Before I begin... I'd just like to say that next to everything I know about
Sailor Moon comes from the translations DiC did. And that complete lack of a
TV, a VCR, money, and transportation prohibits me from seeing any of the
originals. Thus, the names are the Westernized versions. Apologies to the
purists out there.

Sailor Moon came from the mind of Takeuchi Naoko. (If one can believe the
Dread Space Pirate Bailesu.) "Sweet Baby James" was originally written and
performed by James Taylor. I rather doubt that anyone has fused them quite
like this, though. The time? That should be clear enough. If not... let's
just say that those who were thought dead are alive again.

[] denotes the actual song lyrics. Note that the resemblance of events to
lyrics is not as it may appear...

****

[There is a young cowboy who lives on the range]

We open with a slow zoom, down onto a mostly featureless prairie, with a
small cliff at one end... and a lone cowboy, mounted, watching the herd as
they lay down to sleep...

[His horse and his cattle are his only companions]

The camera slowly pans around him... until we see that he bears a striking
resemblance to Darien. He stares straight ahead, with a mostly glassy
expression... which abruptly lifts. In a quick flash, the horse is replaced
by a motorcycle, the cows by people, all unconscious, the prairie by one of
the many streets of Tokyo... and the chaps and hat by a black tuxedo and top
hat. Just as abruptly, the scene reverts back to the prairie, and the
glassy-eyed expression returns.

[He works in the saddle and he sleeps in the canyons]

The horse turns and trots toward a small crack in the cliff. The cowboy
dismounts, and begins striking camp, taking a bedroll off the horse,
spreading it out, and igniting an already charred pile of logs.

[Just waiting for summer, his pastures to change]

He stretches out, and the scene flashes again. This time, he's standing in a
shrine of some sort, wearing a black turtleneck and jeans, and there is a
railing around the fire. Five girls are clustered around it, one of gazing
intently into its depths... but the scene flashes back to the inside of the
canyon before he can make out much more than vague blurs.

[And as the moon rises, he sits by the fire]

Abruptly, it is nighttime, and the cowboy is staring up at the stars and the
full moon, the fire casting flickering shadows on the canyon walls.

[Just thinking about women and glasses of beer]

Suddenly, a girl's face appears in the moon... Serena, in full regalia. She
looks at the cowboy with concern on her face... his clothes change back to
the tuxedo, and the shadows on the canyon walls start shifting toward
monstrous forms. The cowboy blinks, shakes his head... and everything
returns to "normal" again.

[He closes his eyes as the dogies retire]

He looks around at the canyon walls, then up at the sky, with the vacant
expression beginning to fade away. His head drops, slowly, and he turns to
go to sleep.

[And he sings out a song that is soft... but it's clear...]

He settles into his bedroll...

[Just as if, maybe, someone could hear...]

And the scene abruptly shifts, again. He is looking over a ledge, at a
tremendous battle... and he's wearing the tuxedo again.

[He sings...

Goodnight, all you moonlight ladies]

The Sailor Scouts are fighting some sort of youma, crafted entirely of silk
ribbon. It sends streamers in all directions, pinning the scouts' arms to
their sides... and electricity begins sparking along some of the ribbons. It
laughs maniacally.

[And rockabye, sweet baby James...]

The tuxedo-clad man leaps from his post on the roof... and, five
razor-tipped roses later, the Scouts are free, if slightly dazed, and the
youma is reeling from the sudden release in tension.

[Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose]

A double helix of lightning and ice bubbles slams into the youma, courtesy
of Sailors Jupiter and Mercury, and Sailor Moon draws her crescent wand.

[Won't you let me go down in my dreams...]

The Imperium Silver crystal begins drawing in energy, and starts pulsing
brighter and brighter... and an iridescent cone of energy shoots from the
wand, tearing the youma apart... and also fraying the world, revealing a
blinding whiteness beyond...

[Oh, rockabye, sweet baby James]

There is a sudden flash, and the cowboy sits up in his bedroll and looks
around curiously. The glassy-eyed expression is back on his face as he
shrugs and settles back to sleep...

And the world fades to white...

[The first of December was covered with snow]

We see a massive structure, covered in thorns and engulfed in coruscating
black fire, in the middle of a blinding snowstorm, and the Scouts are slowly
but surely making their way toward it.

[And so was the turnpike from Stockbridge to Boston]

One by one, they flicker and fade into transparency, so that only Sailor
Moon reaches the castle door.

[The Berkshires seemed dream-like on account of that frosting]

The scene flashes, and we see the tuxedo-clad man, charging Sailor Moon with
a glassy-eyed expression behind his mask. He strikes her again and again and
she can't bear to retaliate...

[Ten miles behind me, ten thousand more to go...]

Another flash, and her tiara slams into the man... who collapses. The world
begins dissolving, leaving only the man behind, surrounded by total
blackness...

[There's a song that they sing when they take to the highway,]

He slowly recovers, and looks around, only there is nothing to see...

[A song that they sing when they take to the sea.]

The blackness slowly begins to lift...

[A song that they sing of their home in the sky...]

And the man finds himself in a long, crystalline corridor, stretching to and
from infinity. As he looks around in awe, the Scouts fade in a few meters
ahead of him, lead by Serena in her full regalia...

[Maybe you can believe it, if it helps you to sleep...]

The man begins walking toward the Scouts, then running, then sprinting, then
nearly flying... but they always seem to be the same distance in front of
him, although they're not moving. After a few minutes, he collapses,
exhausted...

[But singing works fine for me...]

And the crystal walls behind him shatter and fall away, revealing a swirling
mass of chaos and a completely black vortex, which is drawing him in...

[So, goodnight all you moonlight ladies,]

The expression on the Scouts' collective faces changes from excitement to
utter horror... and the man is too tired to struggle against the pull. He
begins to slide across the crystal floor, picking up speed...

[And rockabye, sweet baby James...]

Serena suddenly erupts in light, sending a pure white beam to envelop the
man... and his tuxedo is eaten away by the light, revealing a gleaming suit
of plate armor underneath... one suitable for a prince. The beam is slowing
his progress toward the vortex, but he's still moving...

[Deep greens and blues are the colors I choose,]

The other Scouts also begin glowing, sending forth a rainbow of colors to
intertwine with Serena's beam. The man's slide toward oblivion slows... and
stops... and he is now being pulled toward the crystal portion of the
corridor.

[Won't you let me go down in my dreams...]

As he nears the Scouts, Serena kneels and extends her hand to him. He takes
it in a gauntlet-clad hand... and the shot fades to black.

[Oh...]

We hear a flatlined heart monitor for a few seconds... then the beeping
abruptly picks up again.

[Rockabye, sweet baby James.]

Fade in on a shot of the man in a hospital bed, bandages covering most of
his body. The doctors around the bed look relieved, and slowly file out of
the room. As the last one out closes the door... the one eye which is not
bandaged flutters open.

Fade to black.

****

Comments and criticism are welcome. Flames will be taunted mercilessly.

--Glazius