Gwen of the New Moon <neene96@yahoo.com>

Ohayo minna-chan. Okay sorry for taking so long in writing this
chapter. First thanks to Luna and Artemis for being so nice and
consistent with their site. Thanks to Angel if that's your name for
asking when this fic was going to continue. I wrote long just for you.
And thanks to ali, misdemeanor 3 and brodd and everyone else who has
supported this story. I hope to send the next chapter next week. But
no promises.
Oh and I did some artistic interpretations here so please don't flame
me to much for it.

A little japanese
Hime- princess
Imouto- little sister (i think)

Destiny's Child
The Choice
Usagi stood staring as Setsuna the Guardian of Time and three other
individuals exited the rowboat.  For a moment her pain and anguish
disappeared as her trusted friend enveloped her in an embrace. Only a
moment passed before Usagi could even speak.
"Something's wrong or you wouldn't have left the time gate," was
Usagi's only comment as Setsuna stood back to look at her friend. The
sight of Usagi's ravaged hair and eyes caused Setsuna's breath to
catch in her chest and tears to form in her eyes.  In Setsuna's very
long lifetime, she had only cried once and that was when her only
family; the Queen and Princess of the Silver Millenium died during the
invasion of Metallia and Beryl.  Setsuna could only shudder as she
recalls, being forced to watch the deaths of her friends and family
and the destruction of her home. Now, the last remaining family she
had was poised to kill herself.
"Oh, Serenity-hime," Setsuna sadly thought, "If only I can tell you
about our sisterhood in the past and that we shared the same blood,
the same mother, though not the same fate. But alas, the rules that
bind me will not allow such revelations to be revealed. For now."
Suddenly a loud and powerful presence entered Setsuna's mind and
telepathically bellowed "You know the rules, Guardian of Time, you
will not reveal your patronage or your link to the Princess, ever!"
Setsuna whipped around to face the dark haired Atropos.
"You dare to spy on my thoughts!" Setsuna hissed as she pointed her
Time Staff at the very unfazed Atropos.
"Guardian of Time, our journey here was not to revel in ancient
grudges. Remember your purpose because time grows precious," cried the
fiery Lachesis as she interceded between the two women.  Usagi
remained silent as she puzzled over the event unfolding before her
eyes.  Suddenly one of the women who had accompanied Setsuna stepped
forward and introduced herself.
"Princess Serenity, I am Clotho and the spinner of the Spindle of
Destiny. The one with hair of fire is Lachesis; she who measures the
string of Destiny, while the dark one is Atropos who cuts the string
of Destiny.  Atropos is well known in western culture as the Angel of
Death."
"These woman are the Moirae and they have come to make a deal with
you," Setsuna added softly as she took Usagi's hand.
"Serenity-hime, you have come to a decision which is causing time to
unravel and thus begin the fall out of time that has passed and time
that has yet to be," Lachesis stated.
"You must reconsider your decision!" Atropos cried.
Usagi suddenly felt a wave of anger swallow her heart as she turned on
the woman. Painful memories of Usagi's own deaths, her own trials and
heartaches filled her mind. Flashes of her last moments on the moon,
Mamoru telling her to go away, the many deaths experienced by the
scouts and finally the vision of Mamoru and Rei in the temple filled
her heart with untold rage.
"Why must my life take on such a meaning to this world?" Usagi
screamed. "Am I so important to this timeline and all timelines that
you could not leave me in peace and let me die the first time death
came to claim me! Must you allow me live and endure every form of
death, betrayal and pain ever created. You are sick and self centered
to let me suffer just because I seem to be a willing pawn in your
stupid chess game."
"Serenity, please you must calm down and listen to..." Setsuna pleaded
holding tightly to Usagi's hand until she was cut off by Usagi's
tirade.
"No!" Usagi hollered as she snatch her hand away from the Guardian of
Time. "All of you listen to me. I am Tsukino Usagi, not Princess
Serenity, not Sailor Moon or the Neo-Queen Serenity. I will make my
own destiny, not allow it to decide what I should or should not do.
And I refuse to be a pawn for any of you. If I choose to take my life,
then that is not any of your concern. None of you have experienced or
could understand my loss."
Suddenly a lightning bolt flew from the heavens and split a nearby
cherry blossom tree in half.  An ominous rumble was heard in the sky
as clouds came from all directions quickly blotting out the moon and
the stars. Fierce white bolts of lightning danced as the clouds began
to form a spiral over the park. The smell of dirt and burning wood
filled Usagi's nostrils as she gazed upwards toward the angry vault of
heaven.
"Don't you see what's happening," Atropos cried angrily as she pointed
to the sky. "You have condemned us all to death."
"The time of before and the time yet to be has been destroyed,"
Lachesis confirmed as she eyed the sky. "All that is left is the
little bubble of time that surrounds the city. And even that will soon
fall."

Meanwhile.... In another part of the city.
Three scouts and two very worried cats stood outside Crown Arcade.
"Central Control has tracked an enormous power surge coming from the
park," Artemis informed the three scouts.
"I'll bet its Usagi-chan," Luna answered. "Scouts, we'll meet you
there and be careful, Central says that the power surge is unstable."
"Right!" cried all three scouts as they sprinted towards the park,
apprehensive on what they may face there

Setsuna watched the sky feeling helpless.  The Guardian of Time turned
to look at Usagi who stood facing the skyscrapers. Setsuna noticed
with alarm that Usagi had a knife in her hand and her star locket in
the other.
"Oh, imouto" Setsuna thought with sorrow. "How can I explain to you
that you are a child of destiny. You must survive and live so that
time may continue; that is the curse that befell us when our ancestor
the goddess Selene fell in love with the Earth Prince Endymion.
Selene's father Chronos the father of Time grew angry and put Endymion
into an endless sleep.  Yet our ancestor Selene loved Endymion so much
she had his child and in retaliation Chronos cursed her future
descendants. Chronos decreed that one girl child must be born to carry
on the preservation of the time line and another must remain within
the time itself to ensure the continuation of the cycle. The life of
one girl will be marked with loneliness and solitude until her
successor comes, then death will be swift and sure. The other girl
shall be the child of destiny, her life filled with trials and
tribulations and always carrying the burden that her actions may
destroy everything.
When you were born, I knew then that I would protect you from whatever
may harm you. When you turned seven and I was fourteen, I made my
choice before the Council and chose to become the Guardian of Time and
the Princess of Pluto, the home world of my ancestor Chronos. I gave
up my title as Serenity of the Moon and you, imouto were given my
title. I thought that I was protecting you by taking the worst of the
two fates, I thought perhaps my choice will make your life easier. I
was wrong."
Usagi watched the spiral and was suddenly filled with doubt for the
first time. The knife felt heavy and cold in her clammy hands as she
started to shake in response to the enormity of her decision. Setsuna
watched, as Usagi seemed hesitant and unsure of what to do, as she
walked towards her sister Lachesis held out a hand to stop her.
Clotho walked towards the shaking girl and stood beside her regarding
the gruesome vision unfolding in the heavens.
"Do not be selfish in your want for vengeance towards those who
betrayed you," Clotho began speaking softly. "Your death will indeed
make those who betrayed you guilty as well as regretful for their
actions, but there are others who will be hurt by the event as well."
Usagi remained silent yet mindful of Clotho's words.
"I do not want to destroy the world," Usagi began forming her words
slowly as tears began to fall down her face. " I saw no other
alternative except to hurt those who deceived me. I did not want to
hurt everyone else and yet when I remember what they were doing
and...I just wanted to die. Rei was my bestfriend and Mamoru was my
first and only love. I feel...lost."
"Then think about your future daughter," Clotho urged. "Small Lady
Serenity is still a possibility in the future."
"No!" Usagi cried dejectedly pulling herself away from Clotho. "I will
not forgive Mamoru or Rei; to me they are both dead, there is no
future for any of us to be together."
Usagi turned sadly regarding the four women with her blue eyes clouded
with tears, "and without Mamoru, there will be no Small Lady."
Setsuna could not stay away any longer as she rushed forward and held
her crying sister in her arms. Clotho remained unfazed as she watched
the two women weeping in each other's arms.
"Serenity-hime," Clotho began. "If I were to enable the existence of
Small Lady Serenity despite your calamity, would you reconsider your
decision?"  Usagi slowly looked up from Setsuna's arms.
"How dare you raise her hopes like that," Setsuna raged at Clotho.
"You know that none of us would have the power to bring a person from
any part of time and sustain them indefinitely in another."
Clotho ignored the outraged Setsuna as she looked pointedly at Usagi.
"Serenity-hime, do we have a deal?" Clotho asked.

Mamoru's Apartment
Mamoru Chiba was taking his last look of Tokyo from his balcony.
"Too bad," Mamoru thought to himself. "This place could've been grand
in the future." He pulled the safety back from his gun and was about
to point it towards his head when a flash of white light enveloped his
body.  The gun fell to ground discharging a shot yet missing its
intending target. Mamoru Chiba has disappeared.

Hikawa Shrine
A massive fire in one of the rooms hid a small figure that was sitting
Indian style and chanting.  The figure held a long knife in her hands,
which she quickly unsheathed. The figure continued to chant and raised
the knife ready to disembowel herself when a white light enveloped her
figure causing the knife to clatter harmlessly in the now empty room.

Whew!! That was probably one of the longest chapters I wrote. And yes
in my story Usagi and Setsuna are sisters. So please don't give me any
lip about it. There isn't really enough information for us to truly
know be certain about Usagi's and Setsuna's past. Anyways, I think I
should be entitiled some artistic interpretation. Please send flames,
comments, wedding proposals, etc. to neene96@yahoo.com and don't
forget to check out my website:
www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Ginza/9426/main2.html.

_________________________________________________________
DO YOU YAHOO!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com