This is very much an intermediate section of the story. The biggest piece of information I need for this story is: under just what circumstances are first names and last names used in Japan? Urawa is known by his last name and Yumemi by her first and I'm not so sure that's right. Part 1 (chapters 1-4) can be found on my home page, http://www.inetnow.net/~arromdee/fanfic.html Chapter 5 The inhabitants of the Earth could do nothing more than watch the sky and hope the invasion wouldn't continue, or that some new enemy would take advantage of the Earth's lack of defense. On the peace-loving Earth of the thirtieth century, the main defense against any invasion was not guns, or warships; it was the all-encompassing love of Serenity, the woman who defeated Galaxia and brought peace to the universe with her grace. The single point of failure. Urawa stared at the wasteland a mile away while waiting for Yumemi to prepare breakfast. As he gazed over the barren land, he wished that the Earth had kept the warships. Serenity was a brave woman; she persevered to the end, and she loved everyone... but that wasn't enough to rule a city, let alone a planet. That, thought Urawa, takes skill and training, not just good intentions, which is what ruling by love really meant. Strange women lying in palaces bearing crystals was no way to run a system of government. Urawa reached out to the phone, touching the key to disable it for the next half hour. Plum, looking like a teenager under Urawa's suggestion, and ironically seeming older than him, watched curiously. "You haven't turned off the phone before", she said. "If you want to ask me why", responded Urawa, "you're welcome to." "Ask? I should ask questions?" Urawa nodded. "If you want." "Okay", replied Plum, "why haven't you turned off the phone before?" "Because", answered Urawa, "We're going to get called for a TV interview. And it would be nice to eat breakfast in peace. Goodness knows there's been too much war lately." * * * * * Urawa and Yumemi sat by the phone an hour after eating, anticipating the "surprise" request. After not even a complete ring, Urawa answered. "Hello, Urawa residence. Can I help you?" The screen flickered on, showing a man dressed in a tuxedo and top hat, sitting in an office full of papers. "Hello, are you Urawa-san? I'm Shirase Akira, and I'm the host of Crystal Television. We'd be interested if you'd..." Urawa mumbled the words to himself as Akira said them, and then finished the rest of the sentence that he'd foreseen: "... like to appear on your show to talk about our rescue of all those people a week ago." "Why yes", said the host. "How did you know?" "Same way I knew about the rescue", replied Urawa. "Anyway, my wife and I would be glad to come. Do you have anyone else?" "Any more hosts?" "No, any more guests. You could always interview Sailor Saturn. We couldn't have done it without her." "We've, er, considered that", said the announcer. "But she's bound to be hard to reach." "That's okay", answered Urawa. "We know where to find her." "No, we can't... look, it wouldn't be appropriate to bring in a controversial figure like Saturn." As Urawa frowned, the announcer hurriedly added "Oh, I think it's all silly myself." * * * * * The Crystal Television show had been fairly popular in the past five years. It was even rumored that the Queen was a regular viewer, although of course the producers would never confirm the rumor. In the week since the invasion, it had become even more popular, as its location in the suburbs made it one of the few bits of city culture that had survived. "Excuse me, we'd like to get a pass", said a young man with androgynous features and long blue hair, as he shoved his way through the crowd, pulling Miranda with him to the booth by the entrance. "Are you sure this is all right?" asked Miranda. "Don't worry. I've got it all under control", replied her companion. He showed a diplomatic passport to the woman at the booth. It was open to his name, Seiya Hikaru, and picture. "We're on official business. So, how about letting us in?" "That's a passport, not a ticket", responded the attendant. "You can't use it for that." "Come on, let us in", yelled Hikaru. "Let them in", said Sailor Saturn, following behind Miranda. The attendant took one look at her and handed her, Hikaru, and Miranda a pass each. "Have a nice day", she stammered, sighing in relief as they disappeared through the door. "That was easy", said Miranda as they walked down the aisles. Miranda picked a seat near Plum, recognizing the girl from the time of the disaster. Saturn took a moment to change back to normal clothes. "Too easy", added Hikaru. Saturn shook her head. "They're superstitious. Nine hundred years of being ruled by people who embody the planets will do that. Some of the people in the city wonder if I'm responsible for the attack. It's destruction, and Saturn is associated with destruction, so obviously it was me, no matter what the newspapers said I was doing at the time. Everyone knows about the Black Moon, but it just hasn't sunk in." * * * * * After Shirase led the audience in a short prayer to Serenity, and gave thanks for her generous allocation of funds to the show, he began the interview in earnest. Shirase looked through his notes and decided to ask the simpler questions first, to get his guests in a receptive mood before the meat of the interview. He read off the first one, "So tell the audience about how you saved so many people. We've heard you can tell the future, like Sailor Pluto." "No", answered Urawa, "not like Sailor Pluto. But I can, and that was enough warning. I saw what was going to happen, and my wife and I decided to save as many people as we could. We couldn't just sit back and let everyone die." "I understand", said Shirase. "Well, since you know a little bit about the future, do you believe these are the end times? We all know about the prophecy. Long ago, Sailor Moon foresaw the day when the world would be invaded, with only a Sailor Cosmos to defend it. She would fail in disgrace, and she would seek redemption in the twentieth century in the form of an innocent child. Our world would end, but the cycle would continue on forever. Do you think the destruction of Crystal Tokyo could be an omen of armageddon?" Yumemi answered this time. "I believe that prophecies may mean something... but exactly what they mean is up to us. And Urawa will back me up on that. There's invasion, yes, and there's a child who's really not, travelling into the twentieth century. But I don't believe it's the end of the world. Not if we don't let it be." "You can see that in the future?" "No", answered Urawa, we've been there in the past. We're both a lot older than we look, and I lived in Tokyo when the Black Moon came. I saw quite a lot of it." "He didn't quite know what it meant", added Yumemi, "but though I wasn't there, I did. It was one of the first things we talked about when we met... having the end of everything prevented in front of you is something you remember your whole life." "Next question", said the interviewer. "It's sometimes hard to understand Serenity's compassion. She left a source of evil behind to rampage through the solar system. How long do you think it will be before some good comes from it?" He added, "Feel free to look into the future if you have to." "I think they're angry", replied Yumemi. "The Black Moon. There's no such thing as a 'source of evil'. They didn't destroy the city because they're evil, they destroyed the city because they were mistreated. They were criminals once, but the punishment was too great. They had to become purified, or lose their home. They chose the lesser punishment." "Then you think they're like Galaxia? Not evil at all?" "You know, it's funny", said Yumemi. "Sometimes the Sailor Senshi decide that their enemies can be reformed. So Galaxia lives. And sometimes they decide that their enemies are evil and nothing else. They're not going to try to purify the Death Phantom... no, that happened hundreds of years ago. They _didn't_ try to purify the Death Phantom. I've never figured out why, unless it was because they didn't like his name. My answer is that yes, the Black Moon is evil... now." "What do either of you think citizens should do to help each other through this tragedy?" Urawa answered first. "I think it's important to cooperate, of course, and to help other people who lost a lot in the invasion... I think we have to do what we can even if we can't do everything. Otherwise my wife and I would never have done what we did last week. Don't wait around for Serenity to fix things." "Well, that's an understandable sentiment, given this disaster, but if what you say is right, Serenity _is_ going to fix things, in a way that you wouldn't be able to. You should be more grateful to her for that, don't you think?" "That's something else funny", said Yumemi. "Serenity's a role model for everyone, showing love and compassion. Everyone can be a Serenity. But on the other hand she's royalty, she's a kami born directly from the Cauldron, she has a Ginzuishou full of unimaginable power. Everyone can't be a Serenity, and that's why only she can fix things." "Well, that's certainly an unusual way of looking at it." The interviewer glanced at his watch; it was almost over anyway, so he may as well end this a bit early. No need to have his guests jeopardize his funding for any longer. "It looks like we're out of time now, so let's bring on the next guest...." * * * * * Urawa and Yumemi walked over to where Plum, Hotaru, and the others were sitting. "Hi, Plum, Hotaru-tachi. Want to have lunch with us? I need something to get the taste out of my mouth... 'how long before some good comes of it' indeed." "What does that mean?" asked Plum. "How does good come from something that's not?" "It can happen", said Urawa. "But this time... he just didn't want to believe that Serenity made a mistake. It's not too hard to do something about an invasion if you have nine hundred years of advance warning." Urawa scanned the street with his eyes, picking out a small ramen shop, and herding the group towards it. "And she did, but she forgot. With consequences a lot worse than forgetting to do homework." "Hm?" muttered Hikaru. Yumemi explained. "When he met Serenity, it was a long, long, time ago. She had just started her second life and she was no older than you or Miranda." As they arrived at the shop, Miranda smiled a bit and asked "Ever had ramen, Hikaru-chan?" "Of course", said Hikaru, nodding. "We're a civilized planet." "Explain ramen to me", said Plum. When Miranda paused in puzzlement, Plum looked to Urawa and Yumemi, wondering if she wasn't supposed to say that. Yumemi tried to console Plum. "Don't worry. It's okay to not know about some things. You'll get over it eventually." * * * * * Miranda gazed out of the window for most of the meal, looking down a hill. Once, she knew, people lived there. But now... it was all gone. She had wished to be free from her parents' self-righteousness. Was this the cost? "Miranda, it's okay", said Hikaru, softly hugging her. "My parents told me once what it was like for Kinmoku-sei, many years ago. Our planet suffered through much worse. They and Taiki-sama came here looking for our own princess. They found her, and then..." "What?" asked Miranda. "They found her, and then Serenity saved everyone. It was all for nothing. All they provided was a little bit of information, and some moral support, and then finally an alien ruler of another planet, someone they wouldn't even have met if they hadn't happened to pick the right school to hide at, saved the entire universe. Ever since then, Fireball-sama never had the heart to really rule as she did before. She understood how limited we really were. Serenity and her Senshi saved you, too, hundreds of years ago according to Urawa-san. And to you, they're not strangers from far away, they're yours. You should be proud to live on a planet with such mighty royalty." Miranda shook her head. "It just scares me. Maybe I'm too close to them, I can see what they're like...." "Miranda", said Hikaru, "whatever your parents were like, I can't believe that all your world's Senshi are like that." "No they're not, Hikaru-chan... but I do know them. Maybe too well. Did you know that Serenity still can't write Japanese properly? She's that dumb. They're lucky, that's all. They were in the right place at the right time with the right crystals to save everything. And her daughter. She's mentally retarded, and none of the Senshi realize it. She's nine hundred years old and her mind is that of a child, and everyone thinks it's okay because her body is small so it all looks right. Serenity's been trying to teach her fractions since before I was born, and she's never going to learn." Miranda suddenly looked guilty and cringed a little from Hotaru. "Gomen... I forgot. You used to be friends...." Hotaru winced at that a little herself, not because of what Miranda said, but because of her reaction to Hotaru. It was all too familiar. Hotaru was like that for a long time after she was rescued from her mutated father. "I'm not going to hurt you for expressing your opinion", said Hotaru. * * * * * "Spare some yen?" asked a dirty, ragged, man as Urawa and the rest of the group left the restaurant. "I'm a loyal follower of the Queen but I lost everything in the invasion... spare some yen?" As Urawa fumbled for coins, he realized how the invasion had changed things; he hadn't seen a homeless person since Serenity came to power and purified all of them. Rebuilding from the destruction would be a long and hard struggle for a group of people who never really even had any experience with running their own affairs. Some just gave up, like that man in the street.... Chapter 6 Most disasters, even most invasions, weren't as total as this one. But the attack of the Black Moon either completely destroyed an area or left it untouched. The infrastructure problems common to earthquakes and hurricanes couldn't happen; with few exceptions, everyone was either well, or dead, not alive but without food, power, and shelter. For similar reasons, there were few looters; everything was either destroyed or occupied. The newspapers were gone. Their main printing plants were all deep within the city... deep below the rubble now. The airport was gone; Serenity had never bothered planning for a second major airport, and the first one didn't make it through the invasion. Television and radio were in a shambles. The banks did a little better, since most bank transactions were bits in a machine, which were backed up elsewhere. On the other hand, the Tokyo stock market had its biggest collapse in a millennium... And of course, the government of the world had just had its head lopped off. Prime Minister Smythe of England glanced at his agenda. Meet with Serenity. Try to lower his country's quota of North Sea oil, not likely... convince her to raise England's allocation of tea, possible... ease the limit on abortions in England, not likely from someone who sensed her child within herself as a new life at the moment of conception.... It was always frustrating to petition Serenity. If she met with one local leader daily each year, she'd be doing nothing else, so she couldn't possibly answer every request, and her kindness and mercy was filtered through her fellow Senshi and her staff. It was very fortunate for England that Sailor Venus had come a month ago visiting "places I missed the first time". That had been the ideal chance to request an audience with Serenity. Only now, there was no Serenity. All his hopes, shattered. How could his people be allowed to lower their oil exports if there was no Queen to do so? * * * * * Miranda's shopping trip with Hikaru was interrupted when a woman called out her name to the two girls. "Excuse me", she asked, "you're Ten'ou Miranda?" Startled, she tried to make herself inconspicuous among the clothes racks. Hikaru looked at the woman, taking in her attitude, and told Miranda to come out. "Miranda, it's okay. I don't think she wants to hurt you or take you away." Miranda came out, ashamed of how she had reacted. She couldn't just go around afraid like that. She didn't kill her parents; nobody blamed her for it, not really. "W--what do you want?" she asked. "I hope this isn't too much of a big deal. We need your help." "I..." stammered Miranda. "I don't understand what it is I have that nobody else does." The woman explained. "It has to do with running what's left of the city. I'm with the mayors of the fourteen wards that survived the invasion. We don't have Serenity. We don't have the Senshi, we don't have her assistants, we don't have _their_ assistants... We've gathered together trying to keep things from going to pieces and we want you to help us to witness some papers." "What do I have to do with this?" "Because they're always approved in the name of the Queen, and you and Saturn are the closest we have to royalty. Someone else's out trying to find her. I hate to admit it... but Crystal Tokyo is only a few steps away from anarchy. It'll be a symbol of legitimacy for our group." "Okay", said Miranda, "I think I understand. You want me to help you in a coup. If I'm there, it makes the coup easier." "No! You don't understand... We're all that's left of the government. If we can't function, then there _will_ be a coup. We came _this_ close to not even getting all the districts to cooperate. That took us two weeks, and if we had failed, well, half our food supply comes through districts 77 and 78..." She shuddered a bit. "You don't have the authority." "All the authority is gone", replied the woman. "Look, I'm not even asking you to sign anything. Just to come and give your blessing to the coalition to do so themselves." Miranda looked at Hikaru, wondering what she thought. Hikaru caught the uncertainty and took her hands in hers, telling Miranda her thoughts on the matter. "Miranda, it's your decision." No, there was no way that Hikaru could decide this for me, thought Miranda. She's probably right; I'm just afraid, I should think for myself. And I'm a Senshi now and I'll have to make hard decisions. "Sure", she answered the woman a bit reluctantly, "I'll help." * * * * * The woman ushered Miranda and Hikaru into a converted courthouse. Sitting by a table were fourteen men and women wearing ceremonial silvered crystals around their necks, along with Urawa, his wife, and several other people Miranda didn't recognize. Sitting by another table were two police sergeants, the Prime Minister of England, and several others that she also didn't recognize. There was also a small audience, to which the woman led Hikaru instead of bringing her to the tables; of the people sitting there, Miranda was only familiar with Hotaru and Plum. Miranda's suspicion died down when she saw Hotaru there. "You're doing this too, Aunt Hotaru?" she asked. "No", replied the incarnation of Saturn. "I'm here to watch. I wouldn't miss this, but I'm not going to participate. I know how some people think of me, and I could do more harm than good by trying to help. Feel free to do it if you want to." "Thanks, Aunt Hotaru." The woman, apparently a secretary of some kind, handed Miranda a sheet of paper and asked her to read it. The words on it were very familiar to Miranda, because they were a variation on a ceremonial speech which the royalty and their assistants often used. She read the words of the speech to the assembly. "We, princess of the realm..." read Miranda. The word "princess" was written in hastily over "queen". "... bestow our blessings, and our authority, on those gathered here today, through our unbroken rule since the year 2003, when all nations recognized their true sovereign. Our queen's" (the word "queen's" had also been added) "rule, always wise, always just and never prone to the errors of mortals, embodied in Her Majesty Neo-Queen Serenity (and princess Miranda), lends its temporal power to Mayor...." Miranda read off the names of all fourteen mayors. "Through their decisions, let Our will be done." "That's it. Thank you very much", said the secretary. "You can step down now." Hikaru smiled at Miranda. "A few weeks to practice and you could make a good queen." "Yeah, but then you'd have to be a guy all the time so you could be my king", said Miranda as she sat by her. "Anyway, I'm going to go get some lunch. Is there anything you want?" * * * * * "So why are Urawa-san and Yumemi-san there?" asked Miranda, offering Plum some fries while the adults debated an abortion petition. Plum looked at them as if she had never seen any before, as she explained. "They're supposed to be there to translate English. Officially." "Officially?" asked Miranda while Plum tentatively bit down on a fry. "Urawa and Yumemi explained it to me... they were ordered to be there because they're heroes to many people and they would help unite everyone behind the coalition. Like you helped." "Ordered?" Miranda wondered. The coalition seemed sincere, but if they're really trying to get everyone's approval they wouldn't order people around. "What would happen if they didn't come?" "Nothing." "I don't get it. You mean they asked Urawa-tachi, not ordered them, right?" "What's the difference?" "You know, you're weird. Ordering is when you tell someone to do something because if they don't, you'll fire a crystal at them and turn them into dust." Miranda wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but Plum seemed to shudder slightly when she said that. "Asking is when you say that someone should do something and they have to think and decide whether doing it would be good or bad and only do it if it's good." "Oh", said Plum. "Then... the coalition asked them." She could be blasted into dust. She was fated to be blasted into dust, she thought, never to live again. Cooan didn't mean for her to ever be here, she knew that. "Did I say something wrong?" "She was buried alive in the city", offered Hikaru. "It must be a terrible memory for her." "I'm sorry", said Miranda, "I didn't mean..." "It's nothing." Plum was beginning to learn more about lying. Chapter 6 While never aging, Urawa and Yumemi had also never been able to have children, so finding the 'girl' seemed like a blessing to them. Still, they had to be careful. In some ways, she was an adult; in some a child. In some she was different from everyone else, and only Urawa and Yumemi, with their memories of the Dark Kingdom that were released hundreds of years ago, really had a chance to understand it. The biggest problem wasn't teaching her good and bad. Any sentient being with the ability to feel empathy for others could learn that, and Plum seemed to have passed that hurdle a while back. The biggest problem was initiative. Ordinary teenagers tended to do what they wanted and could get away with. Parents seldom liked that. Plum, however, tended to do what he and Yumemi told her to do, and they didn't like that at all. How do you _teach_ someone to think for themselves? But now that Plum had decided, on her own, to go for a walk through the city, Urawa and Yumemi couldn't help but worry about what she was up to.... * * * * * Plum had never seen a subway before. Not even one that wasn't working, and certainly this one wasn't. It was mostly sheltered from the Black Moon's rays by being underground, but numerous cave-ins, explosions, and power outages had taken their toll. The only line into the city that was running was the one to the safe zone that Urawa had helped with, and that only because of the hard work of dozens of construction workers. As Plum crept through the darkened tunnels, she stepped on something foul- smelling and released a swarm of flies. She swatted a few, and then realized there was no need to put up with them. Concentrating, she drained the energy of the swarm, which fell to the ground like a rustle of leaves. They would recover, but she'd be long gone. Plum glanced down at the squishy object she had stepped on. It was purplish and there were white rocks in it... long rocks, no, _bones_. She imagined some human walking along, like her, suddenly being caught in a cave in and half- buried alive, like she once was, but never found by anyone. Someone whose existence was suddenly ended by a tragic accident... She ran past the corpses, trying to get away, moving aside rocks and setting off small cave-ins of her own in her attempt to leave them behind. Ahead of herself she saw a broken and twisted metal bar half-embedded in the wall, and tried to squeeze through the narrow passage it was blocking. Her coat caught on the metal, and as she tore it loose the bar fell out and let loose an avalanche of dirt and concrete. The way back was blocked, and Plum was lost. * * * * * Two men in a poorly lit underground office were discussing their plans to make the world a better place. At least for themselves. "Hey, Kyo-kun", said a man in a business suit, "do you think you can really make it work?" The large, bald, man replied, "Oh, it'll be simple. First, I get recognized as mayor of ward 18. It should be easy. Serenity once took over the world and everyone recognized her as the legitimate ruler after that. Why can't I become the mayor of the 18th ward the same way?" "Serenity had a powerful crystal and no army could beat her", noted the younger, well-dressed man. "Well, there you have it, Yamada-kun. Crystal Tokyo doesn't have an army", replied Kyo. "What about the police?" "In the 18th ward? That's just a few blocks in the middle of downtown Tokyo now. They don't have any police there. All we need to do is find the mayor and force him to give control of the ward to us." At the sound of a few rocks moving, the better-dressed man stopped moving, carefully listening to the darkness in the tunnels. "Say, Kyo, don't you hear something?" he asked. "I think someone's out there." "In the tunnels? It can't be construction. Not at this time of night. Maybe it's an animal." "Maybe someone's spying on us..." The figure passed by a light. "Wait, did you see that? I think it's a girl, Kyo-kun." "I think you're right. We can't have people just wandering around here. I'm going to try to catch her." "Isn't that a crime? Kidnapping?" "Yamada-kun, if I become mayor, it's an arrest. These things are always decided in hindsight. That's why Serenity could take over all those countries without being considered a criminal warlord. She won." Kyo ran off. * * * * * Plum's footsteps echoed through the dark subway tunnels as she searched for a way out, perhaps to the surface, perhaps to the one running subway line. It was dirty, smelly, dark, and a lot less fun to explore when she didn't know if she could go home. And Plum was getting hungry; soon she'd have to eat something or drain something.... She saw a light ahead of her and ran towards it. No, no good. As Plum approached the light she saw that it was just a subway light, part of a working section of them, but not a way out. Still, it was a start, since a working tunnel might mean an undamaged exit somewhere in the area. "Hey, stop", said a male voice. Plum saw a bald, muscular, man peeking out of a doorway. "Come over here." This wasn't anyone she knew, and she had no reason to take orders from him, but maybe he could be some help. She approached eagerly, and then stopped when she saw the gun in the man's hand. "Come on over here... now that's good. What are you doing around here?" "I just got lost..." answered Plum. "I recognize her!" said another man, who was wearing a dirty suit. "She was on television... she's the girl that Urawa found. The guy who saved part of the 18th ward." "Oh, really", answered Kyo. "What's your name, young lady?" "I'm Plum." "See?" said Yamada. "That's her. We've got ourselves a hostage. Fell right in our laps!" * * * * * Plum turned purple and gestured at the men, throwing whorls of leaves from her hands. The men, enveloped by them, glowed softly, a glow which floated into the leaves, then was drawn into her. Kyo screamed and fired his gun; it only grazed her, the wound bleeding green smoke as it closed. "Who would have known?" shouted Yamada as he fainted from the loss of energy. She tied the men up with a rope from their supplies, and made her way out the other door of the room, finding herself in a darkened, dusty, basement floor covered with heaps of debris. Spotting a group of pipes lit through a hole in the wall, Plum crawled through, finally finding herself on the surface in a shallow crater on the border of the 18th ward. Civilization again. The police made a special trip out to the 18th ward just to arrest the two men, while Plum, Urawa, and Yumemi watched. "It wouldn't have worked anyway", explained Urawa as the officers handcuffed the two with their moon cuffs and led them away. "Without Serenity, the mayors aren't going to pick their successors." "What? Then how...?" replied Kyo. "They're going to hold a vote." "A vote? What's a vote?" Frustrated at the man's ignorance, Urawa took a deep breath, and explained. "People have forgotten too much these days. A vote is when everybody decides who should run things for them. Everybody picks who they want, and then the one who gets the most picks... the most _votes_, has the office." "That doesn't make any sense. What if somebody evil gets picked? Or greedy?" "If they're evil enough, they get voted _out_ the next time around. And if we limit what we let them do, they can't do too much damage before that happens. As for greed... it happens. It's not a perfect system, it's just a way to make sure everyone has a say. Why's it any different if Serenity uses your taxes to give a company a break, saying that it's for 'love and justice', than if some people that you pick do it because their friends own the company? Except that at least they have to worry that you won't pick them again?" * * * * * A small citizens' group wanted Urawa to run in the 18th ward, but he refused. He didn't even _live_ there, and he didn't have any experience in government. He was just famous for having saved people. Urawa and Yumemi watched the tallies on their screen as everyone voted. As expected, the current mayors were doing well. They were essentially running unopposed, after all, since it had only been five months since the loss of Serenity and no other candidate could build a following... Wait. What was that? Mayor Usou of district 24 was receiving about 65 percent of the votes. Not very popular, it seems. The other two candidates got around 15 percent each; people didn't seem to be voting for them, but against Usou. If the candidates had another year so that people had actually _heard_ of them.... Urawa realized that Usou would be taking a long and hard look at how he was running his ward in the upcoming year. And after all, that's how it was supposed to work. * * * * * In some ways, life was very different in the year after the invasion. Certainly, anyone with relatives among the millions of people killed by the Black Moon would never forget it. Temple attendance was way down; it just didn't seem right to pray to Serenity any more. Even if she did arise from the Galactic Cauldron and recreate the universe. Regions were turning into countries again, and would have to fend for themselves in trade, in relating to one another, and Serenity forbid, in war if nine hundred years without self-rule hadn't taught them anything about conquest. Or they would, if it remained that way. Hikaru and Miranda sat on the roof of one of the taller skyscrapers in the 18th ward, watching the sun set near the ruins of the palace. "It used to be so beautiful", mused Miranda as she gazed out at the ruined minarets and crenellations, which were now just a heap of fragments reflecting shades of red. "Mixed thoughts?" asked Hikaru as he snuggled up with Miranda. "Yeah... it's like a stab in my heart to look at it and remember, but it also was a very beautiful place, and it meant a lot to many people... I never wanted to get away from it by having this happen. I wish it could be rebuilt somehow. Just... just as a museum. For people to look at and say, 'all our lives once revolved around this.'" "It's part of your history, love. I'm sure it'll be rebuilt someday..." Something shone through the crystal as Hikaru watched, something which stayed bright as the rays of the sun faded. It was small at this distance, but expanded into a ball of harsh white light. In it was a winged figure, barely visible at this distance, looking down upon the ruined city that it once ruled and would rule again. "Maybe sooner than we thought", murmured Hikaru.