Moon Healing (Usagi Tsukino)

Moon Healing (Usagi Tsukino)
Date of Cutscene:	24 October 2023
Location:	Tsukino-Osaka Dorm
Synopsis:	Now that the Inner Senshi have all awakened, Luna has a gift for Usagi Tsukino. Moon Stick, get!
Cast of Characters:	Usagi Tsukino

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It was morning, which was one of the only reasons Luna and Usagi were alone - on mornings, Naru did her running, as predictable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. Usually Usagi wouldn't wake until nearly noon on a weekend, determined to get in all the sleep she couldn't have during the week, but today wasn't a usual day.

Today, Luna was doing what had to be done.

"I have something for you, Usagi," she says, her girlish voice pitched a little low, an effort to sound more serious, more mature. She chose each word deliberately, hoping to convey the weight of the moment to her charge.

"A present? For me!" The weight of the moment slid off Usagi's back like water from a duck. She smiled, bright and cheerful, and faltered only after a moment had passed, squinting suspiciously. "This isn't going to be like when you gave me the broach is it?"

That had not been a very great present, Luna!

"You loved the broach," Luna squawked, utterly ruining her efforts to sound mature and wise and all of that. "You put it on right away!"

"Yeah, and you didn't tell me it was a magical transformation item until after I did that!"

"Well, it's not like putting it on made you a Senshi!"

"But it literally did though!"

"No, being a Senshi was already your destiny -"

"Yeah, because I said the words you told me too about the broach-"

"Can we put that aside for the moment." This argument could go on forever, after all, and Luna wants this to be a good moment, rather than an argument. Without waiting for a response from Usagi, she dips her head, and the crescent moon on her forehead glows. Usagi does fall silent then, her blue eyes fixed on that mark.

Luna wonders if she remembers it at all. If she knows what it means, that Luna bears the mark of Silver Millennium, as Usagi herself does as Sailor Moon - on her broach, on her communicator, and now, the Moon Stick. She doubts it. How could Usagi know, when she seemed to remember the least of any of them? It was a bitter shame - given how she was cloaked with the symbols of the Moon, bearing even the title, it couldn't be clearer that Sailor Moon had been the closest of all soldiers to their princess.

Her closest companion. Her greatest ally.

Of course she would have this.

An object appeared between them, cloaked in light at first, and then, as it fell to the couch cushions, very solid. It was a weapon - a cute one, all hot pink and gold, but a weapon nonetheless, as the gleaming edge of the large crescent moon at the stick's crown attested. And in the space, between the grip of the stick's shaft and crescent moon which crowned it, there was the symbol of the moon, as it was crafted on Usagi's communicator, her broach.

Proclaiming her, for the world to see, as the Soldier of the Moon. She who bore the Moon's power most freely.

Oh, how Queen Serenity must have loved her.

"What... is it?" Usagi asks, voice hushed. She's looking at it with undeniable interest, and caution.

"A symbol of your leadership," Luna answers, and dips her head to nose it closer to Usagi, trying to tempt her to take it. "The Moon Stick. Once wielded by Queen Serenity herself, it belongs in your hands now, Usagi. You are the leader of the Senshi. Not just the Inner Senshi - despite this rift between you and the Outer Senshi, you are the one who bears the Moon's power. Our queen must have trusted you, above all others, to complete our mission."

Their mission. Twofold, equally important. The Phantom Silver Crystal. The Princess of the Moon.

Usagi takes the Moon Stick. Of course she does. Luna was sure she would.

"Why... am I the leader? Just because I'm Sailor Moon, and not, Sailor Something-Else? Just because of the Queen?" Her voice is hesitant, soft. Her head lowered, her eyes fixed on the Moon Stick.

"Because you've got heart, Usagi. Heart, and power, and the willingness to get back up, no matter how scared you are. Despite everything, you always get back up. You take charge. You make decisions, and you own them. And you're... good at making friends."

All very important qualities, in a leader. Luna presses her nose to Usagi's wrist, eyes shutting for a moment.

"You're kind, Usagi. That's what will help you find our princess. And that's why you need the Moon Stick. With it, you'll be able to do more than destroy our enemies - you can heal them, too. It took me a while, to summon it - it was Queen Serenity's, not mine, and she - she held it, last I saw, as she saved us," Luna's voice breaks, there. She falls silent, for a while, throat tight, jaw clenched against the shaking, and Usagi strokes her head, her back, until she can speak again. "I felt it come to me, when Sailor Jupiter woke. When you found her, as you found all the others."

It's a moment before Usagi asks the obvious question. "When you say heal -"

"Not their physical wounds, but their spiritual ones. Their soul selves. Those parts of them tainted by Dark Energy or twisted by an enemy, you can help restore. Those enemies too tainted to withstand it will fall, but those with something left intact inside them... they'll be alright."

It was a weapon both kind and cruel - to cleanse the enemy and make them live with what they'd done, what they'd been.

"All you need to do is perform Moon Healing Escalation."