************************************************ 
--September 13, 2000 (mid morning)--

   Usagi Tuskino was making a final adjustment to her wedding veil when
her mother came in the dressing room. The chapel was packed, security
was tight, and no more youma had attacked since the EDF had toasted
those youmas....<what was their name?> Usagi thought.  <Oh yes, the
Spice Youmas> She shuddered.  

   Her mother adjusted Usagi's veil. "My first child, my daughter is
finally getting married. I can hardly stand it."

   "Mom.  Stop embarrassing me!  I'm nervous enough as it is." Usagi 
said.

   "Sorry dear, it's just that I'm so proud of you....."

   A new voice interrupted.  "As am I."

   The Silver Crystal in Usagi's broach started glowing, and a woman
appeared near mother and daughter.  A woman who looked like Usagi, only
her hair was silver.....

   "Mother..." Usagi gasped.

   The spirit of Queen Serenity, the ruler of the long ago Moon 
Kingdom, nodded to Mrs. Tuskino, then went over to Usagi and fixed her 
dress a little. "My daughter, I am so very proud of you.  Standing up 
to your foes with courage, and now *finally* marrying Prince Endymion. 
 I can only stay a while, but I will be watching from where I am now, 
and I wish you the best in your future."

   Usagi looked up at her past mother with tears in her eyes.  "In the 
name of the moon...I will not let you down...Mother."  And with that, 
Usagi hugged her, crying all the while.

   Queen Serenity looked up at Mrs. Tuskino with an unspoken plea in 
her eyes: Watch over her.  Mrs. Tuskino nodded in reply. <I will>.

   With that, Serenity let go of Usagi, and disappeared into the mists. 
Usagi turned around and hugged her mother.  

   Naru peeked in the doorway. "Usagi? Showtime."

   Usagi picked up her bouquet. "Let's rock." 

*************************************************

   The wedding itself was anticlimactic, considering all that had 
happened before. Chibi-Usa (who had come specifically to play a part in 
the wedding, Hotaru had been pretty estastic about that.) came down the 
aisle as flowergirl.  

   The Moon Cats came next, trotting down the aisle with all the grace 
they could muster.  

   Then the Inner Senshi (with whatever dates they had managed to get) 
came down the aisle.  

   Naru came next, with Umino on her arm.  

   The Crystal Knights then came out and formed two columns and drew 
swords. (Think military honor guard-which makes sense, since Usagi is 
the future queen). 

   Then Usagi herself came down the aisle, escorted by her father.

   The ceremony itself went with no problem. When the minister came to 
the part where anyone who had a problem with the wedding should speak 
up, everyone tensed up and looked towards the back. Nothing happened.  
When Usagi and Mamoru kissed, the cheer that resulted nearly blew the 
roof off the chapel.

   Later, at the wedding party, the Crystal Knights were raising a 
toast.  

   "To Usagi and Mamoru!  May they live happily together for a long 
time!" Major Carter exclaimed. The rest of the partiers cheered and 
echoed their sentiments.

   Major Carter sat down with the rest of the wedding party and pointed
over to Tenchi and his group.  "That's the mystery person?" she asked.

   "Yeah," Natsume said, "it's funny.  She looks so familiar..."

   "There's a reason for that." Wasshu said as she popped up among the
group.

   "YIII!!!  Wasshu!! Don't do that!" Carter exclaimed. Wasshu laughed.

   "Sorry about that, Major.  To answer your question, there is a 
reason she looks so familiar....but I'm not supposed to tell you."

   "What?" Carter said.  "Why not?"

   "It's not my place or time to tell." Wasshu said. "Suffice to say, 
she is related to Sasami...and in a way, she's related to the three
goddesses."

   Wasshu then changed the subject.  "So, where are you guys going 
now?"

   Carter raised an eyebrow at the feint, but then shrugged.  "Well, 
the wedding party and their families and us will be heading up to 
Liberty Station for another party, then Usagi and Mamoru will be 
heading off to their honeymoon."  

   "Huh?  What kind of party?" Wasshu asked.

   "Both a remembrance and a look at future things to come." Carter
replied cryptically.  At Wasshu's confused look, she laughed.
"According to Pluto, both the fall of the Silver Millennium and the
rise of Crystal Tokyo fall on the same date , today."

   "Oh." was all Wasshu could say.

   The first dance then started up, with a song both Usagi and Mamoru 
had picked for the occasion.

   "Deep in my soul..." 
   "a love so strong..." 
   "we can't control..."

    Martins came up to Carter.  "You want to dance?"

    Carter promptly spit out her drink.  "WHAT???"

     "Well..." Martins said, "we look kinda silly, just standing by 
ourselves while everyone is on the dance floor."  She pointed out 
towards the dance floor, where all the couples had gathered.

     "Well....okay."  Carter said, and headed out ot the dance floor 
with Martins.  On the way, she heard Keiichi ask Belldandy to marry 
him.  <About damn time> she thought with a smile.

    Then the two of them started dancing.  And unknown to them, they 
had the same thought in the same instant.  <Funny...this feels natural 
to be dancing like this....>

    Back at the Crystal Knights table...

    "I say two weeks."

    "You're crazy.  Two months."

    "Two months???  Now who's talking crazy?  Put me down for a week."  

*************************************************
   --Aboard the ESS Silver Moon, enroute to Liberty Station-

   Aboard the Silver Moon, the Crystal Knights primary spacecraft, the
Senshi were excited about the wedding, the fact that nearly everything
had gone right (well....with one or two exceptions), and were also 
looking ahead to the little party soon to be held onboard Liberty 
Station.  

   The parents were looking around, awestruck at the little world their
daughters had managed to get themselves into.  

   Chibi-Usa had left soon as the reception ended.  

   Usagi and Mamoru were simply content to lay back and relax in each 
others arms.  Then Usagi noticed that not all of the Senshi were 
relaxed.

   Getting up, she went over to where Makoto was sitting, gripping the
seat for dear life.  Makoto noticed Usagi's worried expression. "Don't
worry, Usagi, I'll be fine once we reach orbit."

   "I'm sorry, Mako-chan.  If I had remembered about your phobia, we 
could have done a Sailor Teleport and reached the station..."

   Makoto raised a hand.  "Relax, Usagi, you were just spaced out from 
the wedding.  Believe me, no one blames you for that.  I'll be fine 
once we reach orbit.  Really."

   "All right." Usagi said, a little dubious at Makoto's brushing off
about her situation, but went back to her seat.

   Liberty Station, orbital headquarters of the Earth Defense Forces, 
hung in orbit, awaiting the Silver Moon's arrival.

*************************************************
   --Liberty Station, Docking Bay 9-

   The Silver Moon came to rest in the center of the docking bay.  The
hatch opened, and the Senshi, their families, and the Knights descended
to the deck, where Star Admiral Romney and one other person were
waiting for them.

   Carter went over to the Admiral and saluted.  "Permission to come
aboard?"

   Romney returned the salute.  "Permission granted, Major. Welcome
aboard, and congratulations on finally getting married, Princess."

   Usagi turned to the Admiral and smiled. "Thanks, Admiral!" She then
noticed the lavender haired person standing next to the Admiral.
"Ma'am, who is this?" she asked.

   Romney smiled.  "Everyone, this is Katherine, my adopted daughter."

   Katherine smiled and nodded to the group. "Hi everyone. You can call
me Catty, by the way."

   Then the alarms sounded.  "What's wrong?" Romney called into her
comlink.

   "We're registering a large explosion at the South Pole, Admiral." A
voice from the station's Command Center replied.  "Also, we've lost
contact with the Fleet and Serenity Base on the moon, and we're
registering a temporal field building around the station!"

   "What!?!?!" Romney shouted. "Declare Red Alert, now!"

   "Pluto Eternal Power, Make Up!"

   All in the group turned to see Sailor Pluto standing there, with the
Time Staff in her hands and a glow surrounding her.  "The Second Impact
has occurred.  The Wheel of Fate is in motion.  Please forgive me for
what I must do, for the future of the universe depends on what I now
do."

   With that, the temporal generators concealed on the station 
activated, and Liberty Station disappeared in a burst of temporal 
energy...just as a huge pair of wings erupted from the South Pole.

   From the Tsunami, heading to Jurai, Tenchi and his friends could 
only stare at the scene before them.

   "My God..." was all Tenchi could say, before Tsunami warped 
intohyperspace to escape the Earth before the gravitational currents 
set loose by the devastation could destroy the ship.

   From Heaven, Belldandy, Skuld, Urd, and Keiichi could only stare at 
the Earth.  Belldandy looked at Keiichi, who just a few hours before, 
at the reception had proposed to her.  She had accepted.

   Now she looked at Keiichi with a look that nearly no one had seen 
onher face before: a look of dispair.

   "It has begun." she said.

************************************************* 
End of The Wedding
************************************************* 
Next time: 
In the future:
    A young woman, born of heroes, reflects on the past as the future 
looms before her, for the actions of the past, can shape the future.

In the past:
      Relections of life on Earth are interrupted on Jurai as an 
emergency happens.  What is wrong, and why did this happen?  The 
mystery of Earth unfolds as our story opens.

    The Circle Opens.  The next story in the Destiny's Path series!  
Watch for it! 
*************************************************
  ...the world will never be the same...
*************************************************

   Ending music: "Silent All These Years" by Tori Amos
(I was on a deadline and didn't want to spend the time typing 
it in, okay?)   

    Author's Notes:

   Jeez!! I really don't have any short projects, don't I?

   I hope everyone was satisfied by the Eva scene.  I really did not 
like the way that particular episode turned out, and after mulling it 
over, came up with this.  Pretty nice, eh?  Plus, it gave Mercury a 
chance to have a little revenge.  Also note that besides this, nothing 
else is changed in the scene.  That means the rest of the series right 
up to the beginning of End of Evangelion happen with no changes. <Sigh>

   I managed to put a lot of character introspection and mystery into 
this one, so much that I really did not have room for the actual 
wedding. Sorry about that.  

   If anyone wants to write an expanded version of the Ryoko/Urd/Wasshu
matchmaking scene, by all means, be my guest. Just E-mail me first,
okay?

   Yes, I do have a bias towards the Inner Senshi and Saturn, thank you
for noticing that.  :-)

   I assume everyone has figured out who Romney's "adopted daughter" is 
by now?

   The armband that Major Carter wears-which helps her to control and
amplify her energy attacks (like her psi sword)-was given to her in the
future Crystal Tokyo when she and Natsume journeyed there with the
Senshi.  Her personal Excalibur mecha was given to her there as well.

   The song in the reception should be familiar to Sailor Moon fans, 
it's the famous, "My Only Love" from the NA dub.  (Heh, guess DiC did 
get something right!)

    Before I forget, thank yous go out to the following people:
     TekkaKnight Warhammer: for all the MSTings.
     Chris Angel: the same.
     Merideth Wurzbach and Alissa Braggins: for prodding me to continue 
this.  :-)     
     Heather Malobisky: the same, plus her suggestion for the 
ending song.
       
     Domo arigato, everyone! 

   <Looks over notes> I guess that's it.  The prologues are finally 
over!! Next time <huge speaker stack appears behind him> 

   THE REAL GAME BEGINS.

   All series (book, musical, or anime) are copyrighted by their 
creators and respective companies.  I only borrowed them to write this 
story. Please don't sue me, for I'm just a poor college student. 

<really the end>




Brian Yaple
Knight Productions
IRC nickname: starheart
BYapes@erie.net
Yaple001@mail1.gannon.edu
BYapes@aol.com
Web Page: coming soon, I promise!
MoonieCode (0.8.1) 
SM:5+[m-] F:SInSa O:d S+?o P:a22 S|+:eBrDg:hBrD:y--:r+|+
__________________________________________________________
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Mekton Zeta-Babylon 5-Macross-Grapejam-The Spot-BGCrisis-
Evangelion-E.R.-Buffy-Ranma 1/2-Sailor Moon-Tenchi Muyo!
__________________________________________________________
"No box is big enough to contain our imaginations."
Tara Hartwick (RIP)-The Spot (www.thespot.com)-June 6th, 1995

"In the name of the Moon, I will punish you!": Sailor Moon