Hiya! So, this idea came to me while I was sleeping in this morning. ;) It's similar to this other idea I had (though also different) that I've been having 'issues' with getting it started. But, I suppose this'll do until I can figure that other one out. It's gonna be at least twenty chapters long, while this one won't be that long. Probably. I have no freaking clue!

Yay! First thing posted since moving house!

Disclaimer that I don't own the Sailor Moon universe goes here…

Raw Time

Chapter One

The call came in mid morning, about a criminal who'd fled towards the earth with a Time Crystal.

"The perpetrator stole it directly from the mines of Charon," the image of Queen Selenity spoke as King Adrastos of Earth listened. "We believe he intends to hide out on the earth until he can utilise the crystal."

The king frowned. "There aren't many places he could hide here," he stated. "Our connection to the earth would have us locating him swiftly and efficiently. Are you certain that he doesn't already know how to use it? After all, why steal something as powerful as a raw time crystal, if you don't know what do to with it?"

Queen Selenity sighed. "That is a good point," she conceded. "Though if it is true, then it means that he's been planning this for who knows how long? The profile of him that we received from both Pluto and Jupiter has him listed as a miner, which is how he was able to steal the crystal in the first place. He has the typical personality of the Jovian working class, with an uneventful past that doesn't explain this behaviour."

"Nevertheless, we will be waiting for him," King Adrastos said. "We will contact you once we apprehend him. Unless there was anything else, Your Majesty, I will take my leave now."

Queen Selenity nodded. "Good luck," she said. "I hold hope that you will find him soon."

Then her image disappeared from the crystal screen.

Sighing, King Adrastos closed his eyes a moment, wondering at the new turn of events. Some formerly unimportant person from one of Jupiter's moons, Ganymede, had been working in Charon's mines for the past three years. Opening his eyes, the king stood and made his way outside to where his wife and son were enjoying their day. So much for a rare day off, he supposed.

"Darling!" his beloved wife, Queen Rhea, called once she saw him. "What happened? What did Queen Selenity want?"

His son Prince Endymion also came near, his Shitennou not far behind. King Adrastos sighed once more. "There is a criminal headed this way from Charon," he told them. "He stole a time crystal, and Queen Selenity believes he intends to hide out on the earth."

"That's ridiculous," Endymion scoffed. "Even those from the other planets should know there's nowhere anyone can hide from us here, Father."

"Royalty and nobility know," Queen Rhea said. "But I get the feeling this criminal is neither."

"A miner, apparently," the king confirmed, then turned to his son's Shitennou. "Please, go to the watch-posts, alert them of this criminal. He's Jovian, from what Queen Selenity has said, from the moon of Ganymede."

"Shall one of us stay with Prince Endymion?" Kunzite asked, and the king shook his head.

"There are five watch-posts," he said. "I need you to go to the Four Corners of the Earth. Central already knows, since the message was routed through them. Worry not for my son, he will remain here with us until you return."

The Shitennou nodded, bowed to their king, queen, and prince, and then left, Jadeite with an inscrutable last look at his friend and charge. King Adrastos then turned to his family and they proceeded to the gardens where they'd intended to enjoy their day in the first place.

Over the next hour, the Shitennou rejoined them one by one. And in the time after that, King Adrastos watched indulgently as his son laughed with his friends. Thus, is was nearing lunch when the palace alarms went off, and all seven of them were suddenly surrounded by castle guards.

"Your Majesty!" the king's most loyal guard, Hector, came running. "There's an intruder in the palace!"

"What?"

"How can this be?"

"Oh my!"

They were all on guard now, and King Adrastos made sure to keep his wife close to him, even as his son and the boy's Shitennou drew their swords. "Do you know who it is?" he asked.

The kneeling guard nodded. "From the information we've received, we believe it is the Jovian criminal," he said.

The queen gasped at the thought of a common criminal roaming her home, and the king was about to issue an order, when a voice drawled, "Well lookie 'ere, it's the Earth King and 'is brood."

A dirty, bedraggled man sauntered into the garden, a vicious smirk on his lips and a wild, mad look in his eyes. Swords and arrows were aimed at him, and he held up the crystal in his hand, causing a shimmering purple barrier to surround him.

"Now, now, don't ye all go getting jumpy, ey?" he said in his thick, Jovian accent. "After all, it's me wot's really in danger 'ere, not you lot."

"What do you mean by that?" King Adrastos asked, doing his best to keep his voice calm while speaking to the man.

The man's smirk widened. "Why, the darkie-ness what rots away at the core of your 'ere planet!" he told them. "Wot? Ye didna ken about the abomination sleeping right beneath ye? Tsk, tsk. Fer shame!"

"What darkness?" Endymion demanded. "What nonsense are you on about?"

"Wot, ye didna ken?" the Jovian asked again, his eyes wide in fake surprise. "King and Prince o' the Earth, so connected to their little gem of a planet, and ye didna even feel the chaos rotting away beneath ye feet? I saw it, ye ken, when I picked up this 'ere beauty." He twirled the raw time crystal in his fingers. "I saw the Dark Mistress, the Queen o' Despair, and I saw 'er destroy everything. Including me… including me 'ome. All me mates back on 'Mede, and even Char. Me missus, me little tykes… They all died because of YE!"

He practically screamed the last word, the crystal in his hand flaring dangerously in response to his emotions. "I saw all of ye!" he yelled. "King, Queen, so called Knights! All of ye 'ad a part! Not even the Moon Queen could save us all! Well, I saw the only person wot beaten down the darkie-ness, so I'm bringing 'er 'ere so me mates, me missus, and me tykes won't die! Princess of… wherever the 'eck ye were, I summon ye 'ere!"

He threw the crystal down onto the ground, where it shattered upon impact. Once it was out of his grasp, the barrier around him disappeared, and the royal guards were instantly upon the screaming madman, restraining him. But King Adrastos' attention was fixated on the spot where the time crystal had shattered. A dark purple mist was forming, spreading out. Soon before them, they saw the scene of a bustling metropolis like none they'd seen before.

A girl stood there, staring at them even as they stared at her, and King Adrastos couldn't help notice how similar she looked to the current Moon Queen, and even her daughter that he'd met once or twice when he'd visited the satellite for political reasons. They were all transfixed, staring, until the purple mist started to envelop the girl, and next thing he knew, the mist exploded, like it had been ignited, though nothing seemed to be damaged once it was done.

And yet, there stood the girl from before, swaying dangerously on her feet, now here in this time and place instead of wherever she'd come from.

"Nani?" she whispered, then her eyes rolled up in the back of her head and she fainted dead away.

So what did you think? Review please! :)