Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Polarity ❯ Prolog: The End ( Chapter 1 )

Sailor Polaris looked out over the spaceport as the last of the refugees boarded the cruiser. Her eyes were distant and her uniform, once proud and bright, was now covered in ash and blood. The final civilian passed her and went up the ramp, and still she stood, tears staining her face at the thought of those who were lost.

 

She was one of the last of the heroes that had banded together to defend this world, but they were all gone now. Her friends and comrades had fallen one by one not against a villain or conqueror, but against nature itself as the orbit of Polaris shifted slightly towards the sun. Volcanoes, tidal waves and dust storms that ravaged entire cities had left only a handful of protectors.

 

And then, only two.

 

“Is he coming or not?” the gruff voice of the spaceship captain said behind her as she continued her vigil.

 

Sailor Polaris sighed, “Doctor Infinity has never failed before. We wait until we can wait no more. I will not abandon another friend.”

 

“Even if it costs us our lives?”

 

Her head snapped around and she glared hard at the captain, but he did not flinch. Like her, he had seen much destruction over the last few months, and lost many friends of his own. Now he was only reminding her of her duty, to protect the people of this world, no matter what.

 

With a weary look into the distance Polaris saw that the lava flows had moved to consume the entire city and the spaceport would soon fall as well. No more time could be spared if she wanted to get the last of her people away from this nightmare.

 

“Let's go,” she said with a heavy voice and moved to join the old space pilot, and the metal ramp lifted up behind them, locking into place with a final, heart dulling, thud.

 

Polaris, home world of over two billion people and a civilization that dared to dream of the stars, was now alone in the night.

 

And the last ship left the burning world, searching for a new home.

 

 

Polarity

By Seth

Chapter 1

Prolog: The End

 

Note: Ranma and Sailor Moon are owned by their respective creators and distributors. I use them without permission or gain, but with respect to the work done before me.

 

 

Polaris was weary, but she still held her head up with a warrior's pride as she stood before Queen Serenity. It had taken the refugee ship containing her and the thousand or so survivors three years to reach this inhabitable system, and now she stood before its ruler as the guardian of her people and their representative.

 

Queen Serenity looked down at the girl before her and saw the great distance etched into her eyes. Her outward appearance was clean and crisp, her white hair fluffed and pulled back into a single long braid. Her Uniform a clean white leotard with armor plates over her chest and hips that looked to be made of light brushed copper. Her white boots reaching her knee and sporting the same copper in the form of shin guards. Her white gloves and metal armguards completed a unified ensemble. The gold circlet on her head adorned with a blue inlay of a circle with a line through it.

 

Never the less, this girl was tired down to her bones. And it didn't take a great ruler to tell that.

 

“What happened to your leaders?” Queen Serenity asked the haggard looking young woman in a soft voice.

 

Sailor Polaris knew the question was coming, but it still hurt her inside as she answered, “The Triumvirate Council gave themselves in sacrifice so that three more civilians could board the escape craft. I would have joined them myself, but they forbade me and commanded that I see our people to safety.”

 

Serenity took this in and answered gently, “They took their role as protectors of the people very seriously, didn't they?”

 

Polaris nodded and continued in a stronger voice, “On their behalf, and on behalf of the people of Polaris, I formally request sanctuary from your realm. As payment for your generosity I offer my services as a warrior and soldier to your throne.”

 

Serenity stood and descended from the raised dais coming close to the young guardian. She looked into the crystal blue eyes of the girl and saw an emotional wall held in place by shear will. Behind it were pain and regret in volumes that would drown lesser people, but this proud warrior persevered.

 

With a gesture, the lesser nobles and other court goers were quickly dismissed and soon only Serenity, Sailor Polaris, and the current guard detail of Sailor Venus and Sailor Neptune remained.

 

Once the door closed Serenity swept the younger woman into a hug, holding her tightly.

 

“Your journey is over,” she whispered in the girl's ear. She felt a shudder and heard a sigh. Then it began as the girl began to cry, long and hard into Serenity's shoulder. As the Queen gently lowered them to their knees so the girl could continue releasing the burden, Venus and Neptune glanced at each other and shared a smile.

 

Venus officially led the Inner Senshi, and there had been many times where the pressure of guiding the Queen's Hand through diplomacy, conflict, and battle had put pressure on the young blond. She had also hidden her feelings, and the Queen had always seen right through her and lent her shoulder in times of need.

 

Neptune was part of the Outer Senshi, the Queen's Fist, and sometimes the harsh missions that the group was sent on chafed at the young artist. Her soul wished to be free and whimsical, but her destiny remained that of a warrior. It was the Queen who had taught her that the two halves of her life could exist in harmony.

 

Slowly, Polaris finished her crying and sighed into Serenity's shoulder and whispered a thank you loud enough that only the softly smiling monarch could hear it.

 

**********

 

“Tell me how this started again,” Mars grumbled as she took a seat. The Senshi that were on world had gathered in the arena to see a sparring match between two of their number. It wasn't rare for training, but one of the combatants today was an unknown quantity.

 

Sailor Polaris had only been with them a few months, and her opponent was one of the toughest fighters in the Queen's Fist.

 

“Uranus and I were out drinking this afternoon,” Sailor Jupiter started as she sat next to her friend and comrade.

 

Mars sighed, “That's never a good thing.”

 

Jupiter laughed and continued, “Polaris was there, and we got to talking. I asked her about her powers, and she said they were gravity based. Uranus was plowing through her fifth pint and asked what attack spells she had.”

 

“And?”

 

“None,” Jupiter said as she shrugged. “We were gobsmaked, but she went on to say that the Polaris guardians had a long history of fighting prowess. Then Little Miss Macho out there decides to eloquently slur out that Polaris would be useless in a real fight. The rooky got a little upset at that, I think she was three sheets to the wind too, and told her that she could, and I quote, `beat your skinny little ass from here to Pluto'.”

 

“Oh, is that what got her ire up,” Neptune said with a smile in her voice as she sat with them. “And here I thought it was some silly posturing between the two of them.”

 

“One-upmanship amongst the Senshi,” Jupiter gasped in mock horror. “Oh the scandal. Oh the shock. Oh…it's Thursday so it figures.” Light chuckles came form all of them as they turned their attention back to the arena.

 

Uranus and Polaris both looked rumpled, and neither of them was very sure on their feet, still suffering from the affects of too much alcohol, but with a burst of energy Uranus was in her uniform, sword in hand and most of her inebriation dispelled by the magic of her transformation.

 

Polaris however snorted and remained in civilian garb. She half stumbled into a loose stance and made a come-hither motion to her opponent.

 

Uranus shook of what she knew was going to be a monster of a hangover later and asked, “Aren't you going to take this fight seriously? Transform already.”

 

“Nope, not gonna,” Polaris retorted, her eyes swaying almost as much as her body. “Don't always get the luxury in a real fight to stop and cast. Gotta be ready fer anything…hic.”

 

“Your loss,” Uranus sighed and charged, going for her favorite overhand slash to end this quickly.

 

Just before her blade connected, Polaris spun on one foot, moving inside her reach and grasped her sword hand. With a heave, the smaller girl threw Uranus over her shoulder, flat on her back.

 

Stunned only for an instant, Uranus rolled to her feet and spun, slashing back at Polaris and pumping a small blast out of the Space Sword that would take Polaris right in the chest.

 

If she were there.

 

Looking around frantically, Uranus tried to find her opponent, but it wasn't until she heard a happy sounding `you-ho' from above that she looked up. Twenty feet in the air, Polaris drifted, her braid shifting in the wind as the girl smiled down at the gaping Uranus.

 

“How did you get up there?”

 

Polaris laughed at the ground bound Senshi and answered, “I turned down gravity's influence on me, silly. Care to see what happens when I do the opposite?”

 

With a whooping war cry, Polaris dropped out of the sky like a stone. Uranus was stunned and didn't have time to get out of the way.

 

The cloud of dust that was kicked up by the impact obscured the field from the audience, who sat wide eyed at the display. But the sound of the impact got a decided reaction from spectators.

 

“Ouch,” Jupiter remarked, “that's going to hurt.”

 

The dust finally cleared showing that Uranus was indeed down, her head only a hair away from Polaris' striking foot. The fact that both of them were at the bottom of a ten foot wide crater was not lost on the spectators and demonstrated just how much power had been behind the kick.

 

What happened next demonstrated the power of the booze Polaris had consumed.

 

The girl collapsed on top of Uranus and lazily spoke, “You're cute when you're all panicy and stuff.” She then gave the stunned older girl a kiss on the cheek and collapsed bonlessly on top of her, snoring heavily.

 

Up in the gallery the other Senshi, except one, were laughing loud and hard. Neptune on the other hand was blushing and sputtering incoherently.

 

“The nerve of that little…humph!”

 

**********

 

Sailor Polaris awoke with a hangover. It was an all too frequent sensation with her since her arrival on the Moon. For her it seemed to keep the nightmares of her homeworld's destruction at bay.

 

Last night had been a little harder. It had been her birthday, and almost a year since the arrival of the Polaris refugees on the Moon. She had been feeling melancholy, and the Senshi had decided to throw her a party. They had to drag her kicking and screaming to it, but she wound up going.

 

It had been late in the evening, and she had lost count of how many wine barrels they had uncorked, but Venus had finally come to the dubious conclusion that the reason Polaris was so down was that she hadn't been laid in years. Part of this may have been true, but Polaris was convinced that this was not the core of her problem.

 

“Oh Polly,” the inebriated Venus said with a sigh, “All's right in the universe after a little warm cuddly time. Trust me on that.”

 

After that the night was a blur, but now as Polaris opened her eyes she was met with the sight of long blond hair. Marshaling her other senses, she found herself spooned up against someone, arms wrapped around them and hands resting in provocative positions.

 

Polaris hadn't thought Venus would go this far, but she guessed that nothing was beyond the so called Senshi of Love.

 

Struggling through the haze in her mind she fought to recall how she had wound up in bed with Venus, but she was drawing a blank towards the end of the night. In her state it must not have taken much for the blond to seduce her, even with her professed indifference to intimate company.

 

She'd have to pay the little minx back for this.

 

Her hands began working slowly, and soon quiet hums of pleasure came from the sleeping blond. A wicked smile crossed Polaris' face as she considered the next part of her plan, but that ended quickly with the clearing of a throat.

 

Looking up she saw the Queen standing in the doorway, looking very cross, and Pluto doing a good job of copying her.

 

“What exactly,” the Queen stated with not a little frost, “Are your intentions towards my daughter?”

 

That turned off the hangover right quick.

 

Almost like magic, Polaris had disentangled her arms, shot up, and found herself pressed against the far wall of the room. Her wide eyes darted around and she saw that she was not in her room, or Venus' room. The color, the art, the furniture were all unique to the Princess' quarters. And the long blond hair was in fact the undone locks of her Highness.

 

“I think I need to quit drinking,” Polaris muttered as she contemplated her fate.

 

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your point of view, the Princess chose that moment to wake up.

 

She stretched her arms and yawned loudly, then declared quietly, “I feel fantastic. I wonder if we should have big parties like that more often.” She then sat up and smiled brightly, “Good morning, Mother. I hope you slept as well as I did.”

 

Queen Serenity's eye twitched at this, and as she was inching her way towards another door Polaris started to sweat rather a bit more.

 

It wasn't often that servants in the place saw their Queen moving swiftly through the halls. The few times they had seen it there had been some emergency of state to deal with. But today was calm and there was no great concern to the throne. So they were quite surprised when Sailor Polaris ran past them, legs pumping madly and not a thread of clothing on, followed immediately by a outright sprinting Queen Serenity, dress hem held up in one hand and a broom swinging wildly above her head in the other.

 

**********

 

“Hold the line!”

 

A simple command for the most part. But when a horde of alchemically created demons are charging into the streets of the capitol the extent of the sacrifice needed to carry out the command stretches the bounds of reason.

 

Sailor Polaris looked around her, surveying the remains of the Royal Guard that she had taken command of. Amaza, the officer in charge was blasting away frantically with her power lance and shouting orders to regroup the last of her people. Among them were many of the refugees from Polaris, though that mattered little to them any more. They were citizens of the Silver Kingdom, and they dusted off their long unused warrior skills and fought bravely against the yoma swarm.

 

Polaris took hold of a nearby tree and activated her powers. The mass of the tree reduced and she easily ripped it out of the ground and threw it into the enemy line. Its mass instantly returned as it left her and almost a ton of old oak impacted in the yoma vanguard.

 

Polaris used the lull to run up to the recovering Guard.

 

“Amaza,” she barked, “get your people to the gateway! The demons destroyed the dome generator and the city is losing air! Take the survivors and get off world!”

 

The young captain stubbornly looked out over the battlefield as the invaders reformed their line. “I won't abandon my post. If the line of Serenity dies here, then I die with it. With honor.”

 

“Honor be damned!” Polaris pulled the Guardswoman into an embrace, “The Queen would never wish for you to give up your life like this, and I won't let you. Get your people to the gate. That is an order.”

 

Amaza took in the white haired girl's eyes and saw the pain there, as well as hard steel.

 

“What of you?”

 

Polaris took a deep breath, “The Outers were tricked away by Beryl's attack on Olympus Mons. The Inners are guarding the Queen. I'm going to buy them the time they need to set up a combined attack on that thrice cursed witch.”

 

Amaza nodded gravely and placed her hand over Polaris' heart, “May you find peace in the next dimension.”

 

Polaris mirrored her action, “I place the last of my people in your care. Guide them well.” With that she turned and ran towards the enemy, tears streaming from her eyes.

 

Her charge started out simply enough, but as she ran she began to increase her gravity affect. Her steps went from light with the clicking of her heels on the pavement, to loud as cracks formed where she ran, to thunderous as craters formed a trail where she stepped.

 

“I've lost one world in my life,” she growled as the wind whipped past her and she plowed into the enemy line. “I'll not see another fall.”

 

The yoma formation collapsed as a four foot, ten inch, five ton missile crashed into it. Some of the creatures were simply trampled, others hit by massive punches that destroyed the magic holding them together.

 

In seconds Polaris was through the front line. She took a breath and turned to face the next group. At their head were four faces she never wanted to see among the enemy, the Four Guardians of the Earth Kingdom. Their faces were twisted into evil smirks and their hands rose towards her, eldritch words forming on their lips.

 

Sailor Polaris resumed her charge causing the ground to shake as she howled out, “Die traitors!”

 

Four arks of black lighting intercepted her, arcing across her armor and searing her body with powerful spasms. A scream was torn from her throat as her back arched. Her last clear vision was a pillar of multi colored energy blasting into the sky.

She had held the line.

 

**********

 

Sailor Pluto wiped away the last of her tears. It had taken almost a hundred years, but she was finally done crying for her lost friends, her lost home, and her dead Queen.

 

She knew what was to be done now. It was part of the Queen's plan of last resort, and Pluto would help guide the souls of the Senshi to the future, just as she was commanded.

 

The Princess was her first priority. She looked deep into the Gates of Time and saw Serenity's heir as part of a loving Tokyo suburbanite family. She had a caring mother, a protective father and an annoying brother. It was so average and unobtrusive that it would be perfect for the princess who was always a touch uncomfortable with the responsibility her position held.

 

Next were the Inner Senshi, and Pluto was less then delighted at how they arrived in the future. Venus did well enough, but Mercury and Mars both wound up in broken homes. Mars wound up being placed with her kindly, if eccentric, grandfather by her bastard of a father, and Mercury had a good mother, but Doctor Mizuno was a career woman who spent the majority of her time working at the hospital.

 

Poor Jupiter was the worst though. Pluto almost wished she could interfere and save her parents from the plane crash when the girl was so young.

 

Damn Temporal Laws of Continuity.

 

The Outer Senshi were also checked up on, and Pluto found that Neptune and Uranus both did well. She laughed as no matter the life the two of them seemed to find each other.

 

The Saturn problem was set aside for the moment. No doubt that the decision would come back to haunt her, but Pluto was simply nervous about tempting fate when it came to the most powerful Girl of Mass Destruction in the world.

 

Finally came Polaris. Pluto had been cautious about welcoming the young warrior into their company, but the Queen opened her arms and heart, and as so often was the case, the Queen was right about the girl. Pluto had grown to respect Polaris as a warrior, a Senshi and a guide for the skilled and proud people that had come to the Moon so long ago.

 

As she looked into the Gates following Polaris' soul shock crept onto her face. When the girl was reborn to such questionable people she was once more tempted to intervene. Then she saw the changes her comrade had undergone and she spent the next hundred years using every curse word she had ever learned in over a thousand languages.

 

Polaris had been reborn male.

 

Spinning time forward and back she found that large chunks of the new boy's life were blocked to her, so she skipped it for the moment and focused on the distant future. She looked for the possibilities of two timelines, one where Polaris was properly awoken, and one without.

 

With Polaris she found the future changed from what she had scryed so long ago. The crystal skyline of Tokyo was changed, and there were many differences, but nothing was focused and Pluto recognized it as a future in motion, inconsistent at best and confusing at worst.

 

Without Polaris the future seemed split into two equal possibilities. One was white, clean and pure, but with the echo of loss and unrest. The other was black, where a single dark tower stood atop a world of ash and lava.

 

The last vision disturbed Pluto greatly, and it didn't take the immortal Lady of Time to figure out why. Aside from the tower, the world had looked exactly as Polaris had described her own in the last days before its death.

 

Pluto would not let this vision come to pass. She would not interfere with the reborn Polaris for now, but if her options narrowed she would find a way, any way to bring the hero who had given everything for her friends back.

 

Time be damned, she would not see the world end like that. She would not allow Polaris' sacrifice to be in vain.

 

 

The Beginning…

 

 

Endnote: Ranma/Sailor Moon stories are plentiful and somewhat overdone, I know. But damn me if I don't enjoy them. The characters are sharp contrasts to each other, the girls looking for love and the boy who can't handle love at all. Throw in the usual problems both stories have and if it's done with care in can be humorous, dramatic, charming, and even romantic. This is my own take, and I hope to do it justice. Hopefully it will be as long as OHWP (but less lemony), so please keep an eye out for more. Much love to the fans, and see you next time.