Chapter Text
Usagi Tsukino, called Chibi Usa once upon a time, still known as Small Lady to many, tried her best not to fidget. It was a lost cause, since she caught herself shuffling, adjusting her dress or scratching at random itches on her arms every few seconds. She glanced at Diana, who sat on the floor next to her and was succeeding better at staying still, and they exchanged an uneasy look.
Mama’s rooms were out of bounds, the forbidden space they had once snuck into at great risk to themselves. Being summoned here felt wrong, like one of the pillars of her world had crumbled beneath her feet.
The doors finally opened, and Sailor Venus –Minako is also okay, Small Lady, now that you know– leaned out in a casual manner reminiscent of her teenage self.
“There you are! Small Lady, Diana, come in,” she invited, offering an exaggerated bow nobody but a member of the royal family or a Sailor Senshi was allowed to witness.
Chibi Usa, Usagi, swallowed, reminding herself she was a full-fledged Senshi now, squared her shoulders and walked into her mother’s bedroom with the same determination she’d once summoned to run to the Dead Moon Circus. Diana, always such a loyal friend, followed after her.
Inside the room Usagi found the Sailor Senshi waiting, forming a loose path between the door and where Neo Queen Serenity stood facing out one of her floor to ceiling windows. Pluto and Mercury stood on one side, with Mars and Jupiter facing them solemnly. Behind Usagi’s back, Venus closed the door near-silently.
Usagi swallowed. She couldn’t remember any recent misadventures, and this setup was far more intimidating than the time she and Diana had been caught playing ceiling tag in the Grand Ballroom, but Usagi couldn’t think of another reason for a formal summons from her mother. Royal summons were far too formal to use on family and friends who weren’t in trouble, her mother always said.
The silence stretched, but neither Usagi nor Diana dared to break it. Her mother followed her own pace, and trying to rush her or explain themselves away –even when they knew what their transgression had been– might earn an amused headshake but never served to lessen their punishment.
“It has been a while, hasn’t it?” The queen asked finally, which didn’t clear Usagi’s confusion at all. Fortunately, her mother chuckled and turned to face her. She was smiling happily, with none of the disappointment that colored her eyes whenever her daughter had been too reckless. “It’s been a while since you were in this room, hasn’t it, Small Lady?” She asked again.
Usagi bit back a startled yelp and took an involuntary half step back. That was a golden rule: Usagi wasn’t allowed into Mama’s room. Nobody was supposed to know she’d broken it.
There was a laugh to her left and Usagi spun around. She came face to face with a snickering Jupiter and a smirking Mars who met her eyes before pronouncing three damning words Usagi had hoped to never hear.
“You told us, remember?”
Jupiter snorted and began to cough when she saw whatever grimace took over Usagi’s face. Yes, she remembered, and ever since her slip up in the past about the Holy Grail she had fervently hoped nobody would remember where Chibi Usa had first seen it. Surely she wouldn’t have been able to sneak into Mama’s room if the Sailor Senshi had known she would do it?
Clearly, she had been wrong.
“Don’t be upset, Small Lady,” her mother said. She’d come closer and crouched before her. “You aren’t in trouble, we knew you had to break that rule.”
“Why?” Usagi blurted out. For all her unruly streaks during her long, stagnant centuries, she’d never enjoyed disappointing her parents, and the notion she’d been set up to fail sat uneasily in her.
“None of us knew for sure how much your handmade Grail affected events, so we had to make sure you would remember seeing it,” Mercury explained, effectively dispelling Usagi’s unease.
“Oh.”
Her mother lifted a hand to cup her cheek.
“I know things have been hard, and we’re all very sorry about it, but we couldn’t risk changing the timeline. Things were very close in the Galaxy Cauldron, and we feared any change would tip the scales.”
Usagi remembered that awful place. She didn’t know the full story, hadn’t wanted to make Mama recall those dark days, but she understood it had been Sailor Moon’s worst challenge.
She didn’t ask now.
“But now it’s okay?” she asked instead.
Her mother nodded, but it was Pluto who answered.
“Yes. The past and present are set to follow their courses now. There are no more incursions of later timelines into the twentieth century.”
Usagi felt as though the floor was pulled from under her feet, and couldn’t keep the feeling from taking over her face. She’d thought there was at least one more journey into the past for her. Surely…
Her mother brushed the tears from Usagi’s lashes and pulled her into a warm embrace.
“Don’t cry, Chibi Usa.”
Hearing her nickname brought forth more tears, and she sobbed into her mother’s hair and felt the familiar, comforting embrace and soothing caresses fail to ease her sorrow.
A hand rested on her shoulder, but Usagi didn’t move away from her mother.
“Have you wondered where Uranus, Neptune and Saturn are, Small Lady?” Jupiter asked in a too-gentle voice.
Usagi nodded against her mother’s neck. Of course she had wondered. She’d wondered why she had never met them during her long agelessness, why they hadn’t come to Crystal Tokyo’s aid when the Black Moon attacked, why they hadn’t been waiting after she returned from her training… But Usagi had been terrified of the answers, and so she’d pushed back the questions, telling herself a new trip to the past awaited her, one that would make all the missing pieces fit.
Usagi didn’t voice her thoughts, and eventually Pluto spoke from her other side.
“After I awoke in the twentieth century, and everything was said and done with Chaos, I realized I had never encountered Uranus, Neptune or Saturn since Neo Queen Serenity invited me to live in the palace. I had, however, been vaguely aware of another me in the timeline for a brief period. At the time I dismissed it as none of my business yet, but now I realize I sensed the brief months I spent in the twentieth century after awakening as Sailor Pluto.”
This drew Usagi from her hiding spot, and she pulled away from her mother to look at Sailor Pluto, gentle as she remembered but no longer showing as Eternal Sailor Pluto.
“Are you the Puu from the past?” Usagi asked in a small voice, trying to make sense of this new information.
Pluto nodded.
“I stepped out of the time door before you were scheduled to return from your training. Fortunately, Sailor Saturn has always been a quick learner, and she was ready to take over following the path.”
Usagi, Chibi Usa, went near boneless in her mother’s arms.
“They’re…?”
“Yes,” Neo Queen Serenity said, pulling her close again. Usagi felt wetness against her neck, and realized her mother, too, was crying.
They hadn’t been here because they hadn’t arrived in the thirtieth century yet. All this time they had been on their way.
Hotaru would be home soon.