Already Met You

Author: Maetel

Rated: M 15+

Summary: The sequal to "A Simple Knock." This time it's Mamoru/Endymion's turn, but what happens when he's the only one with any idea of what's really going on? Set after the ending of the first season, but before the Ann & Ail Saga.

Category: Usagi and Mamoru

Genre: Romance, Drama, Humor

Warnings: A hint of language and innuendo, but nothing too bad.

Challenges: None

Series: Nah.

Chapter: 1/?

Word Count:

Published: January 6, 2008

His last memories had been of her. Staring up into the silvery blue gaze of the princess that he loved more than life itself as she stared down at him with tears falling down her cheeks. He never wanted to cause her such pain. Especially, when he had just been granted the miracle of finding his princess in their second chance at life, even if she was made to fight alongside her senshi instead of being protected by them, and him.

The memories had been ones of pain, but he didn't regret them. They were his redemption. They were the one thing that let him know that he wasn't damned for all of the pain that he'd caused her in his servitude to Beryl. They were the one thing that let him believe that maybe, just maybe, he had some hope of being with her again. He'd protected her from the crystal that would have been certain death for Serenity, even at the cost of his own life.

In the end though, he wasn't dead. Well, not anymore. He could tell that much from the collection of beeps that he heard coming from his left side. Well, the beeps and the fact that the last time he died, he hadn't been in so much pain afterwards. His back was aching like nothing he had ever felt before. His head seemed ready to implode. He had to be alive to hurt this much.

The raven haired man released a groan as his eyes slowly drifted open, before slamming shut at the bright light direactly above his head. The unnatural glare did nothing to aid the healing process, and if anything, only hampered it. Hadn't anyone ever considered some sort of soft blue or purple light, if not green. Those were more conducive to the reparation of the body and spirit. Someone definitely had to tell the people in charge of such a place about that fact. He would if he could just get past the fact that his tongue felt like it weighed a good ten stones.

"Doctor, I think he's waking up," he heard a female voice say. It sounded detached and worried at once. He'd heard a few handmaids speak with such a tone of voice before, and it left him wondering how such a tone was possible, even into this life. "I heard a sound coming from him just a moment ago.

The sound of foot steps entered his ears as he struggled to turn his head and open his eyes once again. No blinding light head on would be a good thing.

"Chiba-san?" he heard another voice say. It was another woman's. She seemed to be bending over with her face level with his. She smiled when she saw that he was indeed awake and marked off something on the small tablet she seemed to be carrying. "You had us very worried, Chiba-san. That was quite a nasty accident you were in."

He couldn't help but blink. Accident? Taking a shard of crystal straight through the back wasn't an accident. Dying in the way he remembered wasn't an accident. What was this woman talking about?

"Not up for talking, hm? Can you give me some sign that you understand what I'm saying?" she said.

He wanted to give some biting remark about not treating him like some sort of child, but instead, from his tongue came the comment, "Back hurts too much to talk much." Well, if that wasn't the least likely thing that he would have ever said. But then, he had to realize that in truth, he was still adjusting mentally from fully fusing with his modern day counterpart's psyche. He supposed that part of himself would still have a few more inhibitions that would keep his tongue in check.

"Hmm?" the doctor said before smiling comfortingly and straightening up to look at the nurse. "Make sure that the IV is working properly, nurse. He shouldn't be feeling anything right now." The woman with black hair pulled up into a tight looking bun then returned her attention to him. "I'm sorry about the pain. Hopefully, that'll fade away soon enough. Now, I'm your doctor, Mizuno Saeko. If you have any questions, feel free to ask myself or the nurse."

"What happened?" he heard himself ask. He already knew what happened though. Ugh. Maybe the fusion of the two minds wasn't complete. Maybe he was going to need a bit more time and influence over the golden crystal.

"You were in a rather nasty accident, Chiba-san," she explained. "It seems, according to witnesses, that something went darting out in front of your motorcycle while you were riding, and when you attempted to avoid it, you couldn't stop yourself from going flying from the bike. If it hadn't been for your helmet, you might not have survived. I will say one thing though. You are healing far faster than most of us expected. I'm not sure who, but it seems like you have someone watching over you, Chiba-san."

He knew that he had someone watching over him, but that drivel the woman muttered couldn't have been what happened. He knew what happened. Serenity had been there whe- Serenity... She'd done this. He'd died, and... Why hadn't he thought of it before? He was back in the city in which his modern day counterpart had been born. He was back, living Mamoru's life. He was back to living a normal life, but... Where was she? Was she in the hospital with some contrived story as well? She never cared for physicians and the like when she was living on the moon.

Doctor Mizuno looked at her wrist, before frowning. "I'm afraid I have to go for the moment. I'll return to see how you're feeling in a little while, Chiba-san."

He was going to be getting tired of that name. Mamoru he could deal with. There were memories shared of him being referred to as such. Chiba-san was something that he'd only been referred to as by professors and the random female who chose to approach him earlier on before he met Usa- Sere- He wasn't sure what to call her in that sense. She was both and neither. She hadn't known who she was at that point, but she would forever be Serenity.

A part of him surged violently against that thought. Had the part of him that was the unmerged Chiba Mamoru not liked that idea. True, that aspect of himself had fallen in love with the girl as her modern day counterpart, Tsukino Usagi, but... He couldn't think of anything. He had only been aware of her for a short while, and in that time, he was in service to Beryl. She had been Sailor Moon. She'd had to give off that sort of regal air simply because it required more focus to control the ginzuishou. But what of the one time that he'd seen her when he'd gone to investigate the power hidden beneath the waters of one lake? He'd only seen her in her attempt to gain him back. Was that really who she was?

Ugh, he had to find her again. He wanted to sort everything out while she sat in his arms, never to be separated from him again. But the thing was, how long was it going to take for him to heal enough to get out of this place and to where she was? And how long was it going to take before he could fully fuse the two aspects of himself? Mamoru and Endymion may have been two sides of the same sword, but never did two sides of the same sword ever meet. But if Serenity and Usagi could manage such a feat, then he'd do it as well. He'd do it, if only for her. Equal footing, he supposed.

Now, if he could just focus enough to do it.