#Senshi still has a lot of healing but this was the moment he could finally forgive himself.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Soup solves everything.

[life-of-ice]

A quiet, quiet day

Masaki Sako wins!

After hearing Wolfsboon’s gravelly voice from the speakers, he took the opportunity to get some much needed rest, plopping down on the ground with his legs splayed and his arms supporting him. He internally cheered that he won, the feathered boy rather proud of the plan he had made up on the fly. He’d have to adjust it a little bit so people didn’t get electrocuted as badly, and he didn’t have a way to power it himself. But that was a thought for another time, he felt just a little bit too gross to be working on another plan right now. 

 The feathered boy furiously rubbed his tearing eyes as he sat up in alarm when he heard a goddamn building go down…. probably because of Takakutou,  when waves of nausea overwhelmed him, and he slumped back down, now flat on the ground, his arm thrown over his face.

Sako had figured something like this was going to happen eventually, considering how much cursing he had heard through the radio from Takakutou until her mic finally cut out. The teachers had apparently forgotten to turn off the mics connected to the speakers from the viewing room, and Sako chuckled at “Shaved 5 years off my life,” because honestly, that was an entire mood. 

With Sako’s eyes closed, he could hear so much more, and he heard… cawing. A strange sound, something that wouldn’t normally be there in a fake urban city, the students normally scared off any and all wildlife really quickly. Then voices from the speakers rang out and Sako’s eyes snapped open, still watering, squinting against the sunlight. This was an emergency. “1-B, get out of here!” said Wolfsboon sternly, unable to completely veil the panic in his voice.

“1-A? Kids?” cried Aurora anxiously.

Lackadaisy spoke with calm authority, as she delivered her instructions. “All students, please evacuate to the train station immediately.  Follow your teachers' instructions.”

Sako pushed himself off the ground, shaking his head to get rid of any lingering tiredness or dizziness. He.. couldn’t quite see where he was supposed to be going but he could tell a lot of people were moving in that direction, so he followed the best he could, finally catching up to the tail end of the group, the other kids chatting quietly, and he was pretty sure that was Takakutou itching for a fight over there, but it just as well be one of the others too. 

Buckskin was waiting for them at the train station, his face pinched and tight.  He cleared his throat to catch their attention, and when he did. He spoke. “I’m afraid our train is out of commission right now, and we will need to be walking through the tunnels to get to a safe area. Lackadaisy-”

BOOM!

A muffled boom was heard from behind them, a wave of earth rippling across the city. It might’ve been Lackadaisy, or it could have been the villain. No one knew. 

Sako flinched minorly, and moved closer to the center of the group. That wasn’t something he wanted to deal with anytime soon.

The deer man cleared his throat, looking more worried than before. “Lackadaisy is holding them off, we need to be going as soon as possible.” The deer man scanned the crowd, doing a headcount, while their homeroom teachers came up behind them.

“We have everyone. Let’s go.” said Wolfsboon, his face twisted with worry. 

Takakutou exploded. “What? Why are we leaving? We can help fight the villains!”

Buckskin sighed. “Lackadaisy has it handled, none of you are qualified to fight villains.”

“But-”

Ozen had come up behind her, and covered her mouth with a hand. Takakutou tried to shake her off, but it was unfortunately not possible, the teallette standing firm. 

“I’ve got her. Let’s go-”

Boom!”

“Before anything else collapses.” Ozen led the way into the tunnel, her posture rigid and strong, before she paused, and the teachers went ahead of her. She waited until the rest of the students began streaming in, and situated herself in the middle of the crowd, a beacon of teal within the students. 

Before he entered, Wolfsboon made his signature Lupins, and after assessing the injuries, he told Koatsu and Senshi to get on, both of whom had suffered major injuries in the matches, with glass sticking out of Senshi’s side, and Koatsu having broken both legs again. 

“I don’t need to get on! I healed myself see- ” he protested, before Wolfsboon picked him up and plopped him onto one of the Lupins. “Hey!” Senshi melted into the Lupin, looking woozy. 

Koatsu made a little patch of healing flame, which Sako quickly ran over to, but refrained from touching, scolding himself that there were others who needed it more, and they would enjoy it more than him, he was sure. Sugiyama, Yameru, and Moya all stepped into the flames, their bruised and broken bodies getting healed to a point, and so they were good enough to travel. 

Sako stumbled as he followed the group, his head getting lighter and lighter, and like before, he shook it off and walked at the end of the group behind Lyrimon, as recognizable as ever even barely seeing her silhouette. As they left the entrance of the tunnel behind them it got darker and darker and darker, until soon, it was completely pitch black. 

BOOM!

Every few minutes, the bombs went off again, muffled by the earth around them, and everyone froze for a moment.

Thump!

Sako watched as Senshi fell off the wolf they were riding on, the wound in their side reopening when they hit the ground. There was a steadily increasing pool of blood, and Wolfsboon cursed as he ran over with medical supplies, quickly wrapping up the wound. Ogura had come forward and conversed quietly with Buckskin as this happened. Whatever it was, Buckskin had seemed reluctant to let her do it, but Ogura had insisted.

And suddenly, there was one less lupin, and three less people. Ogura had teleported ahead with Unbreakable and Senshi, hopefully giving Senshi a better chance of not dying. 

Now wasn’t that a scary thought. 

Sako hurried ahead a little bit, catching up to Sugiyama and Lyrimon. He was at the very end of the group and didn’t want to get left behind.

BOOM! 

Left, right, left, right. On and on and on and on-

Boom!

That last boom had shattered whatever serenity that Sako had been able to get from his repetition. He wanted comfort. He wanted to feel safe, if he just- a little one, the size of a candle flame. Surely it wouldn’t cause any harm? 

He reached up to his eyes and touched, envisioning the soft orange and yellow light, the searing of his fingertips, it would be wonderful-

Sako shakily lowered his hand, clutching his wrist with his other hand, preventing the activation of his quirk. He shook his head. No fire. No fire. If he did that, he might kill everyone, kill himself, and- But it would make everyone feel better right? It’s so comfy, and warm, and bright, and it's dark and cold and unnerving down here. 

Just do it. 

He couldn’t- he said- he said- he can’t, he’ll kill everyone. They should rejoice in it too, but it wouldn’t keep them safe, not like it keeps him safe. He clutched his wrist harder he shouldn’t-

“Masaki, are you doing alright?”

Masaki looked up, startled at seeing Aurora. “Yes, I’m doing fine.”

She smiled at him, and patted his shoulder comfortingly. “That’s good. We still have a ways to go, but don’t worry. We’ll be just fine!”

“Yeah.” he replies distractedly.

“I’ll be coming around to make sure you’re all okay, so make sure you stay with the group, and I’ll see you later!” She ruffled his hair once more, and walked off humming a soft, cheerful song, her energy a beacon of light in the dreariness of their journey. It was good to have her.

Sako dully observed the sounds and sights around him, the kids quietly chattering, some holding hands, some off in their own heads, like him. Someone might have collapsed, but whoever it was was quickly helped onto a lumin, and so the consequence was not too huge. But the noise soon tapered off as the hours went by, everyone getting more and more tired until the sound of footsteps was the only thing that remained. It’s not like there was much light either, the few who glowed and the singular bright beam of light were blurry to him, and what else did he need to see except the path ahead of him?

“Dude, why’d you stop?”

All attention suddenly turned to Zeke, who was apologizing to Otsuka, as he had suddenly come to a stop.

“Ah, sorry Otsuka! I was just… Why are we walking next to a lethally electrified railroad?”

People started tittering at this new development with gasps and exclamations, while Aurora and Wolfsboon settled everyone down. 

“We didn’t want to worry you guys. None of you were anywhere near it, and we didn’t feel a need to bring it up.”

“Except, y’know, that it might kill us isn’t a good enough reason?”

Wolfsboon sighed. The teachers were sighing a lot today, Sako noted. “We thought you guys would fare better traveling if you didn’t have another thing to add to the stressors we already had to deal with today. All of you were clumped together, and unless someone suddenly ran at the wall, even then, you might not have stepped on the rail. We’re sorry.”

Indeed, that seemed like a good enough reason to Sako, as the more skittish of their classes were going pale, and trembling at the very idea of it.  But they continued on, working their way forwards.

Forwards. Forever and ever it seemed, they walked. And walked. And walked, the only changes were when Aurora came around to check on everyone, the soft humming of her song soothing them all. 

There was a loud splat, and Sako watched as Lyrimon’s… arm came off, the one with the claw. She began slowly and steadily melting, cursing all the while Fuck, fuck, fuck, now is too soon we need to make it to end you stupid body- while Sugiyama stood to the side helplessly. Indeed, all of them were standing there helplessly, Aurora hurrying over to Lyrimon, before her head melted off, to quickly discuss what they could do. Their conversation was peppered with sounds of splats as her limbs disattached until she was mostly just a torso and a head, her extremities and her eyes quickly disappearing. A few with weaker stomachs retched, and Sako might have done the same if he hadn’t seen worse. They talked about maybe attaching her to a rock or something, Lyrimon managed a garbled plan before she completely melted into that pile of red oatmeal. As her head disappeared, everyone backed away as the goop started expanding to almost double in size, before it hardened with a solid shell around the outside.

Buckskin, Sheriff, and Ozen were going to stay behind, as they were some of the fastest among them, so when Lyrimon got out of her cocoon, the four of them would sprint their way to the end of the tunnels.

Four more gone. Quieter now. Hours had passed by now, he thinks. But he couldn’t be quite sure, the hours were blending into each other. Aurora had come around once more, and Sako could see her mouth moving, but he couldn’t tell what she was saying, and he couldn’t respond, his tongue was too heavy in his mouth and he couldn’t form the words. He couldn’t think. A simple gray haze was all he knew, dizziness and nausea and lethargy overwhelming him. 

He had stopped moving, and there was a hand touching his shoulder. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, but it wasn’t enough this time. In fact, it made it worse, the slight glows of the people ahead of him swam in and out of his vision. Suddenly, he felt warm, so warm compared to the cold of the tunnel, and he basked in it for a moment, then the waves of dizziness hit him, causing him to struggle to stand and get his bearings, then grey overtook him. The feathered boy slumps bonelessly. This was going to be one of the harder falls from a fainting spell, he could tell. 

Instead of waking up with a crash from when he hit the ground, he awoke in a much more gentle manner, lying on hard concrete with something soft tucked underneath his head. Aurora’s face was in view, looking worried. 

“Hey Masaki. Are you doing okay? You fainted.. Again, from what I heard from Gakusa and Kemuri. Anyway, we can address that problem a little bit later.” She glanced up to Wolfsboon. If she left, he would be the only other authority figure except their nurse, and really, the nurse was younger then the students. “I’m sorry Masaki, but we really need to go. I can carry you for a little bit, okay?”

He blearily opened his eyes, and soon he was being princess carried towards the front of the crowd. Sugiyama had come running up demanding to help, and Aurora had relented. Sako piggy backed off her, and slowly recovered, closing his eyes.

There were whispers, just like the times other things had happened.

“Masaki looks so small…..”

“Don’t say that! He’s going to jump up and fight you or something.”

“Seriously, he’s super skinny. Y'know when he fell, Aurora had fretted over him being so light, even for someone of his height.”

“I told him not to overdo it. Why is he even doing this if it hurts him so badly? If it makes him fucking faint? If- If he can barely see?”

“Gakutori-nii, calm down.”

“He needs to stop, Tokachi. He’ll-  hurt himself irreparably one of these days.”

“Like that one time he fell off my cloud… Gakusa’s right, his quirk is killing him.”

Sako scowled minutely at those assessments, he was doing just fine and he passed out from exhaustion. 

The feathered boy wakes up, on the ground once more. This time, he had time to realize what was under his head. It was Wolfsboon’s scarf shawl thing, and everyone was sitting down, leaning against the wall or each other. They were still in the tunnel, but ahead of them, was the other end of the train station, with Buckskin talking on the phone, confirming a bus. 

Everyone was exhausted, and most of the kids were sleeping, with the teachers vigilantly watching over them.

“Almost there guys, just a few more minutes, and then the bus will be here.”

Sako rubbed his eyes, but didn’t get up. “Is everyone okay?”

A few people turned to him, but it was Sugiyama that replied. “Yeah, everyone should be okay. Senshi went to the hospital, and Lyrimon, Ozen, and Sheriff arrived a few minutes ago. And Buckskin’s over there. So yeah, as good as we’re going to get.”

Sako frowned. “How long did I sleep?”

“Just two or three hours! Not too long!”

Sako started sputtering, and he pushed himself up. “What? You carried me for a few hours? You should have just dropped me or woken me up or something, you didn’t need to do that!”

Sugiyama poked him in the forehead, effectively shutting him up. “You looked pretty comfy, and besides, I’m pretty strong, and you weigh basically nothing. It all worked out.” She said this, but Sako took note of the slump of her shoulders, and frowned accordingly. 

“Ah.. I guess so. Thank you.”

The two chatted some more as they waited for the bus to arrive, aimless little things, their favorite foods, little things like that.

“Hey Sugiyama, how do you know Lyrimon? You said today was your first day, right?” He had been wondering about that for a while.

“Yeah, today was my first day! She’s my sister. So I would hope I know her pretty well.”

They don’t have the same last name, Sako thought, but it wasn't like he wanted to open a can of worms right now. Maybe it was like with Gakusa and Tokachi. “That’s cool. It must be nice to have siblings, huh?”

Sugiyama opened her mouth to reply, when the bus arrived. “I guess our ride is here. Come on, let’s go.” She offered a hand to Sako, and he took it, pulling himself up. “Let’s sit together, okay?”

He smiled. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

Everyone settles onto the bus, the teachers situated in the back to keep a watch out presumably. Lyrimon grabbed a seat as soon as possible, tired from having to sprint all the way back to the end of the tunnel. Sugiyama slid in after her, and Sako did the same shortly after. They were big seats, so there was room for everyone, even with all of Lyrimon’s extra limbs. 

“‘Kay. I just spent the last hour sprinting, so we’re going to be playing Uno, got it?”

Sako smiled. Finally, someone he could understand. “ Hell yeah, let’s go.”

Sugiyama nodded, fidgeting with the tear in her shirt. 

Lyrimon grinned fiercely, and swiftly dealt out cards for a brutal, backstabbing game of Uno. Their worries were lost in the cards as they played, but even as Sako and Lyrimon hyped each other up, Sugiyama appeared to get more and more tired until she finally folded. 

“Okay, I need a break for a little bit. I’m folding.”

“No worries!” said Sako, “You’re good.”

The two kept playing, shouting and cursing somewhat loudly as they went. 

“BITCH! WHERE’D YOU PULL ALL THOSE SKIPS FROM?”

“I DUNNO, BUT IM WINNING SO IT DOESN’T FUCKING MATTER!”

Sako was having a lot of fun, but as the game ended and Lyrimon was packing up the cards, he noticed Sugiyama picking at her clothes frantically. Specifically at the tear. He turned to her and asked, “Sugiyama, you need some help with that?”

Sugiyama looked up at him. “Yeah, that would be nice. I can sew it up, I just don’t have anything to work with.”

“Here I can help with that!” “Wait-” He began tapping his eye and activating his quirk, making a needle and cotton thread. 

Lyrimon looked at him disapprovingly. “Sako, that was pretty fucking dumb of you. Stop using your quirk, you’re going to faint again or something.”

Sako waved her off dismissively. “One time out of many. I wasn’t even using my quirk.”

“Tsubame carried you.”

“It’s not like I had a choice. “

“Don’t be so fucking stupid. Your quirk is eating you alive. Remind me, I’ll stab you someday, the nutrient syringes are still in my room. You fucking faint a few times a week, that’s not normal, even if it was just from your quirk.”

“Like you can talk, you’re in pain, what, 93% of the time? You-”

Sugiyama cut in silently, taking the needle and thread from Sako. “Stop it. Both of you are stupid.”

“-And it’s not like I can take it back now. So there.” finished Sako smugly. 

Sugiyama was struggling to get the needle through the fabric due to the awkward angle, and where the tear was located. 

“Here, let me help you with that.” He reached over and took the threaded needle. 

She turns slightly. “You know how to sew?”

“Yeah,” he said, pushing the needle through the thick fabric. “I like to sew a lot, clothing mostly.”

Her voice lights up. “Nice! I’m better at embroidery myself, but clothing is really fun. Like skirts and stuff.”

He quickly pushes the needle in and out, a smooth, practiced motion. “I like skirts, they’re a lot easier than making pants, at least for me anyway. It’s hard to make a skirt look bad. I made a bunch of things for Lyrimon recently, right?”

The two looked over to Lyrimon, but she was fast asleep.

“Well anyway, I made her some tank tops that have snaps up and down the seams for her mutations.’

Sugiyama nodded approvingly. “Mutation quirks are hard to adjust for, but that’s really clever! I had to do something like that too, once, I had to adjust a hat design for ox horns.”

Sako stuck his tongue out a little as he knotted the final stitch. “That’s really cool! Have you ever tried making….”

The two talked thoroughly about their various sewing adventures, Sako regaling her with tales about the time he tried to make a sleeve for the first time, and Sugiyama sharing her love of wolves, and described her embroidery to him. 

The two were interrupted by a certain someone coming over. 

“Masaki! How you doing?” It was Funkee, who had come down the aisle from the front of the bus, waving. Sugiyama had gone completely still, Masaki observed. 

“Funkee! Nice to see you, I’m doing well. What cha doing back here?” He shifted slightly to be a little more in front of Sugiyama, not that it changed much when he was so short.

“I wanted to ask you something.” He said. “I thought you had an illusion quirk? But if you did, how’d you shock the cloud girl? There’s no way electricity can go through an illusion, even if you’re able to make the illusion feel real.. Right?”

Sako stifled a laugh. “No, no. You definitely got it the first time, I have an illusion quirk.”

“Electricity doesn’t work that way Masaki.”

He laughed harder, and put up his hands in surrender. “Alright, alright, not exactly an illusion quirk, but not that far off either. It’s a surprise, so you’ll have to find out on your own.”

Funkee looked confused, but he backed off a little. “Alright. If you say so. I thought I got everyone’s quirks pretty down pat. Like Tokachi’s a bunny that can turn into a human, right? And… Yasashii has some kind of mental quirk, right? Maybe some kind of berserker mode? There has to be a good reason they jumped out that window right?”

Sako pressed his lips tightly together to smother a smile, and pretended to busy himself with making a small pair of scissors to trim the thread coming off of Sugiyama’s shirt. “Yup! You got it! It’s just.. Don’t be surprised if they react weirdly to you guessing their quirks. Some people do that sometimes.”

“Um. Okay then Masaki, I’ll talk to you later then?” asked Funkee. 

“Yeah! See you around!” replied Sako.

As soon as Funkee was as out of earshot as he was going to get, Sako dissolved into chuckles, eliciting confusion from Sugiyama. “Why are you laughing? If he was right?”

“I told him that I had an illusion quirk,” he choked out between wheezes, “and he still believes me, oh my gosh, and he was so far off with all of the other guesses he made.”

She looked just as confused as Funkee did, but ended up shrugging. 

“I know I seem crazy but that’s really amusing. Really! Anyway, I wonder where we’re going.”

The two glanced out the window over the sleeping Lyrimon. “Damn. They took us to U.A.”

Everyone started loading off the bus. There was a figure in front of the door. “Lackadaisy! You’re okay!”

“I sure am!” and indeed, she looked almost perfectly fine, except for her hair being a bit messed up, and a scratch on her cheek. “Hey Principal, mind letting us in?”

A voice came from the other side of the intercom. “Yeah, yeah, hold on.”

Buckskin turned to the crowd of students. “Now kids, we’re guests here, I want you to treat U.A. and its facilities with your utmost respect. Don’t destroy anything, don’t antagonize the students, and if anything goes wrong, get one of us. Don’t try to fix it yourself.”

A gruff, familiar voice came from the now open gate. “Don’t worry Buck, they can’t be any worse then the hell class was.” He addressed the students with a slightly manic looking smile. “Welcome to U.A., Taiyuu students.”

Lots of people started chattering, after all, UA was a much more famous school then Taiyuu certainly. Sometimes during that, Aizawa began leading the group to the extra dorms. 

Sako was surprised at the fact they even had extra dorms, it was a little strange, and seemed like a waste of money, but he stayed quiet. Our classes are so small compared to UA’s. Our entire school fits into a dorm meant for one class, he thought.

“Keep in mind that there a few of you will have to double up in the dorms to fit, these were made for a class of 20 people. “

As soon as Aizawa finished speaking, Sako immediately went ahead of the group to grab a room for himself. He opened the door, and shut it quickly and quietly. He rubbed his eyes, his contacts had fallen out sometime during the walk through the tunnels, it was very, very hard to see anything at the moment. So instead, he resolved to flop down on the bed and die for a little bit. He sat straight up as there was a knock on his door. He grumbled, but made it over to the door and cracked it open, revealing one Sugiyama.

She smiled as he opened the door and waved. "Masaki! Hi! Didn't mean to bother you, but I wanted to ask about the stitches?" She points at her sleeve where the tear, now newly reopened was located. 

He blinked and took a moment to process. "Oh yeah, it's uh. Just my quirk. Doesn't last forever, just a temporary sort of thing. Sorry about that."

The pinkette nodded and sighed. "It's fine. I never would have expected that! Anyway, the other reason I came down here was to ask if you wanted to come join the sleepover downstairs? We managed to get everyone to come. Or most everyone, I think."

Masaki hesitated. "I guess so? I… yeah. I'll come."

"Great! Grab a pillow and some sheets, we're in the common room."

She left, and he headed back into the room to grab some stuff. It was going to be nice to be around people again, even if he just spent the last couple hours with them straight. It was going to be more peaceful, more chill. It would be nice.

It was odd for him. Going to this school and participating in all these spars meant it wasn't practical to have his wings up all the time. They were lightweight, but. Always so heavy, always such a burden. Lately, without them…. It's been light. Freeing almost, not having to keep them up. Not having to endure any stares from wonderful "high society" about how he wasn't quite refined enough, or where he got all those odd burn markings from. 

It was nice. 

He shook himself off from those thoughts and gathered his things. Not good to stay in one place for too long, lest he sink back into a stew of thoughts. 

Downstairs, there was a whole thing going on, everyone gathered in little groups, much more subdued than usual. They spoke in low murmurs, and it appeared that they had already gained permission to have the sleepover, because the teachers were gone.

Sako himself didn't say anything, didn't want to break the level of noise they were at. Instead he simply curled up near the base of the small couch. It was comfortable with his back to the wall and a low hum of noise taking over his thoughts. And comforted, he drifted off..

Sako wakes up, disoriented. He quickly swivels around to look, and oh. He's at the U.A. dorms, right. Glancing through the room, it appears that everyone is still here based on the number of colorful blobs in his sight. He sits up, wincing at the stiffness from sleeping on the floor and from his scars. He stretches his joints carefully, hoping that it will be flexible enough for him to move throughout the day, and for their spar later in the morning. He feels around for his glasses and well.. Nothing. Because his glasses are back in the dorms at Taiyuu. Just his shitty luck, wonderful. So no sight, and painful moving for a solid three days. Nice.

He slaps himself lightly, and moves out of his pile on the floor, as quietly as possible. He gets to the kitchen where an exhausted looking Yasashii is sitting, and nods to him. Yasashii, holding a mug of coffee waves back, and Sako moves on to the fridge to get something to eat. He squints to see the contents of the container… and there's just enough ingredients for miso soup in there, along with a bag of rice sitting by the door.  

Grabbing the ingredients, he sets out to make enough soup and rice for his classmates. After a few minutes of prep, and several minutes of waiting for everything to cook, he makes a ladle with his quirk, and pours some into a bowl he found, filling it with both rice and soup. He hears people coming in and curses, finishing the rest of his food quickly, before heading out to get ready for the day. 

"Ow!"

And oops, looks like someone picked up his fabricated ladle. Whoops. 

Wolfsboon and Aurora were telling the remaining students to make sure everyone knew that they had to clean up before they left for class in the morning, and that there were parents there to deliver clothing and food. 

Some of the kids quickly popped out of the kitchen or the commons to run to the door, coming back inside after a moment with fresh clothes and bags. Otsuka was coming around with goodie bags her mother had made, and as soon as Sako accepted it, he slipped inside his room to take a small break.

He took a deep breath. One, two. One, two. And then he slipped back out of his room and joined the crowd heading out to Gym Gamma, where Aizawa introduced them to the area, recounting a story of his hell class. Sako only really snapped to attention when his teachers said, something something "-present for you!" 

And lo and behold, behind the teachers were piles of cases, their hero costumes. Sako himself felt vaguely uncomfortable with the idea. He didn't have any idea of what he wanted with his costume. Hopefully it would look okay. 

They headed out to the locker rooms, and he pulled out the various parts of his costume. Loose, baggy pants with ombre green and pink feathers on the sides of the legs. A black cropped tank top, with three circles like bullseyes on his chest. And these light, reinforced plastic metal sleeves, strangely heavy, weighed down by bits of materials on the inside. Different metals, woods, glasses, and plastics made up the inside in little squares. The outsides made him look like a robot, all grey metal and colored veins going up and down the sleeves.

The best part of his costume was the shooter on his hand. A round metal contraption, that could shoot objects in the shape of a disk. Best of all, he could make his own projectiles. 

He headed back out, his opponent already on the mat.

"Hey Masaki! How ya doing?" Called Kottoba.

"Im doing just fine!" He called back. "These hero costumes are pretty cool, yeah?"

"Definitely! They're dope as hell! Look at this big ass speaker i have!"

She gestured wildly at her speaker, and Aurora began counting down for their spars. 

"3… 2…. 1…. Go!"

Masaki fabricated earplugs in his ears, blocking out whatever insult Kottoba was about to have him hear. 

But of course, ear plugs arent perfect, and sound still came through them, especially with the aforementioned big ass speaker doing most of the work for her. 

"-never going to grow!"

He winced slightly. Come on guys, it's getting old being insulted for his height.

She frowns for a moment, and tries again, but Sako's already running at her, unable to hear her over the pounding of his own footsteps. They carefully dance around each other, Kottoba still attempting to insult him while dodging, and Sako going for her joints. He carefully aims, and flexes his hand, releasing a disc. It surprises her enough that he's able to slip behind her and push her knees forward, while simultaneously grabbing her shoulders so she would fall to the floor. And she did, landing uncomfortably to the floor. She blinks up at him, and he looks down at her, both gobsmacked, though one far more smug then the other by the fact this little 4'6 kid was able to take down anyone, much less Kottoba.

He helped her to her feet.

"Nice job Masaki. Never thought you had it in you."

"Yeah? And what about all the times you told me I was going to go feral or die or something someday?"

She shrugs. "I guess today was the day. Alright, I'll see ya later, I wanna get changed. I regret putting so much Kevlar in this stupid suit."

He laughs. He could have told her that. "Alright, see you Kottoba!"

He rubs his eyes as they tear up again, and wanders over to where the teachers are. Then all the lights flicker out with a loud buzz. 

"FUNKEE. WHAT THE FUCK."

"SORRY!"

An emergency generator must've kicked in, because the lights come back on, and all the teachers are either worried or sighing, unsurprisingly. 

"Well. They aren't any worse than my students were, so they should be fine." Says Aizawa to Wolfsboon's stricken look.

The last of the students finished sparring soon after the power outage and Sako spotted Aizawa gently putting eye drops in his eyes, and he walked over.

"Aizawa-sensei, where did you get those eye drops? I need some while I'm here."

Aizawa looks down and over at him. " I got these from the convenience store down the road. Here take some." He pulls a bottle out of his pockets, and offers it to Sako, who takes it, and pockets it gratefully.

"Thank you very much! I'm sorry I had to ask you, we left all our stuff back at our dorms when we left. Sometimes i get really bad dry eye from my quirk and it sucks."

Aizawa nodded thoughtfully. He got that, and expressed the notion to Sako before turning back to the crowd of students around the teacher now. 

"All you kids look like you'll do just fine. Don't destroy anything, and we'll be good, okay? Welcome to U.A."

@taiyuu-high-oct​

[docholligay]

DO WE WANT 2,200 WORDS ON REI’S PERSONAL GROWTH IN EPISODE 23 GOD I HOPE SO

So one of the things that comes up over the course of these four episodes is Rei and her personal growth as manifested through her Senshi power. This also comes up in earlier episodes, so I’ll be drawing from them a little bit, too. (Also Minako being a manipulative troll) 

Rei is a pretty standoffish and grumpy member of the Senshi, and I really love that PGSM gives her the space to be that. She’s been working on a lot of this youma stuff alone, because that’s how Rei is used to doing things: Alone. She’s spent most of her life alone, and life has taught her that to rely on anyone is a mistake. It takes time to unlearn that, and I really appreciate that PGSM allows her the time for that. 

Usagi powered up in the last episode by learning the shocking truth that she can be really fucking selfish and self-centered, and I love that it works as an aspect of her power but not Ami’s evil, because apologizing is one thing, but that doens’t make everything right, right away. Why should it? And so we have the genius of “Fuck your friendship mittens” even though USagi’s power-up magically heals the mittens as well just to remind us all that we are in a Sailor Moon joint ANYWAY, this is about Rei, and how Rei needs to grow. 

Rei’s problems aren’t are the same as Usagi’s and it’s a mark of the quality of PGSM that it allows each of the girls to go through their own growth in order to power-up. It’s not just a leveling up, it's a better understanding of how to be a team member, the ways in which each of them can greater contribute to the whole. It’s an important part of teamwork that I think gets glossed over oftentimes, that to really be in harmony with each other we have to change the ways we’ve done things. If you do this portrayed in media, it’s generally only in a romantic setting. The idea of a group of magical girls having to grow and change to fit each other isn’t that common. 

Admittedly the title of this episode is a little fucking crackers, even more so when you consider that it is in fact literally what happens here: Rei sings to get her power-up. That’s nuts. That’s wild. Why am I holding this up as a paragon of character development?  Because, as with all crackers things that actually work, it’s not about Rei singing at all. It’s about her learning important object lessons that the leader of the senshi has to convey through on the ground knowledge, because Rei won’t fucking listen to a thing she says. 

(It’s actually hilarious how little the senshi listen to her given that they think she’s the actual fucking princess. Rei wouldn’t go after the youma, Usagi wouldn’t fight Ami, like I need PGSM background that’s just Mina swearing about how SHE IS LITERALLY THEIR SUPERIOR WHY DID I EVEN BOTHER WITH THE TOY R US CROWN IF THIS IS WHAT I’M GETTING) 

And admittedly, this first lesson I’m about to point out is the less important one, but it is the more hilarious one: Mina told Rei to leave her the fuck alone and she won’t. The fun way of thinking about this is that Mina knows Rei has feelings for her even if Rei doesn’t quite know that yet because our darling and beloved Rei hino is a little bit of a repressed sunflower. Mina knew that Rei would, in no way, listen to Mina or keep her promise to leave Mina alone and stop following her. Mina knows a dumb lesbian when she sees one, and she can see the writing on the wall, but if at least for this moment, she can teach her: Fucking listen to me. 

Now the less fun way (for most of us, but not for my evil ass) is to remember that MINA IS GOING TO DIE. She knows this. No one else knows this. Mina has a vested interest in getting everyone’s shit together before she fucking dies, and has no interest in anyone’s pity. For all she knew Rei was never going to listen to her, no way no how, there has to be a small part of her that hoped Rei would. Because Rei getting closer to her is a mistake, no matter how much Rei wants it. Mina is distant for a reason. There’s no benefit in letting anyone get close to her when she knows that her Narratively Convenient Illness is going to claim her sooner rather than later, and I admit that I LOVE THIS SHIT. People covering up their illnesses to try to spare those around them is a trope I fucking feast upon like a fat Roman emperor with a grape. However annoyed I get with the conclusion to this whole fiasco, AND I DO, I love that I got a little bit of this delicious angst. 

That isn’t to say that MIna really spends a lot of time beating around the motherfucking bush

The absolute shade that she has going on here, the way she says “that sure surprised me” and Rei of course takes it personally from Mina in a way that I’m not sure I think she would from anyone else, because she respects Mina in a way she doesn’t anyone els eon beyond her being “the princess” A lot of people wonder where I get this idea about Mina being the leader and specifically Rei being the second in command, and it’s pretty much here in PGSM that all of that arises from, although given my general feelings on Rei I admit it may have come of its own accord eventually. 

Rei takes that role as leader so seriously, and she feels in her heart that’s why she’s a fuckup, because fucking USAGI powered up before her, before any of them, and how is she meant to be leader, when she’s failing so hard? Her immediate lead in for Rei is that Mina will think her shameful, that she should say Rei is shameful, and you know what? Mina fucking does it, ebcause she does not have time for this shit and she is not here pat heads and make everyone feel better. She’s working on a tight timeline, and I LOVE that she doesn’t hesitate before saying “Yes, I was going to say that you’re shameful, actually.” And then she points tot he fact that awakening is a problem of the heart (which is what we’re going to get into with what she needs to learn) and without telling her what she’s lacking as leader, simply tells her that, she is lacking. 

Mina’s not going to leave her to twist in the wind here, even if it feels like it--her grand plan for Rei Hino with all of this is coming down the hallway just shortly--but I like that she doesn’t spoonfeed the answer of “You can’t do all this shit alone (she said, doing everything alone, Mina you hypocrite) and you have to learn to ask for help. That’s how you become leader” because Rei wouldn’t learn anything from that. Rei reacts to asking for help like a cat to a fucking spray bottle. She wants nothing to do with it, and while, yes, this is a bit of goofy way to cast the idea she can trust her team and ask them for help, I think it still manages to be effective. 

AND THERE IT IS, HER MASTER PLAN. This is particularly hilarious given the fact that we know Rei fucking hates karaoke, and so maybe that particular aspect of it isn’t exactly for Rei’s edification so much as MIna’s amusement, but there we are. 

AHAHHAHAAH oh Mina how I fucking adore you. 

Anyway, Rei goes to go sulk in the batcave over Mina’s challenge, is beleagured and thrown to the ground in a definitely unnecessary and highly dramatic sense, and then, the worst thing that could ever happen, happens. SHE IS FORCED TO ASK FOR HELP. 

I want to give full credit to the actress who plays Rei here, because she makes the absolute awkwardness of this, the way this is like pulling teeth for Rei, so clear. This is the Fareeha Amari experience of asking for help. Usagi is the only person she knows that can help her with this, because I feel like mad karaoke skills don’t necessarily get a lot of play over at the shrine, and you can tell this is just killing her. She never expected to have to ask this kind of help from anyone, let alone Usagi, who is immediately thrilled and runs to her aid. (It must also be noted that Rei stays in this exact dramatic position on the floor until Usagi gets there, Rei, my god, please, you lesbian bowl of porridge, Mina is not wrong and you desperately need to pull it together) 

Even when Usagi gets there, her body language is so stilted and uncomfortable, this is so foreign and almost frightening to her, which was pretty much exactly Mina’s point: It’s easy for Rei to fight, easy for her to curse, but it isn’t easy for her to put herself in a place of vulnerability, in a place where someone can say no or otherwise reject her, leave her out on her own, which we all know Usaig as no intention of doing, which was also, I think, why Mina chose this exact mode of torment. She’s setting Rei up for success. 

Rei expects so much of herself at all times, and is so used to being alone in the world, and its really very striking the way she reacts to this entire thing. Rei, you’re singing for children not letting someone die on the battlefield. 

But of course we get around to the day, and Usagi gives her what I think Mina always knew she would, the reassurance that not only would Usaig help her, but that Usagi genuinely wanted to and enjoyed helping her, and also that it brought them together as a team. Usagi knows, really for the first time with Rei, that she’s trusted, that they are doing this together, and it reaches Rei, too, in such a way that we actually see her tear up: 

I’ve thought about this a lot over the times I’ve seen this episode, but I think what I finally land on for Rei and her tears is that sense that she’s been holding back so much aand being so strong for so much of her life, and maybe, just maybe, she doesn’t actually have to be literally all of the time. Maybe she’s allowed to get help, and to face things with people who care about her, and this is something she’s been able to do on the battlefield, but really not translate into her real life, and here Usagi and Mina have really woked ina  tandem that Usagi didn’t even know was happening to show Rei that her life is not just her own, and that she matters and that when you have a real team, help is expected. 

And then rei sings a deeply overserious song for a group of seven year olds but I will get into that in detail next post. 

ANd then that trust is immediately reciprocated by Usagi, who goes to fight the youma on her own and simply mouths to Rei that she will go on ahead and Rei can come afterwards. It isn’t as if Rei has ever particularly been unrelaiable in a fight, but I think given the exchange they just had, there’s definitely a sense of it having greater weight here, where Usagi would be delighted and surprised when Sailor Mars shows up. She knows she can trust her, and Rei knows that she is trusted, and that they are part of a far greater web than she ever assumed was possible in her life. 

And with that, in the battle: 

The deal with PGSM is that there are largely your finest cheapest MS paint special effects, and none of us really care because the senshi are people. BUt even with the finest cheapest effects the emotional impact of this moment really hits. It’s done in slow motion, and you can really see on her face the realization that her power has grown within her, that she has known grown as a person and as a soldier, and there’s this look of competence and of self-assurance that runs through her every movement. It’s just something that was shot and done in a really compelling way, and given that this whole episode has really been devoted to Rei’s growth (with a mamoru B-plot, to extra assure we don’t care about anything else) I’m glad they gave it the emotional gravitas it deserved. 

MIna, as ever, gives her effusive praise, immmediately after saying “But there’s a lot more you have to do.” this inclusion is only for me to profess my love for her and that’s all I’m sorry. And also for Rei to finally get what I’ve taken over 2,000 words to say. 

And then the most perfect ending to an episode ever, Rei re-asserting that she is still the same grumpy gus, and just because she trusts Usagi doesn’t mean she’s going to put up with the horseshit Usagi loves. THERE IS TRUST BUT NEVER KARAOKE >:( 

[caffeineivore]

Commission #1

For @ellorgast

Prompt: A Very Spirited Wedding

Ships: Usagi/Mamoru, Senshi/Shitennou

Rating: PG

Get your own commissions from me here or check out other people offering commissions here!

**

Something Old…

Her dress is spotless white satin glimmering with seed pearls and a flowing overlay of chiffon embroidered with rosebuds. Angela has just finished dressing, and makeup, and had kicked out the well-meaning army of her mother and future mother-in-law and bridesmaids and photographer after the requisite pictures and champagne, just to take a moment for herself. The woman in the mirror glows with excitement and the flush of love, but there’s always a hint of nerves, of the finality of tying oneself to another person for the rest of one’s life. She knows, more than most, anything can happen. Countless tragedies spring from a single blink-of-the-eye catastrophe, or one bad decision. 

A knock, a harmonious, familiar voice at the other side of the door. “It’s Jay. Are you decent?”

He looks exceedingly handsome and somehow a bit stately, dressed in pale grey linen with a sprig of sage and ivy— silvery and lush green— pinned to his lapel. It’s not a typical choice for a suit or boutonniere, but it suits more than black-tie would, and he’s holding something in his hands— gleaming silver. 

It’s a delicate tiara, wrought branches of metal so intricately worked as to look like the slender stems of living flowers and vines twisted together. Drops of clear crystal like dew glitter against the silver, along with fantastical flowers carved out of jewels— blue irises, pink rosebuds, yellow daisies and red poppies— an effect which should’ve been crass, but when he places it on her head, over the filmy lace veil, she looks like a fairy princess. The metal feels slightly warm and almost alive against her hair, and she smiles up at this surrogate brother, this forever friend. “How did you know I’d looked in every single boutique in this city and couldn’t find anything?”

He grins, and the stately, somewhat remote look vanishes. “Well. For one thing, this is super old. But I am firmly of the belief that it will bring you good luck, you little ball of sunshine. I brought it out of storage.”

She thinks art nouveau, circa 1920’s, perhaps out of a safety deposit box somewhere in a bank. He knows, but doesn’t say, that it had been wrought by the masterful hands of his clan’s greatest artisans, in moonlit smithies high up in mist-shrouded mountains back before the first ships had ever even crossed the ocean, blessed by starshine and magic and centuries’ worth of romantic hopes and dreams. She just knows that it fits perfectly, and her eyes shine a bit brighter in the reflection, and she reaches up, impulsively, to give him a hug. “Something old, right? Thank you.”

“I wish you all the best and brightest of this world’s blessings, my friend.” He presses a brief, grave kiss to her forehead, right under where the metal meets skin, and it feels like the strangest of benedictions, almost solemn and formal. But then he steps back, and he’s Jay again, and he makes a cheeky comment about how beautiful she looks and how Adam is going to swallow his tongue when he sees her, and he leaves as quickly as he’d come on quick and silent feet.

**

Something New…

The blind date with Jareth’s friend had gone surprisingly well. Zhen, with his indolent green eyes and roguish smile, is well-spoken and courteous, with an almost-dangerous way of looking and listening to a woman as though he’d been waiting all his life for what she had to say at any given moment. Raina considers herself immune to such foolishness for the most part, but that Jareth considers him a friend is a point in his favour. It’s unspoken, but not unknown, that she and Jareth are both a bit out of the realm of the ordinary mortals who surround them.

When she’d mentioned the wedding, he’d cheerfully agreed to go as her date. “I love weddings. Such an optimistic sort of atmosphere, no? Whatever storms the happy couple may face in the future, for today they are deeply in love, heads and hearts full of rose-coloured dreams and hopes. And then they almost always have fabulous food and delicious cake. That cannot be overstated.”

She’s not as optimistic, perhaps, about the concept of marriage. But she rather likes Adam King, out of her colleagues at the hospital. He’s intelligent and capable, as is expected for his profession and academic record, but furthermore, there’s a soul-deep, untarnished light of compassion and empathy in the blue of his eyes. He had not become a healer because it was his birthright, like her, but because he genuinely, in his quiet, mortal way, felt and wanted to heal the pain of his fellow humans. It stirs a long-dormant feeling of fond protectiveness in her, and when she and her date go to wish the happy couple well at the start of the reception, she means it genuinely.

Zhen looks keenly interested in the proceedings, and though she’s quite sure that neither the bride nor groom had ever met him before, he greets them both with the cordiality of a socially-adroit man intent on befriending them both. He had not brought a gift-- (she had picked a popular programmable coffee and espresso machine out of the online registry, knowing Adam’s fondness for mochas)-- but he’d brought a card, and tucked in a scratch-off lottery ticket. He hands it to Adam, in person, rather than adding it to a pile left somewhere, and the groom opens it, reads the message aloud.

“Best of luck with your love and your lives together. Blessings upon you both.” It’s a nice enough message, and written in exuberant flourishes of looping script. Good-humouredly, Adam claps Zhen on the shoulder, and scratches off the silver wax on the lottery ticket, then his eyebrows shoot up to his hairline as he scans the ticket again.

“Did you win something?” Zhen inquires pleasantly, his lazy smile playing across his lips.

“Three matched sevens across, and then these two numbers mean…” Adam furrows his brow, and glances around before lowering his voice. “I’m not much for playing the lottery. But if I’m reading this correctly, did I just win $5000?!”

“Well, well.” Zhen’s voice is low and pleased as an animal’s purr. “How lucky for you, my friend. I do think that is a fantastic beginning to your new life together, wouldn’t you say?”

Raina hears pleasure and something close to triumph in her companion’s voice, but not even a little bit of surprise. This man, with his scintillating gaze and effortless charm, is much more than he seemed. She’d have to keep an eye on him.

**

Something Borrowed…

Linden Thorne does not often work in the role of caterer, but on impulse, she had accepted to provide both the cake and food for this wedding, and she had found herself pleasantly surprised at how much she’d enjoyed it. 

The bride and groom were perhaps two of the most pure-hearted, genuinely good mortals that she had ever come across. A doctor and a social worker, both working tirelessly to help and heal the physical and emotional damage of any of their fellows that crossed their paths-- and humans are a fragile lot, indeed. They had been pleasant, easygoing, not at all demanding, and so deeply in love that both of them all but glowed with it. The bride especially, with her boundless energy and equally irrepressible sweet tooth, took particularly well to any and every thing that Linden had her sample.

So, she’s not entirely surprised when Angela-- who had been Angela King for all of perhaps an hour-- peeks into the kitchen area where the wedding reception is taking place. Linden has a half-dozen sous chefs and assistants putting together delicate canapés with the efficiency of a battalion following the directives of their commanding officer: a lanky young man is on top of a step-stool putting the finishing touches on the top tier of the wedding cake-- translucently thin slivers of gold leaf, velvety rosebuds in shell pink and scarlet, a woman with a severely pinned bun is garnishing exquisite smoked salmon toast rounds with glossy black caviar and eyelash-thin fronds of fresh dill. The bride, still in her gown though sans veil, grins at her with a good-humoured yet half-embarrassed look that Linden interprets in an instant.

“You’re starving, aren’t you?”

“A bit, yeah. I had a salad last night for dinner. Then it was my fault this morning because I was too excited to eat. But now I’m shamelessly begging in here like I have no sense. You can totally tell me to buzz off.”

Linden finds herself laughing, unoffended. “It’s your wedding, so it would not make much sense for me to tell you to buzz off, wouldn’t you agree?”

“But you’re busy, and this is probably rude of me, so…”

“I will forgive it this time.” Linden steps away from the buzz of activity, digs through the pantry and fridge. The bride is a silly, bright-eyed slip of a girl, sweet and pure as vanilla buttercream, and if the world has yet to break her spirit, who was Linden to take that onerous task into her hands. She cuts two slices of rye bread, then adds Dijon mustard, peppery arugula leaves, generous slices of red tomatoes and sharp cheddar and cold chicken breast. A sandwich is probably the least glamorous meal that she could have put together in that moment, but the girl’s eyes light up like stars nonetheless. 

Linden, with an indulgent smile, slips her own chef’s apron off of her neck, and carefully ties it over the bride’s flowing white gown. “Okay. Eat up.”

“Oh, God, this is the best thing I’ve ever had, and I know I’ll be saying that again like twenty times tonight after everything else you’ve made, too,” Angela says in between bites, looking like a mischievous fairy princess who’d snuck down to the palace kitchens in that borrowed apron. She finishes the sandwich with rather unladylike haste, but then gets up, with her usual endless energy, and reaches up to give Linden a hug. It’s such a human gesture-- warm and impulsive and sweet and unexpected, and Linden pauses awkwardly before returning it.

“Feel better now?”

“Oh yes. Thanks for the apron. And the sandwich. And everything.” Angela slips the apron off, mussing her hair just the faintest bit, then beams up at Linden again. “I really hope that you’re as happy as I am today. Forever. Does that sound silly?”

Forever is a long time, far beyond the scope of what this silly mortal bride could fathom, but Linden knows that the bright-eyed, perhaps foolish girl means it with every beat of her kind and affectionate heart. And so she lets the genuine goodwill of the wish warm her spirit, like a borrowed candle shining valiantly on a dark night, far after the party is over and the bride is well on her way to her honeymoon. 

**

Something Blue…

The late September breeze filters through the tall, slim boles of a tall aspen decked in autumnal gold outside on the grounds of a Manhattan church, the sound soft and gentle as whispered prayers. Inside, a wedding ceremony is taking place, a young man and woman exchanging their vows to their God and each other to live the rest of their lives together in love and unity and devotion. 

Contrary to popular belief, Kafziel does not spend the majority of his time on the premises of churches in the city. But this morning finds him on the rooftop of this particular building, a stalwart sentinel visible only in the fleeting, ever-changing reflections of the panes of the intricate rose window in the facade of the building. Of course, there is no one around to see him-- all the visitors to the church are well enough inside to watch the happy couple getting married. 

Kafziel knows, of course, the history of the bride and groom, as he knows the history of every other man, woman and child currently living in that great city, and even by his exacting standards, both of them live decent, upstanding lives above reproach. Neither of them were born here; indeed, the young man in particular had been the product of a most unpromising beginning. And yet, they had found their way here, and to each other, and flourished in love and light and goodness despite everything which might conspire to tarnish the kindness of two such spotless souls.

The pane of leaded glass reflects, at that moment, a face of stark, stern beauty and foreboding. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good.” The words are familiar and easy, but Kafziel knows, more than any, of the way great darkness follows great light with dogged, demoniacal tenacity. There is a chill in the air; winter is coming, and with the frost portents sharp strife, perhaps even great trouble. Those who would engender all which he abhors would feed, frenzied, upon the darkest, basest impulses and sins and actions. The happy couple who are even now enjoying their first kiss as man and wife have no idea that their union portends any number of potential catastrophes of a dark and sinful world rebelling against their very radiance. Kafziel’s reflection squares its shoulders, firms its grip on the mighty, fire-tipped sword that throws jewel-like beams of light through the stained glass into the building. 

But even as he braces himself for what must inevitably come-- perhaps a day, or a month, or a decade from now-- he feels the presence of others crowding in, like a ragtag bunch of plucky soldiers summoned to a war they might have no call to fight and yet taken on with every bit of courage as such a troop might muster. The chaotic whimsy of a shifter. The primeval fire-and-wildwoods magic of a nature goddess. The calm, steadfast wisdom of a healer and the tireless, graceful agility of a brace of wandering Ælf-kine. Others, too, all gathered here, converging by luck or fate. Kafziel pauses, and allows himself a faint, almost-hopeful smile, and overhead, the sunlight breaks through the clouds as the sky turns a brilliant blue. 

[sanjuno]

Rereading your gorgeous SM/KHR cross idea and wondering how it would go if they meet earlier? Maybe where Ikkuko realises her no-good brother has a wife & kid and decides Nana needs to know what he has gotten her into? I just think babyTsuna needs more support and two cousin & extended guardians & friends would be amazing. Especially if Tsuna's first flame use is discovered/understood in the magic framework - Tsuna magically willing together an outfit & catchphases because that is what you do ;)

… Oh. Oh, my gods that would be glorious. Let me see, let me see… ok.

So it would have to diverge right around when Chibiusa shows up, because that’s the first time Usagi having relatives outside her household is brought into the narrative. So Usagi, having seen Chibiusa brainwash her parents and brother goes off about not having any cousins. Except oh dear Ikkuko has a good-for-nothing criminal for a little brother. Usagi is furious and also curious and it all cumulates in 12 year old Tsuna getting a surprise visit from his relatives and his “little sister”.

Tsuna doesn’t have a little sister! Cue the screaming and the panic (from Tsuna) and intent interest (from Usagi and Luna), because Tsuna’s seal may be fundamentally horrible but it does have a nice side effect of keeping his Flames and mind safe from outside tampering.

Shingo, being the naturally suspicious brat that he is, twigs to something being wrong because his cousin keeps insisting that he’s an only child. Tsuna’s protests about Chibiusa make more of an impact on Shingo because Tsuna is a new presence in the family and therefore Tsuna’s shrieks are not automatically dismissed as jealousy the way “stupid Usagi’s” dramatics were. Which all leads to Shingo and Tsuna investigating the discrepancy in Shingo’s memories and accidentally discovering that Usagi is Sailor Moon in the process.

Tsuna and Shingo are targeted by and/or get caught up in a Black Moon plot shortly after they discover that Usagi is a Magical Girl. Usagi panics when she finds her cousin and her little brother critically injured and/or brainwashed by the enemy and Moon Crystal Heals them both at the same time.

Tsuna’s seal disintegrates.

Tsuna and Shingo promptly burst into Sky Flames that contain a hefty degree of prismatic rainbow glitter.

Usagi panics more.

The boys are not any calmer.

Tsuna flash-crystalizes a tree. Shingo turns a garden gate into a portal that dumps all three of them into the throne room of the Moon Palace.

Praise be to the All-Seeing Void for the Palace AI that Queen Serenity left behind, because none of these flailing morons are calm enough to take the Sudden Magical Awakening with any grace. The AI directs them to a testing chamber where they can find out who the boys Patrons are. Shingo is a Knight of Janus (with power over doorways, beginnings, and ends), and Tsuna is a Knight of Sancus (with power over loyalty, honesty, and oaths). Usagi finally manages to regain coherency and explains the history of the Silver Millennium and also why they’re all magic.

Assumptions are made.

Assumptions like Usagi’s Lunar Inheritance cross contaminating her younger relatives through their blood connection. None of them have any idea of the Flames being anything except for Magic as a result of post-apocalypse reincarnation. Usagi drops her transformation and tries to do the glowing-without-tranforming fully thing she saw the boys do.

Her clothes shred apart under the force of White Sky Flames. Cue more shrieking. Usagi promptly summons up the ribbons and forms her Senshi uniform. Then she makes the boys swear themselves to secrecy. The boys agree because it’s not as if their clothes fared any better.

Shingo has a few moments of disassociation as he reconciles his flighty big sister with his hero Sailor Moon. Tsuna is having a small moment of panic over the idea of fighting demons by moonlight. Then Usagi gives the boys a crash-course in accessing their magical powers because they’re suck on the moon until Shingo can control his portals enough to get them home.

Thankfully, not only does the eventual transformation provide a semi-coherent users manual for their magic powers, but dropping the transformation restores their clothing to an undamaged state.

They do eventually make it back home. Whereupon they are hustled off by the rest of the Senshi for a debrief and also a rather frantic health check. Because Shingo and Tsuna are magic now and what theeeeeee ever-loving hell how did this happen?

Background to the hysterics of the Lunar Royal Shenanigans, Ikkuko has been getting to know Nana and has a 10 pound cast-iron skillet with her stupid little brother’s name on it. Kenji is prudently hiding behind his newspaper when his wife’s vindictive muttering about no-good deadbeat shames on the family name start rising in volume.

Mamoru avoids making an ass of himself because his fiancées family drama has been distracting him from his nightmares. Also the reality of Shingo and Tsuna waking up their Magic Powers is a huge, glaring difference from the “visions” Mamoru is being sent that he’s rightfully suspicious of how accurate they could really be.

Chibiusa is less likely to run wild or act out because her little trick on the Tsukino’s has gotten wildly out of hand and she’s worried it’ll get worse if she tries to correct it. However, Chibiusa’s initial relationship with Usagi is also a great deal better than it was in canon because Usagi has been so preoccupied with meeting and getting to know Tsuna and Nana that she has less energy to spare for getting worked up about Chibiusa being around, and also because Mamoru isn’t avoiding her Usagi isn’t displacing her resentment about that onto Chibiusa either.

So as soon as Usagi catches on to the fact that Chibiusa is the target of the Black Moon plots Usagi’s instinctive protectiveness of her secret future daughter ramps all the way up because of course Usagi has Hyper Intuition too and the Vongola Tri-Ni-Sette gift is being able to look up and down your current timeline. And so. The Lunar Royals close ranks with all due speed, and Chibiusa is accepted and welcomed with an understanding of her reasons for the brainwashing that took a lot longer to reach in canon.

The Dark Moon Clan get their asses Royally kicked. Pun intended.

The trip to Crystal Tokyo ends the arc, and Pluto is hella confused by the Knights of Janus and Sancus. This isssss… wrong. She doesn’t know where she went wrong but things definitely went wrong somewhere. Oh dear.

Also Neo-Queen Serenity doesn’t remember meeting Chibiusa as a teenager. That should be telling but it’s overlooooooked. XD

Tsuna goes back to Namimori, secure in the knowledge that he has his relatives to support him even if he’s still “dame-Tsuna”. Shingo gets regular practice making portals between Juuban and Namimori because Usagi may whine and complain about it herself but like hell is she letting her little brother and baby cousin get away with being undertrained. There’s no telling when the next Enemy will show up.

Chibiusa comes back for Senshi training, and is doted on by her mother’s past self and her father’s past self and her two Uncles. 

Chibiusa treasures her time with Shingo and Tsuna, because they’re weren’t there in Crystal Tokyo and Chibiusa is terrified of what that means. She’s hoping that they just didn’t have a Lunarian lifespan in her original timeline. She’s hoping that with their magic having woken up because of the changes Chibiusa’s presence made to the timeline that they’ll live to see the future Chibiusa comes from.

Chibiusa hopes, but there is a corner of her mind that is expecting the worst. Because Chibiusa is 900 years old and she didn’t know her mother had a little brother until she travelled to the past.

This is where KHR canon comes into play, because KHR introduces the concept of multiple timelines and dimensions as being related to but inherently separated from one another. Chibiusa didn’t travel to the past of her timeline, but to the past of a similar timeline. Chibiusa bringing up Usagi having a cousin changed the timeline. Even Pluto is clueless about the consequences of this. It’s fabulous. ^_^

The Mistress 9 and the search for the Holy Grail thing happens. Everybody gets their power-ups, and the Outer Senshi learn to Believe In The Power Of Love or else. Sailor Moon in Hyper Dying Will Mode is a thing of beauty and existential terror.

Due to the teeny-tiny fact that his seal is gone and all the damage it caused to his psyche has been magically bandaged by Usagi’s healing power, Tsuna is recovering from his trauma much faster than he did in canon. Not having Reborn sitting around to snipe at him for shits and giggles helps. Of course, Tsuna being Tsuna and a Sky and also a member of the Lunarian Royal Family means that he’s started tripping over his Inner Court with truly ridiculous frequency. This goes on for about a year but the relationships in question change very slowly due to Tsuna disappearing to be with his cousins whenever he’s not supposed to be at school.

But! Before anything can actually get resolved we have Reborn show up! Yay! ^_^

And now the KHR Daily Life arc is running congruent to the SM Dread Moon Circus events and it’s a mad banquet of chaos. Reborn is caught wrong-footed more often than he’s comfortable with. The fact that when Tsuna gets shot with the Dying Will Bullet he ends up wearing a sliver-embroidered version of Primo’s suit, complete with cape, is a mystery that Reborn is still trying to figure out.

But hey, at least Tsuna is actively recruiting his Guardians. That’s nice to see.

Tsuna called Usagi on the communicator to wail hysterically about being a Mafia Heir and they took him to the moon so he could hyperventilate in peace for a while. It helped a lot with coming to terms with the situation. Usagi has rightfully pointed out that Ikkuko’s tendency to snarl about Iemitsu makes a lot of sense if she knew her brother was a criminal. So yeah.

Usagi and Shingo stay well away from Namimori at Tsuna’s request. The last thing he wants to see is Reborn’s reaction to more of Primo’s descendants being of trainable age. Luckily Nana’s belief that Chibiusa is her daughter is conditional to Nana speaking to Chibiusa within the last 24 hours. Otherwise she doesn’t recall Chibiusa at all. Which means Reborn has no idea that Tsuna has cousins and a niece living nearby.

Tsuna and Shingo being part of the battles creates an opening for Tigereye, Fisheye, and Hawkeye to get flipped and because Endimiyon is paying more attention this time around the Prince of Earth takes them into his court. So during the “leeching life from the Earth causes Mamoru to fall into a malaise” drama, there’s someone else there to see the ghosts of the Shitennou trying their best to comfort their Prince.

Which naturally spawns a whole other side plot about Mamoru learning to use the Golden Crystal properly so he can pull one of Usagi’s tricks and resurrect his Court. This will, of course, eventually succeed because I like the Shitennou and I think they deserved better than what they got in canon.

Nehellenia gets smashed at around the same time the Ring battles are announced. The confrontations with Squalo and Leviathan happen, and Tsuna panics because there are Mafia Assassins coming for his Court and Tsuna isn’t the member of his family with enough raw power to raise the dead by resetting the entire planetary timeline back by a year. 

So Tsuna may just enlist Shingo’s help to abduct all of his Guardians and associated family members because panic and Lunarian protective instincts are not a pretty combination. The Namimori 10th Gen Crew stares blankly at the lovely view of North America offered from the balcony of the Moon Palace as Shingo pats Tsuna’s back and reassures him that “Aneki sent Mama to deal with the Family Shame so it should be safe to go home in a few days”.

Usagi blows in, radiating enough enraged Sky Flames to put even Hibari on his ass and promptly squashes Tsuna in a hug as she promises to be there and turn anyone who wants to hurt her “cute fluffy baby cousin” into dust. Fite her. Usagi dares you.

The news from Tsuna that the Mafia had discovered magic inherited from Silver Millennium citizens being reincarnated on Earth shook the Senshi up and they’re a lot more aggressive about their Guardianship of the Sol System then they were in canon. Also they are planning a massive social reform because do you have any idea how useful more magic users would be when the Enemy comes knocking? Even just having Shingo and Tsuna to help with the fights has caused significant changes to how quickly and successfully the Senshi were able to deal with various threats ever since Chibiusa first popped into the timeline.

So yeah, Tsuna has been funnelling everything he learned about how the Flame Mafia works back to Usagi and her Court so they can figure out how useful they’re going to be when it comes to reestablishing the Sol Kingdom. Having Tsuna’s new Court get killed off by professional assassins before they start working on that was not in the plan.

Something along the lines of the following conversation happens:

“Jyuudaime is a UMA?”

“I’m a Lunarian.”

“You’re an alien!”

“And you are probably a Martian, Hayato! Who cares!”

Then the Senshi drag everyone off for a training montage that starts with learning how to complete a transformation because trying to channel Celestial Power through a squishy baseline non-magical human body is just asking for trouble. It’s a large part of why so many Flame Actives die young. They burn out because they keep getting halfway through the process and then they get stuck.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Reborn is watching Iemitsu get his head caved in by a very pretty woman with Flames in her eyes and the type of voice projection that is unique to mothers and opera singers. Reborn would be more concerned about his dame student disappearing with his fledgling Famiglia so suddenly, except Ikkuko has made it very clear that she’s taken her nephew into her house until her horrible no good deadbeat criminal brother has left and taken his horrible no good wastrel criminal influence away from her sweet kind nephew.

So there, you drunken layabout shame on the family name.

Ikkuko flounces off, leaving Iemitsu heavily concussed and buried under about three kitchens worth of cast iron pans. Reborn doesn’t quite react fast enough to catch the Varia spy that was hanging around, but hopefully Xanxus has enough honour left to leave Ikkuko’s kids alone until after things are decided with Tsuna.

Of course, Reborn doesn’t need to worry about that because Usagi and Shingo are mysteriously nowhere to be found. Just like Tsuna and company are mysteriously nowhere to be found. How very mysterious. ^_^

The Ring Battles happen on far more even grounds, given that the Senshi have made the magic happen when it comes to the 10th Gen Guardians being able to use their Flames and associated Powers. It still comes down to the Sky Battle though, because drama. Tsuna looks at Xanxus from close range for the first time and oh.

So that’s where Chibiusa got her eyes.

Instead of Zero Point, Xanxus gets a face full of Moon Healing, complete with the mind melding memory sharing BELIEVE IN THE POWER OF LOVE blasting mystical heart-to-heart that brought Chibiusa back from the corruption of Wiseman’s Black Lady. There is so much glitter. Glitter everywhere. The Varia have no fucking clue what just happened. The CEDEF have no fucking clue what just happened. The attendant Arcobaleno have excellent poker faces but? They have no fucking clue what just happened.

The ghost of Primo and Secondo make guest appearances during Tsuna and Xanxus’ heart to heart. The most bedazzled of family feuds took place within the span of about 6 seconds. The fight ends. Xanxus spits out sparkles and concedes the Sky Ring to Tsuna.

Tsuna cackles, because he recognizes the Ring as being blood locked to his direct lineage and instinctively knows that the Ring is the best possible Channel for his powers. The Vongola Rings are gathered up and dropped on Luna and Artemis with polite requests that they study them and then fine tune or upgrade the Rings to match with Sol Kingdom expectations of Magic Foci.

The 10YL Arc is immediately derailed because Tsuna has experience with time travel to possible futures and he recognizes that they aren’t in their natural timeline anymore because the 10YL Tsuna didn’t have Usagi waiting in the wings to wreak holy righteous vengeance in response to his assassination.

Byakuran was not expecting to get lectured and then turned into a pile of glitter dust. No he was not.

The Sailor Stars have a lot more trouble dismissing the Senshi as childish and naive thanks to the Mafia politicking the Senshi have since been exposed to. Also, thanks to said Mafia information network, Usagi is informed of Mamoru’s death within hours of the plane exploding. Seiya’s attempts to charm Usagi are subsequently rejected without mercy because instead of feeling neglected by her boyfriend Usagi is in mourning.

The Galaxy Cauldron thing occurs with far less waffling around.

Then the Arcobaleno Trails happen, and Kawahira was not expecting the Crown Princess Serenity to show up and rip him a new one for being a jerk. Between the Silver and the Gold Crystals the Arcobaleno Curse is broken, the Vindice all get healed of their hatred and are living people again, and Kawahira gets put in time out on the Moon for being a jackass.

Mamoru and his Generals take point on dealing with Enma and the Simon because they are Earth Flame users and even before most of the life in the Sol System got wiped out Earth Mages were vanishingly rare. I mean, he knows now that the sharp decline in Earth’s magic-capable population was because of Metallica sneaking around and abducting them, but back at the time it was just an accepted fact that most Earth Born just didn’t have magic. Only now there’s this Mafia Family that does and given how Usage’s situation worked out Mamoru has suspicions.

Especially given how Mamoru was orphaned in a car crash and there was very little information available to be found on the “Chiba” family. Can we all say “cover up”?

Rei sticks an ofuuda on Daemon and exorcises him with extreme prejudice.

Mamoru and Usagi get married and the slow buildup to the creation of Crystal Tokyo begins.

The End. ^_^

[adriannasharp]

Happy Birthday Lady!!! 🎂🎉🍰❤😍😘 M,O,T,V

Thanks so much honey!!!! Sorry this has taken so long to get to. As you know, my life has been a bit hectic this last week.

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

Haha. Well, you already know them but I can definitely share with everyone else on here. Naturally, they are Sailor Moon related. The first is a super tropey AU Minako x Kunzite fic. In this story, Kunzite and Minako highly dislike each other but he needs a date to an out of town wedding and they catch FEELINGS! I’m planning on putting any and all tropes I can smash in while they wrestle with their feelings to smash their faces together. It’s been a ton of fun to write. 

The other is significantly more angsty. It’s an alternate take of the Dark Kingdom arc in Crystal/the manga. After everyone regains their past life memories, Minako comes to the decision that they should kidnap the shitennou, hold them hostage, and try to heal them with the silver crystal. It’s a long, slow burn of angst and torturous feelings and it’s great to write these characters in that viewpoint. I can’t wait to get it done. 

Of course there is also whatever I end up doing for the senshi x shitennou reverse mini bang. I’m waiting on art to be released so who knows what kind of shenanigans I will write.

Finally, on the very, very back burner is a shitennou reborn story that has been niggling in my head for AGES but I always have trouble with the later stages of the plot. It’s a lot of characters to keep track of and tie together. And for anyone who knows anything about my writing style, I have to finish a story before posting it because I always come across problems later on that need to be fixed in earlier chapters.

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

Definitely the plot. I am super terrible with tying together the motivations of all the characters and making it well paced and flow well. So the general plot always comes a little easier to me and then I work on character motivation and what is going on in their sweet little heads and how it ties in to everything

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

Romanticizing abuse. The person making the other character feel bad is a dick and they should not be together. Honestly, I see this more in mainstream media than in fanfiction but it still irks the crap out of me.

Wildly incorrect portrayals of sex. This is a lot of things: the virgin bleeding when she has sex for the first time, someone completely passing out after orgasming (usually a girl), people having sex in weird places (don’t have sex on a beach. Sand is coarse, rough, and gets everywhere!), virgins who have absolutely no idea how sex works, that kind of stuff

V: If you could write the sequel (or prequel) to any fic out there not written by yourself, which would you choose?

Daaaaaamn. You had to go and pick a hard one. I don’t know if there are any that I would write a sequel/prequel for but (if I could ever do these stories justice) I would maybe finish a few fics. 

Heaven Sent by Anne O Nemous was a gorgeously built Silver Millennium story about Serenity going to Earth but knocking her head and getting amnesia so, of course, she ends up being a ward at the Earth Palace. It was amazing and had such rich world building. It was one of the first stories that I heavily followed that got put on permanent hiatus. It was a depressing time.

Hooligans by Charlie Chaplin 2. Yes Charlie, if you’re reading this, I am quasi calling you out. This was a fic my soul CRAVED and to see the shitennou bond with Mamoru in a new life while building relationships with the senshi was glorious to behold. I spent half of it squeeing at a level only other fangirls would hear and trying hard not to pass out from pure glee.

I’m sure there are more but I can’t seem to think of them at the moment. And, like I said, it would be cool to see these stories finished but I don’t think I could ever match the beauty and intricacies these stories reached. 

[madegeeky]

SM 200 Psuedo-Rewrite

For @keyofjetwolf​, happy belated Xmas!

So, this is an idea that I’ve had floating around in my head since Jet finished liveblogging the Sailor Moon Classic anime. After seeing how unhappy with the endings she was (though, I mean, who wasn’t?), my brain started picking it apart to see what could be changed to make it better and before I knew it, I had 2600 words of a psuedo-rewrite written up.

A couple things you should know before continuing: this is written very much with Jet in mind. As such, there’s a lot things in here that cater to her very specific tastes. If you absolutely didn’t like her liveblog of Stars, you’re not going to like this rewrite, so please follow the age-old adage: don’t like, don’t read. However, there are also some of my own personal headcanons thrown in (largely because headcanons are the only way to make any of this make sense, let’s be honest) as well as some of my preferences for things that I wasn’t sure about Jet’s opinion on. 

Also, you’ll notice that I call this a pseudo-rewrite. That’s because, firstly, this is more an outline then an actual fic. Second, I knew that if ever wanted to get this out, I had to try to stick to the general story they told in Stars, because otherwise the rewrite would get way too complicated and I would never do anything. As such, I tried to change the things that I think desperately needed to change, ignored the things that didn’t really have an impact on the story, and keep the few ideas that I thought were good but poorly executed.

TL;DR This is written for Jet; if you don’t like her Stars liveblog, don’t read. This is an outline, not a fic. It’s not a complete rewrite, a lot of the stuff is similar to the original.

I started from the end and worked my way back to try to find a way to make certain things work until I eventually ended up at the beginning of this AU, with the biggest change:

Crow lives.

Because Usagi is love and before she also gets swallowed up by the black hole she sees Crow in pain and sees how she gave up and she can’t leave her behind, so when Chibi Chibi grabs her, before she passes out, she grabs Crow.

No one is happy about this except Usagi. Including Crow who was quite ready to die.

She goes to the stay at the Shrine because Rei insists. The “if you’re going to do something so fucking stupid, Usagi, I’m going to protect you from yourself” is left unsaid but definitely not unheard.

Time moves on mostly the same for most of the episodes. Crow keeps herself distant from the Senshi. Sometimes she gives them info, most of the time she doesn’t talk. She’s slightly more willing to talk to Usagi but it’s obvious that every moment with Usagi is causing her extra pain and so they still aren’t long. The only one she talks to at all, the only one she even vaguely opens up to, is Grandpa Hino. (It’s almost like he’s used to making difficult women open up to him and talk to him.) Rei is super not happy about this. Grandpa Hino doesn’t tell her why he tries so hard, why he cares for Crow so. Because he has now seen what Rei would look like if she broke and he doesn’t want to ever know what’s that like.

And then the world ends.

The Outer Senshi ignore Crow, which is the best you can hope for from them. The Inner Senshi deliberately do not ask her to fight. This is their battle, not hers. She does not offer. They go to face Galaxia and Crow stays behind with Grandpa Hino.

I genuinely cannot decide which Inners death I enjoy most, the original or this one, so take your pick, but here is another option in this AU: Crow arrives just before the Inners arrive. No one is more surprised than Crow. The bracelets, I headcanon, are connected to Galaxia and carry a piece of her in them. She always knew where Crow was and she didn’t care for a variety of reasons. One of those was that she knew Crow was suffering and that made her happy. Another was that if Crow was going to die she wanted to see it. And then there’s this opportunity and so she takes it and brings Crow to her and then possesses her (not brainwashed, oh no, that would be too kind; Crow is able to see everything that is happening but she can no longer control her body and she must watch as she destroys those that had dared to be kind to her). And Crow is the one who kills the Inners. Usagi, unaware of the possession, has to watch as someone she gave a second chance to, who she has come to care for, kills her friends. Then, as the possession leaves her, she falls to the ground, unconscious. Usagi crawls to each Senshi to say goodbye (because if we’re changing things, let’s fix that massive wtf), ending up at Rei for the exact scene from the anime because why mess with perfection? Galaxia gloats about how it was her along because she wants to take credit for Usagi’s suffering.

Or maybe it happens just like it did in the anime and Crow stays at the temple. Choose your own adventure and all that.

Everything continues the same because I would not touch a single second of the Outers vs Galaxia because not only would Doc kill me but because it is also perfect. The second to last episode where nothing fucking happens doesn’t exist at all because fuck that noise and the end of the original 199 now takes place at the beginning instead and everything that happens in 200 ends up in 199 instead and 200 is solely for happiness and healing and maybe a touch of angst and wrapping things up. But we’re not there yet because now come the big changes.

Everyone, by this point, has forgotten about Crow. She is either at the Temple or collapsed in Galaxia’s throne room, whichever you prefer, when the final showdown starts. Which is why everyone is shocked when she shows/gets up, so very angry, and ready to fuck up Galaxia because how dare Galaxia use her to hurt the few people to have shown her kindness. She grabs Chibi Chibi the Sword that Usagi had still been refusing to use and goes after Galaxia who easily bats her aside because Galaxia is way too powerful. She taunts Usagi, says that she will kill Crow if she does not pick up the sword and fight and Usagi has seen so very many people die today so she picks up the sword. And they fight. Galaxia is expecting to win. Why wouldn't she be? Usagi obviously doesn’t want to kill her, is in fact scared of using the sword. But she does not know Usagi, does not know that when a friend is on the line, even one as unfriendly as Crow, she will not lose, not when there is an option to win.

The Starlights are also there.

I personally headcanon that Galaxia is not brainwashed but rather corrupted and that there is no going back. Whatever was good and light about her has, over time, been twisted and corrupted until she is the sadist she appears and there is nothing good left in her to bring her back. Which is why Usagi does not reach her hand out in an attempt to save Galaxia because she can sense that there is nothing there that will reach back. Instead, she stabs her through with the sword. Because sometimes love alone isn’t enough. Because sometimes love and justice demand blood. Because even Usagi cannot make someone good who has no goodness left. Because Galaxia needs to die to protect the world and to protect Crow.

She doesn’t want to do it, feels sick just thinking about it, but she does it because sometimes that’s the only way. Because sometimes even saviors can’t save everyone.

But here’s the thing, even as Usagi drops the sword and falls to knees, relieved that it’s over, it’s not over. Because Crow’s bracelets carry a piece of Galaxia and so Galaxia, as she dies, forces her consciousness into Crow and possesses her body.

Crow stands from where she has fallen. And laughs. And everyone there recognizes it instantly because they have heard that laugh, so very many times now, as people have died around them.

Galaxia, in Crow’s body, the magic warping around her so that her outfit is Galaxia’s once again, summons her sword and it flies to her hand and with the type of smile on her face that says she is enjoying this only as someone who is cruel can, she tells Usagi to fight her. Usagi says no. Galaxia comes at her and Usagi holds the Chibi Chibi sword up in defense but she does not attack. She dodges and pleas with Galaxia to let Crow go and Galaxia tells her she will have to kill her and Usagi does not know what to do.

Usagi is injured several times. But still she refuses to attack. How can she? She killed (she feels sick at the thought) for Crow, how can she kill Crow now? Crow who has so broken and so alone and made her heart ache because there was something about her brokenness that terrified Usagi to her core.

Then Usagi holds up her sword to protect herself from Galaxia and this time the attack is too strong and Chibi Chibi the sword shatter and disappears. And, for a moment, it looks like Galaxia will win because Usagi has nothing. Except, Usagi does have something. Nine star seeds behind Galaxia start to shine. Usagi closes her eyes.

Usagi opens her eyes as she drops her henshin (naked and with wing is a good look, after all), because this isn’t a job for Sailor Moon and it’s not a job for a Princess or a Queen. This is a job for Usagi because fuck you, Galaxia, there has been enough blood spilled today and Usagi does what Usagi does best, she reaches out with her heart and hand to find a heart that has been surrounded by darkness and calls Crow’s name.

Galaxia’s sword shatters.

It is dark where Crow is, curled in a ball, broken and alone. Crow hears Usagi but cannot answer. She is stuck inside her head, watching everything that is happening and unable to stop it. Just like with Siren. There is nothing she can do, she is weak and worthless and she deserves to die and of course it will be her that kills this girl, this girl who believed in her when no one else did, this girl who doesn’t believe in killing but killed for her. Just like with Siren. And then, behind Usagi, she sees several figures appear. The Inner and Outer Senshi, arranged behind Usagi, reaching out their hands too, their voices whispering in her head that she doesn’t need to make this fight on her own. Just like with Siren. All she has to do is reach out, and they will do the rest. Just like with Siren.

She reaches. And, for a just a moment, a split second that passes so fast that if you blinked you would miss it, it is Siren that she is reaching toward.

And the scene switches to that of a possessed Crow grasping Usagi’s hand, light shining through and burning away the pieces of Galaxia that had clung to Crow like a disease and in a flash of light, there is only Crow standing there, all traces of Galaxia eradicated, including the bracelets that have sat on her wrists for so very long.

Crow’s Star Seed floats back to her, called home after far too long, as does another Star Seed, this one light blue and shining so brightly and so much like home that Crow’s arms are around Siren even as she’s still forming.

The Inner and Outer Senshi appear. There are hugs, so very many hugs and so very much crying, and the scene slowly pulls away until we are positioned behind a hugging Crow and Siren who are completely ignoring all the hugging that is going on in front of them but that the viewer can still see.

The Starlights are also there.

200 is about healing. Maybe it starts with Usagi waking up from having a nightmare about killing Galaxia and it’s not okay but maybe it’s a little okay because she is at the Shrine and everyone is sleeping near her and no one is dead and it hurts but she did the right thing and she drifts back to sleep. The Senshi go to see the Starlights off. Haruka hates every moment of it. Michiru enjoys every moment of it. Those are the only important parts. They go to see Crow and Siren off. They have taken responsibility of the Star Seeds and are going to get them back home, where they belong, and help heal as much as they can. Usagi says that there is no one better for this job than Crow and Siren. Crow mentions that it’s mostly Siren but she is smiling as she says so and she looks so happy that Usagi bursts into tears and tells them that they’d better figure out a way to keep in touch and then they too are gone. And then it’s just them. And some serious stuff happens. There’s Hotaru and Setsuna confronting Haruka and Michiru (they understand, they do, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt) and there’s the Inners trying to comfort each other because they’ve all been literally torn apart and died yet again and they remember it all and it’s horrible.

And, fuck it, this is my AU so this is an hour long episode because this is too much serious stuff but it needs to be here so in order to fit other things, bam!, it’s now an hour long. Because most of the episode is about healing, the sad stuff is sprinkled throughout happy stuff. A bunch of cute, good, friendship shit that you can probably picture better than I can so I’ll let you imagine it but at least one of those thing is Usagi pulling out a photo album and spending a truly long time looking at each and every picture of Chibiusa, which all still exist, proof (hopefully) that the future hasn’t changed too much. (And, okay, maybe this is also a little sad but it’s also happy dammit and I need Chibiusa to be in here someway.) There are scenes where the Senshi spend time with friends and family (but together, always together, they can’t bear to be apart for long at the moment, maybe in a few days but not right now, not when everything still hurts so much.)

And the scene ends, not on Mamoru and Usagi kissing, but all the Senshi and Mamoru at Crown Cafe, sitting in a booth, laughing and smiling and alive. And the picture freezes as Usagi and Rei stick their tongue at each other while Minako with a mischievous look on her face is stealing the cherry off Rei’s drink while Artemis, sitting next to Minako, sighs with a look on his face that shows that he knows that this is the next 1000 years for him. Ami, Luna on her lap, is leaning in to hear something that Makoto has said, a soft and affectionate smile on her face. Makoto has a big grin on her face, the one that only she makes, you know the one. Haruka and Michiru sit, Haruka’s arm around Michiru’s shoulder, Michiru frozen with her hand to her mouth to hide that little giggle, just like she did in that one episode that I’m too lazy to go look up the number of. Haruka is gazing at everyone fondly with a look on her face that is partially triumphant because they won. Hotaru and Setsuna are not sitting on the sidelines, fuck you very much Stars, and instead in the very middle of this whole thing, because they need extra love and comfort dammit, and Setsuna looks a little uncomfortable but she also has this smile on her face as though this is more than she would have ever dared wish for, let alone think she would actually ever get. And Hotaru looks tiny and small, squished as she is in-between Setsuna and Mamoru, but her grin is wide and bright and she is leaning forward to look at the photobook of Chibiusa pics that Usagi brought which Mamoru now has and Mamoru is smiling softly because this is his family and they are crazy but perfect.

Everyone is crowded because the booth is far too small but none of them have ever looked happier and as the image freezes the original theme starts and Sailor Moon ends its fifth and final season.

The End

(I hope everyone enjoyed this but especially you, Jet. I’m sure it’s not exactly how you’d do it but I hope that it was at least a little close. It was actually really fun and cathartic to write and I hope that it was also fun and somewhat cathartic to read too.)