Drops of Starlight

Chapter 51: Begin Again

💫 Drops of Starlight 💫
By Strawberry Moon Rose
🍓🌙🌹

(Author notes are at the end this time to avoid spoilers.)

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Chapter 51: Begin Again
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It was over.

Relaxing her defensive stance, Fighter lowered her arms. What just happened? Apart from Sailor Moon cleansing Xenon? Fighter looked down at herself in astonishment. Ever since she'd become a sailor guardian, her uniform had never changed. Until now.

Her leather gloves and thigh high boots remained familiar, as did her shorts. The differences began at her waist. The once exposed midriff now lay concealed in the same blue-black material extending up to her sleeveless shoulders. A pale yellow sailor collar with three white stripes fluttered atop her shoulders.

At her chest, her star brooch twinkled with an added embellishment - a crescent moon. And though Fighter could not see it herself, it matched the moons swaying below her golden star earrings.

The most noticeable alteration was the navy blue suspenders that wrapped around her shoulders to her shorts, flaring out into a mid-thigh skirt in the back.

Fighter noticed Maker and Healer's uniforms had changed too, with their own unique accents. Maker's suspender skirt was colored magenta purple and Healer's lime green. Fighter took in their transformed tiaras that not-so-subtly resembled the Earth guardians, and could only assume hers had changed too.

The lead Sailor Starlight sensed everyone looking at them. When Fighter glanced up, she realized Sailor Moon was also the focus of everyone's attention. Her breath hitched in her throat. It was no wonder why.

Sailor Moon captured the center of the cavern, positively glowing. Her uniform had enhanced, adorned with a more feminine, regal flourish. The ombre hues of her skirt blended from a soft amber to a peachy orange, layered over a rosy mauve. These colors echoed in the trio of stripes on her collar, complementing the pink bow securing her upgraded transformation brooch at her chest.

Sailor Moon took a step forward in her unchanged, white boots. Her angel wings fluttered behind her, trailed by two tendrils of lacy transparent ribbon flowing from the bow at her lower back. The same material fashioned short sleeves at her shoulders.

A small tiara rested atop her bangs; an exquisite heart-shaped gem lined by iridescent pearls. The tiny diamonds of the sea replaced her choker in the form of a small pearl necklace featuring a golden star and moon intertwined charm.

"Princess Sailor Moon," Neptune murmured.

"Princess?" Venus asked, swinging her focus between Sailor Moon and the Starlights. She couldn't keep her eyes off of Healer's new uniform.

A smile tugged up on the corner of Uranus's mouth. "That's right, Neptune... I remember now, Pluto mentioning it once - a form beyond the Eternal state. A possibility deemed unlikely before Neo Queen Serenity."

"It seems certainly likely now," Luna said, pawing her way forward.

Princess Sailor Moon stared at the tier in her hands - the very one crafted with Fighter in the Cosmic Valley, with its lustrous pearls and golden star and moon centerpiece. It finally matched. And not simply because she had an upgrade on the outside, but on the inside too.

"Fighter-" Sailor Moon whirled around. Four blue eyes met. For a moment, they just looked at one another, absorbing the changes. Never in her life had Sailor Moon felt so speechless, because all of a sudden she could feel the Starlight's presence in a way she never had before - identical to the bond with her own guardians. And by the look in Fighter's eyes, she sensed the connection too. Did that mean...?