Jeanne Hedge wrote:
Before this becomes spam and the admins ban the subject...
Too late, except in the form of fics.
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"No way. I'm dreaming."
Serenity shook her head. "This is no dream, Usagi. Pluto has deemed
it not only safe, but necessary for me to answer one question from who
I was one thousand years ago. But even if my own history is one in
which I asked it, I am afraid the years have stolen the exact question
you are about to ask from my memory."
"Ok..." Usagi frowned in concentration. "Just one question, right?"
"Right."
"Well, I already know Mamo-chan and I are together in your time, so I
don't have to ask that. Or, if he's an impostor or just friends, I
probably don't want to know."
"Indeed." Serenity blushed. "It is probably...better if you learn
the finer details of that first hand."
Usagi cocked an eyebrow. "Now I *know* I don't want to know.
Umm...ok, if, as I hear, you do rule the entire Earth in your time, how
did you do it? World conquerors are evil villains, from what I've
heard, and if I'm going to turn into one, I want to make sure my
friends can pull me back from the brink in the nick of time."
"A wise precaution. Fortunately, your friends will not need more
assistance than you give them anyway. And it is not hunger for
domination like I now have that gives you your darkest moment...but I
know that was a surprise to me, so it should be to you too. As for how
you conquered...ah."
"'Ah'?"
Her future self smiled. "So *that* was how I learned the nature of
Beryl's power. Our former enemy first learned this in the name of the
goodness we stand for; it was only her own jealousy that turned the
power to dark ends."
"I have to make like *BERYL*?!?"
"Power is but a tool. Only its wielder determines its nature of good
or evil, though some applications do lend themselves more readily
towards one or the other. Anyway, hers was the power to wield
emotions, and in fact that is a power you have already practiced
extensively. A single kind heart, or a single mean spirit, is
perceived as helpful or harmful even though its only effect is through
its host. The energy of a single heart by itself is almost
imperceptible, except in rare cases."
"I'm hearing a 'but' here."
"*But*...collect them, magnify them, and you have a different story.
Tell me, have you ever been in a protest mob, or a panicked crowd, or
any other large group of emotionally charged people?"
"Sure. I went to a rock concert just last week with the others. I
could almost feel the energy in the audience."
"That's less of a metaphor than you think. If you're talking about the
concerts I remember, Beryl could have fed armies of her creations on
just that audience's energy. It is the ultimate weapon of war."
"You're kidding. War is all about bullets and bombs and killing
people."
"Wrong. War is war, destruction is destruction, but war is not
destruction. War is about forcing the hearts of your targets to
change. You've been told that it is through destruction, but directly
manipulating the hearts works better. Many dictators of your time do
so through fear. But those are only the most obvious ones; there are
also those who whip greed, pity, or even the most honest of sympathy
into a force so overwhelming that it brings physical pain to those who
are in any way near it. I am ultimately little different, except that
love fuels my power."
"So, you mean..."
"Yes. Crystal Tokyo is, as they say, a passionfruit republic."
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If anyone thinks I'm poking fun at Ben, you've utterly missed the point
of the fic.