Note on Planet Names: Ten'ousei=Uranus; Kaiousei=Neptune; Meiousei=Pluto; Dosei=Saturn; Kasei=Mars; Suisei=Mercury; Mokusei=Jupiter; Kinsei=Venus ---------------------------------------------------------------------- "People of Ten'ousei, I present to you my daughter, Haruka." Cheers filled the immense hall as Michiru's wife walked onto the stage. The aqua-haired senshi gasped. She had never seen Haruka look so elegant and so very gorgeous. She was wearing a dark sapphire blue dress cut low in the front with a slit up the side so high that Michiru would have thought twice before putting it on. Gold threads shone in the light, accented by tiny stones of different colors and sizes scattered along the length of the dress. On her bodice, a single golden rose had been embroidered into the fabric, tiny golden topazes sparkling along the edges of the petals. Gold threads in the skirt convened along her waist and formed a belt that led into a golden bow on the back of her dress, two long golden ribbons hanging to the ground. Her high-heeled shoes were blue with sapphire bows sparkling on the toes. Along the hem of the skirt and the edge of the slit was light blue lace, tiny diamonds catching the light and forming the symbol of Uranus when the light hit just right. Her sleeves were made of the finest silk, a blue so pale the sky on Earth could never rival it, long and loose to give her freedom of movement. Along the top the two edges of each sleeve were joined every three or so inches with a tiny golden diamond, leaving tantalizing glimpses of her smooth skin through the silky fabric. She wore a bracelet of amber beads her mother had left for her, and the topaz necklace of Uranus hung from her slender neck. On her finger was the golden band Michiru had given her for their wedding, and it was the only ring she consented to wear. A tiny golden hoop hung from each ear. Michiru had not been allowed to stay in her wife's room while the princess was dressed for her Crowning. It had given her the change to pick a dress Haruka had never seen before for the Crowning, and her wife had yet to spot her. Michiru could sense how nervous her wife was, and she smiled as she sent warmth and love along their link. Haruka relaxed as she reached her father, decidedly uncomfortable in her mother's dress. "Haruka, my only daughter, you are the spitting image of your mother, easily one of the finest queens Ten'ousei has ever been blessed with. I know that you will do Kazeko's name proud." Haruka curtseyed, a move Michiru had managed to teach her to replace that princely bow. It was no good when she wore a dress. Michiru cheered inside that Haruka had actually been paying attention. "Father, I have tried to learn from you and I admit that I have not been the most patient of students. I hope I can do you and Mother proud." Koshu turned to the servant behind him holding a velvet pillow and lifted the intricately filigreed golden crown sitting there. Stones of all colors decorated the piece, and one beautiful golden diamond shone from the center. The people sighed at the beauty of the crown as Koshu turned to his daughter. Haruka, since she was inches taller the king, knelt on one knee, head bowed. The King of Ten'ousei raised the crown above Haruka's head as an absolute hush claimed the crowd. "People of Ten'ousei, I give you your ruler, the person to whom you owe all allegiance, the one woman who will protect you and represent you to the rest of the Silver Millennium." He placed the crown on Haruka's blonde head, and the crowd paused, waiting. "Rise, Queen Haruka of Ten'ousei." Haruka stood and cheers filled the room at her crowning. She turned to the crowd, and every person in the room hit one knee, head bowed, saved one princess standing at the edge of the dais. "Ah, my princess, I knew you were here. Join me, Michiru, and take your place as my wife." The people looked up, but they did not yet stand as Michiru slowly ascended the stairs of the dais to the throne. Her long blue dress decorated by silver filigree caressed the steps, her hair held back by her slender princess tiara, her hands and lower arms covered by white gloves with blue Neptune symbols around the wrists. Haruka reached out and took her wife's hand, turning her to face the room. Haruka was again nervous, scared that her people would not accept her wife. "I would like to introduce Crown Princess Kaiou Michiru of Kaiousei, Sailor Neptune and guardian of the Deep Aqua Mirror. My wife." Haruka was shocked when the people jumped to their feet and began to cheer, happy for their queens, supportive of their marriage. In the back, almost hidden by the happy subjects, was one old grey-haired priest. Michiru touched her arm and leaned her head close. "This is all well and good, but what about when they expect the next Queen of Uranus and Neptune?" *~*~*~*~*~*~* "Why are you bringing this up now, of all times?" Haruka slipped out of the uncomfortable and strange dress, staring at her wife. "After all, we can't have children." "Haruka, you are the one who told me that we could have children if we need children. You said that there's nothing we can't do as long as we're together. You already proved that there's nothing we can't endure if we're together, and I'd like to believe that you're right about this." Haruka sighed as she stared out the window, not ready to pull off her undergarments yet. "I don't know why I said that to you, Michiru. I lied. We can't have a child." "We could try." When Haruka recognized the determination in her wife's voice, she turned around, eyebrow raised skeptically. Michiru held both henshin sticks and both necklaces. "Where did you get that necklace?" Haruka's hand flew to her neck, and she realized that her necklace was gone. Michiru glared at her. "You dropped it when pulled off your dress a minute ago," she scolded. "This necklace is very important and you should be more careful." "Sorry," Haruka smiled, taking the stone and her stick. She pulled the topaz off its chain and stared at it, thinking. When the time comes, you'll know, a voice whispered in the back of her mind, a voice that did not belong to her mother. Closing her fingers around the stone, Haruka let her thoughts wander back in time, wondering just why her ancestors had taken the stone out in the first place. It must be very powerful and very dangerous. In the back of her mind, voices she didn't recognize began to speak. "This stone was part of my star seed, but after the destruction earlier, I cannot leave it in there where it will hurt my princess." "I see our beautiful castle in ruins, and the Moon Kingdom in flames. I see two powers coming together and defying all tradition and destiny to change our world. We cannot allow that. You must destroy that thing." "I cannot! It is part of me, my planet, my ancestors. It must be passed down to every Sailor Uranus, no matter the danger it poses. Perhaps no one will ever know how to take the stone back into herself. But I cannot destroy it, no matter what." "Then the Moon Kingdom will fall." The voices faded, and Haruka looked down at her clenched fist, shocked to see golden light coming through the cracks in her fingers. The stone became warm, then hot, then scalding, and the princess tried in vain to open her hand and drop it. But the stone wasn't done with her. For the first time in her life, Haruka screamed as the light engulfed her, burning her, freezing her, tearing her apart and putting her back together again. When the light faded and Michiru crouched down beside her, the stone was gone and her henshin stick was glowing softly. The symbol of Uranus glowed from Haruka's forehead, and when she opened her eyes, the green had become more vibrant, more powerful. "The stone," she whispered. "It's in me. I can feel the planet, pulsing, sleeping, not quite aware, just beneath my consciousness. Ten'ousei is a part of me now, Michiru." Michiru looked at the stone in her hand and took a split second to consider the options before she wrapped her fingers around the aquamarine and closed her eyes. "The Queen of Ten'ousei took hers out; we should do the same." "But I do not see the danger. Besides, what if the powers of your descendants are needed to protect the kingdom?" "Not all of the power will diminish, you know. Kaiousei will just not be so very wide awake and the link will be a weakened memory of its former self. It is completely safe and completely necessary. Besides, she's right. One day, if we do not take out the power, two senshi will combine it and destroy our kingdom." Michiru collapsed at Haruka's feet when the aqua light faded, the stone gone from her hand. "Pluto told us that we must, though our ancestors seemed very determined to keep the power in these stones. Wow. There's a whole planet in the back of my mind. It's wonderful." "Is this what you wanted to happen, Michiru?" "I don't know. I don't know what I wanted. But we are Senshi, Haruka. We aren't allowed to be together because we are so powerful. We should be able to access that power." "How?" Michiru slipped out of her dress, reaching over and helping Haruka's underclothes fall to the floor. Smiling, she led her lover to their bed, placing the two henshin sticks beside the two talismans on the bedside table. Haruka smiled as the aqua-haired woman leaned over her, smiling. "Just look deep inside yourself for the power we know is there and think about me. That sounds simple, right? We can do it." "Fine, but you don't get to be on top." Haruka rolled her lover over and leaned down, kissing her and searching for power like she was told. She felt that heat fill her body again, comforting and powerful, and she welcomed it, thinking about the beautiful woman she was kissing. Haruka felt an answering power glow from Michiru, and she gasped as that power touched her. She heard the wind outside begin to scream, and the planet sleeping in the back of her mind stirred, awake for the first time in millennia. It wanted to help, and Haruka screamed, pulling away from Michiru as the smaller woman echoed her cry. The moon began to shake, waves crashing and wind roaring outside, as the power of Neptune and Uranus combined, shaking the very foundations of the solar system, of the galaxy, as the two women let their lips touch once more. The power faded, as did the quakes and hurricane, as Haruka and Michiru collapsed. They lost consciousness a moment later, never knowing if their trick had worked. Even the planets they had received power from could not answer that question. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Setsuna slowed her pounding heart, relaxing as the pair finally fell asleep. "What have you done? What have you done? I said to take your stones, not to use that power to change destiny. I wish you would listen a little better." Hotaru, for the first time since she had arrived on Meiousei, relaxed, her dreams free and quiet once more. Setsuna smiled and let herself take a brief nap. Maybe it wasn't so bad. Maybe the world would be okay after all. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Rei gasped as she fell out of bed, the ruby from her necklace glowing and very hot. She took it in her hand, desperate to gain control of the stone, but the heart of Mars would not be still, and Rei watched as Minako also woke, her stone glowing far more fiercely than it had any right to. Both princesses screamed as light enveloped them and faded as their stones disappeared. In the back of her mind, Rei could hear her red planet, whispering in its deep sleep, ready and willing to release its power. She could see in Minako's blue eyes that her lover could sense her planet, too, and their eyes met. "What happened, Rei? Why did we absorb the stones?" "Because something happened in the outer Solar System," Rei whispered, eyes closing as she listened. "Haruka-san and Michiru-san absorbed their stones and tried to combine their power. All of the planets reacted, ready and willing to be connected to their senshi again." "Does that mean that Ami-chan and Mako-chan . . ?" "Yes. They have. Because something very big is coming. And I don't know if we can stop it, but we have a much better chance now." Rei stood up and returned to her bed, pulling Minako into her arms. "I don't want to lose you, Minako." "You won't," the blonde promised, kissing her lover. "But if this is our last night, I'd hate to waste it." Rei laughed and leaned down to kiss Sailor Venus. "I couldn't agree more," she whispered just before their lips touched. *~*~*~*~*~*~* Makoto took a deep breath as she opened her hand. "Gone." "Mine, too," Ami whispered. "I guess Setsuna-san was right. Some part of us knew what to do when the time came. And now I can feel this planet in the back of my mind. It's very much alive." "I know. Jupiter is whispering to me now, calling his children. The moons are waking up now and getting ready for the coming battle." Ami crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't want the battle to come," she whispered. "I'll fight, but I don't want to." "I know. No one who lives to see such times ever wants to die fighting. But we will give our lives for our great kingdom and for our princess." She smiled, a strange but not unfamiliar glint in her vibrant green eyes. "But being destined to die doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the last bit of time we two have together. That's what Haruka was trying to tell us earlier." Ami answered Makoto's smile with one of her own. "Good point." *~*~*~*~*~*~* Haruka pulled herself back to consciousness through sheer force of will. Her body was willing to sleep forever. She groaned at the light outside, and the noise caused her bedmate to stir. The blonde forced her eyes open again as she sat up, pulling Michiru into her lap. "Wake up, Michi. We need to wake up." "I don't want to, Ruka," Michiru whispered, her throat dry and her voice raspy. "Please let me sleep some more." Haruka pulled a blanket over Michiru and wrapped another around her body before ringing for a servant. One came quickly, smiling when she spotted her two mistresses. "How may I be of service, Haruka-sama?" "Michiru needs some water and I could use some, too. What time is it?" "Close to lunch. After that earthquake last night, we've spent all morning cleaning up, but the chefs have promised us a wonderful meal." Haruka nodded as the servant went after the water. Michiru closed her eyes again, trying to get back to sleep. "Wake up, Michiru. Please wake up." "What happened, Haruka?" "I don't know. It was your idea, Love." "You're the one who insisted on being on top." Haruka laughed and Michiru opened her eyes again. "You were in control, Haruka; what did you do?" "I don't remember. I was thinking about a lot of things, but I have no idea what thought was crossing my mind at that instant." "What did you think about mostly?" "I was thinking about the fact that neither of us have siblings, and I thought about Shousha's first child, the older brother you never had. I think my mother was part of that, though. Mostly, I guess I was thinking about children." Michiru laughed as the servant returned, placed the tray with two full cups of water and a tall pitcher on the bedside table, bowing before she left. Haruka took one of the glasses and handed it to Michiru, pulling her lover up. Michiru drank slowly, letting the coolness fill her body. "Thank you," she whispered. "I feel so enervated and so . . . full. I don't know what happened last night, but I feel much better." Haruka took her cup and smiled as her thirst was finally quenched. "I know what you mean. Do you think you're ready to go eat?" Michiru groaned. "I guess so." She pulled herself to the edge of the bed and slid her legs over the edge, unable to get any farther. Haruka reached over to the table and picked up both henshin sticks, handing Michiru hers. Both sticks glowed briefly, and their strength returned. Michiru slowly stood and reached for the closet, pulling a dress out and slipping it out. Haruka followed her and picked a suit, noticing that the clothes they had dropped on the floor earlier had been taken by the servants sometime during the night. When both were dressed, Michiru sighed and reached for her brush. It didn't take her long to finish brushing her hair, and she smiled at Haruka. "I'm ready to go now."
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