In the midst of the debate on new characters, I have decided to jump right
in with my humble fic. C&C/MST welcome, flames not. Standard disclaimers
apply. Sailor Moon and co. belong to Takeuchi Naoko and friends, so please
don't sue. All original folks are mine. Steal and die.

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Sailor Moon Aia

Prologue

"Kyrthei has fallen." Queen Ila gazed sadly upon the crystal orb 
in her chamber. "They saw their error, but too late. There is no 
hope for them."

"My people?" A blue-skinned woman wearing the black robes of the 
Narah, Solathei's special forces, stood up and gazed at the Queen,
not believing her world was no more. She had long silver hair 
drawn up into a bun, and solid white eyes. The back of her robe 
was slit to accommodate the pair of batlike wings that grew from 
her back. "There must have been others. Others like me. Others who 
-saw-. Please, my Queen. Tell me I'm not the last of my kind." 

Queen Ila bowed her head. "You, and a handful of others, are the 
only Kyrthasti left alive. And of those, only you have an unbroken 
spirit."

"Draco..." Aylia closed her eyes. Draco Kai had killed herself the night
before.

"She couldn't live with herself after what she did to you. I know that 
she did love you, and that she could be trusted here. She waits for you
in another land." Aylia looked up at her Queen, who continued. "Aylia, I 
had hoped that you could convince your people that this was going to 
happen to them if they did not fight the Dark Kingdom. I was wrong."

"I failed."

"No. You did what you could. The Kyrthasti were blind with ambition 
and greed. You were outcast among them. They tried to kill you when 
they realized you could see what they could not. You came to us, 
at first only to flee from them, but later to help us with your 
knowledge." The Queen indicated the robe of the Narah which Aylia 
wore. "Our forces have learned much from you. Now it is time to 
use what we have learned."

"How? How can we hope to defeat those monsters? Look what they did!" 
Aylia gestured angrily towards the crystal orb. "They flattened 
Kyrthei in minutes, and our defenses were supposed to be impenetrable! 
How do you think Loquathei is going to stand up to THAT? They have 
NOTHING! No military, no defenses, nothing!"

"Loquathei has been evacuated. All of its citizens are now here, 
on Solathei." The Queen sighed. "But I fear that even we will not 
stand long against a direct Negaverse attack."

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Aylia was nearly screaming, but 
after a few deep breaths and a few mental repetitions of the Narah 
mantra (silence of body, silence of mind, silence of heart, strength 
of spirit) she was calm again. "If Solathei falls, it's over."

"Solathei will fall. This I have seen. I saw it long ago, and I was 
a fool to try to avert this world's destruction instead of preparing 
for the future." The Queen bowed her head sadly. "We are too late 
to save ourselves. But we can save other worlds." The Queen waved 
her hand, and three shimmering forms appeared in the air before 
her; a clear crystal staff, a black scythe, and a sharp-edged silver 
star with a clear jewel in the center. "I have been guarding these 
talismans for millennia, knowing someday I would have to bestow them 
to worthy fighters. I had hoped that they would save Solathei, and 
had I done what I should have and used them a hundred years ago while 
the Dark Kingdom was weak in this system, they may have. But now I see 
that will not happen. I have already chosen the recipient of the Aia 
Star. It will be held by Sianna, of the clan Illudin, the captain 
of my Guard."

As if summoned by this proclamation, the doors to the Queen's 
chamber opened and in stepped a woman with shoulder-length pink 
hair, dressed in gleaming blue metal armor. She knelt before the 
throne.

"My Queen, the Northern Observatory reports that Kyrthei is dead. 
No life-forms whatsoever."

"I know. Rise, Sianna." Sianna stood up. "Come closer. I have 
something for you."

Sianna walked up to the throne, and the Queen placed the Aia Star 
in her hand. "Your talisman is the Aia Star. It is the symbol of 
Solathei and of all the Solthasti. You are to be the avenger of 
this world after we fall."

Sianna nodded, choking back tears. "I saw. There's not much time 
left, is there?"

The Queen did not answer. "Come closer, Lieutenant Aylia N'Dani, 
officer in my Narah forces. Accept this gift." She grasped the 
Shadow Scythe and placed it in Aylia's hands. "The scythe is the 
symbol of death, the symbol of the Narah, and the symbol of your 
murdered home world. You will avenge your world, and make the 
spirits of your people proud."

Now Sianna and Aylia looked at the crystal staff. "Who gets that?" Sianna 
asked. "There are no Loquasti in the military yet. Hell, Loquathei 
doesn't even HAVE a military. And there's no time to teach one to fight!"

The Queen smiled thinly. "Someday you will know why the Loquasti needed
no soldiers until Beryl came. Go and fetch my cook."

Sianna and Aylia looked at each other and sweatdropped. "Your COOK? That
little waif?"

At that moment, a voice rang out from the crystal orb. "Queen Ila! 
Send help! Monsters in the kitchen!"

Sianna grabbed her sword out of its sheath, Aylia readied her spells, 
and the two ran to the kitchen. The fracas could be heard all the 
way down the hall, and there was much screaming in Loquasti...the 
Queen's chef seemed to be doing most of it. 

Except there was something strange about those screams.

There wasn't a hint of fear in them. The cook was shouting insults 
at the creature! Sianna looked at Aylia in shock. "We better get 
in there before that thing gets mad and massacres her!" Sianna 
burst through the kitchen doors and heard a horrifying howl of 
pain, and saw the Queen's personal chef standing over a cowering 
monster. In her right hand she held a large roasting fork, dripping 
with the youma's black blood. In her left hand, she held a large cast-
iron pot lid like a shield.  The cook herself was a tiny Loquasti girl, 
gray-skinned, black-haired, almost a head shorter than Sianna, clad in 
simple garments about two steps above rags. The cook screamed a few more 
insults at the monster (Sianna spoke very little Loquasti, but gathered 
that the cook was saying something very personal and inflammatory about 
the youma, its parents, and several farm animals) and brought the fork down

into its skull. The monster twitched about a bit and was still. The cook 
gave a whoop of victory and shook her fork in the air. "My kitchen is
sacred 
ground, do you hear me, you cretins?" the cook screamed in perfect 
Solthasti at the remaining youma. "NOBODY enters my kitchen with intent to 
hurt me! NOBODY!"

"Cook! Behind you!" Sianna screamed as a second monster sprang at 
the Loquasti girl. The cook buried her fork in its hide, weakening 
it. Sianna raised her sword and concentrated on the words of her 
spell.

"Phantom Blade!" she cried, and two more swords appeared, moving 
in perfect sync with the one she held. Sianna swung her sword at 
the creature and missed, but the two phantom swords sliced cleanly 
through it.

"'Ware!" the cook shouted, pointing in Aylia's direction. Aylia 
already knew there was a third creature behind her; the Narah did 
not rely on mundane sight. She had already charged the talisman 
she held in her hand, and she spun around and slapped it against 
the hide of the monster. "Sygilas Nara'ana, (Death's Mark)" she 
whispered as she pressed the small metal disc against the creature's 
flesh. It stuck there, engraving a glyph into the skin which glowed 
with a sickly green light. The youma fell over, dead.

There was a fourth monster, which had the appearance of a pincushion 
as it fell down; the cook had thrown with frightening skill an 
assortment of carving knives, cleavers, and skewers. All had found 
their targets unerringly, and the cook had made short work of it. 
Sianna estimated that the Loquasti girl had thrown some fifteen weapons 
at a range of about five meters, in under thirty seconds. The monster 
probably hadn't known what had hit it. Its partner advanced on Sianna 
angrily, and the cook produced a cloth bag from her pocket.

"Care to gamble with your life?" she taunted and pulled out a deck 
of cards.

"Cook, this is no time for games!" Sianna yelled.

The cook ignored her and pulled out a card emblazoned with a man seated 
on a throne holding a sword. "King of Blades, ach-head!" she shouted, 
throwing the card at the monster. In midair it transformed into an 
apparition of a fierce warrior king with a flaming sword, which chopped 
the beast up into bits and then vanished. The card fluttered to the floor, 
and Jaana picked it up and slipped it back into the bag. "House 
wins."

The kitchen was now empty, save for Sianna, Aylia, the cook, and 
several monster carcasses, two in several pieces. Sianna and Aylia looked 
at each other again. "I think we've found the Queen's third warrior."

The cook's name was Jaana Eleias. Sianna and Aylia led her to the 
Queen's chamber, where she received the Crystal Staff. 

"There is one more thing. I give to Sianna a familiar." The Queen 
beckoned, and from behind a curtain stepped a long-haired gray cat. 
The cat trotted up to Sianna's feet, lay down, and began to purr. 
"Her name is Aradia. When the time is right, she will awaken you; 
restore your memories of who you are; guide you in your battles."

"Awaken us?" Aylia flapped her bat-wings once, stirring up dust and 
cat hair. 

"I will use the last of my energy to send you far into the future, 
far away from Solathei. There is a world called Earth which the 
Dark Kingdom will try to destroy, just as they will destroy the Aia 
system."

Jaana wrinkled her nose. "Funny name for a world."

"You will die here, but be reborn on Earth. You will live normal 
lives among humans until the time comes for you to fight the 
Dark Kingdom again. There will be others there who will help you. 
When the time comes, Aradia will awaken your memories."

At that moment, there was a loud crash. Bits of stone crumbled 
off the walls of the chamber. "They're here!" Sianna screamed. 

The Queen picked up the crystal orb from its stand and held it 
high. "Gracious Goddess Istal, grant me one final boon. Send my 
warriors safely to Earth. In the name of Solathei--" An explosion 
destroyed the west wall of the chamber, and a tall, slim man with 
a light brown ponytail entered. "Sianna, Aylia, Jaana...GO!" The 
Queen threw the orb onto the floor. It shattered, and the three 
warriors vanished, along with their talismans, and the cat. The 
Queen fell down, the last of her energy spent, but she grinned up 
at the evil man in her chamber. "You're too late, Zoicite. Too...
late." She laughed weakly. "Someday they'll find you and kill you. 
You and that bitch you work for."

Zoicite's eyes narrowed. "That was a nice move, Queen Ila." He 
laughed shrilly. "I didn't think you had it in you."

The Queen slumped to the floor again. "They'll find you. They..." 
She paused, coughed, and continued. "They'll kill you. Jaana chopped 
up one of your lovely little beasts with no more than a roasting 
fork. She filled another one with carving knives. Pathetic." She 
laughed.

Zoicite screamed in rage. "How dare you speak to me like that!" A 
long, sharp crystal formed in his hand. "I'll teach you!" He drove 
the crystal into the Queen's heart. She died still laughing at him. 
He never forgot that laugh.

*			*			*

2,000 Years Later

"Good morning, class," said the sensei as the students settled into 
their seats. "As you know, we are having a math test today..."

"Oh NO! I totally forgot!" Usagi wailed. "Psst...Ami...pleeeeease 
let me peek..."

"No way!" Ami retorted. "You've known about this test all week, 
just like the rest of us. You should have been studying instead 
of daydreaming about Mamoru."

"Hmph. Some friend YOU are."

"...But first, I'd like to introduce our two new students. They're 
exchange students from America. Ladies, please stand up so the class 
can see you."

A small girl with pixie-cut black hair stood first. "Janie Edwards..."

And a tall girl with shoulder-length pink hair rose. "And Shana 
Illudin. Please make them feel welcome."

Math test suddenly forgotten, Usagi gazed at the two girls. There 
was an aura about them she couldn't quite grasp. 

**quick Solthasti lesson: Sol=light, kyr=dark, loqua=twilight, 
nara=death, not to be confused with Narah=Solthasti special forces, 
ach=shit. Interestingly enough, "achthei" is considered the proper 
term for "toilet," although "ach" is vulgar.**

---

---Sailor Solathei