[ ] Act 9 - Selenity / Princess Originally appeared in Nakayoshi, October 1992. Written by Takeuchi Naoko. Translated by Alex Glover. Version 2.0, 4.98. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Usagi yells in shock as Tuxedo Kamen falls to the ground. "Tuxedo Kamen!?" - He sees a girl hazily through his eyes. "Somebody calling out to me... Long hair... Is the one always calling me in my dreams... You? Sailor Moon...?" - "Tuxedo Kamen!" Usagi cries. "Stay with me! Open your eyes!" - "Making such a sad face... Why is she crying? I know. This happened before, too..." "Endymion!" the girl cries. "Endymion!" "Endymion... That is my name. I remember. I was reborn here as Chiba Mamoru. To meet you..." - "Selenity..." he says. He reaches for Usagi's face. He falls back, losing consciousness. "No!" says Usagi. "Noooo!" A light glows around the two. "Sailor Moon!?" the other girls call. The moon-shaped emblem on Usagi's forehead shatters. A glowing crescent moon is revealed beneath it. The girls gasp. "The forehead crescent moon mark...! Princess Selenity!?" The moon on Minako's forehead disappears, replaced with an ordinary tiara. Usagi holds Mamoru's head on her lap, wearing a flowing white dress. The star-shaped watch falls to her hands. "Tuxedo Kamen's broken pocket watch... It's starting to go backwards. Time is going in reverse... Ticking the memory of the past... The sad memories, rapidly... reversing..." "I remember..." says Rei. "We're..." "The four guardian soldiers who protect Princess Selenity..." says Makoto. "To protect the princess," says Ami, "and to restore the Moon Kingdom, we were reborn. And our true princess is..." Minako looks up at Usagi and Mamoru floating over Tokyo Tower in the moonlight. Kunzite watches them. "I remember," thinks Usagi. "Tuxedo Kamen... The one I love, Endymion... My memory is reviving rapidly. Just like the color of your deep eyes, seeming to draw me in... The blue planet. Hiding hopes and possibilities, the blue planet. Long ago, I loved to look at the blue planet from the moon. The blue planet's... The Kingdom of Earth's first order prince. A wonderful man, stronger than anyone. Endymion. Wanting to see him, I occasionally went down and stood on Earth. Endymion..." Tears well in her eyes as he holds her. "We can't meet like this anymore." "Why?" "The people of Earth and the moon must not be in contact with each other. That's the law of God. They can't fall in love." "But it's too late..." - The moon. "Make the Moon Kingdom ours!" calls Beryl. "Bring me the Mystical Silver Crystal!" Her army attacks the palace. "Prince!" she says. "Are you betraying Earth!? This is all for Earth's prosperity! Endymion stands in front of Selenity, his sword drawn. "Stop!" he says. "Stop this useless dispute!" As Beryl raises her sword, a black cloud of energy forms behind her. Selenity screams as the blade cuts through Endymion. "Noooo! Endymion!!" "Answer me..." cries Usagi. "Open your eyes... I remember. We were reborn, and we met again, but... Is this destiny, Endymion? Tuxedo Kamen!! I haven't told you anything about me yet! The only one... person that I love..." A bright, glowing tear falls from her cheek into the air. The tear gets bigger and brighter as power streams out of it. "Wh-...!?" says Kunzite. The four girls shield their eyes. "It's dazzling!" says Minako. "I can't see anything!? Such amazing power, I can't get near it...!!" - The bright light shines through the night sky over Tokyo. A man looks out his house window. "What's that!? It's night, but there's such as dazzling light...!?" - Queen Beryl watches through her black crystal ball. "This light...!?" - As the tear falls through the air, it transforms into a bright crystal. "I can see it!" says Ami. "This light...! Usagi-chan's tear crystallized... and is shining...!?" - Queen Beryl backs away from the ball. "My black crystal is going to explode! This power..." - "This extraordinary power...!!" says Kunzite. "This strong white light... It can't be!" "It can't be..." says Minako. "The Mystical Silver Crystal..." "The Mystical Silver Crystal!?" "That's... the Mystical Silver Crystal!?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- A young boy lies in bed coughing. "Oww... It hurts..." A wave of light passes over him. "My cough... is gone!? I'm not in pain...!?" - Umino runs to his telescope. "This light...! Is it the explosion of a supernova!?" - A wilted potted plant perks up. It stands up straight. Its flower blooms brightly. - The ground rumbles. Scientists sit watching monitors. "Is the earth coming alive...!? What happened!?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "It's no use!" says Kunzite. "I can't keep up this barrier any longer. Ugh...!!" He transports back to the stone castle of the Dark Kingdom. "Queen Beryl!" - "Ohh..." says Queen Metallia. "Has a link formed between our empire and the surface!? Was Queen Beryl able to make a link!? It's flowing in... Extraordinary power from the surface... This empire of darkness will overflow with the holy light. But how's this... It is rapidly filling with power! It seems... This power... Is this the Mystical Silver Crystal!?" - Kunzite looks upon the three glass coffins. The glass shatters. The skin grows back over the corpses, restoring them. "Jadeite!? Nephrite!? Zoisite!? You've been resurrected!? What is this light? Have we been in a long sleep...? Energy is flowing in. What are we doing in this place...? We must search for our master... He should have been resurrected again on the surface... Where is our master? Endymion-sama..." "Why are you engaged in this dispute," says Endymion. "Prince!" says Kunzite, standing with the other three generals. "We've had enough orders! We can't stand the methods of the Moon Kingdom! They are inspecting us arbitrarily!" "When did they become orders!" says Endymion. "Inspecting, you say!? Who's been telling you this? That disgusting creature!? Don't you get it!? We're being used by that thing!" "These memories...!?" thinks Kunzite. "Memories of our previous lives...? That's it. Searching for our master, Prince Endymion-sama, we were reincarnated. But while we had not regained those memories... We fell into that thing's hands again, selling these bodies..." The bodies of the other three fall back, melting apart. "And then... Our bodies were changed..." Kunzite looks down at what remains: three small stones. "Zoisite! Nephrite, Jadeite...! They've returned to stones...!? They didn't keep..." --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Look!" says Ami. "The Mystical Silver Crystal is..." The crystal spins in the air. A glowing lights emerges from the crystal, and floats into Mamoru's body. The crystal lands in Usagi's hands. - The man and woman look out their window at the black sky. "The light's gone!?" "The ground has stopped shaking, too!" - "Kunzite!" says Queen Beryl. "Now! For our Dark Kingdom, steal the princess and the Mystical Silver Crystal!" Kunzite shoots out a beam of light. "Usagi!!" says Rei. Minako and Makoto jump in front of Usagi and Mamoru. A wave of energy appears beneath them. The body of Mamoru is carried away, into Kunzite's arms. "Tuxedo Kamen!!" yells Usagi. Kunzite holds his arm out, and power blasts at the girls. "Usagi!!" The girls hold her back. "It's no use!" says Makoto. "We're no match for him!" "Let's get out of here!" says Minako. "No!" says Usagi. "Let go of me! Tuxedo Kamen is...!" The face of Queen Beryl appears over Kunzite, and light surrounds him. "Luna! Artemis!" says Ami. "Can you hear me!? We're transporting there! Help us!" Kunzite vanishes from the sky, taking with him the body of Mamoru. "He disappeared!?" says Usagi. "No...! Tuxedo Kamen... Mamo-chan!!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Usagi sits in the Crown Game Center, in her flowing white dress, crying. She buries her head in a pillow. The girls watch her silently. Minako bends down next to her. "Sailor Moon... No, Princess Selenity. You remember, don't you?" Usagi looks up at her. "About me being Sailor Venus?" says Minako. "About me, Sailor Venus, being the true leader of the four guardian soldiers who protect the princess... About our kingdom, the Silver Millennium..." "I remember," says Usagi. She looks down. "Endymion," she thinks. "The happy time before we were reborn... When Earth was still one kingdom, and the moon was another kingdom... Before long, there was a dispute between Earth and the moon. That happy time... It was all ruined. And that time and now, the same... I couldn't save him." "Tuxedo Kamen being Endymion...!" says Luna. "And this kind of thing happening..." "Suddenly sneaking into Earth," says Rei. "Manipulating people, trying to take anything and everything... That thing targeted our kingdom. It must be that thing." "A being of evil..." says Ami. "I have heard that thing is a space creature with no substance. It is a mass of darkness..." "We sealed it away!" says Minako. "Surely we did in our past lives! But is there someone who opened the seal again, and is operating at the source of that thing!?" The face of Queen Beryl appeared over Kunzite, and light surrounded him. "That woman... Could it be, is she the one who opened the seal...!? And is she the one at the source of that thing, operating the Dark Kingdom!?" "We must determine the location of the Dark Kingdom!" says Makoto. "What was absorbed into the body of Tuxedo Kamen that time was a part of the Mystical Silver Crystal, right? If we don't do something, it will be terrible..." Usagi holds the crystal in her hands. "I still... still can't believe it..." she thinks. "The crystal of my tear was the Mystical Silver Crystal... It was shining so brightly, but now it's just like an ordinary glass ball. I still feel... a little bit warm... The same as... his warm hands..." She passes out on the floor. "Usagi!?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Is he still not awake?" Mamoru's body lies hooked up by several cables to a machine. "His heart is beating normally," says Kunzite. "It is slight, but a peculiar power is being emitted from inside his body." "But wherever we look inside his body," says Queen Beryl, "there is nothing resembling the Mystical Silver Crystal!? What is going on!? I am sure that something like a piece from the Mystical Silver Crystal was absorbed into his body that time! Does that mean it diffused inside his body? There is no reaction at all...!!" Mamoru sits up. "I have no use for bodies not containing the Mystical Silver Crystal!" she says. She holds out her arm, and the skin dissolves from his body. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- "Noooo!" Usagi cries as she jumps up from bed. She breathes rapidly. "A dream...!" She buries her face in her hands. "I wonder how many times now... I've waken up crying... Tuxedo Kamen...! She touches her hand to the mirror, looking at herself. "Oh... It's even swelling up below my eyes. Eyes just like Chinese buns. I cry too much..." She runs a hand through her hair. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Luna lies on the floor of the command center. "I've been here for such a long time..." she thinks. "I am Princess Selenity's aide, Luna. I vowed that no matter what happened, I wouldn't leave the side of the princess. But, for the first time... I'm so far apart from Usagi-chan... I remember. When the Moon Kingdom was destroyed, I was put into a deep sleep together with Artemis. In time, I awakened. I arrived on Earth in this era. My mission being Luna is to wake Tsukino Usagi, and train her. And to be by her side at all times. The sealing of my memory, too... Using Sailor Venus as a dummy for the princess... And training Usagi-chan as the soldier Sailor Moon... It was all for the princess, and the Mystical Silver Crystal sleeping in her body. The plan was to deceive the enemies a little longer... But Usagi-chan awakened unintentionally... I should have believed more in Usagi-chan. If I had restored her memory sooner, and realized that Tuxedo Kamen was Endymion... I could have spared Usagi-chan the pain... I caused her feelings of sorrow..." She hangs her head. "I'm not qualified to be Usagi-chan's companion." "If you're her companion," says Artemis, "you must be by her side." "Artemis," says Luna. "Sorry... This isn't like me." "Have you been here all this time?" "I was searching for the location of the Dark Kingdom. But there's no trace of it... How is Usagi-chan doing?" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Usagi's mom opens the door. "Oh... Well now," she says. "I'm sorry for giving you such trouble every day." "How's Usagi-chan?" says Ami. "It's been a week now... For school, too..." "You're right," says Usagi's mom. "I should be responsible and send her to school already. As usual, she doesn't take one step outside her room... She hardly eats a thing. I wonder if she's had a big shock of some kind." Luna walks past her and enters the house. "Oh," says Usagi's mom. "The bald spot kitty. I don't think I've seen her in a while... Maybe she came back worrying about Usagi." - "Usagi-chan? Are you all right?" She pushes on the door to Usagi's room. "It's me, Luna! Come on, open up." The girls stand next to her. "Usagi-chan?" says Rei. She opens the door. "Luna..." says Usagi. "Everyone..." They see Usagi sitting on the ground, her long blond hair released from the two ponytails. The hair has grown longer than her body, extending far past her feet. "Usagi-chan!? That hair...!?" - Minako cuts Usagi's hair, tying her ponytails back into two balls. "It's been growing so fast since then..." says Usagi. "When you were the princess," says Minako, "it was really long. Maybe since you've suddenly regained your memory, there's a change in your body as well." "A change...?" thinks Usagi. "I'm becoming the princess... It's really like I'm becoming not myself..." "Hey, what about the Mystical Silver Crystal?" says Luna. "You have it, right?" Usagi holds the crystal in her hand. "Yes," she says. "But hasn't changed at all... Is this really the Mystical Silver Crystal? I really can't believe this is the same thing that was shining so much before..." "Say," says Makoto. "Didn't the contents fly out of the Mystical Silver Crystal, and into the body of Tuxedo Kamen? Might there be some secret in that?" "Tuxedo Kamen!?" says Usagi. "Where is he now!? We must defeat the Dark Kingdom! I'm going to save him!" "Usagi-chan!?" says Ami. "If we don't, his body will melt away... No! Endymion!!" "Usagi-chan!?" Minako grabs her. "Princess!! Get a hold of yourself!! We're by your side. We're here to give you strength! We will save him together! So, please...! Don't cry like that...! Cheer up more... Okay?" "I..." thinks Usagi. "I am the last successor to the royal family of the Silver Millennium, Princess Selenity... I have to keep myself together. I have to save him... I know he's still alive..." She faces the others. "We must determine the location of the Dark Kingdom! And the secret of the Mystical Silver Crystal... But... I don't know anything... I don't know... What should we..." "Let's go to the moon!" says Luna. "What!?" "To the place where our kingdom was! To unlock all the secrets! To the moon!!" --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Original manga copyright © 1992 Takeuchi Naoko. English translation copyright © 1998 Alex Glover. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sailor Moon Translations | Sailor Moon Volume 2