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Untitled Story by Murmur - Murmur the Fallen - 08-20-2008 Thanks to the kind permission of Mr. Bob, I shall post a fanfic story, one that comes from a recent rereading of Davies, Biles, et al. I'm sure that you will see the influences very clearly. As for a title . . . that'll have to wait for a bit. Any comments will be greatly appreciated and then ignored. Here's how the universe began, with a singularity exploding with the beginnings of the fundamental rules of the universe. Energy from the infinite singularity spread, which became matter, which turned into stars, which turned into clouds, then smaller stars and planets. Then life. Here's how the universe began, with three sisters who had a question. The question was, could they create a being more powerful than themselves? With the question came the experiment, the universe built to make the answer. Here's how the universe began, budding from an older one, unnoticed by its parent. Here's how the universe began. How will it end? -1- None of these things were going through Usagi's mind as she dozed serenely on her desk, the paper beneath her head slowly absorbing the rivulet of spittle that ran down the edges of her open mouth. No, her dreams were of light and love and the gloriously mundane. There was a knock on her door, one which failed to wake her. Then another. Nothing. The door opened and Usagi's mother peered in. Shaking her head, she strode across the room to her sleeping daughter and shook her shoulders. Usagi woke with a start, flinging the pen that she had clutched in her hand towards the bedroom ceiling. It landed on her head, point first, before dropping down onto the carpeted ground. Rubbing her head, she looked at her mother with a tired grimace. "What time is it?" "Just after noon," answered Usagi's mother. "We didn't see you at breakfast, and when you weren't there for lunch either, I thought I'd come and see how you were." "I'm wishing that whichever sadist came up with mathematics would die," said Usagi. Standing up, she stretched, cracking her neck and knuckling the small of her back. "And my eternal curse on whoever decided that all of our papers should be due in the same week." Usagi went over to her large mirror and leaned in, staring at her red eyes and haggard face. "The bruises under my eyes have bruises. And I think, no, wait, yes, I am developing a pimple on my forehead. Egad, two of them." Mother sat down on Usagi's bed and sighed. "Much as I like to see you study-" "You emotional terrorist, you," interrupted Usagi, seeing where the conversation was going. "Ahem. Much as I like to see you study, you should have managed your time better so that you wouldn't have to do ten things at once." "It's only five things," said Usagi. Then she frowned. "Three things. Five . . . three . . . ." "In any case, you come down and eat, and then take up where you left off. The brain needs food just like any other part of the body." Usagi's stomach growled in agreement and Usagi herself did the same. "Let me just wash up a bit first, then I'll be down." "Good. I'm sure your father would like to hear how your papers are coming. And maybe you can practice getting along with your brother." Usagi scowled. "I'm not the one who needs to act like a human being rather than some kind of mutant slug who thinks childish insults are comedy gold." With another weary sigh, Usagi's mother left the room, closing the door behind her. Usagi looked down at her desk, grimaced at the large wet spot on her paper, and then organized her desk. So she was wrong, she needed to do four things. And she'd nearly finished off two of them. Hey, maybe she could actually sleep on her bed tonight. What a treat. Padding to the bathroom with new clothes in her arms, she debated whether she could take the time for a shower before her stomach put in a veto on that. Contenting to simply wash her face and hands, she promised herself a full and luxuriously hot shower after lunch. Toweling off, she changed into new, clean clothes, feeling halfway awake now. She made to go get lunch when a bird passing by her bathroom window caught her attention. It sat on the windowsill, still and calm, then flew away again as suddenly as it came. Usagi looked at the city the bird flew into and smiled. Despite the sunlight burning her eyes, she could see it was a beautiful day. Even the prospect of more schoolwork, because of which she could not go out and enjoy it, couldn't dampen her appreciation of the day and the city. "Good afternoon, Crystal Tokyo," she said to her home. It said nothing in return. -2- Lunch was a rather strained affair. Father and Mother were perfectly pleasant, of course, though they both wore similar distracted visages. The pressures of state were omnipresent, as were its trappings. Servers and valets came and went, mostly silent, as they left small dishes of exquisite taste and immaculate design and took away the empty dishes and bowls. Usagi, her bangs still damp, had trouble staying awake after her immediate hunger was satiated. Further, her brother, Mamoru, was sitting sullenly beside her, presumably from a parental telling-off. What pleasure Usagi could take from her brother's chastisement was somewhat lessened by both his terrible attitude and, perhaps more importantly, the covert kicks to the shin he directed at her. Usagi retaliated with her world-renowned pinches, sometimes to his arm or through his pants leg (how they got world-renowned was a rather embarrassing story). Neither let their pain show on their own rather stiff faces, and Usagi even appreciated the kicks to the degree that they kept her awake through the meal. "Mother tells me that you've been having some problems with schoolwork," said her father, warm and chiding. He swirled a glass of water in his hand and lightly sipped from it before setting it down without a sound. He was dressed in coal black, the only color coming from a single, small gold starburst that decorated his left lapel. This was, for him, casual wear for an intimate meal. "Problems finishing, not doing," answered Usagi. "Never enough time in the day." "Time management-" Usagi put her head in her hands and groaned softly, then muffled a gasp of pain as Mamoru kicked her again. How did he find the exact same spot every single time, no matter how she shifted and moved? Mutant freak and his mutant freak powers of being a pain in her arse. "In any case, you'll be finished soon, yes?" "One way or another," she said. "Either I shall be done in two days or I shall be dead." Mother laughed, the long sleeves of her white blouse sliding down her arms as she lifted a hand to her mouth. "What is it you're doing, anyway?" said Father, after looking fondly at his wife. Usagi turned away to think, while at the same time making a quick retaliatory strike against Mamoru with three rapid pinches to his arms that nearly brought tears to his eyes. "Maths, but that's mostly articulating proofs. Literature, almost but not quite done with that. History. Biology. Finished philosophy, linguistics, civics, and economics." Father perked up. As befitted a monarch, he took a keen interest in nearly all of those subjects. "So tell me about them. What are you writing?" "Stuff, lots and lots of stuff, most of it hot air and nonsense," Usagi said, trying to evade answering. Quite honestly, the prospect of having to talk about her work was too much like doing it, a prospect that she truly loathed returning to. That she would have to once the meal ended was making her linger over it, and she didn't think she would have the willpower to pick up her pen if she had to talk about it. She particularly didn't want to discuss civics, which had taken a rather jaundiced look at the current political landscape. Though she quite enjoyed being an oligarch, she had to be aware of the inherent unfairness of living in a post-human oligarchy which was verging into a theocratic autocracy. She was Serenity, heir to the Iron Throne, the royal princess. She was the daughter of Serenity and Endymion, the Eternal Queen and King of the Immanent Gods, the true Monarchs of Creation, rulers of the Empire of Humanity, which had as its capital the shining city of Crystal Tokyo. They had defeated the forces of evil, and pushed the Earth to heights of glory and prosperity that it has never known. Or so the stories went. The meal continued with Father turning his attention to Mamoru, catching up on how his own schoolwork was proceeding. He answered back in a less hostile manner, though he was terse and mumbled as much as he could. Father nodded as if all was right, though Mother pursed her lips disapprovingly. Usagi left just as the last of the plates were being taken away and the large warm cups of coffee (for father) and hot chocolate (for everyone else) were being served. Making her apologies, and pleading both a heavy schedule and a need for a shower, she left, taking her cup with her. After her shower, which was not nearly as long as she wished it could have been, she went back to her desk. With a healthy gulp of hot chocolate to strengthen her, she took up her pen once more, set it against paper, and then fell asleep. This time in her dreams, she saw many things. Chapters 3-4 - Murmur the Fallen - 08-20-2008 -3- Usagi found herself in a foggy land, undifferentiated from the sky above. She walked along, quite aware that she was dreaming but unable and unwilling to will herself awake. The concerns of the waking world were so very far away. As she walked in this land of dreams, she noticed the fog lightening after who-knew how long. She was standing on a hill, the fog now that of morning mist obscuring the land beyond. Dawn was breaking, but the sun was hidden by the gray clouds overhead. Sounds came to her, thundering and clashing of steel. Screams and shouts. It was the sound of battle. "Nasty business, isn't it?" said a voice from behind. Usagi turned and saw a man, sitting at the top of the hill comfortably. His hair was a deep black and tied in a pony tail that fell just above his shoulders, his thick bangs almost obscuring his eyes. He wore a uniform of some sort, a blue so dark that it was almost grey, which had bits of thread hanging off on the shoulders, chest and arms. It was as if someone had torn away all rank, flag and embellishments from it, leaving behind simply a severely cut suit. "This is a dream," said Usagi. "Yeah," said the man patiently. "But . . . I don't think that I'm dreaming you or this place." "Smart and cute," said the man. "You're right. Someone, not me, but someone has used your dreams to bring you here and now to this place." "Where am I?" "Easily answered," said the man breezily. "That's Tokyo, or what's left of it. And this is the Battle of Ascension." Usagi staggered to her knees, thunderstruck. The Battle of Ascension. If the man was right, she was over a hundred years in the past, just when her parents declared victory over the forces of Silence and ushered in the New Ag, reawakening a sleeping world. "And in about, oh," and here the man took a pocket watch out and consulted it, "a minute or so, your dad is going to kill the remaining enemy and then your mom is going to lay down the Foundation Stone of the Crystal Palace, fulfilling the prophecy and bringing about a never-ending age of peace, prosperity, and, I don't know, free ice cream on Sundays." "How do you know who I am? How do you know all this? What is going on?" Usagi cried plaintively. She wanted to wake up now. She wanted to wake up, and for this strange dream to end, but it wouldn't. This was becoming too real. She tried to shut her ears to the sounds of death but it came through regardless. "Who are you?" The man stood up and walked over to her and sat down again, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You're on a quest and this is the beginning. Soon, you'll leave this place and me and you'll see something or someone. Then you'll wake up and you'll be on a quest proper. I don't know what, and right now I don't really care. I'm busy. But that's what's going on with you. I know all this because when you get to be my age, you learn to see the patterns of things, the stories that shape the world. And you're at the beginning of an old story. The only story, really. And my name's Ranma, Saotome Ranma. I know you because I know lots of things. Not much of an answer, but there you go." "Father of a thousand bastards," whispered Usagi. "First of all, don't curse. I never liked it when girls use that kind of language. Secondly, there weren't a thousand, all right? A lot, sure, but not a thousand. And they weren't bastards . . . leastwise, not all of them. I mean, it wasn't as if there were a lot of standing churches and government registries around with most of them. Anyway, I loved all their mothers. Honest." Saotome Ranma was a legend and at the heart of legends. He collected a million stories around him, and almost as many names. He was called the Warrior Sage, the Trickster Magician, and the Shape-Changer; accursed and holy. Hero, villain, troublemaker. Everyone from Serenity, to Endymion, to nearly all the kings and queens of old traced their blood back to him. Creator of Empires was the kindly term. Father of a thousand bastards the less kind. And he was standing in front of her, looking for all the world like an ordinary man, though one whose confidence and power blazed like the sun. Usagi remembered some of the romances and love songs that were written about him, the ones that she had devoured when she was younger, and found to her horror that she was flushing. She darted a look into his eyes and saw the amusement there. Why wasn't her hair catching on fire? Her face was certainly hot enough for that. There was a flash of light, gold and silver, and trumpets and bells sounded above the sounds of battle, silencing them. A second dawn and had come, dispelling the morning mist. From the plains of the battlefield, scattered with the bodies of the dead amid the few remaining ruins of ages past, there came a great spire of crystal rising up into the sky. "Well, that's my cue," said Ranma, standing up and brushing the grass from the seat of his pants. "And I'm guessing from the increasingly wispy look you're getting that it's yours, too." "Oh," said Usagi, looking down at herself. He was right, she was getting positively ghostly. "What do you think is going to happen now? Am I going back home or . . . or what?" "Beats me," said Ranma, shrugging. Then he smiled, wide and free and slightly mischievous. "But I'm sure that we'll see each other again. Say hello to your parents for me, um . . . sorry, I never got your name." "It's Usagi," she answered, feeling herself continue to blush even as she became ever more transparent. "Or . . . or Chibiusa." Ranma laughed. "You're not so little any more. Well, see you later." "Goodbye, uh, honored ancestor," said Usagi as the world before her faded away. Ranma stared at where the dreaming girl stood, shook his head with bemusement, and then walked away. -4- Back in the gloomy lands, Usagi felt the same lassitude come over her, though she fought against it and succeeded somewhat. She thought, and thought hard. If her honored (and very cute) ancestor was right, she was going to be seeing something soon. Keeping the insouciance away with sheer willpower, Usagi strained her eyes to look about her. From out of the mist and clouds came the tap, tap, tap of boots against a stone floor. The fog cleared briefly in front of her and there stood a tall woman dressed in black robes, bearing a long metal, key-shaped staff topped with a shining round jewel against a stylized heart. "Hello again, Small Lady," she said. Usagi stared, flabbergasted. It was Pluto, Guardian of Time, who hadn't been seen on Earth in years, though of course that meant little to someone who transcended time and space. Among her parents inner circle, they rarely spoke of her. When she was younger, they had been very close. She even had a special nickname for Pluto. "Puu!" Pluto smiled warmly and hugged the shorter girl, her long dark hair fall down from her and draping Usagi. Pluto had not changed much, as far as Usagi could tell. Was she younger? Taller? Less dark in her complex? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Still, the same love, care, and core of melancholy loneliness in her was the same. She smelled of herself, and it comforted Usagi, bringing back fond memories. "Small Lady," she repeated. "I've missed you, Puu. Where have you . . . no." Usagi interrupted herself, disentangling from Pluto's embrace and stepping away. "Where am I and why have you brought me here?" Though still gentle in countenance, Pluto's voice had a firmness and certitude that marked her as one of the powers of the world. "I realize that you have many questions, Small Lady, but I cannot answer them just yet. You have one more thing to see before we can speak. Understanding of this and the previous vision will come in its course. When you return, I shall answer what I will." Pluto raised her staff and light shone from it, discrete balls in all the colors of the rainbow. Distantly, there was the sound of hooves and of wings beating against the air. Golden light shone out of the obscuring darkness and met Pluto's light. Everything became clearer, much as before, though Pluto and the lights disappeared. Chapters 5-6 - Murmur the Fallen - 08-20-2008 -5- Usagi was on the same hill, or if not the same at least very similar. Yet instead of the dawn, this time it was deep in the night. The full moon shone down upon the land, its only illumination. Yet the moonlight was bright enough to see everything. Usagi looked around her, but saw no one. Disappointed, but unable to articulate to herself why, Usagi walked down the hillside. It soon became clear that, once again, she was at a battle site, though this time it was in its aftermath. The bodies of the fallen, grotesquely twisted in death, were nearly everywhere. It was obvious that fires once burned, but now not even smoke arose from the ashes of destroyed buildings and trees, which were everywhere. Tokyo, if that was what it was, lay in ruins beyond ruin. No building was left standing beyond its exposed frames, and even those were cracked and soon to fall. Streets were crumbled into dust, the sewers beneath them mangled and filled with dried mud and filth. Debris was everywhere. Choking with horror, Usagi searched for the meaning of the things she was seeing. There had to be something beyond this destruction, something specific that Pluto wished for her to see. But all was silent and still in this apocalyptic landscape. But wait, no; there were voices, quiet sobs of a grief so great that no tears could ever expunge them. Usagi, walking quickly towards the voices, soon came upon a scene of death and loss. A woman, flat on her back underneath the full moon, raised up above the ground on a cairn built of fallen rubble, was attended by two cats, one black and the other white. She held something in her right hand, but it was hidden in the shadows of the cairn. She was calm, incredibly so for someone in the middle of all this destruction, but there was also great sadness in her, sadness that came through with her voice. "And the others?" she asked. "Scattered," said the black cat, a golden crescent shining on her brow. "We were able to save some, but it wasn't possible to hold them together. I'm . . . sorry." "No, I'm sorry, Luna," said the woman. "Most of my allies lost in this silent world, my friends dead, my husband dead, and my son . . . ." And here the woman's face contorted in agony. The black cat placed her head against the woman, obviously trying to comfort her. It succeeded, somewhat, as the woman slowly composed herself. The white cat, who had been the source of those quiet sobs that had guided Usagi here, said, "What now?" "I think you know," said the woman. "And I'm sorry. But my . . . the enemy will return and so must we. And so must everyone who has fallen. The world needs them." The woman looked away from her friends. Her head, lolling slightly, turned until she stared at Usagi, their eyes meeting. Usagi, frozen, could only watch as the woman smiled sweetly. "The future needs them." "Please don't," said the black cat, as the woman turned back to them. "Please. You'll die." "And I'll be back. I always come back," said the woman, still smiling. "But I won't remember. That's why you two will have to stay, to help me remember. Only this time, don't forget what I look like." "We won't," said the white cat. "We'll never forget." "I know, I'm just teasing. I hope that I can do that the next time round." She raised her hand, bringing up a staff topped with a crescent moon. Inside the curve of the crescent there was a great crystal, one with infinite facets and a light of its own. It was a great struggle for her to bring up her arm, but she did it, if slowly. Tears ran down her face now and her voice cracked with pain and grief. "Oh, oh, I wish I'd done a better job. I wish I'd been better." "Please don't say that, Usagi-chan," said the black cat. "You did everything right. Everything." The woman looked down at the black cat and smiled, even through her tears. "Thank you, Luna. Artemis." Then, she whispered, "Ginzuisho." The light from the crystal pulsed, and the moonlight brightened, blazing like the sun and covering the world, before dying. The cats rose into the air and they curled up, just as they were enveloped by two clear capsules. The light of the crystal shone like a beacon in the suddenly moonless night. Yet there were other lights as well, first one, then a hundred, then in uncountable millions and billions, covering the night sky and swirling around the crystal's beacon like a galaxy. From out of the coruscating light there came ten lights, all in different colors. They danced around the fallen woman, with a golden light in particular staying close. The woman smiled and slowly dropped her arm, the light from the crystal fading away even as the lights in the sky did the same. Usagi went away from the world without a sound. -6- Finding herself once again before Pluto, Usagi broke down in tears. Hugging her tightly, Pluto let her cry herself dry within her arms, comforting her as she could. Finally, Usagi dried her eyes and said, "That was just awful." Pluto simply nodded, her own eyes bruised with unshed tears. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Usagi calmed herself. Weeping and mourning had its place, but now she had to take the situation as it was and face it as calmly as she could. "What now?" "Now I make an explanation, of a sort, and a request," said Pluto. "The explanation is this: with the help of an old friend, I was able to show you things of the past to teach you something. What you learned, of course, depends on you." "They were endings," said Usagi. "And . . . beginnings." "As you will," said Pluto, smiling now with pride. "In any case, by showing you and teaching you, I am hoping that you will be as forewarned as I can make you. " "All . . . right," said Usagi, puzzled but willing to let her continue without interruption. Pluto bit her lip, unsure of how to continue. "I am not omniscient." "I know," replied Usagi simply. "The Lands of the First Darkness, from which all of Space and Time are as one, can see nearly everything. But just nearly. There are places where death cannot take hold, and there are places where it has been shrouded even against the sight of one who can stand where I stand. Such a time and place is coming, and it is changing everything. I am able to see the precursor waves of its coming, and so see the outlines of its nature." "Huh?" Pluto blew a bang out from her eyes and tried again. "I know what I know, but what I don't know I don't know. But I'm getting a sort of hint of what it is I don't know." "Oh, okay." "But these hints are very, very vague. And I am unable to say how it is I know some of these things, beyond induction, hope and intuition." Pluto gestured with her staff, and a large cloth screen appeared from the mist. A light shone on it, showing a blurry picture that progressively became sharper, resolving into a picture of Usagi's mother, standing on a pedestal and holding a torch aloft. "Slide!" yelled Pluto, the picture now changing into a picture of Crystal Tokyo, the many spires of the Crystal Palace rising up from the plains of Kanto underneath a clear blue sky. "The present, the year 3004 by the calendar of the Common Era. "Slide!" The picture changed again, showing a painting of Crystal Tokyo, only instead of blue skies it was dark, with streaks of blood red. The Crystal Palace itself was shattered, with many floating rocks hover over it. Underneath the picture was a caption reading 'artist's interpretation.' "Crystal Tokyo, the year 3004 after nearly a decade of rule and ruin underneath the Death Phantom." "Slide!" Here there was a picture of the Earth, only it was broken apart into different pieces, like a jigsaw puzzle. "The year 3003." "That's . . . huh," said Usagi, suddenly understanding. "Whatever is coming is breaking apart, what, causality?" Fierce pride once again shone through Pluto's face, though she smooth it down quickly. "Yes. That was how I knew that whatever is coming, is coming. It is as if there is a flaw in the structure of the universe, one that is breaking it apart. Indeed, it is already doing so. Where and when those breakages come, I cannot predict. "And this, to me, shows there is a mind at work here. An old and subtle mind." Usagi nodded, "And stopping this is, what, up to me?" "Yes," said Pluto. "You have anticipated my request." "All by myself?" said Usagi, her voice climbing incredulously. Pluto shrugged. "Without my help, without the help of your parents and your guardians, yes. Others, perhaps, but as to who I cannot say." "You are kidding," "No," said Pluto, sadly. Usagi stayed silent, her thoughts too jumbled and dark and strange to be truly called thoughts. Finally, she burst out, "But I've got homework!" Pluto stared at her in disbelief. "And, and, and I haven't had a good night's sleep in ages." Pluto smiled gently at her once more. "You must be brave and strong, Small Lady, as I know that you are." She paused. "Even in the face of missed schoolwork and lack of sleep." Usagi sighed deeply. A part of her had to admit that it was greatly attracted to this, this quest, as Honored Ancestor Ranma the Cutie put it. She hadn't had an adventure in so long, burying herself in school, with interruptions for state events. Her time as a heroine seemed so long ago. Boring was boring, even in utopia. Yet so many fears and insecurities gripped her, filling her with questions. Could she do it again? Wasn't this, really, a job for her guardians? Shouldn't Mother and Father know about this end of the world business? And, honestly, what about her homework? Finally, she said, "Oh, all right. I'll do it." Pluto nodded. "Good, I knew that you would. Slide!" The picture changed, this time showing an irregular rock in space, lights crisscrossing its surface. "Nemesis, the rogue planet. This is where you must go next on your journey. Where on Nemesis you must go, where you will go afterwards, what you will learn, all mysteries." "When?" "Immediately." And with that, the dream ended. (quick regret: I wish that I could have found a place for Usagi's "death-bed confession" of having painted Luna's tail green then blaming Shingo for it. Ah, well.) -Murmur - WengFook - 08-20-2008 This looks like the start of something excellent Murmur. It all reads like really really quality stuff so far. Have you got an idea how many chapters the whole thing is going to take? _________________________________ Take Your Candle, Go Light Your World. - Bob Schroeck - 08-20-2008 Yeah, this is really good. Love the fakeout at the beginning, and the crossover elements have me intrigued. And I'm wondering, just how many turns of the wheel is this past the SM/Crystal Tokyo that we know? -- Bob --------- Then the horns kicked in... ...and my shoes began to squeak. - Epsilon - 08-20-2008 I, too, am looking forward to seeing more of this. I also know how hard it is to name things. I'm terrible at names. ------------------ Epsilon Kind words gotten undeservedly - Murmur the Fallen - 08-21-2008 Thank you all for the kind, kind words. Now for the responses to your responses, an incestuous process that we all love. WengFook wrote: This looks like the start of something excellent Murmur. It all reads like really really quality stuff so far. Have you got an idea how many chapters the whole thing is going to take? I respond: Quality? No, no. Too kind. My blushes. If I were any kind of good writer I would not have had two successive chapters with a character that is just introduced come on stage and EXPLAIN THE DAMN PLOT IN TEDIOUS DETAIL to my main character. As this is very much a first draft, I have absolutely no idea how many chapters this is. Or indeed where this is going next. What fun. Mr. Bob wrote: Yeah, this is really good. Love the fakeout at the beginning, and the crossover elements have me intrigued. And I'm wondering, just how many turns of the wheel is this past the SM/Crystal Tokyo that we know? I respond: The funny thing is, the really funny thing, is that the fakeout was not at all planned. I wrote Usagi there and her conversation with her mother and it came to me that this was not at all how Tsukino Usagi would act and speak. That's when the idea of this being Chibiusa came in, as she is a much more serious in her character than Usagi. I put in the pencil hitting her on the head after I realized that, as a tribute to her first appearance. The crossover elements are pretty much inevitable for someone who was weaned on Davies, Biles, Eyrie, etc. As my plans are very tentative before I set it down, I don't know how much impact they'll have on the story per se, beyond adding flavor and background depth much like Alan Moore's use of other characters in League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. The real purpose of the crossover elements is that, but for some very special and few exceptions, this is very much set in the sort of meta-verse of 90s era anime/manga, with a few inclusions from further back. So far we have Tenchi, Sailor Moon, and Ranma 1/2. I'll probably add more 90s era stuff, whether straight from the series or as analogues, as soon as they serve a story purpose. (If there is a companion piece, I imagine that it would involve having the 2000s era anime/manga crossing over together. Bleach/Naruto/Death Note/One Piece etc. etc.) Though this hasn't been set in stone, I imagine that Chibiusa - or rather Usagi as she's pretty consistently called in this story - is between 14 to 16, so nearly a decade after the future section of Sailor Moon R Yes it's the Serenity and Endymion seen in Sailor Moon R, or at least that's my intention. Not future incarnations. Not parallel world versions. Not a hoax, not a dream, not an imaginary tale. Epsilon wrote: I, too, am looking forward to seeing more of this. I also know how hard it is to name things. I'm terrible at names. I respond: Thank you, I shall be writing as fast as I can on the next section. Please don't expect so much in one burst any time soon. As for the naming things, it is pretty difficult, especially as I haven't decided what the themes are (well, other than the one that, once again, a character FLAT OUT TOLD THE READER). If anyone has suggestions for a title based on what's been written so far, I would appreciate it. Not saying that I choose them, or having chosen them I will be keeping them, but what the hey. Let the contest begin. Oh yes, and Mamoru is indeed an original character. Or at least quasi-original. I would really like to keep original characters to a bare minimum and not have them take too much of the plot with them. -murmur