Sailor Moon Fan Fiction ❯ The Sea By Moonlight ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
The Sea by Moonlight by Dolphin-chick

Chapter 1

"Pisces!!! Give that BACK!!!" Sailor Gemini chased Sailor Pisces through the Moon Kingdom Palace hallways. Pisces had stolen Gemini's small stuffed rabbit and was waving it around her head.

"Cut that out you two. Pisces, give Gemini her rabbit back," Antares said as she walked down the hall in the opposite direction. She had just come from the library and was headed towards her post at the Space-Time Gates, a large book in hand and the Space-Time Key in the other.

When she got to the Gates, she pulled out her cushioned chair (since she couldn't stand up for long periods of time like Sailor Pluto), and waved to Pluto, who could be seen, though barely at the other end of the building, sat down and began to read. Not long afterwards, Pluto approached her. "Neo Queen Lady Serenity just summoned me. I'll be right back, could you keep an eye on things?"

"Sure," Antares said smiling and went back to reading.

"Ohayou gozaimas, Antares-san!"

"What the hell?!? Who said that?!?" Antares jumped up, grabbing her Key and pointing it in the direction of the voice.

"Hello!" A smiling apparition took form in front of the Key.

"AAAAHHH!!! What the hell?!?"

"Don't tell me you don't remember who I am."

"Souta..?"

The apparition smiled, "Hai!"

Antares stared for a while, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide, until she suddenly thrust the Key into him.

"Hey!"

"Holy… you're a ghost!"

"Yes."

Antares pulled the Key away from him and to her side. "So, um… how have you been?"

"OK, I guess," Souta said as he 'leaned' against one of the columns. "It gets kind of boring. There isn't much to do when no one sees you. It gets lonely."

"I suppose. How come you don't go right through that column?"

"Because I don't want to. I can go through walls and all that, but I have to think about it consciously."

"I see. Your English is getting better."

He laughed lightly. "I've been listening to you guys for well over a year now. I was bound to learn something. How has Sailor Virgo been doing?" He smiled warmly at the thought of her.

"Oh um… she's been OK." Antares didn't want to mention the fact that Virgo seemed to be over him. She didn't think Souta would be too fond of unrequited love. "What made you want to re-appear?"

"I had a feeling I should, I guess. I don't really know."

"Hmm…" Antares fell silent for a while. Suddenly she picked up the Key and began jabbing Souta with it. "Hey, does this hurt?" she asked as she poked him in the stomach.

"ACK! Cut that out, it tingles!"

"SOUTA?!?" Pluto had come back, and was now standing in the hallway. The expression on her face screamed disbelief, and her mouth opened and closed as she tried to speak. Souta smiled and waved.

"Uh… eh… Antares," Pluto said as she began to think coherently, never taking her eyes off of Souta, "Neo Queen Lady Serenity wishes to speak to you."

"OK," Antares said jovially and sped off in the direction of the throne room. She could hear Pluto talking to Souta as she left.

~oO Oo~

"You wanted to see me?" Antares asked as she kneeled before the Queen.

"Yes, come here please." Neo Queen Lady Serenity got up from her throne and walked to a large screen on the opposite wall. Pressing a button, the screen lit up with an image of outer space. "Do you know what this is?" she asked.

"Yes, it's our solar system," Antares answered.

"Correct, but look at this," the Queen pressed a series of buttons and centered in on an area just outside the solar system. "None of the Sailor Senshi nor I know what this is," she said, indicating a large dark mass. "I have not troubled the Zodiac Senshi with it; they are too young to have an idea of what it could be. However, my mother, Neo Queen Serenity, says it resembles Chaos; but that's impossible, Chaos was destroyed thousands of years ago by my mother herself."

Antares noticed the similarity as well. It couldn't possibly be Chaos, but the resemblance was so exact…

"As our strongest ally," the Queen continued, "and the only surviving member of the powerful Cosmic Senshi, I want you on the highest alert. You looked stressed; why don't you take a break for a while?"

Antares nodded. With a quick bow to the Queen, she left the throne room and went to her own quarters. Tossing the Key on her bed, she changed from her Senshi uniform into a bathrobe and went downstairs to the palace's natural hot spring. Thinking twice, she decided to make a stop at the kitchen to grab a few sweets first.

As soon as she left, the star on the Time-Space Key began to glow.