Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Hope Saga ❯ Hope ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Hope




Hope

"Withou t my precious ones, for whom do I fight?"

That was the question that had been plaguing her for such a
very long time. She was alone. She had been alone for so long.
But now, thanks to Eternal Sailor Moon, she had hope once more.
All the Sailor Senshi had been reborn, returned to the planets
they loved and protected.

Her precious ones would live again. . .

She shook herself sadly. It was time for her to go home, to go
back to her own time, in the distant future. Maybe when she got
back, her precious ones would be waiting for her. That was her
greatest hope. Perhaps her own past had been changed by Eternal
Sailor Moon's courage.

"Get it together, girl," she whispered to herself,
barely able to contain her excitement. "It's past time you
went back to where you belong." She lifted her staff in the
air above her head and called out, "Cosmos Teleport!"

In a bright flash of light, the senshi of legend, the most
powerful senshi of all, disappeared back into the future.


In the distant future. . .

The light faded arouond the beautiful Sailor Senshi, and she
glanced around her. The scars of the wars still surrounded her.
No one came to meet her. Again, she looked around, just in case.
The ruins of New Tokyo greeted her, silent and empty. If she
looked hard, she could see the remains of the once beautiful
Royal Palace. She knew if she looked beyond that, she would see
the graves of her precious ones.

"Iiiieee!!!" she screamed. Her legs gave out from
under her, and she sank to her knees. She pounded the ground in
front of her. "Nothing changed!" Great sobs racked her
body as she gasped out, "Everyone's still dead! I changed
nothing!"

She didn't remember the next few minutes. She vaguely recalled
crying until she finally passed out. Her great hope had been for
nothing; she had not saved her precious ones. She was still
alone.

There was a faint sound from far to her right. A piece of
rubble fell to the ground, and she looked up sharply in that
direction, tears suddenly forgotten. There was a flash of color
among the white ruins. "Hello?" she called out, only to
be met by silence. "Is anyone there?" Another stone
fell, and she got to her feet again and began moving that way.
"Who's there?"

There was complete silence for so long that she finally
decided she must have imagined the whole thing. She turned around
and started walking the other way. What was she thinking anyway?
No one in the whole kingdom had survived except her, and she only
because she was practically immortal.

"Are you Neo Queen Serenity?" a small voice asked.

She turned to face the small boy who had spoken. He was maybe
five or six with long lavender hair and bright blue eyes, and he
was staring at her like she was a goddess come down to Chikyuu.
She bent down to look at him eye-to-eye. "I was Neo Queen
Serenity. Before the wars."

He nodded solemnly with a wisdom far too old for his tender
years. "My tousan died, then my kaasan died. Everyone died
but me died."

"Gomen nasai, aino-chan. I did not properly protect
anyone." She glanced over past the palace. "All my
precious ones died."

"The Sailor Senshi died first," he sagely stated.

"Hai, aino-chan. I've been alone for a long time."

He nodded again. "So have I." He glanced around then
looked back at her. "Can I stay with you,
Serenity-sama?"

"Of course, aino-chan," she agreed pleasantly. She
stood up and held out her arms. He easily jumped into them and
touched the star on her forehead wonderingly. He threw his thin
arms around her neck and laid his head on her shoulder.
"Ano. . . ne, aino-chan, what should I call you?"

"My kaasan called me Trunks."


She lay the small boy in the bed she had once shared with her
husband and smoothed the hair back off his forehead. "I
always wanted a little boy," she murmered almost silently.
Maybe there was hope left after all. If one person had survived,
surely others had as well. "Without my precious ones,"
she thought aloud, staring at the boy, "I can fight for you,
aino-chan, Trunks, and for hope. I have the courage to stand
alone and the courage to accept everything. Because of you,
Trunks-chan, I am the true Sailor Cosmos."


I was supposed to be the most powerful Senshi of all, the
Senshi of legend. I was supposed to be the eternal light of hope
to my people.

I failed. I failed them all.

I fought Chaos for so long. . . I allowed the Crystal
Utopia to fall, though I still remained the Queen of the planet,
and as I and my Senshi fought Chaos wherever it showed itself, I
let others defend my planet. If I had only known. . . We weren't
stalking it; it was stalking us.

But when all my precious ones died and I stood alone
against Chaos, I fled like the coward I was. I began to think, if
I had destroyed the Galaxy Cauldron so long ago, none of the wars
would have happened and my precious ones might have survived. . .
So I went back to the past to convince my younger self to destroy
the Cauldron. But she didn't, and she made the right decision. No
one should destroy the birthplace of stars.

She saved her time, and her precious ones were all
returned. I returned alone, my precious ones still gone. I was
alone, hopeless.

Except at least one other person survived. The little boy I
have come to love so quickly. My precious aino-chan. Trunks-chan.
In him rests all my courage and all my hope. It is for him that I
fight on. He has given me the courage to stand alone. He has
begged me not to fight because his tousan died in the wars while
I was in the furthest reaches of the galaxy. This one thing I
cannot grant him. If he has survived, surely there must be others
out there, perhaps hiding as he was. I must save them. I
abandoned them once before; I shall not run again. And I sense
that someday Trunks himself will be a great warrior. I always
wanted a son; I always thought ChibiUsa-chan would have loved
having a brother.

Somewhere out there are more people. I must find them.
Because. . . Trunks and I can't be the only survivors.

Can we?

She closed her mind off to that line of thought and instead
concentrated on her search. The ground below her was bleak,
empty, and desolate. Apparently, the wars here on Chikyuu were as
bad as, if not worse than, the battle against Chaos. Chaos... Her
eternal enemy still raged out there, somewhere. And once it knew
she was back on Chikyuu, it would come after her.

Perhaps it had even been here while she was gone. That might
explain why the wars here were lost.

"Serenity-basan?"

She smiled at the eight-year-old boy. It had surprised her,
quite a bit, that he could fly on his own, but it was a good
thing because he insisted on coming with her. "Hai,
Trunks-chan?"

"Do you think we're ever going to find anyone?"

"Of course." Her smile dropped slightly, and her
eyes focused on the passing landscape. "When the Senshi and
I left to fight Chaos, there were billions of people on Chikyuu.
There are more survivors."

"Okay," he agreed easily. "If you say so."
He was silent for a moment. "But if there aren't, can we go
to a time where there are?"

She laughed softly. "Perhaps we shall, Trunks-chan. Maybe
we'll go to a place where all of our precious ones are still
alive."

"Is there such a place, Serenity-basan?"

"I think there is. I believe in such a place." Her
eyes faded as she lost herself in thought. "A place where
your kaasan and tousan are still alive. Your ojisan too, and your
Chichi-basan, and your Gohan-san. A place where my daughter and
my friends are still alive and I've never had to fight
alone."

"It sounds perfect," Trunks commented softly.
"If we don't find anyone, I'd really like to go there."


She frowned. "Time travel isn't easy, Trunks-chan. I
wouldn't even try until you're at least sixteen or
seventeen."

"But that's a long time from now!"

"And we can use that time to search for survivors. Come
on, Trunks-chan. Let's go!" She put on a sudden burst of
speed and passed him.

"Hey! Not fair!"

She laughed. "Then fly faster, aino-chan! No enemy is
going to wait for you to power up!"

"Hai, Serenity-basan! Wakatta!" It took him a
moment, but he caught up with her. "You're fast,
Serenity-basan."

"I've had a great deal more practice than you have."


"You won't be faster than me for much longer," he
stated plainly.

"We'll see."


The day went black.

Serenity and Trunks looked up at the sky. "I've never
sensed anything like this before," he stated, his blue eyes
squinting.

"Never?" she asked softly, her own eyes turning to
regard the sky more closely. He shook his head, and she focused
in on the vague sense of evil approaching Chikyuu. Her eyes
suddenly widened in shock, and she fell back a step as she
gasped, "I have."

"What is it?" He had a sinking suspicion he already
knew, though. . .

"It's Chaos."

"Can we defeat it?"

"Iie. Not yet. We're not strong enough."

"So what do we do?"

"We fight it and die, or we find somewhere else to be.
Your choice, aino-chan," she replied, looking over at him
now, a very sad but serious expression on her face.

Everything in him screamed to fight, but he had to consider
his adopted aunt. If she lived and he didn't. . . She wouldn't
survive it with her mind in one piece. They would be leaving
nothing behind if they left. They were the sole survivors left on
Chikyuu, a planet that had once housed billions of people. . .
"We go."

Light flashed from Serenity, and the scenery suddenly changed.
Not too much, but it was evident they were still in the same
place, just a different time. Serenity collapsed to her knees,
suddenly detransformed and gasping for air. "Obasan?"
he cried in alarm, kneeling beside her, a hand already on her
back.

She smiled weakly at him. "I'm all right, aino-chan. It
just took a lot out of me, with Chaos so close."

So we'd better not go home, he mused. It would
likely kill her. "We'll make the best of this timeline
while we're here. Rest here a while. I'm going to look around a
bit."

She nodded. "I'll find you later."

"Iie. You need to rest. I'll be back in a little while,
before dark." He took off in the air, leaving his aunt where
she sat. He knew she could more than adequately defend herself,
even tired, and besides, he'd sensed a ki prescence he hadn't
felt in years.

As he raced into the city, he sensed a power flare briefly; it
seemed vaguely like his own. There was a small signature near it
and then two blank spots. A huge power was approaching from the
west. "Gohan-san," he whispered. It made a vague kind
of sense that his aunt would bring them here. Here he had a small
chance of saving his mother's life. His father would already be
dead, but he could save his mother and perhaps Gohan-san too,
before the Jinzouningen killed her and before he took them out in
that kamikaze attack.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Trunks remembered his aunt
saying the future cannot be changed, but he had to try. Even if
it didn't work, at least his counterpart in this time would have
a chance. He pushed himself to fly faster, drawing his sword as
he went.

The scene he saw below him a moment later was haunting in its
familiarity. He watched his much-younger self collapse and his
mother move protectively over him. Juuhachigou raised her hand to
finish them both off, while Juunanagou smirked a few steps behind
her. With a scream of pure rage, he went Super Saiyajin, catching
everyone's attention, even the two androids'. He just had to keep
them busy until Gohan-san got there; that was all, just five
minutes. But even his father hadn't been able to survive these
creatures; how much of a chance did he have? This was sure to be
the longest five minutes of his life.

Juuhachigou and Juunanagou moved towards him as one. He
twisted and dodged a majority of their blows, but a lot got
through. Then suddenly there was only Juuhachigou fighting him;
he risked a quick look to try to locate Juunanagou then smirked
when he saw where the android was. Gohan-san was more than
keeping him busy. Both Jinzouningen looked bored, but they were
occupied.

"Bulma-san!" Gohan-san yelled. "Get Trunks and
get out of here!" Trunks heard her leaving before
Juuhachigou and Juunanagou both pulled back. He glanced over at
Gohan-san desperately. "Get--"

The world exploded in light.


When Trunks woke up, the first thing he could think was, I
must be dreaming. He felt too close to being alive for the
Jinzouningen to have just blown him up. Something touched his
mouth, and he opened it. "Eat this," Gohan-san's voice
echoed through his head, and he automatically obeyed.

Strength flooded through him, and after a few seconds, he sat
up and looked at the man next to him. "Gohan-san?" he
asked very softly.

"Who are you?"

"Trunks. From the future."

"How did you get here then?"

Gohan-san's the same, Trunks thought to himself. How
much can I tell him, though? "It's a long story,
Gohan-san. How long was I out?"

"About an hour or two, I suppose. It's after dark."

"I have to go then! She'll be worried about me!" he
all but yelled, jumping to his feet but swaying alarmingly.

"Senzou or not, you're not in the condition yet to go
back out there," Gohan-san offered calmly.

"Don't you see! If we can't stop the Jinzouningen,
then there's no way she'd stand a chance out--"

"Thank you for the concern, aino-chan," a voice said
softly from the shadows nearby, "but I assure you, it's
quite unnecessary." Serenity stepped into view. "I
haven't forgotten everything."

Gohan was on his feet in a second, ready to attack her. Trunks
was puzzled by this for half a second, then he remember: like the
Jinzouningen, his aunt didn't register ki. "Gohan-san!"
he yelled, jumping between the two of them. "She's okay!
She's my aunt, not a Jinzouningen!"

"She doesn't have ki," Gohan-san said softly.

"My kind usually don't, Gohan-san," Serenity
answered. She sounded so calm; it almost seemed she wasn't
staring at the man who could easily become her executioner.
"I'm not human; I'm Lunarian. I mean no harm. I only came to
find Trunks. Let's get out of here, aino-chan," she quietly
continued. "I don't think we're particularly welcome
here."

"It's not safe in the open like this," Gohan-san
abruptly said. "Follow me. I think Bulma-san would like to
meet both of you anyway."

Gohan-san took to the air, and they both followed. The
landscape here was slightly better than their time's. Trunks
glanced briefly over at his aunt; her eyes were hard, and she was
frowning. If he knew her, she was probably feeling guilty for
being gone while all this happened. But at least there were more
people left alive here than in their time. For now, his mother
was alive, so Capsule Corp. was still providing for the rest of
the population, so everyone else would at least survive this
winter. And Gohan-san was still alive here too. Maybe this time
had a chance now, after all. They'd changed that much at least.

Gohan-san set down in front of a huge building that Trunks
only vaguely recognized as his home as he and his aunt followed
Gohan-san's lead. This one was still completely standing, except
for a huge hole in the roof, while the building he knew was in
complete ruins; he'd been very lucky as a child that it hadn't
collapsed on him. His aunt seemed very impressed with this
version of Capsule Corp. as well. Gohan-san tapped on the door
and called out, "Bulma-san! It's Gohan!"

The door opened, and he stared in shock at the mother he only
vaguely remembered. He could recall her hair; it was bluer than
he remembered; and he'd known he had her eyes.
"Gohan-kun," she asked, "who are these
people?"

"He's some future version of Trunks, and he says she's
his aunt."

"Well, I don't have a sister, and she doesn't look
Saiyajin. Come inside, all of you. I want an explanation."

Serenity smiled as she obeyed the command and sat at Bulma's
table when directed to do so. "Bulma-san," she began,
"I suppose I'm the best qualified to answer your
questions."

"When do you come from?"

"About fourteen years in the future."

"Why?"

"We are the last survivors in our time. A . . . powerful
enemy was coming, so we left while we still could."

"How?"

"That's a little more difficult. Suffice it to say that I
know a way to bend the space-time continuum."

"Why did you come here?"

"The exact time we landed in was a complete accident,
demo. . ."

"When we landed," Trunks interrupted,
"seems to be the exact point in time of the event that
killed everyone in our time."

"What event?" Gohan-san asked, sitting down next to
Trunks's mother.

"Kaasan died in our time, then you killed the
Jinzouningen, Gohan-san, but you died tooo. Without anyone to run
Capsule Corp., everyone else died the next winter."

His aunt laid her hand over his very gently. "I found
Trunks about three years later. I took care of him, raised him.
He's the son I never had."

She started abruptly. "Obasan?" Trunks asked softly,
turning toward her.

"We've stayed too long," she whispered. "It's
catching up with us. We need to leave."

"What's coming?" Gohan-san asked, standing and
apparently trying to sense whatever Serenity was picking up.

"The enemy she mentioned, it's following us," Trunks
explained, rising as well, "even through time and
space."

"Wait!" Bulma said. She stared across the table at
his aunt. "I didn't even get your name."

She smiled sadly. "It's Serenity. Serenity Tsukino."


"Serenity-san, don't you think we're capable of handling
this enemy of yours?"

"Iie!" she exploded in a way he'd never seen her do
before. "Gohan-san's the last warrior here, ne?" Bulma
nodded. "This . . . creature killed all the warriors of our
time, one by one. I will not risk this timeline! You, at least,
have a chance for hope."

"Hope," Bulma repeated softly.

"Hope." Serenity smiled again half-heartedly.
"I believe there is always a chance to change the past, as
long as you have the courage to stand and to fight alone."

"Where are you going to go?"

She glanced at Trunks then back at Bulma, standing slowly.
"I think we need to find a timeline where all the warriors
exist, but we don't." She glanced upwards again. "Our
time here is almost up. Please step back, Bulma-san. I need a bit
of room for this!" Bulma complied, yet Serenity still moved
to the center of the room so that she was well away from each of
them. "Cosmos Power, MAKE-UP!"

Multi-colored lights shot up her body: blue, black, purple,
yellow, orange, teal, green, pink, and red. A white light
enveloped her, and when it broke a moment later, Serenity had
been replaced by Sailor Cosmos.

Bulma stared at her blankly. "What are you?"

"The last of the Sailor Senshi," Cosmos answered.
Comprehension dawned on Bulma's face. "The rest of them have
been gone for so very long. I am the last of my kind." Tears
pooled in her eyes, but she was silent for a long time. "We
need to go, Trunks-chan."

"Hai, obasan." He stepped closer to her. "Let's
go."

The white-haired woman whispered something Bulma couldn't
understand, and in another flash of white light, the pair
disappeared. There was silence for a long time, then Bulma spoke
almost to herself. "Do you think they'll ever find what
they're looking for?"

"Perhaps." Gohan didn't sound very believing. She
smiled at him and started to walk away. "Where're you
going?"

"She gave me an idea."

"What?"

"What if we could change the past? I think if Son-kun had
lived, the Jinzouningen wouldn't have won."

"How exactly do you purpose to change what happened,
Bulma-san?"

She grinned. "A time machine."

::Fin::



23 November 1999

[A.N.: Well, how badly did it suck? This started out as an
attempt to write a Sailor Cosmos fic, then it turned into
a mini-crossover, then it became an explanation for where
Mirai Bulma (Future Bulma) got the idea for the time machine. If
anyone would like, I'll write a continuation and let everyone
know what happens to Serenity and Trunks. Let me know what you
think!
Bai-bai, minna-chan!]