Gundam Wing Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Give a Reason ❯ Prologue: The Ungrantable Wish ( Prologue )

Thanks go to D-chan mouto ^^ let's see if this inspires her to rewrite a favorite of mine, eh? ^^

**

Prologue: The Ungrantable Wish

Her heart was breaking.

Or at least that was how it felt to the elderly queen. She was like an ever blossoming rose. Neither age nor anything else could ever make her wither. And as the tears trailed like raindrops down her eternally fair cheeks she once again remembered just how much she hated this 'gift.' For though she looked so young, she was in fact well over a thousand, yet her beloved husband whom she had cherished and cared for had succumbed to his human fate of dying of old age. He had survived so many battles and conflicts and in the end the great 'Tuxedo Kamen' was taken down by time itself.

She hated this curse so. No matter how she had begged and pleaded both the keeper of time and her own holy gem, she was never able to stop his aging. She watched him wither in front of her and nothing could have hurt so badly. To be immortal and watch your loved ones die around you… it was more horrifying than any monster she had ever encountered. A fate she never wanted to have to suffer again. So that left one choice…

"Holy Ginzuishou," the words were like a caress as she spared the tiny gem a glance. The gem sat on a pedestal between her and her husband's throne. She had wanted it there to prove how much she loved and trusted him, and he had always understood. Her Mamo-chan… She wanted to beg for his life to be returned, but before the time keeper had passed on she had been warned that such a wish would be pointless. But maybe this wish wouldn't be…

She stared at the tearful young woman that was reflected on its surface. It hurt knowing that was her. That she looked just like she had when she became ruler. "Ginzuishou," this time her voice had trickled to a plea as she picked up the gem and held it tight enough for its edges to cut into her skin. "Let me die," the words spilled from her lips as easily as the tears that fell from her eyes. She didn't want to live without them anymore. She couldn't handle it. "Please…"

The gem began to flash a variety of colors as it felt its Mistress's pain. It flickered as it sought to channel energy to grant the wish before falling silent in her hand before making the attempt again. The idea that her dreams just might have a chance of being achieved was almost enough to make her weep in hope. But she dared not give lease to this thought, she knew if she did then she would most likely be denied her fondest dream.

She was on the verge of praying to it as memories hit her again. Memories that hadn't touched her mind since the days they had happened. Memories of her friends' funerals... She had outlived every single one of her senshi, and that included Pluto. Early on before her Mamo-chan even showed signs of aging they had all met up with mortals they didn't want to live without. They seemed to realize their loved ones would wither and die in front of them. That and the fact that the senshi excluding her of course, could not bare children. She had interceded on their behalf and managed to break the spells that stopped them from living lives full of love and family… But their immortality was taken in the process. Not a single one was left.

Back then it had seemed romantic and heartwarming. She had even been the godmother of all that had children. But… The children were all old now, they had moved away when their parents died. Honestly she couldn't blame them, she wished she could easily escape the heartbreak that being here caused. She'd give up anything to join them. Her friends.

The first funeral had knocked her over. It had seemed surreal and like a giant dream. She hadn't known the gray dried up form in the casket. That hadn't been her sweet Ami-chan that had always chided her to study harder. That hadn't been the young doctor that had solved so many diseases that people claimed incurable before her death. No… It had been an old stranger who had reached the end of her life span. She hadn't even cried over her old friend.

The next death wasn't any easier.

How could the old figure in the coffin be compared to Makoto? She didn't look like the girl that had valiantly saved her, nor did she resemble the graceful woman who had opened a café and flower shop. It had been like a trance being at that funeral. While everyone wept she had stared blankly. Some of the others hadn't forgiven her for failing to show emotion at two of her best friends' funerals.

What kind of monster had she become? They looked so different compared to her who still looked as she had on her wedding day. Minako's death hadn't improved her memory as once again she stared emotionlessly at the figure tucked snugly in the wooden box. Of course it was a pretty box, but it was still made of nothing but mere wood. You would think that the girl who had been Crystal Tokyo's sweetheart, the greatest actress that had ever lived, would have gotten something better than being condemned to having her mortal remains rot away in a box of plain ordinary wood.

But Rei's death was different. Though the form still wasn't the young woman who had worked so hard to keep Crystal Tokyo safe, she could still see traces of her best friend in the worn features. It was shameful to know that the only senshi she had shed tears for was the senshi of fire. Hadn't the others deserved her grief just as much? But as she looked at the peaceful and happy expression on Rei's face….It had torn her heart to shreds. She had cried hard releasing all of her loneliness that had come about as her friends were taken one by one. After Rei had been put to rest no more tears had trailed down her cheeks. That was until her husband's death, he had been the only link that kept her hanging onto life. As he died she realized she wanted to join him, she'd do anything to join him.

She had known he was going to die of old age, she had watched him do so. The Ginzuishou had granted him a much longer lifetime than he would have originally had, he was able to live for a thousand years by her side. But even that amount of time seemed like a single drop in the entire ocean when she realized while everyone else around her seemed to get older, she remained fresh and young. He had even teased her about it, claimed the Ginzuishou couldn't allow such a beautiful woman to turn into an old fart like his self. His smiles and touches had been so soft, so kind. He must have known what she refused to believe, that she would live far longer than he would. He had even tried to encourage her to take another partner once his age caught up to him. It had been their first fight and their last….

After his death she found out she was truly immortal. And it didn't happen by some great revelation, things were never so simple or kind for her. No, she found out a week after his body had been laid to rest inside the cold harsh ground. It had taken all her willpower not to throw herself on his casket and refuse to leave his side when it happened… It had been so hard, and exactly a week later all the pressures came to a peak inside of her.

She couldn't handle it anymore. She had tried but the pain was so great. It hurt so much. She couldn't just grieve for him, it hurt to know it was the fate of everyone around her. All those she talked to, all those she smiled at. They would all one day suffer the same indignity. She just couldn't deal with such a thing.

She had learned she was truly immortal when she awoke from the swoon she caused when she sliced her wrists and stained the flawless black floor with a wave of pure white blood. She remembered seeing the color and staring at in horror before blacking out. Her daughter had found her the next morning, a woman that already looked double her own age.

Her daughter, her Chibiusa-chan hated her with a passion. She blamed her for the deaths of the senshi and of course the death of her own Father. The woman was convinced that the seemingly young ruler should have known of all the powers of the holy gem. That she should have realized taking away the Ginzuishou's powers and turning the senshi into normal women was a death sentence. That the Queen was responsible for the death of Pluto, the dearest friend to the Princess. She had yelled and fought with her mother after she had found her on the ground. Called her every name in the book and then some, claimed that because of her that she Chibiusa would never get to rule Crystal Tokyo as was her birth right. That Usagi as she was once known, didn't deserve the throne anymore and had demanded it from her. She had denied the girl such a thing and Chibiusa had left…

Serenity's eyes were unfocused as she stared at the darkening gem. Even it was denying her. Had she deserved this punishment somehow? Had she not performed a task she was destined to do so? Perhaps… Perhaps it was because she forced the world to see things from her view? In the creation of the utopia she had achieved she had done little more than brainwash people into believing as she did. Surely this was punishment for such a gesture?

A stream of tears leaked onto the holy gem as she wept again. If she could go back in time she would have undone it all. She would have been greedy and denied the senshi their wish,. She felt horrible for realizing such a thing but she was too weak, too much of a coward to go through this all by herself. She needed them by her side and it was something she couldn't do a thing about. She would have never cleansed the Earth, maybe that was what turned her mortal blood into something more like a Goddess's? All of her life she had just wanted to be normal… a wish that could never come true.

The crystal shined as her tears struck it. It was connected to her and seemed to realize the distress she was in. It vibrated hard, almost enough to knock itself out of her hands, as she desperately held her breath. After all this time… Would it? A fountain of multiple colors of lights seemed to erupt from it and she gasped in wonder as this dazzling light seemed to swirl around her. It was like being inside a rainbow and seeing colors that had never even been discovered.

Since she was busy staring at the lights in awe and shock she never realized what exactly had happened. She never knew that the light she had saw was the Ginzuishou shattering. The force of her wish to die had collided with what it had always done, protect its holder. And so now all of its magic and power floated in the air around the awestruck girl.

Serenity reached out to touch the seemingly solid waterfall of colors and stared in awe as her skin seemed to absorb some of the hue. She was so entranced she never noticed the Ginzuishou slowly hardening and locking her into its crystal depths. She never even seemed to realize the colors seemed to turn glassy and they swirled even closer around her. Encasing her in their brightness and hues.

Serenity was too shocked to do anything as she watched the colors turn into hard bands and her hand struck a cool solid surface where there had once been a light. The colors were still as awe inspiring as before but they were like a solid wall now. A roaring sound filled her ears and crying out in pain she clamped her hands over them to drown out the noise. This wasn't supposed to happen! This wasn't what she had wished for!

She whirled and struck out at the walls as hard as she could. She practically bounced off of them and landed in a heap on the ground. She felt something odd beneath her and stared in horror at her arms that were being encased into the multicolored crystal. This was going to be her death? Instead of the harsh underground she was going to be buried alive in the Ginzuishou? She tried to call out, to order the Ginzuishou to let her go but a bright silver flash blinded her and by the time her senses had began to return she was completely encased and her thoughts simply quit.

The Ginzuishou had figured out a way to solve its dilemma. It hadn't killed its mistress, but it hadn't left her awake to suffer either. It hovered into the air before vanishing in a spark of black light as it vanished from the known world to heal itself and one day manage to free its mistress from her curse once and for all.

**

Here's the previous version

**

This chapter was written by my Onnesan Eternal Sailor M. All future chapters will be dedicated to her and it's because of her this ficcie is being written. This prologue is rated PG13 for the mention of suicide. Please enjoy and review.

***

Give a Reason

Prologue: The Ungrantable Wish

Her heart was breaking.

At least that's how it felt to the queen. Though she looked as young as twenty-one that estimate was no where near close her real age. For the woman standing there tears trailing down her cheeks was over a thousand years old. Her husband was dead, of old age of all things, yet she lingered on, immortal in a world where people, even heroes, eventually had to die.

Even the great King Endymion, Tuxedo Kamen, her Mamo-chan. . . And no one could bring him back. She knew; she'd tried. Even Pluto had refused her requests, her orders, her begging's. It was hopeless.

"Holy Ginzuishou," she whispered to the small crystal resting on its pedestal beside her so-lonely throne, "I must beg of you one wish. I haven't asked you for anything since the Crystal Utopia was formed, but now I must beg this." She cupped the crystal between her hands and held it before her staring into it seeing a slightly hazy reflection of her tear-stained face. "Please, let me die. Let me die now, and join Endymion in eternity."

The Ginzuishou flickered once, twice, as it tried to grant her request. She stared straight into it, hope that she hadn't allowed herself to feel in so long slowly seeping back into her. Maybe this time. . .

As she stared all she could think of was rejoining her friends. She'd outlived everyone, even her Inner Senshi. They had met their own true loves, and on their behalf she had asked the Ginzuishou to release them from the curse of their long lives, their barrenness, for love and family.

It had all seemed so romantic at the time and the Queen had never given a thought to what they were really giving up. That is until two hundred years ago when Ami died. Serenity closed her eyes in remembrance. She had went to the funeral and had been unprepared. She remembered staring in almost horror at the withered grey-haired form in the casket. Not her shy blue-haired friend but a stranger.

A mere twenty years after that Makoto had died. Serenity again had been in a trance as she had stared at the old woman who seemed asleep. They aged as she did not. She still looked as she had when she had married her Mamoru back when she was known as Usagi and didn't have the worries she now dealt with.

Then not even five years later Serenity's closest friend Rei finally died. Serenity bowed her head in almost shame.

That funeral had been the only one where she had cried for any of her Senshi, her friends. Minako died one year later and with her went Serenity's tears. She had not shed a single tear until now. Until the death of her husband the only thing keeping her from killing herself.

Serenity's eyes opened and she glared at her flawless flesh. She well remembered the scars that should have been there. The scars that had been there merely a day before vanishing. She remembered the feel of the blade as it had sank into her tender flesh. She remembered seeing the white blood appear. Then she knew... She knew that she wasn't merely cursed with a long life but with an immortal one.

Endymion himself had been given a long life from the Ginzuishou, like the rest of the earth's population, a Lunarian's life span of 1,000 years, but that hadn't been enough time. Not when she was still alive and still resembling the girl he had married while he was on his death bed.

And then there was her daughter, her ChibiUsa-chan. . . She did not deserve to face her daughter. Not now, not anymore. Even the pink-haired young woman agreed with her self punishment. Yes, it *was* all her fault that Endymion had died. Yes, she should have known he would have not gotten the immortality she had from the Ginzuishou. She was beneath even her daughter's contempt.

The Ginzuishou fell dark. Pain shot through her chest as disappointment set in. Even the Holy Ginzuishou wanted her to continue living and suffering. She tried to fight them back, but tears began to fall from her crystalline blue eyes, and once they started, she couldn't get them to stop.

Through some chance (or mischance), one of her tears landed on the crystal she held in her hands. As always, it reacted, trying harder than ever to grant her wish. It shook in her hand. She glanced sharply down at it, her tears ceasing, just as some sort of light exploded out of it.

'It's finally granting my wish,' she thought to herself, smiling into the light. 'Finally I'll be free.'

Then she realized it was shaking because it was shattering. . . No, it wasn't shattering. It was opening and growing! She stared at it shocked while it quickly grew to half the size of her and then she realized it was surrounding her. She stared at it in awe as it grew more and more. 'Is this it?' she wondered before the crystal completely encased her. She noticed the crystal had stopped growing and then there was a bright silver flash.

That was the last thing she saw, besides endless darkness, for a very long time. Therefore, she missed the facts that she had been imprisoned within what Pluto would call a subspace dimension within the Ginzuishou, and that it was flying off into the distance far, far away from Crystal Tokyo to heal itself, until it was strong enough to grant its owner's wish - and make her and itself mortal.