--- Jason Liao <jxl93@eecs.cwru.edu> wrote:
[re: FFML reincarnation]

Meh.  I was kind of hoping to delurk with a half-decent fic, not a
response...

...

...

. . . are you *trying* to prod my imagination here?  ^_^;;

---

Minako the Unstoppable Conqueror.

No, *Sailor Venus* the Unstoppable Conqueror.  Minako the Girl Who
Never Could Keep A Guy, Who Still Ditzed Out Way Too Often, Who Never
Really Got To Have A Normal Life, and Who Was Utterly Terrified Of What
She Had Become.

Yes, that was more like it.  It was Sailor Venus who had lead the
conquest of China and Korea.  Who plotted the complete and total
destruction of Islamic culture.  Who infiltrated, subverted, and
absorbed Western civilization.  Who mopped up southeast Asia, central
Africa, and all those other places in the world where strong people had
never truly experienced - and thus could not begin to defend against -
the concept of a people ruled by the positive side of their hearts.
Who, in the end, managed to take over the world on Serenity's behalf
(with assistance from Mercury's scientific revolutions, Jupiter's
martial prowess, and especially Mars's spirituality) while shedding as
little blood as possible.

Oh, there were still those who debated "Japanese" and "American" and
"French" and "Arabian" culture - but, frankly, the differences between
them paled to insiginificance when compared to those of a mere century
ago.  Sailor Pluto said Crystal Tokyo - the future one she had
travelled to, in the seemingly endless adventures of her first few
years as a magical girl - was still nine hundred years away.

Hers had been a lifetime of cultural manipulation.  An idol, an
actress, an author, a composer, a producer - the only major creative
role she had not yet personally fulfilled was that of technician, and
she had more than enough assistance there.  She often wondered whether
the broad creative swath she had forged, had been assisted by her magic
in ways she did not comprehend.  It helped that even as a centinarian
she still looked only 25, and had youthful vigor to match; only her
mind had aged, and even there, she felt young despite her ever
accumulating wisdom.

She had experienced age, once, temporarily as a result of some youma's
attack.  She knew what it was to be old and tired.  She clung to that
memory, a precious shard of death that was forbidden to her in the
"natural" course of things.  Even when it drove her to the point of
attempted suicide - only to wake up with her skin smooth and unscarred.
Sometimes Serenity - never Usagi, not any more - or one of her other
friends would standing over her in a panic or in a rage, but often
enough she woke up alone.  Often enough to be certain it was her own
body and her own magic, not her friends, that damned her to life.

She had indulged that side of her soul from time to time, ever since
she noticed it starting to grow as she reflected on her apparent
immortality.  A certain section of society always seemed to be
doom-and-gloom; this let her connect to their hearts.  As she connected
to all hearts, to bring them around and under Serenity's rule.

Sailor Venus was a nearly full time job.  At first staying transformed
for long periods was a convenience.  Then it was convenient to stay
transformed while she slept every now and then.  Then it was most of
the time.  Then she started wondering when she'd given up being Minako.
Then she knew - and to this day, it made her sick, deep inside where
she was pretty certain even Serenity had not yet peered.

Maybe not sick.  Heartbroken.  Yes, that was the word for it.
Heartbroken...and homesick, where "home" was the past she could no
longer visit.  She wondered, for a bit, if this was how those she had
personally enchanted ever felt - the assistant storywriters, the
second-act musicians, and the other content creators, all following in
her glamour to weave a single story in the hearts of everyone.  A
single story, a single culture, a single religion - if worship of
Serenity counted as such - for all to experience and share and live in
peace.

All hail Sailor Venus, Conqueror of the World.

Time for a break.  Minako leapt from a fourth story window headfirst
towards a private, shrubbery-hidden piece of pavement, where she knew
from experience that no one would accidentally stumble across her
knitting body.  If she couldn't find permanent peace with herself, at
least death could be a temporary substit-

---

In a throne room about half a kilometer from Sailor Venus's residence,
Serenity massaged her temples.

Mars sighed.  "Venus again?"

Serenity nodded.

"That's, what, the fourth time this month?  I've heard about being into
your work so much it kills you, but this is ridiculous."

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