centuries. The photos were practically all of Chibi-usa... half baby pictures and half pictures from her sojourns to the twentieth century. Just too kawaii for words, or at least everyone else seemed to think so. Just the sort of thing she wanted everybody to see right before she was crowned queen and master of all she surveyed. "We seem to be the exception," Chibi-usa said, the Senshi and the royal family being the unspoken we. "That century is where all of us became what we are today. But it's like everyone else would just as soon forget."

Ami cocked her head, looking at Chibi-usa more intently now. "Are you suddenly becoming nostalgic? That's not unusual, you know, when you're about to go through such a major change."

Chibi-usa put up her hands defensively, but smiled with genuine affection. "Please, Ami, no analysis. The council of shrinks gave me a clean bill of health, you can read the eighty-page report yourself."

They both grinned at the shared joke. Of course every branch of the scholars had been consulted on the timing of the coronation, including the school of psychologists. Chibi-usa had to admit that at least some of the tests had been kind of fun.

"I didn't mean to say there's anything wrong with being nostalgic," Ami was quick to say. "I've been thinking more of those days lately, especially after last night. It's hard to imagine now, but for a little while it was just your mother and I. No Crystal Palace, no global defense grid, just two little schoolgirls running around Tokyo."

Chibi-usa felt a twinge of something in her stomach, a barely perceived feeling that somehow held answers to today's feeling of unease, but it was gone before she could put a name to it. "You never talked about that time nearly as much as mother did," she said softly. "You must have been just as scared as she was."

"I suppose I was. Even with Luna there, we really had no idea what we were doing." She suddenly laughed. "It still amazes me that your mother only had to resurrect us twice."

Chibi-usa happily joined the glib laughter, but with a feeling of regret. She felt as if Ami had been helping her zero in on something important, but now it was gone. The two of them reminisced a bit longer, mostly about all the cute things Chibi-usa had done as a child. Yes, mother had planted the seed last night, with all the skill of a veteran gardener. For weeks now Chibi-usa would be getting little reminders that she used to be a pint-sized pink-haired terror trying to play with the big girls. Not exactly a lesson, just a gentle reminder.

Maybe I will reprogram her prompter tomorrow.

Soon Ami had to excuse herself to attend her meeting. Chibi-usa had her droid bring some tea and tried to relax like she was supposed to be doing. Ami's visit had taken the edge off her uneasiness, but she still felt restless. She didn't feel like practicing the speech just now, so she decided to work out for a while. She got up and walked briskly down the paths that curved their way through her big tropical garden. The door dilated as she approached, admitting her into an even bigger space with a ceiling twice as high. The lights came on as she entered. She put her hands to her hips and surveyed what the overnight reconfiguration had done to the room. She smiled in approval. Interesting.

With nothing more than a shimmer of light and a barely audible tinkling like microscopic bells, she made the transformation. It was more of a formality than anything, now. All of them were Sailor Senshi morning, noon and night, she could call upon her power buck naked if needs be. But this ability to do a quick-change was rather convenient. She was now dressed in the most readily recognized outfit of this age, the same white, blue and red sailor fuku her mother had worn two thousand years ago.

And it does come with one perk, she thought as the first of the practice droids sprang out from behind their cover. She leaped up to one of the many abstract sculptures that sort of resembled craggy, leafless trees, pulling the tiara off her brow and whipping it out at her first target. Built-in Frisbee. The first droid went down, coming apart cleanly at the shoulder joint she had hit, just like it was designed. These droids had no biological components and were especially designed for this game, so she usually did them no real damage. Nevertheless, her recreation accounted for a decent fraction of the Palace repair shop's work. The tiara reached the tree just half a second after she did. She caught it and leaped for her next perch, losing herself in the game, becoming Sailor Moon once again.

She danced around the leaping and running droids, new ones popping out to replace the ones she disabled. Her eyes were everywhere, looking for threats, and looking for the McGuffin. As well as their hands and feet—only moderately padded—they threw little ceramic balls that would really hurt if they connected... and more to the point, would end the game. She had to be in motion at all times, had to jump in among them, make the fight up close and personal, not give anyone a clear shot. These ones worked silently, efficiently, mechanically. Other times the computer would send her berserker droids that would scream like banshees and fight like rabid dogs.

Out of the corner of her eye she spotted the McGuffin. This time it was a little Tuxedo Kamen plush doll, sitting elegantly on a branch. Very funny. The nearest droid exploited her momentary distraction by aiming a hammer-blow to her head. Drop, leg sweep, hit just hard enough to separate the hip joint, jump for the big rock in between her and the McGuffin, jump again. Whizz. Whizz. That had been close. They'll aim for the McGuffin now, so I'll land on the branch on the other side and...

The branch broke. "Waaaah!"

A vaguely female droid caught her in its arms. Its grim poker face suddenly split in a wide, silly grin and it winked. "Game over..." it crooned. A very loud buzzer sounded in time with big flashing red signs covering all four enormous walls. GAME OVER.

"End Program!" Sailor Moon shouted over the noise. "And you can let me down now."

"Yes ma'am," the droid said, setting her down. It still had that silly grin on its face as it went to help the remaining functional droids gather up the pieces of their fallen comrades. Sailor Moon glared at it. This program had input from many people, but she was sure Michiru had added that little touch... among others that served to add insult to injury.

"I thought that trick branch would catch someone eventually."

Sailor Moon turned to see Sailor Jupiter standing on top of one of the big rocks, arms crossed, grinning down at her. "That one was yours?"

"Happened to me once when I was tracking arms smugglers in the Gobi Forest. I was going to jump down out of nowhere onto this branch right over their heads, completely demoralize them and take them in without firing a shot. Of course I forgot they let their trees decay naturally out there, its core was rotted. I managed to land on my feet, but they weren't very impressed with my show."

Chibi-usa transformed back to her white dress. Her pride was still smarting, and Jupiter was not doing much to help. She resisted the urge to ask whether Jupiter had a meeting she was supposed to be at. Not because she was not glad to see her friend here, quite the contrary. "And was the banana peel in the Tokyo alleyway one of yours too?"

"Can't say that I remember that one. Sounds more like something Minako would come up with."

Chibi-usa smirked. "Is there some story behind that?"

"Oh, there probably is." Jupiter jumped down to the floor beside Chibi-usa. "But you'd have to ask her."

Probably wouldn't do much good, Minako had a very selective memory when she wanted to. "Did you want to do a team game?"

Jupiter glanced over at the last of the droids filing out of the room with their fallen counterparts in a grim-comic funeral procession. "You managed to trash most of them, not enough left for a decent game."

Chibi-usa didn't bother suggesting they supplement the remaining droids with holograms, she knew Jupiter found that boring. "Is something up?"

"No, I just wanted to see how you were doing."

"I'm really not doing much, as you can see. I got tired of practising my speech."

"Having trouble with it?"

"Not particularly. But I still don't like it much."

Jupiter made a little sound of irritation. "If you can manage to put enough life into it to keep everyone awake I'll be very impressed."

Chibi-usa laughed. "I think everyone will just be thinking 'I can hardly wait for the fireworks display.'" The display was going to go on almost as long as her speech, with colorful high explosives going off from just over the Crystal Palace spire all the way up to low earth orbit.

"Too bad it'll be too noisy to grab a nap, it may be the only chance you'll have tomorrow."

Or for the next three months, which were already booked solid. Contemplating that, Chibi-usa suddenly had an irrational desire to coax Jupiter into a game, it would probably be the last one for a very long time. "Say, want to do something fun?"

Jupiter cocked her head, surprised by the sudden question. "Like what?"

"Like if you get the McGuffin from me, I'll tell you what happened at your birthday party on Deimos." With that she crouched, leaped, and grabbed the little plushie Tuxedo Mask as she flew by his perch. She did not even have to hear the impact on the branch a mere second after she had launched herself from it to know that Jupiter was already right on her tail. She could always rely on Makoto to act first and think later. This was stupid of course, she was at a disadvantage in this long dress and could not even afford the momentary distraction a transformation would take. She could only use her one free hand to swing around trees and bounce off rocks. But that was exactly why she wanted to do it, because it was stupid. She laughed and cried out loud whenever she could spare half a breath, throwing caution to the wind, bouncing between obstacles like a billiards ball. At the speed she was going, even with her enhanced Senshi muscles, it hurt. If she came across another of Jupiter's trick branches, she would be taking a very nasty fall, which just made it even more fun.

Eventually Jupiter managed to push her advantage. She tackled Chibi-usa in midair. Chibi-usa lost her orientation altogether, braced for the impact she knew was coming. Jupiter absorbed it with her long legs and they both went tumbling, Jupiter releasing her just on time for them both to go sprawling out side by side, arms around each others' shoulders. They lay there panting for a few moments. Then Jupiter leaned over to pluck her prize from Chibi-usa's hand. She propped herself on one arm and glared down at her princess. She was trying very hard to look angry but was not doing a very good job. "Stupid girl. If we'd bruised your pretty face just before your coronation ceremony your mother would skin me alive."

"No, she would just cry for a very long time."

Jupiter poked her hard in the ribs and lay back down on the ground. They were right beside a big rock, Jupiter had stopped them just on time. Yes, it had been very stupid. Probably the last stupid thing she would be allowed to do in a very long, long time. That was a depressing thought.

"So what did happen?"

Chibi-usa had almost forgotten her challenge. "I assume you remember arriving at Dejah's. After your twelfth Supernova you passed out. We tied you in a fetal position and played zero-G dodge ball with you."

"That explains the bruises. But not the smell."

"Somebody threw up, I can't remember who. The droids were going around with vacuum cleaners for an hour."

"Ick."

"Be grateful I cleaned you up before you were conscious again."

Jupiter sighed heavily. "We're going to miss you."

"I'm not advancing to a higher plane of existence you know."

"I mean in the colonies."

"I know. I'll miss everyone." Most of the people she counted as friends were either in the Moon colonies or working on the Mars terraforming project. Both her best and her worst memories of recent centuries lay there as well. It would be a very long time before she saw those places again. She had no intention of being like her mother who had never once been beyond the Moon's orbit in all this time, and had not been off the Earth in years. But there was no getting away from the fact that after tomorrow there would be a big chain between her and Crystal Tokyo, always quick to snatch her back whenever she ventured out.

"Maybe we can sneak you out every now and then. At least to go toss back a few at Dejah's."

"I'm not even crowned yet and already you're leading me astray." They were both more or less joking, but Chibi-usa knew that for the sake of her sanity she would have to make her way there someday. It was one thing she and Jupiter had in common, after a long while in Crystal Tokyo's warm fuzzy embrace the frontier would beckon. "Did you see Steve's vidmail?"

"Yes. Thank heaven he encrypted it. If that every got into your mother's hands..." they both laughed. Like most of their off-world friends, Steve was earth-side for the coronation. Mostly because they were loathe to miss the party of the millennium. But like most of their friends he didn't have much time to spare from his work, so he had not arrived until after Chibi-usa was far too busy to see him. He had to content himself with sending lewd vidmail. Chibi-usa wished she could have gone out to see the old gang today, but the coronation committee would have given birth to a herd of buffalo had she left the palace today.

"I hope he doesn't plan on showing up dressed like that. He'd be escorted to the police lounge. And after I got him such a good seat." No small feat, the coliseum only had a half million seats and for tomorrow each one of those seats was a very hot commodity.

Jupiter chuckled. "You think that's bad, you should see what Juno's wearing tomorrow."

Chibi-usa smiled. Jupiter's second eldest, the dancer. She was sure the girl had never worn the same outfit twice in the past hundred years. It was so easy to spoil kids here. Sometimes she envied the Senshi...

Jupiter sat up and winced. Chibi-usa frowned. "Are you hurt?"

"Nothing that'll last the day."

Chibi-usa also sat up. "Sorry," she said, meaning it.

Jupiter smiled and waved off her apology. "We've taken a lot worse falls for each other, lots of times."

Yes, they had, both for fun and for defending the peace. Again, there was that little flash of an idea just on the edge of her consciousness, like she was on the verge of a realization. But in a heartbeat it was gone.

Jupiter stood and offered Chibi-usa a hand up, which she accepted. "I should get back to the meeting, they must be past the really boring part by now."

So she had skipped a meeting just to come here. "Want me to tap into the security cameras and find out?"

Jupiter shook her head. "Sometimes I fear for you."

"Remember, Big Sister is watching you."

Jupiter tossed the plushie doll back to her. "You should add that to your speech tomorrow."

She could almost get away with it. Other than a few obscure scholars, only the colonies had a lot of people who were into pre-Millennium literature. "You'd better go before you lead me further into temptation."

Chibi-usa walked her to the door. They took their time. Jupiter gave her a hug and went out to once again brave the slings and arrows of the coronation committee. Chibi-usa finally noticed that she had really worked up a sweat running from Jupiter. And she had a few sore spots of her own. Maybe a bath would feel nice. At the doorway to the bath, she gave Tuxedo Kamen-sama a peck on the cheek and set him on the windowsill. "No peeking," she intoned.

A soak in the tub, a massage and a leisurely lunch left Chibi-usa feeling more relaxed. She sipped her coffee and looked out over the city. The view had changed little over the centuries, and tomorrow it would still look the same. Was that what was bothering her? Was it that it would never really change, that it would always be her mother's city, never hers? No, she had already gotten around that. Even she had to admit that her mother had always been an instrument of change where she saw the need, and in Chibi-usa's estimation it had usually been change for the better. And there was plenty more to be done, not just in the colonies but right here as well. She would have many chances to leave her mark as Queen Lady Serenity.

Chibi-usa was just starting to lose herself in one of her favorite books of Martian poetry when she sensed something at the wide archway leading into the garden, probably a sound soft enough to be subliminal. She looked up and smiled when she saw who it was. "Hi Rei."

Rei returned her friendly smile. "Hi Chibi-usa. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"Not at all." Chibi-usa put her book down on the coffee table. Rei was dressed in her professor's robes. Well almost, it was her unique variation on the traditional scholar's robe of office. Red and white instead of black and white, and cut to look something like the Shinto miko outfit Chibi-usa remembered from so long ago. "Did you just come from service?"

"Yes, it spilled over into lunch time so we broke bread."

She meant that literally, bread and fruit juice was all you ever got for lunch in Rei's faculty. Nobody came for the food, obviously. "So what were you talking about today?"

"What gives life value."

Chibi-usa smirked. "You mean to say you couldn't even figure that one out before lunch?"

Rei raised an eyebrow, and her smile became more playful. "Oh, you already have the answer? It sounds like I should have come to you first."

"The answer is simple. It's an axiom. Life is its own value, and end in itself. There's no way to prove it has value, we just assume it does."

"Oh?" Rei sat in one of the white couches. "So there is no such thing as a valueless life?"

"No. A wasted life maybe, but not a valueless one."

"So do you think there are a lot of people wasting their lives?"

Chibi-usa was taken aback by the question. She had not really been taking the discussion seriously, they could go on for hours if she were... and had done so, on many occasions. By now Chibi-usa well knew what times Rei would be content to get a glib answer. Suddenly this was no longer one of those times. "Of course, there are plenty of people wasting their lives."

"Well, nobody at today's service seemed to think their lives are a waste. In fact I can't remember the last time I met anybody who did."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Rei, nobody I know is better than you at getting people to admit things to themselves they had never admitted before. But I think even you would find it hard to get anyone to admit their life is being wasted."

Rei shook her head. "I never try and tell people how to conduct their lives, I only get them to ask questions they never asked before. You know that."

Yes, Chibi-usa did now that. She had attended many of Rei's services. Hers was the faculty of theosophy, and her 'services' were intended to encourage people to consider their spirituality, but in practice they were more like Socratic dialogues. "For all your efforts I'm sure a lot of people aren't really asking those questions of themselves. Even if they say otherwise, a lot of the people at the universities are just looking for something to stave off boredom. I know there are exceptions. But most of them will eventually move onto something else without ever having gained anything, without changing or growing. They may convince themselves that they are doing something significant, but if it's just an intellectual game then it's a waste."

"Even if they don't think it's a waste?"

"I've met sim addicts who have been in the same sim for three hundred years. You don't think that's a waste?"

"I've met some of them too. They seem to be happy enough."

That caught Chibi-usa's attention. Rei hated sims, as far as anyone knew she had never been in one for centuries now. "I'm surprised to hear you say that," Chibi-usa said evenly. They would both understand why.

"I was visiting a friend doing a long-term anthropological study." Chibi-usa knew what she meant. The big sims were practically whole societies in and of themselves... which meant the anthropology departments had a field-day with them. "Most of the people I met were actively engaged in their world and seemed to be quite happy about it."

"But it's not real. It's just particles floating around in a quantum computer."

Rei smiled. "That sounds a lot like the way Ami describes reality."

"You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do. But everyone I met in the sim still knew what it was, even if they had been there for centuries. They were content knowing that. As you said, they felt their lives had their own value, and what people outside thought about it doesn't matter."

"But that's just my point! It doesn't matter, nothing in the sim matters because it doesn't change anything. If they don't eventually come out and try and do something with whatever they're supposed to be learning in the sim then what's the point?"

"Maybe the sim is an end in itself, for them."

Chibi-usa shook her head. "I know you don't believe that, Rei."

"It doesn't matter what I believe."

Chibi-usa sighed. "And it doesn't matter what I believe either. That's your point, isn't it?"

"My point is, what matters is what they believe."

"That's my mother talking."

"You think she's wrong?"

"Of course not." It was not that simple, and the look they exchanged said they both knew that. Her mother had always opposed placing any controls on addictions or habits that were not clearly harmful. Chibi-usa and Rei had long been among the many dissenters. They felt there were more subtle forms of harm people were doing to themselves. For better or worse, Neo-Queen Serenity's view had prevailed, and everybody had accepted that. "I'm not chomping at the bit to start a self-righteous crusade against the idle and lazy, if that's what you're afraid of."

Rei shook her head. "No, I know you aren't."

Chibi-usa regretted the tone of her words. "I'm sorry, I should have known better."

But Rei just smiled. "Pushing people's buttons is all part of my job, girl."

Chibi-usa laughed. "Yes, I've noticed."

"Besides, I read your psych tests. If you had dreams of forging a new order on the backs of the people we would know it. Not even Minako, the mistress of self-deception, could get past those tests."

"Which may be why she's never taken one."

"I would never let her. There are some things we are just better off not knowing."

Chibi-usa smirked. "So you don't think they might have missed something?"

"Well, I noticed they didn't ask you anything about your father."

"Give me a break. I worked through that centuries ago. I've got a signed statement from Dr. Freud himself." Her eyes narrowed. "The plushie-doll was your idea, wasn't it?"

"What's a plushie-doll?"

"Rei, you can't lie to me anymore. I have access to all the security cameras in the grid now."

"Oh my," Rei said in mock surprise. "Now you'll find out about all the shonen-ai manga I digitized during the reconstruction."

Chibi-usa raised a slim pink eyebrow. "Really? You never told me. Which titles?"

"Go ahead and access my files if you like. But you'll have to break the encryption. Consider it a challenge."

Actually her mother was more likely to do that. Reading Rei's manga had been one of the senior Usagi's favorite hobbies. "Like you said, maybe there are some things we are better off not knowing."

Rei returned her smile, and there was a brief, comfortable silence. "I hope you're enjoying your day off."

"I'd better be, it's probably the last one I'll have for a long time."

"Feeling nervous about tomorrow?"

"Not really. It will be the most thoroughly planned event in human history."

Rei laughed. "Don't we know it."

"And I'll be so tied up with officialdom and ceremony that it'll be weeks before I get to decide anything more important than which earrings I'll be wearing today."

"Are you afraid it will always be like that?"

"No," Chibi-usa said flatly. "There's plenty of important work to be done. Don't worry, I have no fear of ever being left bored and idle."

"Then what are you afraid of?"

Like no other person Chibi-usa knew—with the possible exception of her mother—Rei had the ability to catch people like a deer in speeder headlights with a simple question. Which was exactly how she felt now. She sighed, and looked away. There was no point trying to be evasive. "It's nothing complicated, Rei, honestly. In fact it's the simplest thing imaginable. I'm afraid everyone will expect me to be my mother. But I'm not my mother, I can't be."

Rei got up, walked over to where Chibi-usa was sitting, and crouched down beside her. She took Chibi-usa's hand. "Chibi-usa, for what it's worth, I don't expect you to be Tsukino Usagi. And I wouldn't want you to be."

"Rei..." Chibi-usa involuntarily squeezed Rei's hand, thoroughly astonished. She could not remember the last time she had heard Rei speak of Serenity by her birth name.

"Serenity is a wonderful queen and a wonderful friend to us all because she never forgot that she is Usagi," Rei said softly. "Queen Lady Serenity will be a wonderful queen," she squeezed Chibi-usa's hand tighter, "and a wonderful friend. All she has to do is never forget that she's Chibi-usa. I love Chibi-usa, I couldn't bear to lose her any more than I could bear losing Usagi."

Chibi-usa almost had to look away from Rei's warm smile, as if it were too much to bear. Rei was one of Serenity's most vocal critics, but nobody—not even Endymion—worshipped her more thoroughly than Rei did. "I... Rei, thank you."

"Chibi-usa, your mother earned our love and our trust, and so have you. Don't ever doubt that for a moment."

"Hearing you say that means the world to me."

Rei smiled and stood up, still holding Chibi-usa's hand in both of hers. "We'll be pledging our loyalty to you tomorrow, Chibi-usa. It will be a thoroughly staged event. But you'll know what is in our hearts, won't you?"

"Yes." It was all she trusted herself to say with a steady voice.

"It's a heavy burden you'll be carrying. We can't carry it for you. But if ever the full efforts of our bodies and souls can ease your burden even the slightest, you have only to ask."

"I never doubted that." In truth she never had doubted that. It was the reason she had so readily agreed to take on her mother's guardians as her own, instead of selecting new ones as was her right. But she was not lying, hearing Rei say this meant the world to her. "Actually, there's something I'd like you to tell me, if you can."

"What is it?"

She felt bad asking this, but felt compelled to nonetheless. "It's something you can probably tell me more than anyone, because you're so close to my mother. How does she really feel about... tomorrow?"

Rei smiled. "She's so proud of you she could cry. And she probably will. In buckets."

They both laughed. But the look and the touch they shared left no doubt how much Serenity's tears of joy would mean to both of them. "I'll bring a handkerchief, since she'll probably forget."

They talked for a little while longer, mostly about tomorrow's events. Chibi-usa could tell that Rei was really making sure she felt okay about the coronation. But she did not mind, in fact she was grateful. Rei had always been ready with help and advice, but in the end she had always trusted Chibi-usa to do what she felt was right. Rei let people make their own mistakes, but knew just how to point out those mistakes to people without lording over them, without making them feel poorly. Which was certainly a big change from her early years as Sailor Mars. Chibi-usa had always taken her as an example of how somebody could change for the better and still be essentially themselves. Chibi-usa knew that all her mother's guardians loved her and was honored by their love, but it was Rei's devotion that gave her the greatest feeling of pride.

At length Rei excused herself. Like everyone else, she was tremendously busy today. Which made Chibi-usa wonder why she had made the special trip here today. Of course she was grateful and always happy to see her, but she could recall Rei in particular agreeing that today should be a quiet day for Chibi-usa where she could be alone to rest and meditate upon the great change in her life that was looming. Rei probably would not have come here at all, unless...

Unless somebody had told her Chibi-usa was feeling uneasy about the coronation. Chibi-usa suddenly smiled to herself. Ami. Of course, she had always been the worrywart, bless her heart. She probably interpreted Chibi-usa's complaining about her speech as misdirected fear of the coming change in her life, or some such thing. She would never voice such concerns to Serenity, but Chibi-usa could certainly picture her dropping hints to the other guardians that she might be feeling nervous and would probably appreciate a visit from each of them... if they could spare a moment, that is. Which probably meant that any moment now-

"Yoo-hooo!"

Minako was peeking around the edge of the entrance-way, waving her arm over her head. "How's our favorite queen-t'be?" She giggled "Queen Bee... that's a good one."

"Hi Minako. I'm doing just fine, thanks."

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, are you busy memorizing your speech?"

"Nope, I finished that a long time ago. I can recite it in my sleep."

"Great!" Minako took that as an invitation to come in. She was in her orange and white Senshi uniform, signifying that she was on duty. "I was just at a security council meeting. We're already past their estimate of visitors but people are still pouring in. Some of the parties are already starting!"

Chibi-usa smiled. Of course Minako could smell a party a mile away. "Going to any of them?"

"I wish." She plopped down on one of the other armchairs. "It's early to bed for all of us, I guess." She made that sound like an ordeal in itself. "But that's okay, tomorrow is the biggie! This is going to be way bigger than the year 4000 bash!"

"Well, as Ami keeps reminding us, we all have to be up early the next day too."

Minako sighed. "Yeah, that's right. You know, it would make a lot more sense for you to have your day of rest after the coronation. I mean for the rest of us too."

"I suspect a lot of people will be sleeping in the day after." The parties all over the city were expected to go on until dawn, at least. Whatever else you could say about the people of Crystal Tokyo, nobody could deny they knew how to have a good time.

"No kidding. But no rest for the wicked, right?"

"Not after today."

"Oh, you shouldn't worry about it," Minako said, waving her hand in a dismissive way. "Serenity's been queen for a thousand years but she's had plenty of fun along the way. They can't keep you locked in your office all the time. Believe me, I'll make sure of that."

Chibi-usa smiled. That seemed to have been one of Minako's primary functions over the years, arranging quick getaways for all of them when duty and bureaucracy threatened to smother them. That, and making sure none of them took themselves so seriously they felt it was beneath their dignity to go out and have some fun once in a while. "I've been meaning to ask you, just how did you sneak mother out to all those parties we had?"

Minako winked "You'll find out, soon enough."

"You know, when the security directorate was giving me one of my briefings, I asked them about conditions under which they go to a higher level alert. The first thing anyone said was: any time they don't know your whereabouts and don't know the queen's whereabouts."

Minako did a raspberry. "Bunch of snot-nosed control freaks. We can take care of ourselves without their help."

Chibi-usa just smiled. She had some sympathy for Minako's view. The Queen's safety was ultimately the guardians' responsibility, the security directorate mostly supported them by doing surveillance and filling in when the Senshi were otherwise engaged. But this particular guardian liked taking her queen out to invitation-only parties in obscure places nobody in the security directorate had even heard of.

Minako's face suddenly brightened. "Hey, did I tell you I went down to Dark Sodom last night?"

"Must have been packed today." That was one bar not even Minako would take her Queen to. "Who did you go as?" It was a given she did not go as herself. Minako grinned, and clicked her disguise pen. Chibi-usa smiled. "I don't think I've ever seen Monique in that outfit." The outfit—using the term loosely—Minako's red-headed alter ego was wearing consisted of a series of fine silvery threads draping down from her neck, very loosely bound together by a complex network of cross threads. They sort of concealed her only because they dazzled the eye with a sparkling light show.

"Just taking the pulse of the city. All part of my job."

"Of course."

"Everyone is really excited about tomorrow."

Chibi-usa raised an eyebrow. "Oh?" That bar was part of a subculture that prided itself on their disdain for the Crystal Tokyo establishment. It was the closest thing they had to a dissident movement.

Minako-cum-Monique grinned slyly and nodded. "Mmm Hmm. And it's not just the end-of-an-era thing. Sure a lot of people say they don't care just so people will think they're sophisticated. But a lot more people think this is the best thing that could happen to Crystal Tokyo."

Chibi-usa frowned. "I know my mother doesn't have may fans in that crowd."

Minako shook her head briskly. "Those are the people who just complain for the sake of complaining. Nobody cares about them. Anyone with half a brain knows how much Serenity has done for all of us. The thing a lot of people are saying is that she made Crystal Tokyo a safe place where anyone can live and be happy. But they think you're going to make it a more exciting place to live."

Chibi-usa smiled. That seemed to mirror what a lot of the professional pundits had been saying. It was a compliment to her that was not at her mother's expense, so she could live with it. "Well, maybe a more interesting place, if I have my way."

"I know. I really like a lot of the ideas you've been talking to us about. Like 'everybody go naked day', that sounds great."

"Minako..."

"Oh right, that was one of mine, wasn't it?"

"The answer is still no."

Minako sighed. "Oh well, it was worth a try. But seriously, I'm really excited about the Tranquility Colony rotation program. It'll really shake things up."

"Assuming I can implement it without starting a rebellion. Mother warned me there will be serious opposition." A lot of administrators would not like the idea of service in the lunar colony being a prerequisite for promotion. "I won't force it through, I don't like working that way any more than mother does."

"I know," Minako said. "But all of us think it's a great idea, and I know a lot of other people in the Palace who will like it too. I'm pretty sure we can shame everyone else into line."

That was an odd way of putting it, but was more or less correct. Serenity had a knack for forcing consensus by making dissenters appear wrong in the eyes of their peers. This form of mental jujitsu was one of the most important lessons she had learned from her mother. And Chibi-usa was not above exploiting moral cowardice when the need arose. "I'll certainly try."

"Just remember, we're all behind you two hundred percent. Anything we can do to help you, just ask."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Just keep doing what you've been doing, Minako. Don't change a thing. I couldn't ask for more."

Minako winked and saluted. "Yes Ma'am. Carrying on as usual."

"Okay, so tell me all about it."

That took a while. Of course Minako would know what she meant. It was bad enough a Sailor Senshi was secretly infiltrating the counterculture. Nobody had ever caught her, not exactly, but everyone knew about Minako's disguise pen and so the urban legends surrounding her clandestine activities were legion. Which was fine, since they were taken about as seriously as UFO sightings. But Chibi-usa had always resisted the temptation to borrow Minako's pen and do likewise. A Senshi might justify the practice, barely, but for a member of the Royal Family it would be a clear abuse of authority, at least in Chibi-usa's mind. So she contented herself with hearing Minako's accounts of the parts of Crystal Tokyo she would probably never see for herself.

Her eyes went wide when Minako started describing the talent contest at Dark Sodom. "They did that on the stage?"

"Yep. Twice in fact, everyone was screaming for an encore."

"I'm surprised they were able." Within private establishments, Crystal Tokyo's strict obscenity laws did not apply. Dark Sodom was one of the few places that really took full advantage of this loophole.

"I got pictures too. You want to-"

"Thanks, I'll pass."

Minako actually gave her some useful intelligence as well. She confirmed that most of the groups that made the Security Directorate nervous were planning on being outside the city limits tomorrow, so that they could watch the fireworks and still party without worrying about the stricter public conduct statutes within the city. Which was probably best for all concerned.

Minako squealed when Chibi-usa politely inquired whether she was busy today. "Omigod, I'm late! Rei is going to kill me! Chibi-usa, I'm sorry but-"

"I understand," Chibi-usa said lightly. "Sorry I kept you so long. You'd better get going."

"Thanks." She shot up out of her chair and turned to sprint for the exit.

"Minako?"

She turned around. "Yes?"

"Don't you think you should get back into uniform?"

Minako looked down at her body draped in little but flashing light. "Oh. Right." She clicked her pen and she was Sailor Venus again. She laughed nervously. "Thanks Chibi-usa. See you tomorrow."

"See you." Chibi-usa was smiling for a long time after Minako left. After a thousand years, the Senshi of Love and Beauty still had the power to do that for people. In fact she was feeling good enough to work up the motivation for another dry run at her speech. All her previous anxiety was gone, she breezed through it without a hitch.

In a little while the sun was going down and it was time for the only appointment she had agreed to make today. Chibi-usa changed into a formal evening dress and left her apartment. She entered the transit tube and a spoken command sent her floating to one of the other private apartments in the inner Palace. The security droid at the entrance recognized her and admitted her.

Haruka and Michiru were both standing in their living room, waiting for her. Presumably the security system had announced her arrival. "Hi Chibi-usa," Haruka said.

"Hi Haruka. Michiru."

Michiru stepped over to her and gave her a hug. "Thanks for coming, Chibi-usa."

"This is my day off, remember?"

Haruka came over and hugged her as well. "You're looking very relaxed. Nobody would suspect you're about to become the new master of all humanity."

"Oh please." They all laughed. Everyone knew how much Chibi-usa disliked the hyperbole that was inevitably surrounding her coronation.

"You're right on time," Michiru said. "We just finished getting dinner ready." She took Chibi-usa's arm and led her to the dining room. Chibi-usa did not comment, but she took note of the dresses they were both wearing. They were definitely not in accordance with Crystal Tokyo's conservative style, they both looked... well there was just no other way of putting it, they both looked remarkably sexy. Chibi-usa had been treated to dinner here literally thousands of times, yet she had never seen these outfits even once. It occurred to her suddenly that this was probably what the two of them usually wore whenever they shared a romantic, private dinner together. She felt honored.

Haruka and Michiru always pulled out all the stops whenever they invited friends for dinner, regardless of whether there was a special occasion to warrant it. That was just the way they were, never satisfied with anything but the best, be it from themselves or others. Even so, Chibi-usa was astonished. They had really outdone themselves tonight. Some of the courses served were little more than mouthfuls, but even those were delicacies, exquisitely prepared.

After dinner, Haruka excused herself and Michiru led Chibi-usa back to the living room. Like the rest of the vast apartment, it was furnished with nothing but priceless pre-Millennium antiques. They spanned centuries, and were all carefully and lovingly preserved. Any museum in the world would probably trade their entire collection for what was in these rooms. But this was no museum, it was a home, there was no place in the world where Chibi-usa felt more comfortable, more welcome. Haruka and Michiru's home had come to mean many things for her. In the days when she came up to their knees and called them Sensei, it was a magical place where her revered teachers would explain the mysteries of the world to her. In the days when she was blossoming into adulthood and called them Onesan, it was a place where she found both comfort and challenge, where she could find both friendship and instruction. In the many years since then it had become her second home, a place where she could stay up until dawn talking about matters both profound and mundane. In recent days it had often become a refuge for when the responsibility she was about to take wore heavily, and for just a little while she wanted to forget there was a place called Crystal Tokyo.

Shortly Haruka walked in carrying a silver tray that bore a bottle and three snifters. She set it on the oak table and Chibi-usa leaned forward to have a closer look at the bottle. "I don't think I've ever seen that one before. Just how old is that anyway?"

Haruka grinned. "A lot older than you, young one."

Chibi-usa took a moment to let that settle in. "This is pre-Millennium?" she asked softly.

"Very pre-Millennium."

She shook her head in wonder. "I didn't think there was any pre-Millennium brandy left in the whole world."

"There won't be, after tonight."

Haruka very carefully opened the bottle, and poured out three very generous portions. They all took up their snifters and Haruka raised hers. "To Queen Lady Serenity."

"Queen Lady Serenity," Michiru repeated. They all drank.

As Chibi-usa expected, it was heavenly. "Drinking this has got to be a mortal sin."

"Living is a mortal sin," Haruka said.

"No," Michiru said. "Not living is a mortal sin."

"I'll drink to that," Haruka said, and did so.

They took their time emptying the bottle, it took hours. Chibi-usa lost track of time, as she usually did when she came here. She forgot about tomorrow altogether, it was never mentioned by anyone even once. About the only thing that distinguished this night from the many others they had spent together was that they did an unusual amount of reminiscing, recalling things she had not even thought of in ages. By the time Michiru suggested they called it a night, it was far later than Chibi-usa really should have been up the night before her coronation.

When they were at the door, Michiru suddenly took both of Chibi-usa's hands in her own, and locked those soulful blue-green eyes on hers in a way that left her paralyzed. "Chibi-usa, because we were given the task of preparing you for the day you would rule Crystal Tokyo, we have been harder on you than we would have been were we just your friends. We always had to keep just that little bit of distance that would allow us to remain your guides and teachers. To do our job we had to always apportion our praise carefully, so we could never really tell you how we feel. Let me tell you now. We both have always loved you as if you were our own child. Watching you grow, helping you grow, has been the greatest joy we will ever know. We wanted to be sure you know that."

It was a few moments before Chibi-usa could speak. "Michiru... of course I know that... you never had to tell me."

"Yes, we do need to tell you, Chibi-usa." Michiru suddenly crushed her in a fierce embrace that was almost painful. "Before we said good-bye today, we did need to tell you."

Chibi-usa was silent until Michiru finally relaxed her grip. They held each other at arm's length. "I don't understand what you mean," Chibi-usa said in a soft, bewildered voice.

Michiru just smiled, her eyes grown misty. "You will."

Chibi-usa somehow knew she was not going to get any more answer than that from Michiru. She turned to Haruka, wondering if some answer lay there. As if on cue, Michiru released her hands and stepped away from Chibi-usa. Haruka approached and took her place, holding Chibi-usa's hands gently. "What Michiru said is true," she said softly. "We love you, both with the unconditional love of a mother and the earned love of a teacher. You are our life's work. You've made us happy, and you've also made us proud. Every single day."

"Haruka..." Chibi-usa was about to gather her into the expected embrace, but Haruka's face suddenly brightened with a wicked, lopsided grin that stopped her cold. A second later Haruka did reach for her. Taken utterly by surprise, Chibi-usa had to just go with it. It was a close, deep, passionate, exhilarating kiss that went on for three days give or take a bit. When their lips parted, Chibi-usa just stood trembling in Haruka's embrace, looking up into eyes she could lose herself in.

Then Haruka's saucy grin was back again. "If I tried that after today I might get charged with high treason."

Chibi-usa heard Michiru laugh lightly. "You might still be. Seducing the heir to the throne, no less."

Slowly, very slowly, a smile came to Chibi-usa's lips. She stepped away from Haruka. "So how long were you planning that?"

"For centuries. It was worth the wait."

"I'm flattered."

"Will you be able to find your way home?" Michiru quipped. "You're looking a little disoriented."

Haruka took Chibi-usa's hand and kissed it. "I'd be happy to escort you to your bedchamber, my queen," she said in a voice that somehow set Chibi-usa's heart racing again.

"Keep it up and I just might slap a treason charge on you, Guardian."

Later, when getting ready for bed, Chibi-usa's thoughts were not of the coming day but of that single moment that had been so unexpected. Ever since she was old enough to know what it meant, Chibi-usa had known that Haruka and Michiru were lovers. It was such an utterly natural thing, she never gave it a second thought. Haruka always enjoyed good-natured flirting, but somehow it had always been understood that never extended to Chibi-usa. Until today. She was not at all offended, just surprised. Well, if nothing else, Haruka's little surprise had given Chibi-usa some insight into how her two mentors expressed their love for one another. Chibi-usa smiled to herself. "Michiru's a lucky girl."

The other thing it had done, without her being aware, was that it had completely distracted her from wondering why she had been so profoundly disturbed by their parting words to her.

# # # # #

Queen Serenity's worried blue eyes started back at her from the mirror as she fixed her hair into her trademark odango. Endymion often joked that she had worn the same hairstyle so long she could set it in her sleep. She had certainly never woken up to find her hair having been mysteriously set, but it was true there was probably nothing in the world she had become quite so adept at. Which was saying something, this was a lot more work than most people realized. And this morning for the first time in centuries it was giving her problems.

She did get it right the second time. She stood to inspect the results and nodded in approval. She took a deep breath and sighed, closing her eyes for just a moment. For her sake, don't lose it on your last day in office. She looked over to the other end of their enormous bedroom, to see Endymion already walking towards her. It suddenly occurred to her this would be the last day she saw him in his lavender uniform. They had long since agreed that once they had stepped down they would never again don any of the trappings of their former offices. So likewise this was the last day she would ever wear this elaborate long white dress with the stylized butterfly wings on the back. And after all this time she had just been starting to get used to the silly thing too.

Endymion grinned. "Last chance to back out, love."

"Oh stop teasing me," she scolded.

"I know something's wrong when you can't even do an odango."

It was one of their oldest running jokes. She ran a hand down one of her long ponytails. "Maybe I should stop wearing them after today."

"Those are Usako's trademark, not Serenity's."

"I know. I would just really like to do something to show everyone that I really won't be their queen any more. I could show up somewhere with my hair in braids."

Endymion chuckled. "You cast a long shadow, there's not much you can do about that. Except maybe turn out all the lights."

"Smart aleck."

Endymion took her lightly by the shoulders and smiled fondly at her. "She'll make her own mark. You'll see."

Serenity sighed. "I know she will. I just want to make it as easy as I can for her."

"I think we've done everything we can already."

It would be hard for Serenity to argue with that. After today the two of them were going straight to their favorite retreat in the Japanese Alps. They had promised themselves to not even emerge from the place for at least a month, and to stay out of Crystal Tokyo altogether for at least a year. Queen Lady Serenity would have to live with her mother's shadow, as Endymion had said there was little they could do about that. But at least they could give her enough breathing room to let her deal with that on her own. Serenity had no doubt in her mind that her daughter would deal with it splendidly. But that did not stop her wanting to help Chibi-usa in every way she could, even if the best thing she could do was to just stay out of her successor's way.

Endymion extended his arm. "Shall we go?"

Serenity took his arm. She paused to take one long look at their bedchamber. She looked up at her husband and smiled. "It is this place I will miss most of all," she said softly.

"I know." He placed his hand over hers. "We'll make a new private place for ourselves, somewhere."

She just smiled and nodded. In contented silence, they walked arm in arm to the greenhouse garden where they normally shared breakfast. The servant droid bowed as they entered. The three places were set at the little round table. "We'll wait for Chibi-usa," Serenity told the droid.

"Very good madam," it said.

"It still doesn't feel like this is our last time here," Serenity observed.

"I'm sure Queen Lady Serenity will invite us over now and then."

She made a face. "I'm just wondering when it's going to sink in that Crystal Tokyo has really become hers."

"I think that will take a while for all of us. A thousand year reign can't truly end in a day, you know. I'm sure she understands that."

"Yes, I'm sure she does." Chibi-usa had long since said that she understands—must surely understand—that any changes she planned on introducing to Crystal Tokyo would have to be done slowly and carefully. A society of immortals was inevitably very conservative. Serenity knew about the changes Chibi-usa wanted to see and shared her desire to see them happen, but she still felt that as Queen Lady Serenity her daughter was going to face more resistance than she realized. Of course Chibi-usa had always been happy to take up a challenge, both from her own nature and from the influence of her two principal tutors. Even if the new queen might face frustration in the coming years, Serenity had no fear that she would be unhappy. But she still had been hoping that Chibi-usa would have been married by now...

"I wonder if she's having trouble doing up her yams."

Endymion's quip broke her reverie, and she glanced at the golden clock-sculpture nestled among the tropical plants. "It's not like her to be late." Just a hint of worry trickled into her voice. It was just a few minutes, but Chibi-usa was almost as fastidious about punctuality as Ami was.

A few minutes later when their Chamberlain walked briskly into the room, Serenity knew instantly that something was terribly wrong.

Horace had held the position of Chamberlain for over a century now. He was a tall, gaunt man with a long face that rarely smiled. Serenity knew his severe, uncompromising public demeanor to be a necessity of his position, in truth he was a very kind, thoughtful man who Serenity counted as one of her closest friends. Though Crystal Tokyo offered them little in the way of serious crises to deal with, she had always found Horace to be both calm and resourceful when dealing with unexpected problems.

Which was why it was so shocking to see a look of poorly concealed panic marring his normally placid expression. "Your majesty," he said, addressing Serenity with a badly quavering voice. "Something terrible has happened."

Horace's speech was normally a study in understatement, for him to say such a thing... Serenity was suddenly paralyzed with mortal dread. Please God no, don't let anything happen to her...

"What is it Horace?" Endymion asked. His tone was firm and cool, and he stood up casually. But to his wife of a thousand years the subtle signs fairly screamed out, his hackles were up.

Horace took a deep breath. "Your daughter found Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune in their bed this morning, just minutes ago. They are dead, they have poisoned themselves."

Serenity's vision swam, she nearly fainted. "Wh-What?" she breathed in a harsh whisper.

"Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune are dead, your majesty. I just came from their room myself, Lady Mercury has already declared them dead."

Serenity had a death grip on the arms of her chair, which was barely enough to keep her steady. "That can't be," Serenity said, shaking her head. "It must be a mistake. There must be a mistake."

Endymion walked around the table to stand by his wife. "Horace, please take us there." He extended a hand to Serenity. "Let's go see for ourselves," he said in a more gentle voice.

Serenity found his stern gaze calming, as she always did. She nodded, took his hand and stood. In silence, they followed the Chamberlain out of the room and towards the transit tubes. Yes, Endymion was right, they had to see for themselves what was happening, there must be some mistake. As they floated through the gently glowing glassy transit tubes, Serenity found the rush of adrenaline accompanying her panic was bringing back long forgotten instincts. She could see the change in Endymion's body language as well. They were holding hands as fellow warriors, running to where they thought innocent lives may be threatened.

An officer of the guard stood at the door to Haruka and Michiru's apartment. He saluted smartly, but his stoic face showed obvious signs of anxiety.

"Who is within?" Endymion asked the guard.

"The Lady Usagi, the Lady Mercury, the Lady Jupiter and two medical technicians, sir."

"What were Jupiter's orders to you?" Endymion asked. Jupiter was the head of the Palace Guard, even if her lieutenant normally took over most of the duties.

"To admit none but the royal family, the Chamberlain and the Guardians, sir."

"Thank you, carry on." The three of them entered the apartment. Everything looked so perfectly normal. It was eerily quiet, there was only their soft footfalls on the carpeted floor and sound of Serenity's own hammering heart.

When they approached the bedroom, Serenity heard voices from within. She recognized Ami's voice, speaking in a low voice, as if she were in a museum or a church. They entered the room and Serenity's heart felt like it was breaking. It was exactly what she had expected to see, exactly what she had been praying she would not see. Chibi-usa looked to be still in shock, and Makoto had a comforting hand held gently on the shorter woman's shoulder. Ami was in conversation with a man in the white uniform of a medical tech. The other technician was already putting away their equipment.

Haruka and Michiru lay in gentle embrace on their bed. On the bedside was a pitcher of water, a little bottle with the universal red warning sign for poison, and two empty glasses. Serenity's eyes were drawn inexorably back to the two still forms, she could not stop staring at them. In the moment she had taken in the little tableau, she knew there could be no mistaking what had happened here. Yet she found herself staring, as if looking for some sign of life, a movement, a breath, anything.

Endymion released her hand and put his to the small of her back, getting her attention. Of course everyone had noted their entrance, and were now looking to them. Following her husband's encouragement, Serenity strode over to her daughter, took her hands. "Chibi-usa, what happened?" she asked gently.

"I came to see them on my way to meet you." Her voice was as lifeless as her expression. It was like she was simply reciting a story somebody else had told her. "There was no answer, so I came in looking for them. I found them like this. I... I called Ami, and the med-techs."

Serenity turned to look at Ami, who had walked over from the other side of the big room to join them. Serenity could see the answer in her sad eyes, but had to ask anyway. "Ami?"

"They died hours ago, Serenity. There's nothing we can do. I'm sorry." Her voice was gentle but firm, in the professional manner of a doctor. Of all the people in the room she was doing the best job of hiding her distress. She was probably fooling everybody except Serenity.

"Hours ago?" No, that should not be possible. Her whole universe had changed in the past ten minutes, but she forced herself to think. They took so many precautions here in Crystal Tokyo, did so many things to ensure that nobody could lose the gift of life...

"They switched off their monitor implants," Ami went on. There was just a hint of something in her cool demeanor, maybe anger or bitterness. "They used their highest clearance codes to hide the fact, otherwise we would have been alerted."

"Could somebody have done this to them?" Endymion asked. "Could somebody have killed them and staged this?"

Ami shook her head. "No. It was the poison that killed them, nothing more. This poison brings gradual numbness and drowsiness, they must have known what was happening to them. They just let it... let it run its course."

"The room sensors were still working," Makoto said. She was trying so hard to be strong, but Serenity could see how bewildered and helpless she felt, it was so obvious. "There was nobody else here since last night."

"Last night?" Endymion asked.

"I was here," Chibi-usa said in her wooden voice. "I had dinner with them."

Serenity squeezed her daughter's hands. I am not going to cry. Period. She was very careful about what she asked next. "Chibi-usa... did they say anything that might tell us why they've done this?"

Chibi-usa shook her head. "No, nothing. We just talked, that's all."

Endymion put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "Chibi-usa, you were the last one to see them alive. Can you think of any possible reason why they've done this?"

The despair in her eyes cut Serenity like a knife. "I've been thinking of nothing else since I found them."

"Oh, my dear one..." Serenity could not bear it any longer, she gathered her daughter in a close embrace, which Chibi-usa returned. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." The feeling of guilt weighed down on her heart like an anvil. She should have seen that something was amiss with her two Outer Guardians. How could this have come to pass and her have no inkling at all?

Chibi-usa loosened her embrace and they stepped apart to look into each others eyes again. "Mother... I had no idea either. It's not your fault."

Serenity shook her head. "I... just don't understand. Why? I should have seen something."

"None of us saw it coming," Makoto said, her voice both insistent and imploring, insisting there was no answer but desperate to find one. "It makes no sense, nobody loved life more than they did."

"Loved life?" Serenity turned, shocked at the bitterness she heard in Ami's voice. Absently she noticed the technicians were gone, no doubt dismissed by Ami. "Didn't they love Chibi-usa? Why today? How could they do this to her?"

"You're wrong." Chibi-usa's voice sounded a little less wooden now. There was some color in her face again. "They didn't do this to me, they did this for me."

"What do you mean?" Endymion asked.

"I'm not exactly sure yet."

"Did they leave a note?" Horace asked hesitantly. He seemed very reluctant to interrupt what was in every sense but blood a grieving family.

"We looked," Makoto said curtly. "They left nothing. They've left us nothing at all."

"No, I can't believe that," Chibi-usa said. She spoke softly, to nobody in particular, as if lost in thought. "There's something they're trying to tell us, and this was the only way they could do it. We just have to figure out what it is."

"What could they possibly tell us by taking their own lives?" Ami asked, her anguish and her anger now more obvious. "That our lives are not worth living?"

Chibi-usa just shook her head. "No, not that. Definitely not that."

Serenity heard somebody running towards the room, long light footfalls that could only mean another of her Guardians had come. She turned in time to see Sailor Mars and Sailor Venus enter the room. They were not even winded from their run, of course. They both took in the scene before them, and had two entirely different reactions. Serenity could see in Mars' stern face just hints of the despair that had gripped her own heart upon entering and seeing the truth for herself... like her, Mars had not truly believed until the moment she had seen it for herself. So it was in Venus' case, but her shock nearly caused her to fall. Her sky-blue eyes went wide and her gloved hands flew up to cover her mouth. "Oh no..." she whimpered.

Mars strode over to the group of people clustered around Chibi-usa. It was Serenity's daughter to whom she directed her question. "So it's true?" she asked gently. "They've taken their own lives?"

"Yes."

Rei's gaze swept quickly across her friends' faces. Serenity could almost hear her mind at work, gauging their reactions. In just a moment it must have been obvious to her, they were all just as bewildered as she was. Nobody else understood this either. Mars reached and gently squeezed Chibi-usa's shoulder. "Chibi-usa, I need to perform last rites for them. Will you be okay?"

Chibi-usa hesitated for just a moment. Serenity knew what was happening, that Mars was asking her permission to declare their lives in this world over, and guide them to the next.

Chibi-usa nodded. "Yes. Thank you, Rei."

They all stood in silence as Rei walked over to the foot of the bed, bowed, and in a low, solemn voice performed a rite Serenity had not seen her do in a very long time. The words were still familiar though, and Serenity found herself comforted by them, at least a little. She stole a glance at Minako, who was now standing beside her. This seemed to be hitting her the worst, she was in a greater state of shock than Chibi-usa had been when Serenity first entered. When Rei was done, Serenity discreetly put her free arm, the one that wasn't holding Chibi-usa's hand, around Minako's shoulders. As if without thinking the blonde Guardian stepped closer and slipped her own arm across Serenity's back.

Rei rejoined the group. "Serenity, we don't have much time, we need to decide what we intend to do."

Serenity frowned. "Intend to do?"

"What we mean to do about today's coronation," Horace clarified on Mars' behalf.

Serenity had not been thinking that far ahead. But she knew immediately what her answer was. "We will go ahead exactly as planned. I am not authorizing any announcement about what has happened here today." She looked at her daughter. "Queen Lady Serenity will tell you when and in what way she wishes to break the news."

Serenity was infinitely relieved to see a smile, however small and forced, come across her daughter's face. "Thank you, mother," she said softly, squeezing Serenity's hand tighter.

"Chibi-usa," Endymion said, putting his hand on their daughter's shoulder. "Will you really be okay, going ahead with this today?"

"Yes father, I'll be fine."

"We... we're just going to go on as if nothing happened?" There was disbelief and barely contained hysteria in Minako's shrill voice. Serenity squeezed her tighter. "Minako, we have to," she said softly, looking into her soul-sister's despairing eyes. "I..." I will not cry. "I still don't understand this, but I do know that no matter what, that is what they would have wanted us to do. They did not mean for this to ruin Queen Lady Serenity's coronation, that is the one thing I am absolutely sure of."

"Whatever the case," Mars said, sounding very much as if she were reserving judgment on that point, "I agree we should proceed as planned."

"Then we are agreed?" Serenity said, looking in turn at each face. She got a nod from each, and finally a reluctant one from Minako. There were a hundred things she needed to say to each of them, enough to occupy days. But they had minutes, so however much it hurt it would have to wait. "Horace, none of us can be late for the ceremony preparations."

Her Chamberlain nodded in understanding. "I can make all necessary arrangements for Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune from here. It will take but a few minutes, I will be able to join you at the docking port at the appointed time. The rest of you can take the time to finish your interrupted breakfast... if you wish."

"I doubt any of us will be doing that," Makoto said softly, no doubt correctly speaking for everyone.

"Chamberlain," Chibi-usa said. "Please... I don't want them left alone."

"They will not be," Horace assured her, giving a little bow. "I will remain here until I arrange for a guard detail."

Serenity felt no need to caution Horace to be discreet, he could be depended on. It felt so wrong, just leaving like this. But her instinctive choice had been right, this was the only thing they could do. Everyone looked like they were prepared to go through with this, even Minako. "Then we should go."

In silence, they made their way to the flyer that would take them to the coliseum. If any of the guards and courtiers there noticed anything odd in the demeanor of the Guardians and the royal family, they passed it off as understandable nervousness over what was certainly the most momentous event of the millennium.

# # # # #

Half a million eyes—and many millions more beyond the colossal bowl-shaped coliseum—watched in breathless silence as Queen Serenity laid the light silver crown on her successor's brow. Serenity the Elder stepped aside, and Queen Lady Serenity rose from her kneeling position to turn and face the ocean of humanity that surrounded them. Venus was the first to come to her. Chibi-usa extended a gloved hand, and the Senshi of Love and Beauty knelt, took the hand and kissed it. She looked up into her new queen's eyes, still holding her hand. "My life for you," she said simply. She rose and took her place by her sovereign's side. Mars came next, and pledged herself to the queen in the same way. Then Mercury came. Finally, Jupiter.

When the four Guardians stood flanking the queen, the Chamberlain stepped forward and raised his staff of office. "Long Live Queen Lady Serenity," he called out in his rich baritone voice. The silence was shattered suddenly by the sound of half a million voices, the deafening roar rolling over them like waves of a wild ocean.

I should be feeling something, Queen Lady Serenity thought.

All through the long ceremony, she had been going through the motions. It had felt like just another rehearsal... no, less than that. Even when she had been sick to death of all the dry runs, she had still felt some twinge of anticipation for the coming event. All through the day, she thought that finally, at this moment, her frozen heart would finally melt and she would feel some sense of what this day was supposed to mean for her. But even now, there was nothing. Not even pain or regret, just numbness.

On her way to the podium, Lady Serenity paused just long enough to turn and nod to her Chamberlain. Horace did not react in any way, hiding what was undoubtedly great surprise at this trivial change to the ceremony that simply should not have happened. No doubt he was wondering at the look of apology on her face. This was the only indication he would get of what she was intending to do.

Queen Lady Serenity put her hands upon the white crystal podium and looked out across the sea of faces. Silence descended upon the coliseum once again. It was a beautiful day... naturally, it always was. The only movement now was the little fluffy clouds lazily crawling across the blue afternoon sky.

"Citizens of Crystal Tokyo," she said in a clear voice that was amplified and thrown across the assembly, into millions of homes across the world and sent streaming through space to be spoken seconds or minutes later in the colonies. "Today, I am the bearer of sad news." Right about now all the people who had helped write her speech would be panicking, wondering what was going wrong. They would find out soon enough. "Last night, as I have so many times in the past, I had the pleasure of dining with my two dear friends and mentors, the Guardians Uranus and Neptune. For the last time, as it turns out. Early this morning, I found them both dead in their chambers. They had taken their own lives. Sometime late last night, they had both poisoned themselves. They left no indication of why they had done this. All we know is, Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune have taken their own lives, of their own free will."

A gentle murmur, more a sense of unease than an actual noise, rose from the assembly. She could imagine the thoughts of her subjects. This simply could not be, it was beyond belief. But she would make them believe. "You all knew Haruka and Michiru in one way or another, even if most of you had never met them. Few people have done more than they have to make our world what it is today. There can hardly be a single one of us who does not have a strong impression of these two very remarkable people. An hour hardly seems adequate time to pay tribute to their lives. But I will try."

She spared them nothing. The words flowed of their own accord. What came was little more than stream of consciousness, with little rhyme or reason. The only rule she imposed upon herself was a rough chronological order. She talked long about her second trip into the past, where she first met Haruka and Michiru as friends, and met Sailor Uranus and Sailor Neptune as enigmatic forces, neither friend nor foe. She spoke of what she saw through her child's eyes, of two people who were the very picture of beauty and elegance, and of the shock she felt when she discovered just who they were, and what they had planned for her dear friend Hotaru. She also spoke of how her growth into adulthood had enriched her childhood memories of the two women, had given her a clearer impression of her friends as they were then. They had been truly like the lovebirds of legend then, two creatures with one wing each who could only fly together, who would truly collapse without each other. They had never stopped being two parts of a greater whole, but in time they had each developed the strength to stand alone. When their queen asked them, they had made it their lives' work to pass that strength on to Chibi-usa. Of course everyone knew that, but there was so much they did not know. She told them. In her early years Chibi-usa had often bitterly resented the two harsh taskmasters who would cut her no slack. Only much later did Chibi-usa begin to really understand just what they were trying to pass onto her: the peerless joy to be found in forging oneself into the finest blade one could possibly be. What it took Chibi-usa decades to understand, both Haruka and Michiru had somehow understood instinctively, even whey they were just emerging into adulthood and probably earlier: the state of effortless perfection that would come at the end of the hardest road was in fact the greatest contentment they would ever know. Like them, through harsh discipline Chibi-usa had found the greatest freedom. Only then did she understand what a gift of love they had blessed her with. Everything Haruka and Michiru did together, from making music to joining battle, brought them closer to being yet more perfectly what they truly were. No such opportunity, however trivial or grand, was ever wasted. Right up to the joint concert that had been their last public appearance, right up to the meal that they knew would be their last, with both fierce tenacity and shared joy, they had striven for that perfection.

Lady Serenity paused. Not a sound came from the assembled crowd. She felt that by now it must have sunk in to most everyone that nothing short of the two Senshi's death would prompt their new sovereign to devote her entire coronation speech to them. By now, everyone listening must have realized that Uranus and Neptune were dead and gone. "Considering the sort of lives Haruka and Michiru led, their final act seems all the more inexplicable," she continued. "But they never wasted a moment of their lives when they were with us, so I cannot believe that their last act was a waste either. I can only believe that by this they meant to tell us something, something that could not be expressed in any other way but this. It may be a very long time before I can truly understand what they were trying to express... perhaps I never will. But I do know this. They never truly embraced the Millennium in the way that most of us have. They lived as if they were still in the world of their youth, when life was a precious gift that the world granted reluctantly and snuffed out all too readily. To use a phrase that was commonplace in those days but is rarely heard today, they lived every day as if it could be their last. Yesterday, they..." For the first time Lady Serenity's voice nearly broke. "They proved that. Even when they knew it was their last day, they conducted themselves just as they always had. If we are to take any meaning from their final act, one part of it must surely be that even if we have an eternity of days before us, this day—this moment—is a precious thing that will never return and should be treated accordingly. However long our lives are, the meaning of those lives is derived one day at a time. An endless succession of days, with nothing to distinguish one from the other, would be just as meaningless as a single day with nothing to show for it.

"In this past millennium we have done everything we can to extend life, to make ourselves immortal, to make death a thing of the past. Our victory over death is now as complete as it ever could be. That task is done. So what then should be our new task for the days and years ahead? I think the answer lies in the final message that Haruka and Michiru left for me... for all of us. The answer is that we must discover how we can live with the burden of immortality. For make no mistake, immortality imposes a burden that is far different from the imminent shadow of death that our ancestors lived under, but it is no less real. Without the constant battle with the Fates that were always poised to snuff us out, without the need to protect our lives and those of our loved ones, we find ourselves faced with one simple question: what is it we were so desperately preserving our existence for in the first place?

"I think what Haruka and Michiru were trying to tell us is that we have not answered that question for ourselves yet. More importantly, they were trying to instill in us a sense of urgency. If we do not find that answer soon, it may be too late for us. We might be swallowed up by the eternity that looms before us, doomed to an endless cycle of days that never bring us any closer to that answer. I think what they were telling us is that even if we never die, if we stop growing then we also stop living. One of our tasks in the coming millennium must surely be to discover how each of us individually and all of us together can continue to grow beyond our current limitations. For if we do not, we may be condemning ourselves to something that is the spiritual equivalent of death. Haruka and Michiru found their answer, and lived it every single day. They taught me that I can do likewise, if I choose."

This last part was going to be the hardest. "Citizens of Crystal Tokyo, as you can imagine this is very far from the message I had originally intended to give you today. Thinking now upon what I was to say today, it sounds remarkably naive and self-congratulatory. I was to tell you that all is well in our world and I intend to keep it this way. Well, I no longer believe that all is well with our world. We have won the fight with death, but," Mother, forgive me, "We are losing the fight to stay alive. Today, I pledge to you that I will dedicate myself body and soul to protecting all the people in this domain from the malaise my two departed Guardians were trying to warn us against."

Finally, Lady Serenity came to the only part of her original speech that she had preserved. "Thank you, one and all, for helping me to celebrate my coronation today. I hope for nothing more than to serve you well."

The applause came after a long silence, and then only slowly, taking a while to build as the collective need to join in spread through the crowd. There were no cheers, or none that Lady Serenity could hear. Of course that was to be expected, nobody could be expected to cheer when the whole basis of their lives had just been thrown into question. She managed a warm—though undoubtedly sad—smile as she acknowledged the obligatory approval of the crowd.

The rest of the ceremony went exactly according to schedule. The fireworks went on for nearly as long as her speech had, accompanied by an orchestra of a thousand musicians. It was a symphony written just for the occasion, one that would never be played live again. Lady Serenity approved of that. Unwittingly it would serve as a needed reminder that even for immortals some things could happen only once.

While parties went into full swing all over the world and beyond, Queen Lady Serenity made her entrance at the most exclusive party of all. She smiled and bowed in acknowledgment of the spontaneous wave of applause that came up from the elegantly dressed guests spread out over the grand ballroom. Despite appearances, the events of this party were as well rehearsed as the rest of the day had been. People who had been granted the privilege greeted her in their turn. Some stuck to their stock words of congratulation, showing only subtle signs of awkwardness. Others were brave enough to at least try to give words of condolence, but those words were even more awkward. It had been so long since death had stalked the world, everyone had forgotten the rules by which they used to deal with it. For Lady Serenity, it was yet another sign of just how much had been lost.

It was not until all the arranged greetings had been made that her mother and father approached. They were both dressed quite plainly, with just the minimum level of formality required for the occasion. But one thing had not changed. It took only a polite but firm look from her mother to prompt the nearby courtiers to excuse themselves and go mingle. A moment later Horace started to excuse himself, but Lady Serenity held up her hand, stopping him. She wanted her new Chamberlain to hear what she had to say as well.

Her mother took her hand. "It was a beautiful speech you made, Usagi. I'm sure they would have approved."

Lady Serenity smiled. "Thank you, mother."

"I think you made the right decision," Endymion said. "That was both the proper time, and the proper way."

Lady Serenity was happy to receive her parents' approval. But her face fell. "Mother, father, I'm sorry, I should have at least tried to tell you what I intended to do. And you, Horace. There was time."

Her mother sighed. "Chibi-usa, I know what you're really trying to say," she said gently. "There's nothing to feel sorry for."

Obviously they both understood. "I didn't know how to say it without implying the fault was yours."

Her mother surprised her with a sad smile. "In the beginning I blamed myself for each person in my kingdom who was not happy. Jupiter tells me that my capacity for self-blame seems to be infinite, but not even I could go on like that forever. Neither can you."

"I think what you said is right, Usagi," Endymion said. "Haruka and Michiru were trying to warn us against something, by doing this. Maybe you can see what that thing is more clearly than we can. If we've failed to fight it, maybe you'll succeed."

"You have not failed, father," Lady Serenity said flatly. "You've fought so many enemies, now it's my turn to fight one."

Her mother turned to her former Chamberlain. "Horace, your job may also become more challenging now. My daughter is even more stubborn than I am, and she's on a mission now. Please help her in any way you can."

"Of course, My Lady," Horace said, bowing. "There is nothing I would not do for either of you."

"I know," she said, smiling.

"Horace, what arrangements are you making?" Lady Serenity asked hesitantly. She had been given no time to think of it, had really not wanted to think of it at all.

"The Lady Mercury is satisfied that no..." he hesitated for just a moment, frowning as if the next word were an unfamiliar one. "No autopsy is required. Therefore we have called for an... embalmer, I believe he's called. He will prepare Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune for their funeral. I have called a meeting for tomorrow morning. With your approval, I would like to recommend a state funeral for three days hence."

Lady Serenity nodded. "We've never had a state funeral in Crystal Tokyo."

"A long time ago, with the Lady Mars' cooperation we drew up contingency plans for a ceremony should the need arise. She will be joining me at tomorrow's meeting to review them."

Leave it to Rei to think of everything, Lady Serenity thought. "Thank you, Horace. I'll leave it in your hands."

Her mother and father left the party early, as had been planned. The very next morning they would be leaving for their chateau in the Alps. They had not offered to stay on longer, which must have been very hard for both of them, especially her mother. But Serenity was grateful, it was an emphatic gesture of trust that she could deal with the task ahead of her. Lady Serenity herself stayed only as long as was required by propriety. Her departure was met by another spontaneous round of applause, which she acknowledged gracefully.

As she walked down the vaulted crystalline hallway, its lights now dimmed for the night, Serenity was escorted by the leader of her Guardians, Sailor Venus. "How are you holding up, Minako?"

Venus managed a weak smile. "I didn't cry. Neither did your mom."

"It would have been okay, you know."

Minako's expression became troubled, and she looked away. "I wonder if we've forgotten how," she said quietly.

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what I mean."

Lady Serenity rested a hand on her Guardian's shoulder as they walked down the vast, silent corridor. "It's been a very long time since any of us has really had reason to cry."

Minako fixed her with a look she could only describe as desperate. "Serenity, is it wrong for us to be happy all the time? Is that what they were trying to tell us?"

"No, I don't think so. They were the two happiest people I have ever met. Even in battle they found something more satisfying than just an adrenaline rush, you could always tell."

"Then I just don't understand."

"Neither do I, Minako. At least not yet. But they staked their lives on the belief that we would understand, so one way or another I'm going to uncover the meaning behind this. You can count on it."

"I'm not sure I'll like the answer you'll find."

Lady Serenity sighed. "I have the feeling the answer is not going to be something any of us wants. But it will be something we need."

Minako shook her head. "But there must have been some other way."

"Maybe there was. But for whatever reason they thought this was the best way. And they would never settle for anything less."

"I know," Minako said sadly. "They were funny that way, weren't they?"

Serenity halted at a transit tube entrance. "I'd like to go see them for a moment, before I turn in."

Minako nodded, obviously understanding she meant alone. "Good night Serenity."

They embraced. "Good night Minako. See you tomorrow." It was the first time she had thought of it today, but they really would be seeing each other bright and early, at a very public breakfast where all the Guardians would be in attendance. And so it would begin, the process of bringing the new Queen into the workings of the Crystal Tokyo machine. Serenity stepped into the weightless entry chamber and spoke her destination. Silently, the transit tube whisked her to the place it had taken her to this morning, what now seemed to be ages ago when the world was simpler. A new guard stood at the door now. His role was largely symbolic since the door itself would admit none but those who were allowed, but Serenity was glad for his presence. Having just machines watching over her departed friends was somehow distasteful.

When she entered the bedroom, Serenity stopped dead, surprised at who she found there. In place of the guard she had been expecting, there was an unusual man. He was unusual both in his dress and his manner. The black suit he wore was a variation on a pre-Millennium style that had been in vogue centuries ago. It almost reminded her of her father's outfit from his Tuxedo Kamen days, right down to the white gloves, though this man's suit was far less ostentatious and more sedate. He bore himself like a priest in the middle of a ceremony, though at the moment he was bent over a bulky piece of machinery that had been wheeled into the room. His only reaction to her entry was to rise from where he was working and then bow to her. "Good evening, your majesty," he said in a manner that was at once warm and solemn.

Serenity was rather taken aback. "I'm sorry, you are...?"

"Henry Jastrow, your majesty. The undertaker, here by your Chamberlain's summons."

"Oh..." Serenity vaguely remembered hearing about this man. He really was the undertaker, the only one left. The number of suicides and freak accidents in all of Crystal Tokyo were probably not enough to keep even just him fully occupied. "I'm sorry to interrupt your work."

"Not at all, Lady Serenity," he said pleasantly. "I am done here for the day."

"Done? Oh, I see." Upon entering the room, Serenity had immediately registered the fact that Haruka and Michiru had been moved. They were now on their backs, side by side on a new bed sheet, dressed in white robes, their hands crossed over their chest. The pain in her own chest that she had been trying to ignore all day suddenly settled heavily down upon her.

The undertaker's look of sympathy seemed to indicate he understood the state she was in. "I'm sorry for your loss, Lady Serenity. There is never a good time for this, but it can't be easy to have it happen on a day like today."

Serenity frowned in puzzlement. "Perhaps you missed my announcement, did nobody inform you of the circumstances?"

Jastrow nodded. "Yes, they did, and I was listening as I worked. I believe you're right, this was a supreme act of love, and a warning to us all."

Serenity was surprised at his comment. "An act of love? I don't recall saying that."

He smiled warmly. "No, but I could hear it in your voice, your majesty. And there could be no other reason that would prompt people like the Lady Uranus and Lady Neptune to take their lives."

"You must be the only living person who has to deal with this on a regular basis." Serenity was surprised at her own frank comment, wondering why she had said that.

"Thankfully not on a regular basis, Lady Serenity. And suicides are even rarer than accidents."

Serenity felt odd asking this, but something was telling her that she should. "Were you an undertaker before the millennium, Mister Jastrow?"

"Yes your majesty, in London."

"It must have been easier on people then. Everybody died, it was just a matter of when."

He shook his head. "No my Lady, I'm afraid it was no easier then. However common death is, it always comes as a shock. Even soldiers in the thick of battle never think it's going to be them or their friends. Our loved ones become a part of us, so when they leave us they take part of us with them and leave us with a feeling of emptiness. That has never changed."

Lady Serenity had an image of this man speaking these same words to people over the centuries, a lone figure trying to explain this thing that the current age tried to pretend had been left behind in the past. She put a hand to her heart, the source of her pain. "The last time I felt this was as a child, when my mother lay between life and death. But she came back to me, and the pain went away."

"So you're afraid this pain will never go away." Lady Serenity just nodded. "It will, my Lady. When the empty space heals over, you will see just how much they left behind for you. Of course you will miss them, we all will. But eventually it won't hurt any more."

Lady Serenity smiled. "I am happy to know you are doing this service in my kingdom, Mister Jastrow."

He bowed, taking the compliment graciously. "I will bid you good night, my Lady." He walked over to the plain black cart, presumably holding his embalming equipment. She was surprised to see him wheel it out of the room by hand, something that bulky would normally be placed on a transport droid. She found herself smiling. Like most everyone else in Crystal Tokyo he looked twenty-three years old, but right now he seemed to be ancient, a man from an era long gone.

Lady Serenity walked over to the bed and gazed down at Haruka and Michiru. After a while, she sighed. Maybe Minako's right, we've forgotten how to cry. In the end there were only two things she wanted to say. "I know you did this for me, I won't let it go to waste. Thank you for sharing your last meal with me." She turned to go, but halfway to the door she stopped. Standing in the corner with her hands folded in front of her was Haruka and Michiru's servant droid. As always, she was dressed in her black and white maid's outfit. An identifying character was tattooed on her forehead, as was required by law for humanic types. Lady Serenity knew her well, she had been with her masters for almost a century. What was she doing standing there? Then Lady Serenity remembered. The droid had come upon her here this morning, attracted by the sound of Chibi-usa shouting desperate pleas for help into the com-unit. She had asked what was wrong, and without even thinking Chibi-usa had ordered her to stand aside and wait. God, everyone's been ignoring her all day. "Alice, please come here."

Alice walked over to her and bowed. "Good evening, Queen Lady Serenity. Congratulations on your coronation." Normally there was good inflection in her voice, but now she spoke in a polite but wooden fashion, which matched the slightly distressed look on her face. She was the most intelligent sort of droid allowed by law. Despite their ability to speak, Sailor Mercury—who had been instrumental in adapting the Black Moon technology—always insisted they had at best an animal level of consciousness. As such they were granted no freedom per se but were protected by law from cruel treatment, just as animals were. People generally treated them kindly, as was their right.

"Thank you, Alice." Serenity hesitated for a moment. "Alice, do you understand what's happened here today?"

"Yes Ma'am. The Lady Uranus and the Lady Neptune have taken their lives."

"Yes, that's right. I'm sorry."

Alice was fidgeting a little. "Ma'am, may I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Did my masters every say that they were dissatisfied with my service?"

Oh God. "No Alice, I'm sure they weren't."

"Then... I didn't do anything wrong?"

Serenity sighed. "No, you didn't. They had other reasons for ending their lives. They're complicated reasons, but they have nothing to do with you. Haruka and Michiru liked you very much."

"I see. Thank you, ma'am."

Serenity presumed Horace would be making some arrangement to have the droid reassigned. But somehow she just couldn't leave Alice here. She'd never had a humanic droid, but... "Alice, I'm going to reassign you to new duties. I'd like you to come serve at my apartment."

Alice smiled, most of her agitation gone now. "Thank you, ma'am."

Serenity found herself wondering just how much the droid understood the situation. She seemed to be feeling some sense of loss, in her own way. "Please accompany me."

They had left the transit tube and were walking to Serenity's apartment when she was surprised to hear the droid's voice again. "My Lady?"

"Yes Alice?"

"I think I'll need to go to maintenance."

"Why, what's wrong?" She turned to look at the droid.

Alice pointed to her face. "My eyes are leaking. I can't make it stop."

Serenity just stood and stared for a moment. Tears were streaming down the droid's ivory cheeks. The pleasant smile that usually graced her doll face had not returned. "Alice... you've realized that you'll never see Haruka and Michiru again, haven't you?"

"Yes ma'am."

Serenity reached up and wiped her tears away. "Don't worry Alice, it will stop soon. There's nothing wrong with you at all."

It's us there's something wrong with, she thought to herself.

# # # # #

Entering the great common room that served as the entrance-way to each of the four Guardians' apartments, Ami finally allowed herself to relax a little. She willed her Senshi uniform into its pocket dimension, to be replaced by a simple blue dress. The state funeral had not gone on nearly as long as the coronation three days ago had, but it had seemed much longer to her. Mainly because she had spent the whole time wondering why she could feel nothing other than anger.

Lady Serenity and Lady Mars had both given lovely eulogies. They had repeated the themes of Serenity's coronation speech: Uranus and Neptune had given their lives to warn us that eternity was going to swallow us whole and leave us as things no more alive than the machines that served us, unless we took heed and started demanding of ourselves that we continue to grow.

But somehow it just did not ring true for Ami. She had been growing her entire life, and so had all her friends and loved ones, each in their own way. Of course there were those who demanded little of themselves and got themselves stuck in a rut. But that had always been so, immortality had nothing to do with it. And if there were people who found contentment in the familiar, who wished for nothing beyond what they already had, who was she to judge? Who the hell were Haruka and Michiru to judge?

Ami shook her head. There it was, the anger again. Anger over what to her was nothing but a useless, tragic waste.

She spotted Minako sitting on the big U-shaped couch that dominated the center of the room. The blonde smiled and waved. "Hi Ami."

"Hi Minako." She had noticed Minako leaving the reception early, was not surprised to find her here. Ami went over to join her.

"Stop!" Ami froze at Minako's exclamation, startled. The blonde stood abruptly and pointed. "You have to do the salt thing."

"What? Oh..." She remembered now, it was a funeral custom from pre-Millennium days. She looked to where Minako was pointing and picked up the salt shaker from the shelf on the post of the trellis that formed an entryway to the sunken conversation pit and the apartments beyond. "Minako, is this really what we're supposed to use?"

"It's salt, isn't it?"

Ami sighed. As Rei was fond of pointing out, symbolism was usually lost on her, so she was hardly one to be arguing the finer points of a symbolic death ritual. She tossed a bit of salt on the ground, replaced the shaker and went to sit down. "Been here long?"

"No, just got back from the Intelligence meeting."

"Any problems?"

"Nothing to speak of. I authorized covert suicide watches on some of the cults, but they've been pretty quiet."

Ami was relieved to hear that. It had been their greatest fear, that people would interpret Uranus' and Neptune's gesture as a call to follow them in death. The Guard were now authorized to take into custody anyone openly encouraging people to do just that, but so far there had been no incidents. People just seemed to be shocked and confused over the whole thing. "Are you doing okay?"

"I wish people would stop asking me that. We should save our sympathy for Serenity, she's the one most hurt by this."

Ami put a hand on her arm. "Sorry, I don't mean to be patronizing."

"I know that, Ami."

"It's just that you really seemed to be hit the hardest by this, that's all."

Minako shook her head sadly. "Lady Serenity and Rei are two of the wisest people I know. So I listened really carefully to everything they said to all of us today. But I still don't get it. I'm sorry, I just don't get it."

"You want me to tell you something, Minako? I don't get it either."

"I know. I was watching you today," Minako said hesitantly. "You looked almost like you were mad at them."

"I am, Minako," Ami said, feeling no shame now that she had finally said it to someone. "I think they've done a terrible thing, not just to themselves but to all of us. They've told us that the world we've built isn't worth living in. How are we supposed to feel about that, what are we supposed to do with that? If they thought something was wrong, why didn't they just come out and say it? We would have listened."

Minako nodded. "That's the worst part. I agree they must have had something to tell us. But they thought that all of us, even our Queen, are so dense that the only way they could get through to us was to break our hearts." She looked away and was silent for a while, as if she were trying to calm down. "I still can't believe they're gone," she said in a much softer voice.

"I know."

They sat silently right up to when Rei and Makoto walked in. Ever observant, Rei spotted the salt shaker on her own. She gave Minako a warm smile that held just a touch of irony. She performed the ritual, and Makoto followed suit. "Anyone game for some okinomiyaki?" Makoto asked. Ami wasn't really hungry, but she made it unanimous anyway. They moved over to the bar and talked while Makoto got things ready for making her special grilled cakes. When business talk petered out, Ami ventured to ask whether Lady Serenity would be joining them.

"I asked her," Makoto said. "She said she'd have to pass. More meetings on the Colony rotation program."

"I think she wants to push that through while people are still in shock," Rei added. "It might even work, too."

"She needs to be careful," Ami said. "If she tries to push through too many changes too soon, people may call it a hysterical reaction to her Guardians' suicides."

"She knows that," Rei said. "She's just using this as an opportunity to get an early start on setting her agenda. I'm sure she understands these things take time."

"There are a lot of people who agree with her that Haruka and Michiru were trying to tell us we need to change a lot of things," Minako said. "But nobody really seems to know what that is. There's a lot of argument, and there's going to be a lot more. I wish they'd left us with something."

"Maybe the argument is the point," Rei said. "They've got people thinking about things they probably haven't thought about in a very long time."

"I heard somebody ask a question I hadn't really thought about," Minako said. "What happens to their talismans?"

Rei gave that infuriating, enigmatic smile that usually said you've asked something far simpler or far deeper than you know. "You might as well ask what happens to their souls. If a new Sailor Uranus or Sailor Neptune is born, will they receive the talismans or were they born with new ones?"

"So what do you think?" Makoto asked. Her hands were automatically mixing ingredients, not requiring her attention at all.

"About their Talismans, or their souls?"

"Both."

Rei sighed. "We know that we were all reincarnated at least once. Pluto recognized us easily enough when she met us all that time ago... maybe we'll recognize Haruka and Michiru if they come back to us."

"I wonder if they'll still be soul-mates?" Minako asked.

"I couldn't imagine them not being," Makoto said.

"Is that why they were able to do this?" Minako asked. "Because they knew they'd come back one day?"

"They were never forthcoming about what exactly they believed," Rei said. "But even if they did believe that, they must have known full well that they might come back as utterly different people who had no memory of each other. Look at us... only Serenity and Endymion really remember being together in the Moon Kingdom. The rest of us may very well have had lovers or husbands. But if their reincarnations appeared before us we wouldn't know them from Adam."

"Whatever way you slice it, they were still sacrificing their lives for something," Makoto said. She winced slightly at the unintended pun... she was in the middle of slicing onions. "Certainly they were sacrificing their love for one another, which for them was more than life."

"Or at least they thought they were," Ami said, trying to keep the bitterness from her voice.

"Poor Lady Serenity," Minako said quietly. "She really thinks she's the one who has to make sense of this. If she can't..."

"She will," Makoto said. "In fact, I think she has."

That got Ami's attention. "She's been rather vague about it, has she said something to you?"

"No, nothing in particular. I've just noticed little changes in the past couple of days. She doesn't look as... desperate. At the very least she knows that she can figure out what they were trying to say, and what she needs to do. She'll talk to us about it when she's ready."

Ami didn't say anything further on the subject. She had known her new queen for almost as long as she had known Lady Serenity's predecessor, and had come to love and trust her just as much. But she couldn't help feeling trepidation for what was to come.

# # # # #

"Honey, will you please relax?" Endymion said.

"I am relaxed," Serenity said, not looking at him.

"Then why are you pacing?"

"I just feel restless. I haven't been getting enough exercise lately."

"Really? I think we've been getting plenty," Endymion said in a suggestive voice.

He avoided the swat but not the backhand. "I don't want to hear any talk like that when our daughter gets here."

"Boy, you'd think the Queen was coming to dinner or something."

Serenity showed her tongue. "She is, smart-aleck." And out of the blue, too. Of course it had been over four months since the coronation, so it was high time for a visit. But she'd hardly called at all before now. Of course the new queen would be outrageously busy, nobody knew that more than the old queen, but still...

Endymion stepped closer to the enormous picture window that covered an entire wall of the vaulted living room, and peered out into the blue sky. "That would be her flyer now."

Serenity joined him. Sure enough, a skiff with the markings of the royal family was making its way towards them, cruising far over the white-capped mountain tops. It needed to, for the main complex of Serenity's chateau straddled the tallest peak in this part of the Japanese Alps. A moment later, the majordomo droid announced their imminent arrival. They walked over to the window that pierced the wall between the house and hangar, and waited. "Honestly, It's been a long time since I've seen you this agitated," Endymion said, more seriously now.

"This is more than a visit," Serenity said. "I could hear it in her voice. She's planning something, dear, something she doesn't think we're going to like. She's come here to tell us first." Serenity had stopped herself before saying "ask us first"... Endymion would have been all over her for that, just as he should be.

The clam-shell roof of the hangar opened, and the skiff settled silently into place. Almost immediately, the side door swung down. The door had not even settled down onto the hangar floor when Chibi-usa—in this house she would never be called anything but Chibi-usa—was running down the stairway on the door's inner face, waving happily.

"Oh, she is such a showoff," Serenity complained. The thin air was just barely breathable at this altitude, which was why the hangar had to be pressurized. "And what is she wearing?"

"You should recognize it," Endymion said with an amused tone.

"I should think so." Either Chibi-usa had lied about having it recycled, or she had made a new one for herself. Chibi-usa ran over to the window, waved again and blew kisses to both of them. A moment later the hangar roof closed. Chibi-usa alternated between putting her palms against the glass over theirs, or briskly rubbing her arms and shivering theatrically while the airlock cycled. She looked like she was giggling between trying to get enough of the rarefied air into her lungs, but the hurricane blast of the airlock blowers that was whipping her dress and hair all around her was also drowning out any sound. Serenity found herself laughing as well, but a small part of her was wondering about this... she was sure her instincts were right about the importance of this meeting, this was not how she expected it to begin.

They had to wait for the air in the hanger to match that in the chateau, which was kept at the same pressure as the lower chateau in the valley five thousand meters below. When the doorway finally opened, Serenity stepped over to it just on time to have Chibi-usa crash into her arms. "Eeeyaaa, it's cold up here!" she squealed.

"Silly girl, you're freezing. And look at you, you're a mess." Almost without thinking she started running her hands through her daughter's long pigtails, easily working out the tangles the airlock blowers had left in them.

"Sorry, I can't hear you, my ears are popping." Chibi-usa gave her a kiss then went over to give her father a hug.

"I hope you didn't wear that at the palace," Serenity said.

"Of course not," Chibi-usa said, spreading out the dress and curtsying, displaying it for both her parents to see. "I changed on the skiff. I don't know why, I just felt like wearing it today."

It was, as far as anyone could remember, a very faithful recreation of the black and purple dress she had worn when the Wiseman had transformed her into Black Lady. Serenity had thought it to be in questionable taste when Chibi-usa had surprised everyone with it at a private party with the Senshi many years ago. She wasn't sure whether she appreciated it much more now. But there was no denying it looked good on her.

The three of them shared a very pleasant dinner. It wasn't long before it felt something like the many times they had met Chibi-usa for dinner after one of her long tours of the colonies. They caught up on what business and pleasure had been keeping them occupied, mainly the former for Chibi-usa and mainly the latter for her parents. And now it was Chibi-usa who was the bearer of palace gossip... not that Serenity was without other contacts, of course.

Later, they all took brandy and sat by the great picture window to chat further. The lights were dimmed now, affording them a spectacular view of the white mountain peaks around them bathed in silvery moonlight. Eventually, Chibi-usa broke a comfortable silence with a voice that had suddenly become more serious. "Mother, father, there's something I need to show you." She pulled a small case like a compact from a fold of her dress that concealed a pocket. She removed a small piece of paper, unfolded it, and held it out to Endymion. He took it and looked down at it. He frowned, and looked back at their daughter. "Chibi-usa, where did you find this?"

"In Haruka and Michiru's room, that morning I found them."

Serenity's heart skipped a beat. The subject had not even come up all night... she and Endymion had agreed they would not speak of it unless Chibi-usa did. "They left a note?" She asked, utterly shocked. "Chibi-usa, why did you not tell anyone?"

"Serenity, I think you should have a look," Endymion said, holding the paper out. His tone and his look implied the rest: look before you say anything else. Serenity took the paper and held it before her. Even in the dim light she recognized Haruka's handwriting, and could read it easily. She shook her head in confusion and looked back up at her daughter. "Just this, nothing more?"

She nodded. "Just that. They knew I was coming to see them in the morning, knew I'd be the one to find them. Those five words are a message to me."

Serenity hesitated... she had to ask the question, but it was so unfair, so impossible to ask of anyone. "Chibi-usa... do you have any idea what it means?"

"I may never be sure what they meant. But Michiru always told me that everyone needed to find their own meaning in her music. I've been hung up on what they meant, but I think what they wanted was for me to find my own meaning."

"And you have?" Endymion asked.

"Yes. It's simple, really. I'm going to ask the question they asked. I'm going to ask everyone the same question that Haruka and Michiru asked me," she said, pointing to the paper.

Serenity put the paper down on the little table at her side. "Chibi-usa, what is it you intend to do?" she asked solemnly.

Chibi-usa did not react at all to her mother's change in tone. She answered immediately, almost casually. "When we built Crystal Tokyo, one of the first things we did was transfer some of the healing power of the Ginzuishou into the structure of the city itself. Anyone living in the city has eternal life, and is virtually free from disease, just by being there. When we first started establishing off-world colonies, Mercury and her staff did a very careful study of the people who were now living outside the city's energy field. They showed some signs of the healing energy fading. It was barely detectable, and they estimated it would be at least a thousand years before it would fade enough for people to start aging or succumbing to disease again. As long as they spent a single day within Crystal Tokyo once every thousand years, they would show no ill effects."

"Yes, I recall Mercury explaining this," Endymion said.

Serenity also remembered. She was hardly able to speak. "Chibi-usa... do you mean to change the healing field?"

"Yes, I do. I'm going to wait at least a year before I make an announcement, but I intend to turn off the healing field. Crystal Tokyo will no longer be a city of immortals. It will be a city of people who live for a thousand years."

It was a long while before Serenity could calm herself sufficiently to ask her question in a coherent way. "Chibi-usa..." she asked in a strained voice. "A thousand years from now, when people who are facing death come to you... and beg for their lives... what do you intend to do?"

"They won't need to beg anyone, mother. I intend to give them another thousand years of life, if that's what they want."

"What?" Serenity breathed, not understanding this at all.

Chibi-usa answered calmly. "There will be a place in Crystal Tokyo where the healing field will remain. Anybody who has not been there for a thousand years will be allowed to enter, if they choose. They only need to spend a day there. The healing energy they receive will last for another thousand years."

"Oh God..." Serenity nearly collapsed from relief.

Chibi-usa was suddenly on her lap, hugging her tightly. "You weren't wrong, mother," she said softly into her ear. "People should be able to live free from the shadow of death, if they choose. You were right about that. I'm just giving them the choice again. I'm just asking the question that Haruka and Michiru asked. Everyone will be free to answer in their own way. That will never change."

Serenity returned her embrace. "Ever since the Black Moon rebellion, I've often thought about why they hated us so. I wondered if they may be right, if I really had committed a horrible crime when I banished death from the world."

Chibi-usa leaned back and looked into her eyes, smiling. "I'm sorry, mother, I didn't mean to make you think of that again. Maybe I shouldn't have worn this after all."

Serenity surprised herself by laughing. "I was so scared of what you intended to do. If you ever wear this again I think I will be in mortal dread."

"Did you really think I would let death rule over us again?"

Serenity kissed her. "I know that you could never do that. I was just afraid that you had forgotten yourself, that's all."

"If I had, they would put me straight soon enough."

Yes, they certainly would. Just as they had set her straight so many times when they were her guardians.

When Chibi-usa returned to her seat, Endymion was the first to speak. "Chibi-usa, do you think anyone will choose not to take the Ginzuishou's healing power? Do you really think anyone will choose to die?"

"I don't know, father," Chibi-usa said. "It will be another thousand years before we really find out. I'm more interested in how this will change people's thinking. It will mean that everyone has to do something, even if it's as trivial as showing up at the palace once every thousand years, in order to stay alive. It's not just a matter of giving people the choice. I think it's important for people to see that they have some responsibility in maintaining their lives, even if it's only by making a simple gesture that says they think their lives are still worthwhile. How we face this question is going to tell us things about ourselves, things we need to know."

"You're going to have to do this very carefully," Endymion said. "Free access to the healing energies of Crystal Tokyo is the very basis of our society. You can't be perceived as imposing conditions for access to it."

"I'll make that clear right from the start," Chibi-usa said. "The only condition I'll impose is that everyone show up here for a day, once every thousand years."

Endymion smiled. "I doubt anyone can complain about that. It's certainly a bargain."

"Of course, when we start colonizing other stars, I'll probably have to establish places in each star system where people can go for the healing. Traveling many light-years could be perceived as unreasonable."

"I can see you've been thinking about this," Endymion quipped. "It's important that nobody think you're making them jump through hoops for this."

Chibi-usa smiled. "Well, I might make them fill out a form."

"That's it," Endymion said sharply. "This is an utterly evil and depraved idea you've hatched. Why, I ought to give you a spanking right here and now."

Usagi put a hand to her chin and scratched it meditatively. "Hmmmm..."

"And what exactly are you thinking of, young lady?"

"About whether I want to take you up on your offer."

Serenity sighed and shook her head, looking very world-weary. "Honestly, you two..." That was one running joke she wished would go the way of the dinosaurs.

# # # # #

Queen Lady Serenity had been asleep for just a few minutes when Ethereal Pluto materialized over her bed.

The translucent form of the Senshi of Time floated over the sleeping queen, seeming to be standing on the air itself, holding her long Time Staff in both hands. She just watched silently for a while, her expression neutral. "I'm sorry, my dear sister," she said in a sad voice that none but her would here. "Everyone's life is about to become much more complicated. Yours, especially. I'm afraid you have not tamed the fates, not yet."

After another moment, she turned and floated over to the other end of the queen's bedroom. There was a sort of shrine there, with candles, a place for incense, and two elaborately framed photographs. They really were photographs, no doubt taken before the Millennium. They were discolored slightly with age, but the two smiling faces each had a charm that made it difficult to notice the shortcomings of the medium they were displayed in. The center of this shrine to the Senshi Uranus and the Senshi Pluto was a single piece of paper, vacuum-sealed in glass that would preserve it for all time. Only if you looked closely could you see that the page had been folded. It bore a single line, written with the finest penmanship. Who wants to live forever?

The stoic mask that had been held for who knows how long suddenly melted, and Pluto's lip curled into an approving smile.

"You tell 'em, sister. You tell 'em."

The End

Author's Postscript.

The circumstances of Haruka and Michiru's suicide, and the message they left, were ideas Greenbeans came up with. I would like to thank her for sharing this story idea with me and letting me run with it.

And I'd like to thank John Hitchens for granting me the title of runner-up BLECH. If you don't know what that means, don't worry about it.