This is very much an intermediate section of the story.

The biggest piece of information I need for this story is: under just what
circumstances are first names and last names used in Japan?  Urawa is known
by his last name and Yumemi by her first and I'm not so sure that's right.

Part 1 (chapters 1-4) can be found on my home page,
http://www.inetnow.net/~arromdee/fanfic.html

                                   Chapter 5

The inhabitants of the Earth could do nothing more than watch the sky and
hope the invasion wouldn't continue, or that some new enemy would take
advantage of the Earth's lack of defense.  On the peace-loving Earth of the
thirtieth century, the main defense against any invasion was not guns, or
warships; it was the all-encompassing love of Serenity, the woman who defeated
Galaxia and brought peace to the universe with her grace.  The single point of
failure.

Urawa stared at the wasteland a mile away while waiting for Yumemi to prepare
breakfast.  As he gazed over the barren land, he wished that the Earth had
kept the warships.  Serenity was a brave woman; she persevered to the end, and
she loved everyone...  but that wasn't enough to rule a city, let alone a
planet.  That, thought Urawa, takes skill and training, not just good
intentions, which is what ruling by love really meant.  Strange women lying in
palaces bearing crystals was no way to run a system of government.

Urawa reached out to the phone, touching the key to disable it for the next
half hour.  Plum, looking like a teenager under Urawa's suggestion, and
ironically seeming older than him, watched curiously.

"You haven't turned off the phone before", she said.

"If you want to ask me why", responded Urawa, "you're welcome to."

"Ask?  I should ask questions?"

Urawa nodded.  "If you want."

"Okay", replied Plum, "why haven't you turned off the phone before?"

"Because", answered Urawa, "We're going to get called for a TV interview.  And
it would be nice to eat breakfast in peace.  Goodness knows there's been too
much war lately."

                                *   *   *   *   *

Urawa and Yumemi sat by the phone an hour after eating, anticipating the
"surprise" request.  After not even a complete ring, Urawa answered.  "Hello,
Urawa residence.  Can I help you?"

The screen flickered on, showing a man dressed in a tuxedo and top hat,
sitting in an office full of papers.  "Hello, are you Urawa-san?  I'm Shirase
Akira, and I'm the host of Crystal Television.  We'd be interested if you'd..."

Urawa mumbled the words to himself as Akira said them, and then finished
the rest of the sentence that he'd foreseen: "... like to appear on your show
to talk about our rescue of all those people a week ago."

"Why yes", said the host.  "How did you know?"

"Same way I knew about the rescue", replied Urawa.  "Anyway, my wife and I
would be glad to come.  Do you have anyone else?"

"Any more hosts?"

"No, any more guests.  You could always interview Sailor Saturn.  We couldn't
have done it without her."

"We've, er, considered that", said the announcer.  "But she's bound to be hard
to reach."

"That's okay", answered Urawa.  "We know where to find her."

"No, we can't...  look, it wouldn't be appropriate to bring in a controversial
figure like Saturn."  As Urawa frowned, the announcer hurriedly added "Oh, I
think it's all silly myself."

                                *   *   *   *   *

The Crystal Television show had been fairly popular in the past five years.  It
was even rumored that the Queen was a regular viewer, although of course the
producers would never confirm the rumor.  In the week since the invasion, it had
become even more popular, as its location in the suburbs made it one of the few
bits of city culture that had survived.

"Excuse me, we'd like to get a pass", said a young man with androgynous features
and long blue hair, as he shoved his way through the crowd, pulling Miranda
with him to the booth by the entrance.

"Are you sure this is all right?" asked Miranda.

"Don't worry.  I've got it all under control", replied her companion.  He
showed a diplomatic passport to the woman at the booth.  It was open to his
name, Seiya Hikaru, and picture.  "We're on official business.  So, how about
letting us in?"

"That's a passport, not a ticket", responded the attendant.  "You can't use it
for that."

"Come on, let us in", yelled Hikaru.

"Let them in", said Sailor Saturn, following behind Miranda.

The attendant took one look at her and handed her, Hikaru, and Miranda a pass
each.  "Have a nice day", she stammered, sighing in relief as they disappeared
through the door.

"That was easy", said Miranda as they walked down the aisles.  Miranda picked
a seat near Plum, recognizing the girl from the time of the disaster.  Saturn
took a moment to change back to normal clothes.

"Too easy", added Hikaru.

Saturn shook her head.  "They're superstitious.  Nine hundred years of being
ruled by people who embody the planets will do that.  Some of the people in
the city wonder if I'm responsible for the attack.  It's destruction, and
Saturn is associated with destruction, so obviously it was me, no matter what
the newspapers said I was doing at the time.  Everyone knows about the Black
Moon, but it just hasn't sunk in."

                                *   *   *   *   *

After Shirase led the audience in a short prayer to Serenity, and gave thanks
for her generous allocation of funds to the show, he began the interview in
earnest.  Shirase looked through his notes and decided to ask the simpler
questions first, to get his guests in a receptive mood before the meat of the
interview.  He read off the first one, "So tell the audience about how you
saved so many people.  We've heard you can tell the future, like Sailor Pluto."

"No", answered Urawa, "not like Sailor Pluto.  But I can, and that was enough
warning.  I saw what was going to happen, and my wife and I decided to save
as many people as we could.  We couldn't just sit back and let everyone die."

"I understand", said Shirase.  "Well, since you know a little bit about the
future, do you believe these are the end times?  We all know about the prophecy.
Long ago, Sailor Moon foresaw the day when the world would be invaded, with
only a Sailor Cosmos to defend it.  She would fail in disgrace, and she would
seek redemption in the twentieth century in the form of an innocent child.  Our
world would end, but the cycle would continue on forever.  Do you think the
destruction of Crystal Tokyo could be an omen of armageddon?"

Yumemi answered this time.  "I believe that prophecies may mean something...
but exactly what they mean is up to us.  And Urawa will back me up on that.
There's invasion, yes, and there's a child who's really not, travelling
into the twentieth century.  But I don't believe it's the end of the world.
Not if we don't let it be."

"You can see that in the future?"

"No", answered Urawa, we've been there in the past.  We're both a lot older
than we look, and I lived in Tokyo when the Black Moon came.  I saw quite a
lot of it."

"He didn't quite know what it meant", added Yumemi, "but though I wasn't
there, I did.  It was one of the first things we talked about when we met...
having the end of everything prevented in front of you is something you
remember your whole life."

"Next question", said the interviewer.  "It's sometimes hard to understand
Serenity's compassion.  She left a source of evil behind to rampage through the
solar system.  How long do you think it will be before some good comes from
it?"  He added, "Feel free to look into the future if you have to."

"I think they're angry", replied Yumemi.  "The Black Moon.  There's no such
thing as a 'source of evil'.  They didn't destroy the city because they're evil,
they destroyed the city because they were mistreated.  They were criminals once,
but the punishment was too great.  They had to become purified, or lose their
home.  They chose the lesser punishment."

"Then you think they're like Galaxia?  Not evil at all?"

"You know, it's funny", said Yumemi.  "Sometimes the Sailor Senshi decide that
their enemies can be reformed.  So Galaxia lives.  And sometimes they decide
that their enemies are evil and nothing else.  They're not going to try to
purify the Death Phantom... no, that happened hundreds of years ago.  They
_didn't_ try to purify the Death Phantom.  I've never figured out why, unless
it was because they didn't like his name.  My answer is that yes, the Black Moon
is evil...  now."

"What do either of you think citizens should do to help each other through this
tragedy?"

Urawa answered first.  "I think it's important to cooperate, of course, and to
help other people who lost a lot in the invasion...  I think we have to do what
we can even if we can't do everything.  Otherwise my wife and I would never have
done what we did last week.  Don't wait around for Serenity to fix things."

"Well, that's an understandable sentiment, given this disaster, but if what you
say is right, Serenity _is_ going to fix things, in a way that you wouldn't be
able to.  You should be more grateful to her for that, don't you think?"

"That's something else funny", said Yumemi.  "Serenity's a role model for
everyone, showing love and compassion.  Everyone can be a Serenity.  But on
the other hand she's royalty, she's a kami born directly from the Cauldron,
she has a Ginzuishou full of unimaginable power.  Everyone can't be a Serenity,
and that's why only she can fix things."

"Well, that's certainly an unusual way of looking at it."  The interviewer
glanced at his watch; it was almost over anyway, so he may as well end this a
bit early.  No need to have his guests jeopardize his funding for any longer.
"It looks like we're out of time now, so let's bring on the next guest...."

                                *   *   *   *   *

Urawa and Yumemi walked over to where Plum, Hotaru, and the others were
sitting.  "Hi, Plum, Hotaru-tachi.  Want to have lunch with us?  I need
something to get the taste out of my mouth...  'how long before some good
comes of it' indeed."

"What does that mean?" asked Plum.  "How does good come from something that's
not?"

"It can happen", said Urawa.  "But this time...  he just didn't want to believe
that Serenity made a mistake.  It's not too hard to do something about an
invasion if you have nine hundred years of advance warning."  Urawa scanned the
street with his eyes, picking out a small ramen shop, and herding the group
towards it.  "And she did, but she forgot.  With consequences a lot worse than
forgetting to do homework."

"Hm?" muttered Hikaru.

Yumemi explained.  "When he met Serenity, it was a long, long, time ago.  She
had just started her second life and she was no older than you or Miranda."

As they arrived at the shop, Miranda smiled a bit and asked "Ever had ramen,
Hikaru-chan?"

"Of course", said Hikaru, nodding.  "We're a civilized planet."

"Explain ramen to me", said Plum.  When Miranda paused in puzzlement, Plum
looked to Urawa and Yumemi, wondering if she wasn't supposed to say that.

Yumemi tried to console Plum.  "Don't worry.  It's okay to not know about some
things.  You'll get over it eventually."

                                *   *   *   *   *

Miranda gazed out of the window for most of the meal, looking down a hill.
Once, she knew, people lived there.  But now... it was all gone.  She had
wished to be free from her parents' self-righteousness.  Was this the cost?

"Miranda, it's okay", said Hikaru, softly hugging her.  "My parents told me
once what it was like for Kinmoku-sei, many years ago.  Our planet suffered
through much worse.  They and Taiki-sama came here looking for our own
princess.  They found her, and then..."

"What?" asked Miranda.

"They found her, and then Serenity saved everyone.  It was all for nothing.
All they provided was a little bit of information, and some moral support,
and then finally an alien ruler of another planet, someone they wouldn't even
have met if they hadn't happened to pick the right school to hide at, saved
the entire universe.  Ever since then, Fireball-sama never had the heart to
really rule as she did before.  She understood how limited we really were.
Serenity and her Senshi saved you, too, hundreds of years ago according to
Urawa-san.  And to you, they're not strangers from far away, they're yours.
You should be proud to live on a planet with such mighty royalty."

Miranda shook her head.  "It just scares me.  Maybe I'm too close to them, I
can see what they're like...."

"Miranda", said Hikaru, "whatever your parents were like, I can't believe that
all your world's Senshi are like that."

"No they're not, Hikaru-chan...  but I do know them.  Maybe too well.  Did you
know that Serenity still can't write Japanese properly?  She's that dumb.
They're lucky, that's all.  They were in the right place at the right time
with the right crystals to save everything.  And her daughter.  She's mentally
retarded, and none of the Senshi realize it.  She's nine hundred years old and
her mind is that of a child, and everyone thinks it's okay because her body is
small so it all looks right.  Serenity's been trying to teach her fractions
since before I was born, and she's never going to learn."  Miranda suddenly
looked guilty and cringed a little from Hotaru.  "Gomen...  I forgot.  You
used to be friends...."

Hotaru winced at that a little herself, not because of what Miranda said, but
because of her reaction to Hotaru.  It was all too familiar.  Hotaru was like
that for a long time after she was rescued from her mutated father.  "I'm not
going to hurt you for expressing your opinion", said Hotaru.

                                *   *   *   *   *

"Spare some yen?" asked a dirty, ragged, man as Urawa and the rest of the
group left the restaurant.  "I'm a loyal follower of the Queen but I lost
everything in the invasion...  spare some yen?"  As Urawa fumbled for coins,
he realized how the invasion had changed things; he hadn't seen a homeless
person since Serenity came to power and purified all of them.  Rebuilding from
the destruction would be a long and hard struggle for a group of people who
never really even had any experience with running their own affairs.  Some
just gave up, like that man in the street....


                                   Chapter 6

Most disasters, even most invasions, weren't as total as this one.  But
the attack of the Black Moon either completely destroyed an area or left
it untouched.  The infrastructure problems common to earthquakes and
hurricanes couldn't happen; with few exceptions, everyone was either well,
or dead, not alive but without food, power, and shelter.  For similar reasons,
there were few looters; everything was either destroyed or occupied.

The newspapers were gone.  Their main printing plants were all deep within the
city...  deep below the rubble now.  The airport was gone; Serenity had never
bothered planning for a second major airport, and the first one didn't make it
through the invasion.  Television and radio were in a shambles.  The banks did
a little better, since most bank transactions were bits in a machine, which were
backed up elsewhere.  On the other hand, the Tokyo stock market had its biggest
collapse in a millennium...

And of course, the government of the world had just had its head lopped off.

Prime Minister Smythe of England glanced at his agenda.  Meet with Serenity.
Try to lower his country's quota of North Sea oil, not likely...  convince her
to raise England's allocation of tea, possible...  ease the limit on abortions
in England, not likely from someone who sensed her child within herself as a
new life at the moment of conception....  It was always frustrating to
petition Serenity.  If she met with one local leader daily each year, she'd be
doing nothing else, so she couldn't possibly answer every request, and her
kindness and mercy was filtered through her fellow Senshi and her staff.

It was very fortunate for England that Sailor Venus had come a month ago
visiting "places I missed the first time".  That had been the ideal chance to
request an audience with Serenity.  Only now, there was no Serenity.  All
his hopes, shattered.  How could his people be allowed to lower their oil
exports if there was no Queen to do so?

                                *   *   *   *   *

Miranda's shopping trip with Hikaru was interrupted when a woman called out
her name to the two girls.  "Excuse me", she asked, "you're Ten'ou Miranda?"
Startled, she tried to make herself inconspicuous among the clothes racks.
Hikaru looked at the woman, taking in her attitude, and told Miranda to come
out.  "Miranda, it's okay.  I don't think she wants to hurt you or take you
away."

Miranda came out, ashamed of how she had reacted.  She couldn't just go around
afraid like that.  She didn't kill her parents; nobody blamed her for it, not
really.  "W--what do you want?" she asked.

"I hope this isn't too much of a big deal.  We need your help."

"I..." stammered Miranda.  "I don't understand what it is I have that nobody
else does."

The woman explained.  "It has to do with running what's left of the city.
I'm with the mayors of the fourteen wards that survived the invasion.  We
don't have Serenity.  We don't have the Senshi, we don't have her assistants,
we don't have _their_ assistants...  We've gathered together trying to keep
things from going to pieces and we want you to help us to witness some papers."

"What do I have to do with this?"

"Because they're always approved in the name of the Queen, and you and Saturn
are the closest we have to royalty.  Someone else's out trying to find her.  I
hate to admit it...  but Crystal Tokyo is only a few steps away from anarchy.
It'll be a symbol of legitimacy for our group."

"Okay", said Miranda, "I think I understand.  You want me to help you in a
coup.  If I'm there, it makes the coup easier."

"No!  You don't understand...  We're all that's left of the government.  If
we can't function, then there _will_ be a coup.  We came _this_ close to not
even getting all the districts to cooperate.  That took us two weeks, and if we
had failed, well, half our food supply comes through districts 77 and 78..."
She shuddered a bit.

"You don't have the authority."

"All the authority is gone", replied the woman.  "Look, I'm not even asking
you to sign anything.  Just to come and give your blessing to the coalition to
do so themselves."

Miranda looked at Hikaru, wondering what she thought.  Hikaru caught the
uncertainty and took her hands in hers, telling Miranda her thoughts on the
matter.  "Miranda, it's your decision."

No, there was no way that Hikaru could decide this for me, thought Miranda.
She's probably right; I'm just afraid, I should think for myself.  And I'm a
Senshi now and I'll have to make hard decisions.  "Sure", she answered the
woman a bit reluctantly, "I'll help."

                                *   *   *   *   *

The woman ushered Miranda and Hikaru into a converted courthouse.  Sitting
by a table were fourteen men and women wearing ceremonial silvered crystals
around their necks, along with Urawa, his wife, and several other people
Miranda didn't recognize.  Sitting by another table were two police sergeants,
the Prime Minister of England, and several others that she also didn't
recognize.  There was also a small audience, to which the woman led Hikaru
instead of bringing her to the tables; of the people sitting there, Miranda
was only familiar with Hotaru and Plum.

Miranda's suspicion died down when she saw Hotaru there.  "You're doing this
too, Aunt Hotaru?" she asked.

"No", replied the incarnation of Saturn.  "I'm here to watch.  I wouldn't
miss this, but I'm not going to participate.  I know how some people think of
me, and I could do more harm than good by trying to help.  Feel free to do it
if you want to."

"Thanks, Aunt Hotaru."

The woman, apparently a secretary of some kind, handed Miranda a sheet of
paper and asked her to read it.  The words on it were very familiar to
Miranda, because they were a variation on a ceremonial speech which the
royalty and their assistants often used.  She read the words of the speech
to the assembly.

"We, princess of the realm..." read Miranda.  The word "princess" was written in
hastily over "queen".  "... bestow our blessings, and our authority, on those
gathered here today, through our unbroken rule since the year 2003, when all
nations recognized their true sovereign.  Our queen's" (the word "queen's" had
also been added) "rule, always wise, always just and never prone to the errors
of mortals, embodied in Her Majesty Neo-Queen Serenity (and princess Miranda),
lends its temporal power to Mayor...."  Miranda read off the names of all
fourteen mayors.  "Through their decisions, let Our will be done."

"That's it.  Thank you very much", said the secretary.  "You can step down now."

Hikaru smiled at Miranda.  "A few weeks to practice and you could make a
good queen."

"Yeah, but then you'd have to be a guy all the time so you could be my
king", said Miranda as she sat by her.  "Anyway, I'm going to go get some
lunch.  Is there anything you want?"

                                *   *   *   *   *

"So why are Urawa-san and Yumemi-san there?" asked Miranda, offering Plum some
fries while the adults debated an abortion petition.

Plum looked at them as if she had never seen any before, as she explained.
"They're supposed to be there to translate English.  Officially."

"Officially?" asked Miranda while Plum tentatively bit down on a fry.

"Urawa and Yumemi explained it to me... they were ordered to be there because
they're heroes to many people and they would help unite everyone behind the
coalition.  Like you helped."

"Ordered?"  Miranda wondered.  The coalition seemed sincere, but if they're
really trying to get everyone's approval they wouldn't order people around.
"What would happen if they didn't come?"

"Nothing."

"I don't get it.  You mean they asked Urawa-tachi, not ordered them, right?"

"What's the difference?"

"You know, you're weird.  Ordering is when you tell someone to do something
because if they don't, you'll fire a crystal at them and turn them into dust."
Miranda wasn't sure if she had imagined it, but Plum seemed to shudder slightly
when she said that.  "Asking is when you say that someone should do something
and they have to think and decide whether doing it would be good or bad and
only do it if it's good."

"Oh", said Plum.  "Then... the coalition asked them."  She could be blasted
into dust.  She was fated to be blasted into dust, she thought, never to live
again.  Cooan didn't mean for her to ever be here, she knew that.

"Did I say something wrong?"

"She was buried alive in the city", offered Hikaru.  "It must be a terrible
memory for her."

"I'm sorry", said Miranda, "I didn't mean..."

"It's nothing."  Plum was beginning to learn more about lying.


                                   Chapter 6

While never aging, Urawa and Yumemi had also never been able to have children,
so finding the 'girl' seemed like a blessing to them.  Still, they had to be
careful.  In some ways, she was an adult; in some a child.  In some she was
different from everyone else, and only Urawa and Yumemi, with their memories
of the Dark Kingdom that were released hundreds of years ago, really had a
chance to understand it.

The biggest problem wasn't teaching her good and bad.  Any sentient being with
the ability to feel empathy for others could learn that, and Plum seemed to
have passed that hurdle a while back.  The biggest problem was initiative.
Ordinary teenagers tended to do what they wanted and could get away with.
Parents seldom liked that.  Plum, however, tended to do what he and Yumemi
told her to do, and they didn't like that at all.  How do you _teach_ someone
to think for themselves?

But now that Plum had decided, on her own, to go for a walk through the city,
Urawa and Yumemi couldn't help but worry about what she was up to....

                                *   *   *   *   *

Plum had never seen a subway before.  Not even one that wasn't working, and
certainly this one wasn't.  It was mostly sheltered from the Black Moon's rays
by being underground, but numerous cave-ins, explosions, and power outages had
taken their toll.  The only line into the city that was running was the one
to the safe zone that Urawa had helped with, and that only because of the hard
work of dozens of construction workers.

As Plum crept through the darkened tunnels, she stepped on something foul-
smelling and released a swarm of flies.  She swatted a few, and then realized
there was no need to put up with them.  Concentrating, she drained the energy of
the swarm, which fell to the ground like a rustle of leaves.  They would
recover, but she'd be long gone.

Plum glanced down at the squishy object she had stepped on.  It was purplish
and there were white rocks in it...  long rocks, no, _bones_.  She imagined
some human walking along, like her, suddenly being caught in a cave in and half-
buried alive, like she once was, but never found by anyone.  Someone whose
existence was suddenly ended by a tragic accident...

She ran past the corpses, trying to get away, moving aside rocks and setting
off small cave-ins of her own in her attempt to leave them behind.  Ahead of
herself she saw a broken and twisted metal bar half-embedded in the wall, and
tried to squeeze through the narrow passage it was blocking.  Her coat caught
on the metal, and as she tore it loose the bar fell out and let loose an
avalanche of dirt and concrete.  The way back was blocked, and Plum was lost.

                                *   *   *   *   *

Two men in a poorly lit underground office were discussing their plans to
make the world a better place.  At least for themselves.  "Hey, Kyo-kun", said
a man in a business suit, "do you think you can really make it work?"

The large, bald, man replied, "Oh, it'll be simple.  First, I get recognized
as mayor of ward 18.  It should be easy.  Serenity once took over the world
and everyone recognized her as the legitimate ruler after that.  Why can't I
become the mayor of the 18th ward the same way?"

"Serenity had a powerful crystal and no army could beat her", noted the
younger, well-dressed man.

"Well, there you have it, Yamada-kun.  Crystal Tokyo doesn't have an army",
replied Kyo.

"What about the police?"

"In the 18th ward?  That's just a few blocks in the middle of downtown
Tokyo now.  They don't have any police there.  All we need to do is find
the mayor and force him to give control of the ward to us."

At the sound of a few rocks moving, the better-dressed man stopped moving,
carefully listening to the darkness in the tunnels.  "Say, Kyo, don't you hear
something?" he asked.  "I think someone's out there."

"In the tunnels?  It can't be construction.  Not at this time of night.  Maybe
it's an animal."

"Maybe someone's spying on us..."  The figure passed by a light.  "Wait, did
you see that?  I think it's a girl, Kyo-kun."

"I think you're right.  We can't have people just wandering around here.  I'm
going to try to catch her."

"Isn't that a crime?  Kidnapping?"

"Yamada-kun, if I become mayor, it's an arrest.  These things are always
decided in hindsight.  That's why Serenity could take over all those
countries without being considered a criminal warlord.  She won."  Kyo ran off.

                                *   *   *   *   *

Plum's footsteps echoed through the dark subway tunnels as she searched for a
way out, perhaps to the surface, perhaps to the one running subway line.  It
was dirty, smelly, dark, and a lot less fun to explore when she didn't know if
she could go home.  And Plum was getting hungry; soon she'd have to eat
something or drain something....  She saw a light ahead of her and ran towards
it.

No, no good.  As Plum approached the light she saw that it was just a subway
light, part of a working section of them, but not a way out.  Still, it was
a start, since a working tunnel might mean an undamaged exit somewhere in
the area.

"Hey, stop", said a male voice.  Plum saw a bald, muscular, man peeking out of
a doorway.  "Come over here."  This wasn't anyone she knew, and she had no
reason to take orders from him, but maybe he could be some help.  She
approached eagerly, and then stopped when she saw the gun in the man's hand.
"Come on over here...  now that's good.  What are you doing around here?"

"I just got lost..." answered Plum.

"I recognize her!" said another man, who was wearing a dirty suit.  "She was
on television...  she's the girl that Urawa found.  The guy who saved part of
the 18th ward."

"Oh, really", answered Kyo.  "What's your name, young lady?"

"I'm Plum."

"See?" said Yamada.  "That's her.  We've got ourselves a hostage.  Fell right
in our laps!"

                                *   *   *   *   *

Plum turned purple and gestured at the men, throwing whorls of leaves from her
hands.  The men, enveloped by them, glowed softly, a glow which floated into the
leaves, then was drawn into her.  Kyo screamed and fired his gun; it only
grazed her, the wound bleeding green smoke as it closed.  "Who would have
known?" shouted Yamada as he fainted from the loss of energy.

She tied the men up with a rope from their supplies, and made her way out the
other door of the room, finding herself in a darkened, dusty, basement floor
covered with heaps of debris.  Spotting a group of pipes lit through a hole
in the wall, Plum crawled through, finally finding herself on the surface in a
shallow crater on the border of the 18th ward.  Civilization again.

The police made a special trip out to the 18th ward just to arrest the two men,
while Plum, Urawa, and Yumemi watched.

"It wouldn't have worked anyway", explained Urawa as the officers handcuffed
the two with their moon cuffs and led them away.  "Without Serenity, the
mayors aren't going to pick their successors."

"What?  Then how...?" replied Kyo.

"They're going to hold a vote."

"A vote?  What's a vote?"

Frustrated at the man's ignorance, Urawa took a deep breath, and explained.
"People have forgotten too much these days.  A vote is when everybody decides
who should run things for them.  Everybody picks who they want, and then the
one who gets the most picks...  the most _votes_, has the office."

"That doesn't make any sense.  What if somebody evil gets picked?  Or greedy?"

"If they're evil enough, they get voted _out_ the next time around.  And if
we limit what we let them do, they can't do too much damage before that
happens.  As for greed... it happens.  It's not a perfect system, it's just a
way to make sure everyone has a say.  Why's it any different if Serenity uses
your taxes to give a company a break, saying that it's for 'love and justice',
than if some people that you pick do it because their friends own the company?
Except that at least they have to worry that you won't pick them again?"

                                *   *   *   *   *

A small citizens' group wanted Urawa to run in the 18th ward, but he refused.
He didn't even _live_ there, and he didn't have any experience in government.
He was just famous for having saved people.

Urawa and Yumemi watched the tallies on their screen as everyone voted.  As
expected, the current mayors were doing well.  They were essentially running
unopposed, after all, since it had only been five months since the loss of
Serenity and no other candidate could build a following...  Wait.  What was
that?

Mayor Usou of district 24 was receiving about 65 percent of the votes.  Not
very popular, it seems.  The other two candidates got around 15 percent each;
people didn't seem to be voting for them, but against Usou.  If the candidates
had another year so that people had actually _heard_ of them....  Urawa
realized that Usou would be taking a long and hard look at how he was running
his ward in the upcoming year.  And after all, that's how it was supposed to
work.

                                *   *   *   *   *

In some ways, life was very different in the year after the invasion.
Certainly, anyone with relatives among the millions of people killed by the
Black Moon would never forget it.  Temple attendance was way down; it just
didn't seem right to pray to Serenity any more.  Even if she did arise from
the Galactic Cauldron and recreate the universe.  Regions were turning into
countries again, and would have to fend for themselves in trade, in relating
to one another, and Serenity forbid, in war if nine hundred years without
self-rule hadn't taught them anything about conquest.

Or they would, if it remained that way.

Hikaru and Miranda sat on the roof of one of the taller skyscrapers in
the 18th ward, watching the sun set near the ruins of the palace.  "It used
to be so beautiful", mused Miranda as she gazed out at the ruined minarets
and crenellations, which were now just a heap of fragments reflecting shades
of red.

"Mixed thoughts?" asked Hikaru as he snuggled up with Miranda.

"Yeah...  it's like a stab in my heart to look at it and remember, but it also
was a very beautiful place, and it meant a lot to many people...  I never
wanted to get away from it by having this happen.  I wish it could be rebuilt
somehow.  Just...  just as a museum.  For people to look at and say, 'all our
lives once revolved around this.'"

"It's part of your history, love.  I'm sure it'll be rebuilt someday..."

Something shone through the crystal as Hikaru watched, something which stayed
bright as the rays of the sun faded.  It was small at this distance, but
expanded into a ball of harsh white light.  In it was a winged figure, barely
visible at this distance, looking down upon the ruined city that it once
ruled and would rule again.

"Maybe sooner than we thought", murmured Hikaru.