#silmil

Late submission for @smvillainsweek 2023 Day 3, theme: Prophecy. This piece is also (loosely) inspired by the "Our Super Weapon R" fan manga from 2003, by Senhi Shinban and Kazuyuki Tsukine, though I've reworked the ideas to fit my own story: "The peace talks between the Golden Kingdom of Earth and the Silver Millennium Kingdom of the Moon were finally going well. The people of Earth would take more convincing, but Queen Calyce and Queen Serenity were already good friends, and agreed on a plan to establish nine "Crystal Points" within the Golden Kingdom, giving the Earth's people the same longevity enjoyed by those living on the Moon. Prince Endymion and his four Heavenly Knights were busy keeping the peace, fending off a series of energy-draining attacks (perpetrated by servants of a mysterious Dark Pact: the dark "Princess" Osakaite, and her minion, Ullmannite the spy). In the meanwhile, the prince sent his trusted assistants, the Seven Warriors of Fortune, to meet with the four guardian soldiers of the Moon Princess to help plan the Crystal Points. The shy young Warrior Bunbo and the kind genius Sailor Mercury got along quite well- but when Bunbo finally worked up his courage to shake her hand, he had a terrible vision- and the dreadful feeling that it was already too late...!" The day 4 piece goes with this one, and includes an explanation of the manga "Our Super Weapon R" (which has a different telling of the Seven Great Youma's adventures during the corruption of the Earth Kingdom):

"Are you saying you don't think she has to do as much homework as we do? I mean. She's smart! There are just a lot of things much more interesting than tiny handwriting in piles of dust and cranky librarians--" protested Endymion, and he stopped when he saw the shadow creep over them.

"Oh shit," he whispered, and Nephrite pushed the prince behind him and spun, magic beginning to crackle at his fingertips as he moved to draw his sword.

"Oh put that away. You are so lucky the library's closed tonight," said Jupiter, holding a saber-toothed bookworm by the tail, with Serenity trailing behind her with her skirts rucked up. Getting bookworm slime on them would give her away, and there was enough of it glopped on the floor that her wrinkled little nose was entirely called for.

"What the hell is that, why was it in the library, why-- what--" asked Nephrite, staring.

Since he wasn't bothering to stop Endymion anymore, the prince sheathed his sword and stepped around his seer to examine the thing in horrified fascination. "*That* was what was making that awful sound?" he asked, bewildered. "Does it even have a-- AAAHH!!"

Jupiter grinned crookedly and stopped wiggling it around, and Serenity hip-checked her as an ineffectual scolding, but bounced off. "Jupiter, don't be so mean! Endymion, it's fine, it's scary but it only eats books. The big teeth are for sucking the ink out! The slime is protective. Mercury says they evolved with an extinct kind of tree squid as their prey and this is the best they can get now--"

"You're kidding," Nephrite said blankly, staring at the thing. Jupiter wiggled it again, entirely helpfully.

"Gross!" said Endymion, absolutely delighted; he reached out to help Serenity up so she wouldn't have to sacrifice her skirts to the slime by using both hands.

"I know! Isn't it great??" she squeaked, clapping her hands together and letting her skirts fall anyway. "It's not dead, Jupiter just stunned it. It's okay if it eats books, it's not like books are *alive*."

"Oh that's-- hm-- okay--" said Nephrite with somewhat less enthusiasm than the prince and princess. He looked around at the books and gave Jupiter a sort of conflicted expression, and the strongest soldier of the Silver Millennium shook her head minutely and gestured her finger across her neck where Serenity couldn't see. Nephrite exhaled with relief.

"Anyway let me show you where I do my ~homework~," giggled Serenity, pulling on Endymion's arm. It's not like she had to pull hard.

"Ooh, we going to have a ~study session~?" asked the prince, eyes sparkling at her as he was dragged happily along and out of sight.

"Does she actually do any homework here?" Nephrite asked Jupiter after they were out of earshot.