Disclaimer: Sailor Moon doesn't belong to me but Naoko Takeuchi. I am simply borrowing them for this story.

Email: SailrPhnx@aol.com or UtenaStar@aol.com

Rated: PG (for now)
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by Sailor Phoenix

Prologue

    She was aware of the pain suddenly, the endless crushing sensation she knew had always been there all along. It seemed like she was climbing some inner stairway that was bringing her closer and closer to consciousness. She desperately tried to recall the car accident that placed her here, but the threads of memory refused to budge.

    Serenity wanted to scream as the agonizing pain shot through her but her lips wouldn't move. Even though her body was suffering, it felt cold and lifeless, almost like that of a statue. Her spirit, on the other hand, was gaining strength with each passing moment giving her a renew hope that she might live. A tear pooled and fell from the corner of her right eye.

    "Look...she's crying. Couldn't this mean she will wake up very soon." The voice Serenity heard was muscline and soft filled with emotion and she knew it was her beloved brother.

    She felt his hand touch hers and his voice carressed her the depths of her soul. Shingo. She tried to will herself to wake up so that she could see him perhaps one last time, but she couldn't.

    Her heart constricted. She would give anything to tell him goodbye. She tried again but her lips felt as if they were made of stone. I want to live, Serenity thought desperately with the last strength she could muster. There are so many things I never had the
chance to do. Please.

    The machines began making weird sounds and she could hear the faint sounds of activity going around her.

    "I'll call the doctor..."

    "...get the crash cart..."

    "Please Tsukino-san...no time to waste...waiting room..."

    "No! Serenity don't leave me..."Her brother cried out for her. Shingo, whom would pull her pigtails when they were young...whom would tease her endlessly over the guys who she dated...whom she would chase around the house and yard threatening to hurt him when she got her hands around his neck.

    In the next instant, Serenity was enveloped in a light as brilliant as the stars. It took only a brief second to realize that she felt different.

    She was still the same age but somehow different as she stood on a bridge made of multi-color crystal. "I didn't want to die," she said firmly knowing there was someone there to weigh her words. "I never fell in love...or made a crown of spring flowers for my hair.. or wore a long beautiful dress... or had a child I so desire." She paused for a brief second and then continued, "Oh please."

    Then Serenity heard another voice calling...pleading as it stormed the gates of heaven. It was a lusty feminine shriek. "No more...please Oh God...I want to die..."

    There was an interval then a peace she had never felt, followed by a wordless whisper from the beautiful light. I have been heard.

    Immediately, Serenity was caught in a hurricane of multi-colored fire. She tumbled over and over through the fire. Then, landed with a sudden solid thump. A feeling of joy filled her. She was back in her own body; she could feel her heart beating against her breast...the movement of her fingers. Even better she was fully awake and able to see what was going on.

    She frowned upon realizing she wasn't in the hospital but in a room with a high ceiling with plaster molding and pale lavender wallpaper, and instead of bed railings all around, she saw huge bedposts with carvings of bunnies and crescent moons.

    She could see her stomach was bare and that it resembled an overriped watermelon with skin. Her bare knees were drawn up, her legs spread apart, and there was an old man standing at the V, looking as if he pondering something.

    This must be some dream, she thought unable to recognize the room.

    A scream ripped from her lips realizing the pain was no dream at all. "What in Hades' name is going on here?" she cried trying to catch her breath.

    The peppery-haired man looked up from whatever medical intimacy he'd been performing, his florid face giving her a disapproval. "Now, Serenity, there is no need to use profanity. I think you should be trying to redeem yourself, rather make things worse."

    "This hurts," she whimpered. "This whole situation was sprung on me with no warning...no time to prepare...I never got the chance to go through Lamaze training...I want morphine!"

    "Mrs. Alessandros," the doctor replied with rather impatience, "during the war, I have treated men who'd had their legs and arms either shot off or had to have them amputated. Not one of them acted as you are doing now."

    "None of them were giving birth!" Serenity hissed, and then screamed again. "Dear God...no one warned me it would feel like this!"

    "Kindly stop bothering the Almighty," the old man said. "You should of consulted with him a little earlier."

    Serenity recalled the voice she had heard while on the bridge begging for mercy.  Her body...this body, she reminded herself, was not hers...tensed again violently. The cotton gown she wore clung to perspired body.

    "Push," the doctor instructed. His face tighted in concentration. "Molly!" He called the name, and the door opened revealing a pale young woman in long skirts.

    "Yes Dr. Michaels?" The woman's eyes were the size of soccer balls as she wrung her hands nervously.

    "Fetch Endymion," the physician ordered. "Immediately. Tell him that his child is about to be born, just in case he's interested!"

    The maid rushed out to do as she was told.

    Serenity braced herself on her elbows as tears streamed down her face. "Why are you people in costume?" she managed to ask after her next contraction hit. "Who's Endymion?"

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Coming Soon:
Part 1