More things changed... the timeline among other things.
*****************************************

   Lines Of Destiny

   A Sailor Moon/Ranma 1/2  Crossover

   By Louis-Philippe Giroux
   <Phoenix@upc.qc.ca>

   A big thanks to REM for giving me a wonderful idea!  (I can't tell you
what it
is, because it would spoil things).  Among other things, I arbitrarily
placed the
end of the Moon Kingdom at 1500 years ago.

   Sailor Moon was created by Naoko Takeuchi and Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko
Takahashi.  Please don't sue me.

   It seems that the timeline I use is mixing some people up and it's partly my
fault.  I've revised the timeline and here is how it stands now:

   In my fic, Ranma and Akane are starting their first year of college and
the SM
characters are 2 or three years younger.  This may screw up the relative
timelines, but it's something I modified for possible plots.

   The way I see it, the last time Rei saw Ranma was just before he left
for his
training trip with Genma.


Chapter 2 (version 3.0)

   Hotaru Tomoe was depressed.  Since Chibi-Usa had gone back to the future,
she had lost the only friend who was close to her.  Sure, Haruka, Michiru and
Setsuna were far from bad company, but they *were* older than she was.
Besides, they had other things to worry about than play baby-sitter to a
teenage
girl who could easily level the planet.
   She missed her brother.
   Following her rebirth, Hotaru had grown up for a second time at a
phenomenal rate, though she still ended up smaller than the others (much to
her annoyance).  Only this time, she remembered things from her days in the
Moon Kingdom, 1500 years ago.  Among other things, how everyone had
different names back then; Serenity, Endymion...  One of the things she now
remembered is that she had had an older brother, named Kanma.  She
remembered...

   <Moon Kingdom, 1500 years ago>

   Verika was watching her brother work the family forge.  He was a strange
person; even though there was no need of it, he spent his days at the forge
near
their house, wielding enormous forge hammers. He kept saying pounding things
made him relax.  He had black hair, tied in a pigtail-type braid and muscles
that would make any man jealous.
   "Did you hear the news?" Verika asked with a look of anticipation on her
face.
   "What news?" asked Kanma, somewhat amused by her "baby" sister's antics.
"The healers told you you were going to gain another inch after all?"
   Verika scowled.  "I can't help it if I'm short, okay!?" she said
testily.  The
look of anticipation quickly came back, though.  "What I'm talking about is the
nominations of Sailor Terra and Saturn!  The royal seer said that the girl who
becomes Saturn would know it because the sigil will appear on her forehead
today!"
   "Don't tell me you *want* to be Sailor Saturn?" said Kanma incredulously,
letting his hammer rest beside the forge.
   Verika was a bit miffed at her brother's comment.  "Why not?  Saturn is
supposed to have great healing powers.  I'd very much like to be a great
healer."
   Kanma shook his head.  "You've never bothered to read the prophecies, have
you?"
   "What prophecies?"
   Kanma took on a lecturing tone.  "Many things have been said about the
legendary Sailor Saturn." Nodding towards his sister, he continued: "The
prophecies do say she is supposed to be a great healer, but the very fact
that she
will be chosen means other things."
   "Like what?" asked Verika, leaning forward.
   "It's said that Saturn would have more than enough power to wipe off an
entire planet if she chose to.  It's also said that she would only awakened
in time
to fight off the Moon Kingdom's greatest threat."
   Verika paled a little and Kanma nodded.  "Do you see now?  Even though
Sailor
Saturn is fabled to have wondrous healing abilities, she is generally portrayed
in the prophecies as Saturn The Destroyer, not Saturn The Healer. Sorry to
disillusion you like that, but you should be careful what you wish for."
   Verika, now uncomfortalble, changed the subject.  "What about Sailor
Terra?"
   Kanma snorted.  "No contest there.  It's old news all over the Kingdom
that it's
Earth Prince Endymion's sister Akana who will be Sailor Terra.  Almost every
seer in the Kingdom said so. It's rumored that she will be the strongest Senshi
next to Saturn."
   Verika nodded absently.  She had seen pictures of princess Akana,
before.  She
wasn't bad-looking, although they did say she had a bit of a temper...

   Later that day, the sigil of Saturn appeared on Verika's forehead and
her life
was changed forever.

   <Back to the Present>

   Hotaru was interrupted from her reminescing by the sound of the
appartment's front door being opened.  She got up and looked towards the door.
Haruka and Michiru were already taking off their coats.
   "So how was the concert, Michiru?" asked Hotaru.
   "It went okay," Michiru replied.
   Haruka grinned and put an arm around Michiru's neck. "She means it went
perfect as usual."  Haruka then gave a playful kiss to Michiru.
   Hotaru sighed. It was a strange relationship betwen those two, but at least
they had each other.  She, on the other hand, didn't have anyone close to her.
   Hotaru gave herself a mental shake.  She had to stop whining to herself like
that.  Suddenly, she noticed something, or rather, someone, was missing.  "Hey,
where's Setsuna?"
   "She said she had some buisiness to attend to," said Haruka. "And you know
from experience that if she doesn't want to tell us, she won't."  She shook her
head.  "For all we know, she's removed herself from the time stream again and
God only knows when she'll be back."

   In a rare moment of peace, Luna was asleep, while the girls were all out
shopping, so she never noticed the Guardian Of Time silently walking up to
her.
Sailor Pluto silently raise the Time Staff and a tiny beam of light shot
from the
Garnet Orb to the cat's crescent moon.  The crescent shined, but Luna merely
stirred and stayed asleep.
   A ghost of a smile touched Pluto's lips.  *At least now, Luna will be
able to
deal with Mamoru and the others' questions.*  The ageless warrior slowly shook
her head.  *I doubt they realize just how hard awakening Terra will be, but
they *will* need Terra's power in the time to come.*
   A swirling portal opened behind Pluto and she stepped inside it, disppearing
into thin air.

***

   Akane had fallen asleep early.  Whether she wanted to admit it or not, the
stress related to her wedding had taken its toll on her.  They had agreed
to sleep
apart for this night because they didn't want to be tempted by anything  that
would require... exertion.  They needed to be fully awake and alert tomorrow.
She settled by dreaming of Ranma and how they had finally admitted that they
loved each other and how they would spend the rest of their days together.  But
gradually, the dream became something else; images she had never seen or
imagined before were floating in her mind.  Strangely, the face of a young girl
often repeated itself.  The girl sometimes wore a simple old-fashioned
dress and
sometimes what looked like an ridiculously abbreviated sailor suit.  The
strangest thing of all was that she felt some kind of kinship to the girl,
but she
didn't know exactly what.
   Soon, the images disappeared and she dreamt of Ranma again.

   In his room, Ranma also had dreams of his own.  He dreamt of college and of
his marriage to Akane, how he would make sure she was happy for the rest of
their lives.  And like Akane, his dreams drifted to those of a young girl whose
face he could not see.  He saw images of the girl running and somehow, he knew
her.  He knew that inexplicably, he had once been, and still was, closely bound
to this girl.  Suddenly, her face cleared...

   ...and he was rudely awakened by an oversized panda who nearly crushed him.
Ranma cursed silently.  *Damn! it's the third time in three days I've had this
weird dream and at last I was this damn close to figuring who the hell that
girl
is.*  Ranma got up and walked to the window and looked out at the starry sky.
*I thought I had that dream because of pre-wedding jitters, but now I'm not so
sure...*  He smiled and snorted softly.  *Huh... If it gets worse, maybe I can
always ask cousin Rei about the dream.  Maybe her priestess training might
help.*
   Ranma yawned and went back to sleep and to his dreams of Akane.

   The following morning, Ranma and Akane had what would probably be their
last meal at the Tendo Dojo for a long while.  For the occasion, Kasumi and
Nodoka had prepared a such a feast that even Genma and Ranma could not eat
everything and perhaps most surprising of all, a smiling Akane not passing a
single comment on her husband's eating habits.  Afterwards, Ranma and Akane
finished packing their belongings and prepared themselves to take the train.

   Then came the tearful goobyes.

   "Take good care of yourselves, okay?" said Kasumi.
   "We will, I promise." answered Akane.
   "If you need a loan, don't hesitate to call me, okay?  I have special
rates for
family." said Nabiki with a sad smile on her lips.
   "Uh... we will, Nabiki." said Ranma.
   "Oh my daughter is growing up!  She's married and going to college!" Soun
wailed.
   Ranma extricated himself from the knot of Tendo sisters and walked to his
parents.
   "Be sure to tell your cousin Rei that we're grateful for what she's
doing, and
try to keep your water curse a secret if possible." said Genma, with a proud
smile on his lips.
   Ranma chuckled: "It's not as if I want everyone to know about the curse,
dad.
It's just that sometimes, it's like Akane says: I'm a water magnet; you should
know it better than most.  As for Rei, I'll be sure to tell her; but we
won't see
each other for a long time.  We'll only see each other at the temple,
remember?"
   "Still, it's good manners to be polite, son." said Nodoka.
   "What?"  Ranma looked confused. "But... I was always told Rei was younger
than me..." he trailed uncertainly.
   Genma cut in.  "What does it matter, son?  Just be sure to keep up you
training and come to visit us one in a while, okay?"
   Ranma cast aside thoughts of his cousin.  "Yeah, sure!" he said. "We'll come
back as often as we can, I promise."
   Akane approached Ranma and put her hand on his shoulder.  "It's time to
go if
we want to catch the train, Ranma."
   Ranma nodded and soon, the two newlyweds were on their way to the train
station.

***

   Mamoru was sitting in the train, reading a magazine on the strange and
unususal.  He chuckled softly.  One of the magazine's top stories this
month was
the popular mystery of the Sailor Senshi.  As he read the article, hoever, one
passage caught his attention:

   "... another one of the mysteries concerning the Sailor Senshi is that every
planet in our solar system has a Senshi named after it, except on Earth, where,
oddly enough, the Senshi, who happens to be the leader of the group, is named
after the satellite.  Is there or has there ever been a Sailor Earth?  Only the
Senshi could answer this question, and they have never been known to stick
around for interviews."

   Mamoru closed the magazine and put it back on the tray where he had
found it.
A Sailor Earth?  The name sounded wrong somehow.  Unwittingly, he found his
thoughts drifting back to the girl in his dreams while the speakers warned
people that the next stop was Nerima station...

***

   Ranma and Akane boarded the train along with other passengers.  Moving
inside the cart, Ranma caught a magazine on a tray, as did Akane.  The found
seats across a handsome young man in his early twenties who looked
preoccupied by something.  For a moment, Ranma thought the man was staring
at him and Akane, but when he looked up from his reading, he found the man
looking away.  Ranma shrugged and went back to reading an article on a bunch of
mysterious girls calling themselves the Sailor Senshi...

   Mamoru was still zoned out when two teenagers sat in front of him. When he
looked up, he couldn't help but stare at them in puzzlement.  He didn't
understand, but the young man seemed very familiar, somehow... almost like...
   He quickly changed the focus of his gaze, when he saw the young man lifting
his head.  Luckily, the teenager didn't pursue the matter any further and went
back to his reading.  Mamoru looked out the window and started thinking about
Usagi, who had promised she would be waiting at the train station.

***

   Minako (minus Artemis) and Ami were arriving at the train station.  They
weren't really surprised to see that Usagi and Luna were already there; Usagi
had probably arrived here a long time ago, since Mamoru's train was due back
in less than fifteen minutes.  They were surprised, however, to see Hotaru.
   "Hotaru-chan!  What are you doing here?" exclaimed Minako.
   Hotaru turned towards the voice.  "Minako!  Well, I was bored sitting around
Haruka and Michiru's appartment doing nothing, so I decided to come here with
Usagi to greet Mamoru when he comes back."
   Minako nodded. "That makes quite a few of us to greet him then."
   "Where's Artemis?" inquired the purple-eyed Senshi.
   "He stayed at home," said Minako.  "He says he doesn't like places where
there
are too many people who might step on him."  Luna gave a loud sniff from where
she was standing.
   Ami looked up from yet another book she was reading.  "Say, isn't Rei's
cousin
supposed to arrive on this train as well?"
   "Cousin?" Usagi, Hotaru and Minako exclaimed in unison.  Luna wisely
refrained from saying the same thing out loud, seeing as they were in a public
place, but her face clearly showed surprise as well.
   Ami spent the next few minute explaining that Rei would be housing her
cousin and his girlfriend at the Hikawa Shrine for the next few days.
   Minako was clearly disppointed he wasn't single, while Usagi and Hotaru
wondered what Rei's cousin would be like.  Luna shot a look that promised
further questioning when they were in private.
   Hotaru spoke up: "I wonder why Rei didn't come by to welcome him?"
   "She told me she had special shrine duties today," Ami answered.  "Anyway,
she said her cousin had the address of the Shrine, so he shouldn't have any
problems finding it on his own."
   "What does he look like, anyway?" asked Minako. "We could always
accompany him to the Shrine instead of letting him go there on his own."
   Ami thought for a second.  "You know, I don't believe Rei ever told
Makoto or
myself what he looked like, although she did say she was too young to clearly
remember the last time she had seen him.  I don't think she could have given us
a decent description if she had wanted to."
   "Do you at least know his name?"
    "Err, I forgot." said Ami sheepishly.
   Usagi broke into an eager smile.  "We'll see what he looks like later!  The
train is arriving!"
   The others sighed good-naturedly.  Several things had changed in the
last few
weeks, but Usagi was still single-mindedly obssessed with her "Mamo-chan."

   The train pulled in the station and people started flowing out.  It
wasn't long
before Mamoru got out of the train.
   "Mamo-chan!" Usagi cried, running into Mamoru's arms.  "I've missed you so
much!"
   "I've missed you too, Usako."
   While Usagi was busy gushing all over Mamoru, the other girls looked at the
other passengers.  Minako was trying to spot herself a hunk and she soon found
one.  A muscular young man about her age, who was wearing loose black pants
and a red Chinese shirt.  His wild black hair was tied down in a pigtail-style
braid.  *I'm in love!* Minako told herself.
   She nudged Ami and Hotaru.  "Hey girls, look at the major hunk over there!
Isn't he gorgeous?"
   Ami looked where Minako was pointing, looked around the boy and quickly
brought her friend back to Earth.  "Look right behind him, Minako.  I think
he's
already taken."
   Minako shook herself out of her dreams and realized there was a girl holding
his hand.  A girl who bore a faint resemblance to Ami, at that.  "Awww,
it's not
fair," she pouted.
   Hotaru wasn't merely looking at them.  She was staring at them.  *Masaka!
He... she... they look so much like...* she shook herself.  *You're imagining
things, Hotaru.  Neither of them could be alive today.  They both died
before the
end of the Moon Kingdom.  Besides, the genders are all...*
   Suddenly, something beeped urgently in Ami's purse.  Startled, Ami took out
her computer compact and her eyes widened.  She grabbed Usagi's shoulder and
turned her around.
   "Usagi!  My computer's detected a... "

   "WWRRRRAAGGHHHHHHH!!!!"

   "monster nearby," she finished weakly.
   Usagi cursed under her breath.  She thought they were finished with this.
They had not had a monster attack in over a month and a half. Much to Luna and
the other girls' surprise, Usagi's grades had picked up strength during that
time.  Usagi said it was because she was no longer interrupted by constant
monster attacks.  The girls had been inclined to believe her.
   And now, the attacks were starting up again.  Damn.
   "All right," she said, her face darkening.  "Let's find a place to
transform and
thrash that thing..."
   Usagi got no further when all hell broke loose.

   End of Chapter 2.

   I can be reached at <Phoenix@upc.qc.ca>

**********************
* The Phoenix Reborn *              Jordanite and Mystical
**********************                  Freak at Large

Louis-Philippe Giroux

Phoenix@upc.qc.ca
Phoenix@cmq.qc.ca