Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Labyrinth ❯ Author's Notes and Prologue ( Prologue )

Choose between: Author's Notes (which explain Sailormoon in general (and was written before anything beyond SailormoonR had been on TV in the U.S.) or The Prologue (which would be the beginning of the fic. ^_^)

Author's Notes
Just a few quick things before you go on to the good stuff...^_^

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon is a copyright of Takeuchi Naoko, Toei, Kodansha and probably other people and companies bigger and more important than me. ^_^;

Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon Labyrinth, both the concept and any original characters belong to me, so please don't take them without asking. ^_^

When I first started writing this, I had seen only the R and S movies in Japanese. Although I had a fairly good idea of what was changed from the original to the DiC version, I wasn't really that familar with the little invidual personality changes all of the senshi went through. As the fic progressed, I saw more of Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon and this reflected in my writing.

Also, the first draft of this was written in 1998 and 1999. Since then, I've reworked certain parts and changed a few things completely. Some chapters have been adjusted more than others, so you might notice a slight change as my style matured. If not, well, I guess there's no problem. ^^;

If you see something drastically wrong with the fic, like I'm spelling "Mamo-chan" "Mama-choo" or something strange, let me know! I can't fix it if I don't know there's a problem! If you doubt it's serious, tell me anyway. I want everything to look as pretty as possible! ^_^

Special thanks to Elissa and Melissa, my two beta readers. You guys are exasperating sometimes, (C'est bon, when's the next chapter? ^_^;;) but thanks for all of the encouragement! ^_^

Since there is no distinction between l and r in Japanese, in order to simplify all of the "Serenities" I've used:Neo-Queen Serenity = formerly Tsukino Usagi and Sailormoon
Neo-Princess Selenity = formerly Tsukino Chibiusa and Sailorchibimoon
Neo-Princess Serenity = called Usa-chan. The daughter of Neo-Princess Selenity.
(Selenity and Serenity are still pronounced the same way.)

This takes place after Sailormoon SuperS, but before Sailormoon Stars. That means that the second half of the Nephrenia arc occurs after the end of the fic.

Kage is pronounced "Kah-gay" (This is gonna come up a lot later)

Because I didn't want to have to balance a ridiculously high number of characters, (and because I don't really like her ^_^;;) Chibimoon/Chibiusa does not appear in this fic. Just assume that she returned to the future at the end of SS.

Although in Japanese suffixes are used a lot more, I only know a few, and wouldn't want to use anything incorrectly. So, when you see a plain name, just assume that the appropriate suffix is attached.

**If you're familiar with Bishoujo Senshi Sailormoon, feel free to skip the rest of the author's notes and head right to the actual story.** If not... ^_^

The Silver Imperium Crystal (or whatever the name of it is) is called the ginzuishou.

The word "senshi" translates roughly as "solider," not "scout." (Not that it really matters, because I just call them senshi. ^_^)

"Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen. Akuryou taisan!" is the equivalent of "Mars Fireballs Charge!" It's a ward to dispel evil that Rei uses as a Shinto priestess, and has nothing to do with fireballs, or her being Sailormars. Technically, she can just say "Akuryou taisan," which is a banishing command directed at evil, but I like it better when she chants first, so that's probably how you'll see it.

A name guide of some of the more common characters: (Remember, in Japanese, family name goes first)Inner Senshi
Serena/Sailor Moon/Princess Serena/Neo-Queen Serenity = Tsukino Usagi/Sailormoon/Princess Serenity/Neo-Queen Serenity
Amy Andersen/Sailor Mercury = Mizuno Ami/ Sailormercury
Raye Hino/Sailor Mars = Hino Rei/ Sailormars
Lita/ Sailor Jupiter = Kino Makoto/ Sailorjupiter
Mina/ Sailor Venus = Aino Minako/ Sailorvenus
Outer Senshi
Amara/ Sailor Uranus = Tenou Haruka/ Sailoruranus
Michelle/ Sailor Neptune = Kaiou Michiru/ Sailorneptune
?/ Sailor Pluto/Luna-P = Meiou Setsuna/ Sailorpluto/ "Puu"
Hotaru / Mistress 9/ Sailorsaturn = Tomoe Hotaru/Mistress 9/ Sailorsaturn
Others Darien/Tuxedo Mask/Prince Darien- Chiba Mamoru/Tuxedo Kamen/Prince Endymion/King Endymion
Rini/Reenie/Wicked Lady- Chibiusa/Sailorchibimoon/Black Lady/Neo-Princess Selenity
Molly- Naru
Melvin- Umino Gurio
Sammy- Shingo
Chad- Yuuichirou
Andrew- Motoki
Greg-Urawa
Negaforce- Queen Metallia
Malachite- Kunzite

Usako is Mamoru's pet name for Usagi. It translates as "Bunny Child"
She calls him Mamo-chan in indication that the two are close.

Prologue

*In the Future*

Smoke rose lazily from a few toppled buildings, and a hot wind fanned several fires burning out of control. The remains of an obviously once beautiful crystalline palace burned the brightest, as though the hungry flames knew what a precious thing they fed on.

"How could I do this?" On one side, long black hair hung in the face of a sixteen year old girl. She absentmindedly brushed at her hair, and wondered how it had come loose.

The hair on the right side of her head was still held in a now slightly messy combination of a round and pointed bun. A double odango, her mother had always fondly called it. And true enough, for the girl's hair style was a combination of the way her grandmother, Neo-Queen Serenity, and her mother, Neo-Princess Selenity wore their hair. The rounder odango sat in the front, and the pointed sat half on top of the round and half behind them.

Why am I thinking about my hair?

A single tear slipped down her already dirty and tear streaked face.

Is it because I can't accept the fact that my entire family and all of our closest friends are dead?

She shuddered uncontrollably and doubled over with grief. She suddenly clawed at the golden crescent moon set in the middle of her forehead, tears pouring from her beautiful blue eyes.

"What good is the line of Serenity if it couldn't stop this from happening?! Does the bloodline even matter if all it causes is grief?"

Blood flowed beneath her fingertips as she savagely clawed at her forehead.

"Why couldn't you save them? Why didn't you save them?!" She cried to an unknown source, to ancestors long passed and dead, to anyone who could still hear her. "What good is the blood..." She trailed off into unintelligible sobbing and stopped slashing herself. There was a sudden scream in the distance which was caught up abruptly. The girl's head shot up and she looked in the direction of the scream.

"They're still here," she whispered softly to herself, "I thought they had all gone back into the Labyrinth." Looking around fearfully, she gathered the remains of her torn silver and white dress around her and scurried to a small overhanging ledge, all that remained of a once beautiful bridge.

I don't want any of those flying ones to see me... I have to help that girl though...if she's still alive. It's my duty as the Princess...as the only surviving member of my family. Serenity, princess of Crystal Tokyo, and the remaining survivor of the Silver Millennium.

She felt better for reminding herself of who she was, but a nagging voice in the back of her mind whispered, But you were never there at the Silver Millennium. Everything you hail from lies at your feet in ruins.

Her face crumpled slightly, and she whispered, "So what? My grandmother was from the Silver Millennium, and if the Silver Millennium existed in this time, I would be from there as well."

The Silver Millennium lies in ruins as well. You are the princess of ruins. You are the princess of nothing. You are the princess of-

"Stop it! I can fix this! I can...can...I can..." She started crying again, and bit her lip until it bled.

Steady Serenity, you can handle this. Steady Usa-chan. You can fix this. You can make it right...

After all, That annoying doubt in her head whispered, You're the one who did this in the first place.

"I...I did." The admission hurt her worse than any barb about not being a princess, and she screamed, "Pluto! Why did you let me do this?!!! Sailorpluto!!!!!!!!!!!"