The Crystal Viewing room was a chaotic mix of squabbling senshi, waving weapons at each other as they argued about the reasons for their summoning. Artemis, the fussy little palace manservant, was hurrying from one to the next and clucking his tongue over the rents in their uniforms. The reality of the war had never sunk in for him, Luna thought.

The cook adjusted her small, precious burden. Luna was carrying the youngest of the noble soldiers, little Esme, for fear that the toddler might otherwise be trampled in the general mayhem. Esme's blond curls needed trimming, the nursemaid thought absently. There had been little time to pay attention to her in the past weeks. But she was a well-behaved child and was content to snuggle into Luna's bosom with only faint whimpers at all she heard around her.

Looking around, the only other calm face that Luna could find was that of Melusine, senshi of Neptune, and that calm was questionable, for she bore the body of her slain lover over her shoulder. The news of Aura's death on the battlefield had caused less consternation for the senshi than the Queen's command to assemble. We are all too used to death, Luna thought.

A sudden commotion at the door marked the arrival of Arete, cradling Chantrea's limp form in her arms. Luna passed Esme to Artemis and hurried over to tend her former charge. "What happened?"

The dark-haired warrior's face, through the tears, was grim. "She refused to come." Arete looked down at her unconscious princess. "I didn't want to waste the time arguing with her."

The hubbub quieted.

The Queen of the Moon had appeared, in glowing projection, hovering in the center of the room, and all eyes were on her.

"Loyal subjects and servants," she spoke, "we have lost."

"NO!" cried the senshi, and "Never surrender!" "Death first!"

The Queen cut them off with a gesture. "We are not surrendering." The Moon Crystal, a shimmering sphere of light, came into view before her. "In order to preserve what remains of our civilisation, I will use the power of the crystal to send you forward in time and space, where you will be safe, and someday, perhaps, able to reclaim what we have lost."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then:

"So we're just giving up?" It was Leta. Before the war, the dark, curly-haired senshi had devoted her time to tending the palace gardens. Now that the flowers were dead, she had become a fierce warrior, alongside of whom even her allies were nervous. The lightning bolts she wielded cut large paths through the enemy, or anyone else who happened to be standing in the way. She pointed towards Esme, the little girl held in Artemis' pudgy hands. "What about her? What about hope, and a future led by love, with no more need for fighting? What about the destiny we were promised?"

"With this second chance, I hope that you can find that future," said the Queen.

"What about those who have already died?" This voice was Melusine's.

"All of the senshi, even those who have fallen in this conflict, will be included in the crystal's spell. They will be reborn, as will you."

"Reborn?" asked Arete. "Will we remember who we were?"

"I do not know."

A low, rumbling noise shook the base of the palace, unleashing another hail of crystal dust. Even as that first sound faded, the walls of the structure could be heard groaning.

"There is no more time," said the Queen, and reaching out, she took hold of the silver crystal.

The world exploded.

Shaye Louise Badrian wandered alone through the apartment she shared with her girlfriend. Terry was working in the computer lab on a robotics project, and had said she might not be in until five in the morning or later. It didn't seem right for the place to be so quiet in the evening. The absence of her partner continually distracted her, whether she was attempting to write in her diary, whip up another batch of chocolate chip cookies, or just relax in front of the television.

Stop pacing, she scolded herself. You're eighteen years old, you can handle being alone at night.

Eighteen, and until a few short months ago, an innocent and obedient daughter of the Church of the New Dawn, filling the place dictated to her by God, tradition, and her father. Until she met Terry, and her life turned upside down.

Shaye paused in the bathroom to brush her long blond hair and remove the chipping polish from her nails. Her former, sheltered life - where she would never have been either left unguarded or allowed to adorn herself with something as frivolous as lavender frost nail polish - seemed distant and dismal. But not everything had changed. Her belief in God and her sense of purpose still guided her, even if she wasn't always entirely certain what that purpose was.

It would be made clear to her in good time, she was certain of that.

Tired but restless, she decided to read for a while before bed. Shaye switched off the television cartoons and headed for her room. She paused for a moment to open the door and stand on the balcony in the cool night air, gazing out at the last-quarter moon. "Moon prism power," she murmured to herself with a smile.

Miles away, two sets of eyes came open at once, as lovers disentangled from each other. One was tall and thin, with short-cropped, light-blond hair, the other was Asian, with soft blue-black waves of hair, the color of night waters. Their heads turned to the large window, through which they could see the moon and stars and all the celestial wonders.

And both near and far, other eyes widened at the sense of something changing. And somewhere, on an elaborately bejeweled representation of the solar system, one more gem took on its own internal light.