Well here it is, the last chapter of this fic. I hope you all enjoy it and I'm sorry for having kept you waiting so long. That wasn't my intentions, but I just moved and let's just say unpacking wasn't fun!! But I found my inspiration again. Arigato, you know who you are... Arigato to you all for reading this whole time, I really appreciate all of your great comments and reviews!
[::Rekindling Stars::]
by Lady in Red
(The End of the World)
They all thought she was dead by now, that is if Haruka had admitted her mistake to the rest of the senshi. Usagi was free to start her life over, as a normal person once again... but is that what she truly wanted? No. She missed the senshi, sure she had the Starlights with her now not to mention Seiya but there was still something missing.
"You're thinking about them again aren't you?" Seiya asked looking up at her confusion from her resting place on Usagi's stomach. It was a lazy day and there hadn't been that much going on. The two lay on Usagi's bed just taking in the day.
"Umm..." Usagi answered as she fingered a lock of the black hair brushing against her stomach. "How could I not?"
Seiya knew the reasons why Usagi hadn't gone back to talk to the senshi yet but that didn't mean that she actually agreed with them. Usagi didn't want to face Mamoru and she didn't want to face the fact that she hadn't lived up to her destiny. In a way by running away from the senshi she was running away from herself. "You know how I feel about it, so it's up to you."
She did know how Seiya felt about it, Seiya had been telling her all along that she thought it best for her to see the senshi again. After all, these are her friends, they had fought endless battles with one another for the sole purpose of protecting Earth and Usagi, their Princess. In the end Usagi would always have the same excuses and each time she excused the issue another was brought up. When the problem would plague Usagi's nerves she would resort to Kakyuu, she would come out with things like, `You guys left Kakyuu, why couldn't my senshi do the same to me?'. She would immediately regret what she had just said and apologize of course. Then Seiya would have to remind her that she wasn't vicious like Kakyuu, and that she knew she would never do anything like that to one of her friends.
Usagi watched as Seiya got up from her comfortable position on the bed. "Where are you going?" Usagi asked as she sat up and noticed that Seiya had stopped to turn around to address her. "Who says I'm through with you yet?"
Seiya turned around and headed back over to the bed where she had just been. "We can't stay in here all day." She said crawling seductively back to Usagi. "There's a whole world out there waiting for us."
Usagi smiled and lightly kissed Seiya in front of her. "Exactly. Let them wait, I did." She said as began to deepen the kisses between the two. Seiya didn't pull away, her words in no way reflected her actions. "You know, I could spend the rest of my life just staying in this room with you." Usagi said as Seiya's lips had left her own and were now traveling down her exposed neckline. "I thought you were leaving?" She giggled slightly as she lay back on the bed while Seiya moved into position on top of her not missing a beat in her compellation of kisses.
"Look at me here I go..." Seiya smiled as she came up and kissed the blonde's lips once more. "Can't you see me I'm out the door!" She scooped the smaller girl up in her arms and felt the warmth of her body press against her own. Usagi laughed at her statement and in turn wrapped her arms around her also pushing her knee between her legs to create as much contact as possible between the two.
There was a knock at the door and Usagi stopped immediately to make an apparently disgruntled face while Seiya kept up her little seduction. "Who is it?" Usagi asked impatiently while Seiya trailed her kisses back down Usagi's neck so that she could still talk but Seiya could try her best to distract her at the same time.
"It's Yaten, I wanted to know what you were doing for lunch?" Her voice was muffled from the other side of the door but was clear enough to make out what she was saying.
Seiya's fingers had magically worked all of the buttons free on Usagi's upper half of her shirt and exposed her vulnerable chest. She took one of the small pink nipples into her mouth and heard Usagi moan a bit at her action, to get more of a rise out of her she began to nibble at the bud with her teeth. "Uhmmm..." Usagi moaned.
"Nani?" Yaten asked from the other side of the door.
Usagi tried her best to keep her composure but it was fading fast as Seiya was moving down her body and fast. "Um nothing!" Usagi tried to cover up for her unintentional noise earlier.
"Great, since you're doing nothing would you have lunch with me?" Yaten asked but her question came across as somewhat of a plea.
Shit, Usagi thought, she hadn't meant for that to come out that way. She had to think of something quick to get herself out of it. Seiya licked the inside of her thigh as she began to pull at her panties already smelling Usagi's excitement. What harm could having lunch with Yaten be? She questioned herself but then felt Seiya's tongue being a bit inquisitive in a very sensitive area. How could she leave this? "Sure can you give me a minute?" Usagi called her voice cracking a bit as Seiya plunged her tongue deep inside of her at the same moment.
"I guess..." Yaten said. "Can I come in?" She asked with her hand on the knob.
Seiya began to go at her work furiously, she knew Usagi couldn't keep herself quiet when she was about to reach that point. "NO!!" Usagi screamed just wanting to get Yaten away.
"Are you alright?" Yaten heard a bit of distress in Usagi's voice and thought she might be trying to hide a problem of some sort. "Usagi I'm coming in."
Finally Usagi's passion broke and her body relaxed under the gentle waves of pleasure that came washing over her. Seiya quickly pulled her skirt down so that all of the evidence was covered and watched Usagi lay back with her eyes closed and a goofy sort of smirk on her face. Yaten opened the door and looked around the room to see what was going on. She saw Seiya sitting up next to Usagi smiling one of her devilish grins like she had just done something wrong and Usagi was lying back on her pillows perfectly still. "Nice to see you Yaten." Seiya commented and stood up.
Yaten knew something was going on that she wasn't being told about but couldn't quite figure out what it was until she saw the moisture glistening off of Seiya's face when she stood up. Her hand immediately came up to her face as she tried to cover her blush. "Why me?" She asked to no one in particular but heard Seiya laughing at her.
Usagi finally came to her senses and sat back up to address Yaten properly. "Sorry about that." She said a bit shyly.
Yaten saw the glow in her face, she had known what had just happened and couldn't help but find herself feeling completely jealous of the fact. No, she didn't want Seiya or Usagi, she just wanted some one of her own to do those kinds of things with. She hated being alone. Sure she had Taiki to keep her company when these two would go off and do this sort of thing, which was a little too often, but that just wasn't enough. "No, you don't have to apologize, I just seem to have a horrible habit of walking in on you at the absolute WRONG times! But I would still like to go to lunch with you."
Seiya had finished wiping her mouth and returned to sit on the bed with Usagi and Yaten. "Do you mind if I come, I'm starved." Then her eyes narrowed and focused in on Yaten's face. "Or are you planning something that I can't be around for?"
"Eh?" Yaten gave a start and Seiya's serious complexion melted away with her laughter.
"I'm just kidding." She received a playful punch from Usagi in her arm. "So, can I come?"
"Sure, I don't see why not." Yaten shrugged and looked down. Usagi's blond hair was tossed on the bed next to her long slender legs and Yaten's eyes couldn't help but follow them up farther until she saw the string of her panties poking out from under her skirt. Without thinking her hand came over so that she could feel the smoothness of her exposed leg.
"So, we'd better be going then." Seiya said getting up which pulled Yaten from her thoughts.
"Right." Yaten replied but didn't get up to follow her. Seiya had walked out the door by now and Usagi was getting up to fix herself up to go out.
"So what's the occasion that you want to go out for lunch?" Usagi asked taking her hair down so that she could brush it out. Seiya hadn't exactly been gentle when it came to brushing her around on the bed.
Yaten watched Usagi intently as she let out her hair to hang down her back... just like Minako's. "I wanted to talk to you about something." Yaten got up and walked over to Usagi standing in front of the mirror.
"Sure go ahead." Usagi noticed Yaten approaching her but didn't think anything of it.
"Well we've grown to be pretty good friends, at least I think anyway." Yaten watched as Usagi nodded her head and kept brushing her hair. "I wanted to know what you thought about me going to see the senshi..."
Usagi stopped brushing her hair and just looked at Yaten in the mirror. "Why do you want to go and see them? I thought you weren't too fond of them?"
"Well the truth is I only want to see one of them... she's always on my mind and I guess I just need to know either way what would happen." Yaten's eyes were on the golden tresses in front of her and she soon found herself burying her face in them. "Minako..."
Usagi was startled when Yaten came up that close to her but became even more alarmed when she put her arms around her waist to draw her near. "Yaten!" She wiggled free from her hold and stared at her silver haired friend. "I'm not Minako."
Yaten's eyes were wide. "Gomen... you see, I can't control myself, I get to thinking about her and the longing is becoming almost too much. I think if I see Minako again it will solve the whole mystery that I've been trying to fight."
"Then see her." Usagi smiled kindly at her, she wasn't mad, she understood. She had practically gone through the same thing. Yaten looked up at her surprised, neither of them saw Taiki looking on. "If you want we can forget about lunch." She winked.
"But what about you? Do you want me to tell her about you?"
"No, I have different thoughts about that. Don't mention the fact that you know anything about me, they will find out soon enough." Usagi hugged her friend and pushed her on her way. "Now get out of here!" Since they wouldn't be going to lunch, Usagi figured that she could finally jump in the shower to ease some of the tension brought on by the previous conversations of the day.
"Since when do we have lunch in the shower?" Seiya asked from the steamy bathroom while Usagi sang in the shower. "Yaten had better not be in there with you." She warned as she held her hand on the toilet lever just in case. A nice hot blast of water would be a good start to show the two how pissed off she was.
Usagi just laughed from the shower. "Maybe she is." She peeked around the side of the frosted glass to see Seiya's hand in the threatening position on the toilet. "We were waiting for you to come in here to join us."
Seiya's mind thought about that one for a minute. Both of them? Hmmm, she couldn't say that similar thoughts hadn't crossed her mind before but then it always came down to the fact that she didn't want to share Usagi with anyone. Seiya walked over to the opening of the shower and kissed Usagi without bothering to look in the shower. "I think I'll pass." She smiled.
Usagi smiled, apparently pleased with her reaction and just kissed her again. "You're not getting out of this that easily." She pulled Seiya into the shower fully clothed and kissed her passionately under the steady stream of warm water.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Hello, Minako?"
"Yes? Who is this?" Minako didn't recognize the voice, she didn't know this woman, it wasn't her agent.
"This is Yaten. I was wondering if I could see you?"
Minako nearly dropped the phone and almost passed out on the floor. Yaten was calling, but wait, she sounded female. "Uh, uh... um..." Damn it Minako, just say something, you sound like a fool! She cursed herself mentally.
"Hello?"
"Um... yeah, I would love to see you." Good now that you got that out you just have to work on the rest of the conversation. Man, you really are blond aren't you?! No one was worse on criticizing Minako than Minako herself and she was really taking it out on herself right now.
"Great, can I come over? That is if you're not busy."
Minako managed to give Yaten her address and finish up the conversation without too much of a further incident. When she found the relief of hanging up the phone she flopped down in the chair next to her desk. She had just come back into town from a trip to England and now this. She needed a break, perhaps this was just what the doctor ordered though. She smiled at herself and looked at the clock. Yaten said she would be there within the hour, which gave her limited time to get ready.
Yaten walked out of her room beaming a smile a mile wide. It had taken all the nerve she had to just pick up the phone to call Minako but she had finally done it and it had definitely been worth it. She would get to see her in an hour, she would be happy in an hour.
"That sounded like it went well." Taiki mused from her position on the couch. She had over heard the conversation from Yaten's room. "She was completely infatuated with you when we were here the last time you know."
"Really?" Of course Yaten knew that, the whole world practically knew that, but the question was would she still be now? "I didn't notice."
Taiki scuffed at the remark and turned the page of her book. "I wouldn't get your hopes up." She was almost lecturing her.
"We'll see." Nothing was bringing her down from cloud nine at the moment no matter how much sense Taiki's comment made.
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The hour had practically flown by and Minako was all but ready for Yaten's long awaited arrival. The doorbell chimed and she rushed from the bathroom to answer it in a timely manner. It had been a long time since Minako had gotten this worked up over seeing anyone. She had a career now to keep her mind off of chasing boys and the rest of her social life. An idol, this is what she had always wanted to be, but at what cost had she paid to become what she was today? Minako opened the door to reveal a petite woman in a light green sundress and sandals standing at her doorstep, she was at a loss for words at the sight.
"Hello Minako." Yaten smiled and noticed Minako's obviously flabbergasted state. "May I come in?"
Minako had never seen Yaten as a woman before, well not except as a senshi, but still she looked different, striking. "Um sure, gomen." She moved out of the way and watched the silver haired woman who she used to think she was in love with slip by her. Used to be?
"So what have you been up to lately?" Yaten asked as she walked further in to the room and turned around to face Minako sending the lower part of her dress flowing around her. She saw the awards on a shelf near the television and a few magazine covers framed on the wall. "Busy I see."
"Yeah, you could say that." Minako said still in a bit of a daze. "I'm a singer and a model now."
"Honto? That's great! Congratulations, I see you finally found your dream, ne?" Yaten was smiling innocently, she was really happy for Minako. She had known that this was her dream, although she couldn't see why she would ever want to deal with the pressures of being an idol along with being a senshi.
"Why are you here?" The question seemed to come out of nowhere and Minako felt stupid for saying it the way she had.
"Do you not want me here?" Yaten's smile faded as she searched Minako's face for an answer.
"No, that's not what I meant, gomen. I meant why are you back on Earth?"
Yaten felt a little relieved to say the least at her correction. "I'm living here now. Can we just leave it at that for now?" She asked with her hands behind her back.
Minako smiled and nodded. She didn't really care why she was back just that Yaten was here. "Tea?" Yaten nodded and followed her into the kitchenette to help. In no time the two were sitting on the couch talking to one another about nothing and anything at all.
"Don't you communicate with the other senshi?" Yaten questioned putting her cup down in its saucer.
"No one really speaks to one another, we did off and on for a while. It was nothing that you could really call communicating though, it was more the less checking up on one another. Each one of us went after our dreams, sadly it didn't look like we could keep room for everyone in that dream." Minako paused and appeared to have gotten lost in her thoughts while staring into her tea. The tan liquid circulated in the cup but reflected a distorted image of Minako's face on its surface. Distorted, that's how she had become. "Then after Usagi's death I haven't spoken to any of them." Minako picked her head up to look Yaten in the eye. "I'm assuming you knew, ne?"
There was a sadness in her eyes at the mere mention of Usagi's name, if she only knew. "Yes, I knew."
"And Seiya? How did, he... I mean she take it?"
Yaten noticed Minako's obvious fumble of her words and realized that was how she saw them... as males. Was there going to be space in her life for Yaten now that she wasn't a male, after all, there didn't seem to be room for her closest friends, why would she be an exception? "Oh, well let's just say that ... well I'd rather not say." Yaten remembered clearly the reaction that Fighter had to Usagi's death and it was not a pretty picture, but then she also remember how elated she was when she found out the truth. Yaten could do the same for Minako.
"I understand." She looked down again.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come here and drag up all of these memories for you. Do you want me to leave?" Yaten noticed the fall in her mood, she had a new life now, and looked as though she didn't want to be reminded of who she used to be.
Minako's hand came over to rest on Yaten's. "No, gomen, I want you to stay."
Yaten smiled at her touch and looked up into her eyes but her heart was soon let down when Minako looked down real quickly and removed her hand. "Taiki tells me that you used to have a crush on me when we were here last time." She smiled over at Minako. She was just as beautiful as she remembered her being, only now more mature, totally fitting the description of a goddess of love and beauty.
"Oh, well maybe I did." Minako smiled but then cursed herself inwardly. Don't lead her on, you're not interested in women, even if you were completely head over heels with her the last time she was here it was different. Why? Because she wasn't a she, she was a he!
Yaten moved a bit closer to Minako on the couch and sensed her nervousness, but played it off because of her own pounding heart in her chest. She was coming to the moment of truth, the one moment that she had been waiting for, but would she accept her? "Did, huh? Are you saying that you don't any more?" She looked her right in the eyes, she didn't want to miss the emotions that were obvious in her big blue eyes.
"I don't know." Stupid, stupid, you should have said no! God Minako, for being the goddess of love you sure are dumb when it comes to it. But it's Yaten... and Yaten is Yaten right? No, Yaten is a GIRL!
Yaten didn't know how to respond to that, she was hoping that Minako would have given her a straightforward answer, but there was still a chance in the answer that she did get. She was going to have to lay her cards on the table. "When we were on Earth before I was so preoccupied with finding my Princess and the war that I didn't realize where anything was heading. I guess I didn't realize how much I cared about you until it was too late and I was a million stars away." She had turned her entire body towards Minako on the couch tucking her feet under herself bringing her face only inches from Minako's. She leaned in...
"Yaten." Minako spoke, they were so close that Yaten could feel her breath fanning on her lips. Her eyes danced from hers to her lips then back again. Those deep green eyes, they had always mesmerized her and she felt herself being drawn in closer still to them. But they didn't belong to the Yaten she used to know, the Yaten she fell in love with. Love, where did that come from?
Minako hadn't spoken for a long moment now and Yaten was starting to become more nervous and began to loose her nerve all together. It was now or never, she closed her eyes and pressed her lips against Minako's.
Minako pulled back suddenly and stared at Yaten with wide eyes. Yaten's face reciprocated her own shock. "Yaten I'm sorry." She hadn't loved Yaten, even if she thought she did she couldn't have, she couldn't accept her now, so she couldn't have loved her.
"So am I." Yaten said resuming a more comfortable position on the couch.
If only things could be back the way they were before. "You know, if you could still become a guy this could work." Minako said half seriously.
Yaten cringed at the thought. "Yeah, well I can become a male again, but would you live the rest of your life as a guy for me? That's not who I am... and that's not who I want to be."
"Gomen, I shouldn't have asked that of you." Minako suddenly felt ashamed of herself for even thinking that she ever would have agreed to that. She felt bad that she couldn't love her back, but that's not who she was either. It's not that she wasn't open-minded, she just wasn't gay. "Think we can start over?" She smiled a bit.
Yaten smirked at her comment. "Sure, but for now I think I'm going to take off." She knew that Minako wouldn't question her why, it was pretty obvious that she was anything but comfortable right now. "I'll keep in touch with you Minako."
"I'd love that."
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"So, how did it go?" Seiya asked Yaten as she walked in the door of their apartment. By the look on Yaten's face she could tell that it didn't go well so she knew well enough not to tease her about it right now.
"Fine." Yaten said flatly and began to walk to the patio out the back door.
Usagi came into the living room and leaned over the back of the couch to kiss Seiya on her forehead while she played some insane car racing game on her new game console. "Hello beautiful." Seiya's tongue was sticking out the side of her mouth as she was deep in consentration with the game at hand. Usagi was getting annoyed with being ignored and walked around the couch to stand in front of the television.
"OH GOD I'M GONNA CRASH!!" Seiya screamed as she ducked and bobbed her head around to get a good view of the television. "Odango, are you going to stand in the way of me becoming Grand Turismo champion of the world? Come on!" She pouted at the same time but didn't get her very far.
Usagi laughed at the effort she was still putting into the race. "Now could I ever stand in your way of doing that?" She moved aside and came up to sit behind Seiya on the couch. She ran her hands up Seiya's sides pulling her shirt up slightly as she did so.
"What are you doing?" Seiya asked, her fingers flying dangerously on the controller in front of her. Usagi began to kiss her neck and fondle her breasts. "Odango..." Seiya warned then tensed up when she screwed up on the track. Usagi began to take more of Seiya's flesh into her mouth with each kiss leaving a wet trail down her neck. Within mere seconds Seiya threw the controller across the room and turned around to take on Usagi.
"You won't become Grand what ever champion this way you know." Usagi laughed in between kisses. Seiya just laughed along with her and continued what she was doing. "Seiya...?"
"Hmm..."
"Promise me that you'll be here with me tomorrow night."
"I promise. Why?"
"Just because..."
Taiki made her way out on to the patio in the back yard seeing Yaten just sitting in the lawn not too far from the stony floor. She knew things couldn't have gone well with Minako and she sighed inwardly. "May I join you?" She asked but began to sit down before receiving an answer.
"She didn't love me." Yaten said flatly and just stared at the tree line in the distance. "This whole time I had myself worked up to be with Minako again and she didn't love me." Taiki didn't say a word and she was thankful for that, she just needed to get this out of her. "You know what the strange part about it is though? I'm not that upset about it."
"Oh?" Taiki held the same sights as Yaten did across the green yard.
"I don't know, I guess Minako didn't really mean anything, she was just something to hold onto so that I didn't feel empty."
"And do you feel empty now?"
"No." Yaten looked over at Taiki who was still watching the tree line. "She was just something for me to strive for, the unreachable goal to keep me going."
"Sometimes we need to do that." Taiki always had the answers and that bugged Yaten sometimes, nothing was unpredictable to her, she always knew what was going to happen.
"But I guess you already knew that, ne?" Yaten asked with a smile and saw Taiki nod a bit.
Taiki sat up and began to play with the grass in front of her, Yaten didn't remember her ever having any nervous habits like this before, she knew there was something on her mind. "You know, I can be whatever you want me to be."
"Eh?" The statement shocked Yaten, what was she proposing?
Taiki looked straight into Yaten's eyes with an intensity that she hadn't seen since they had been searching for their Princess. "If you need help, or you decide that you want to be with a man, I would become a man for the rest of my life if that is what would make you happy."
Yaten was taken aback by her words and didn't know what to say in response. "I ... uh..."
"It's ok. You don't have to say anything." Taiki threw down the pieces of grass she had shredded in her hands. "I didn't expect you to." Before Taiki could say anything else she found Yaten's lips pressed firmly against her own and only responded by encircling her long arms around her and kissing her back.
When the kiss was finally broken Yaten looked at Taiki with a smile. "Did you predict that I would do that?" Yaten asked adding a wink at the end.
"Not at all, although I can't say that I'm complaining!" She smiled and kissed her again to make sure that she hadn't just done it for the shock factor.
Yaten kissed her back but this time held her in her arms when they broke away. "I like you just the way you are."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Odango, you're starting to scare me, what's going on?" Seiya asked as she saw Usagi constantly looking out at the window up at the stars nervously.
"We'd better get going. Will you tell Taiki and Yaten that we need them?" Usagi was running around as though she was about to leave the apartment for a while getting everything in order.
"Yeah, but why?"
"Please Seiya, just do it."
Seiya did as she was asked and went to Yaten's room to fetch her, she figured Yaten would need the most time to get ready so she would fetch her first and then Taiki. Seiya knocked at the door and spoke at the same time. "Yaten get out here, Odango needs you."
"I'm busy!" Yaten's reply came from the other side of the door.
"Damn you get out here now, I think it's something important!" Seiya's patients were almost non-existent. The stress of worrying about Usagi's problem had taken its toll on her.
"If it's so important, you take care of it!" Yaten's voice also held annoyance in it and that only fed Seiya's.
"Do I have to come in there and drag you out?!" Seiya was shouting now and banging on the door.
"You'd better not!!" Yaten warned. "Go AWAY!"
"Screw you!!" Seiya said as she turned the handle and barged into the room only to find a very red and blushing Taiki and Yaten in a huddled mass on Yaten's bed. "I guess this is pay back?" Seiya said coming over to sit on the bed.
"Get the hell out of here!" Yaten screamed amazed that Seiya had the nerve to just sit here and hang out like nothing was going on. At least the blankets covered them.
"It's about time you know!" Seiya said as she took a casually lounged position on the bed.
"Seiya... uh... if you don't mind..." Taiki said trying to be the voice of reason here and to get back to what she was doing.
"Yeah Seiya, if you don't mind not being a complete ass for like five minutes and getting the hell out of here, it would surely make your chances of having a good day tomorrow better!!" Yaten threw a pillow at Seiya's face just as Usagi walked in the door.
"Oh god!" She covered her eyes and grabbed Seiya by the arm and ushered her out of the room. When they were out in the hall she punched Seiya in the arm. "What the hell were you doing?"
"Ow!" Seiya said rubbing her arm. "I was just getting them like you asked me to!"
Usagi sighed. "Well leave them alone. We can do this ourselves. Hurry up and henshin." Usagi said as she took out her broach.
"NANI?!" Seiya was alarmed. "Odango what the hell is going on?"
When Usagi was done transforming they went out into the backyard. "The entire world is going to freeze over for a thousand years."
"Oh is that all?" Seiya asked as though it was no big deal. "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T YOU TELL ME!!"
"I just did! Now come on, we have to teleport to the moon."
Seiya's mind was going a million miles a second but she did as she was asked and soon Fighter stood ready for action. "But we can't just leave Taiki and Yaten behind!" Fighter turned to go back into the house to fetch the two lovebirds.
"They'll be fine." Usagi said pulling her broach from her chest and opening it up to reveal the silver crystal.
Fighter didn't see how they could be fine, she did just say that the world was going to freeze over how could they just be fine. But she trusted her Odango and she knew she loved Taiki and Yaten very much and would never see any harm come to either one of them. Before Fighter could further question Sailor Moon's actions she found herself engulfed in a white light. When the light and the momentum of moving faded she found herself in a gray wasteland. "Is this the moon?" Fighter asked looking around.
Sailor Moon nodded and just stared at Earth. "Look there..." She pointed to a comet heading towards the giant blue planet.
"So?" Fighter asked not really impressed with its show. She had seen millions of comets before. "Wait a minute, is that going to hit the Earth going that fast?" She asked now realizing the danger that the planet she now called home was in.
"Yes, the comet will strike Earth and force it from its axis. Since the Earth has been moved from its position near the sun the entire globe will freeze over for a thousand years." Sailor Moon explained as she watched the comet draw nearer.
"Why a thousand years?" Fighter asked certainly impressed that her Odango knew all of this.
"In a thousand years the planet would have drifted back towards the sun close enough to thaw out the damage. When the planet thaws, I am supposed to heal it with my crystal." She held the silver crystal up to demonstrate. "But that's not going to happen that way."
"What are you talking about? Do you plan to move the entire planet back into orbit once the comet has struck it?" Fighter asked incredulously. She knew Sailor Moon was powerful but she had her doubts that she could move an entire planet.
"No, I'm going to stop the comet from hitting it in the first place. I have to wait for it to get close enough though." Sailor Moon stopped studying the foreign object soaring towards her home and looked to Fighter. "I don't want to be Queen, I don't want any part of that future... I don't want a future where I'm not supposed to be with you."
"Odango..." Fighter's gloved hand came up to her face as she watched Sailor Moon smile in response to her.
Sailor Moon took her eyes away from her love's and directed them back to the comet, which was just about in position. "I'm going to need your help." She said bringing her crystal out to float between her hands in front of her.
"You know I'll do anything for you." Fighter smiled and stood in position behind her.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The sailor senshi of Earth had gathered together for the occasion. They all knew what was to happen in the next moments. The end of the world. Now that Usagi was gone they doubted that Earth would survive such a catastrophe and weren't sure if they would live to see another day after this one. "We always depended too much on her." Makoto chuckled a bit at her thoughts. The mood was somber but there was no use in being completely morbid for your last moments alive.
Minako smiled slightly in response to her statement and looked up into the night sky. "Was she happy when she died?" She asked to Haruka without really looking at her.
Haruka looked down from the sky and to her feet. She knew that Usagi wasn't happy when she died. She hadn't achieved the love she had been looking for although it looked as though she was about to, but she wasn't about to tell the others that. "Yes, she seemed to be very happy."
"Good." Minako smiled at the thought of Usagi getting to fulfill her own dream before her untimely death.
Haruka sat with her arms around Michiru on the lawn while Hotaru sat on Setsuna's lap near them. The four inners stood quietly on the edge of the porch also staring up at the night sky to catch a glimpse of their demise. Mamoru just stood back in the shadows not really knowing why he was even there in the first place. He had never really felt a connection between the other senshi and himself, the only common thread they seemed to have was Usagi... but now she was gone. No one blamed him for finding a new love after she had disappeared, but some of them suspected that this new love of his wasn't just a new revelation.
"Look!" Hotaru pointed into the distant heavens. "There it is!"
No one said a word though there were thousands of things on their minds. To tell one another how much they loved each other, how they were all sorry that they had grown apart and how they were all sorry that none of them could have been there for Usagi when she truly needed them. A blinding white light brought them out of their thoughts and forced their attention to the moon.
"The silver crystal!" Michiru gasped and the group's eyes went wide.
"She's alive..." Haruka was too in complete and utter shock but that soon faded and she jerked herself to an upright position. "Ready?" She asked looking from Michiru to Setsuna and Hotaru and finally to the inners and Mamoru.
Everyone nodded in unison before they henshined for the first time in a long time.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Moon and Fighter stood on the desert rock for a moment to take in the beautiful sight of the planet they had just saved. "Shall we?" Fighter asked assuming they would be going home now.
"No, they'll be here soon." Moon replied with a faint smile to her lips. Fighter looked at her puzzled.
"Sailor Moon..." The senshi of Mars said before putting a hand up to her agape mouth.
Moon turned around allowing her pigtails to stream around her, with the wings on her back she looked like a true angel. The smile that graced her features only improved the look. "Hello minna." She spoke from beside Fighter.
Before she knew what was going on she found herself wrapped in an eight-person glomp. Once everyone backed off to give her room Uranus was the first to speak, and there appeared to be faint tears in her eyes. "Nothing can keep you down, ne? I'm so happy that you're alright."
"Fighter saved me." Moon smiled and took the Starlight's gloved hand into her own. Uranus bowed and showed respect to Fighter for the first time saying thank you with a very deep bow.
"Yaten knew that whole time too, didn't she?" Venus laughed through her tears. Moon and Fighter's smiles only confirmed her suspicions.
"Princess, you know that there will be no Crystal Tokyo now, ne?" Pluto stepped forward aware of the events that were no longer going to be.
"Yes, I'm aware, but can any of you truly say you're disappointed?" Moon asked with a smile on her lips. "Now you are all free to follow your own dreams not just be some mindless puppets in mine."
"This time will be different." Mars said looking into Moon's eyes. "This time we'll all be together to share in one another's dreams."
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